Kurenai Yuhi considerately took charge of her student and led her to the changing room on this side to change her clothes.
Shikamaru returned to his seat, and Ino gave him a satisfied thumbs-up, grinning as she said, "Nice work."
Shikamaru stared at Ino's face for a moment, then shook his head and said self-deprecatingly, "I just happened to get lucky."
With that, he returned to his lazy state and reclined in his seat.
That match used up a bit too much chakra. I'll go home and sleep once the matches are over.
That was what Shikamaru thought.
"That settles sixth and seventh place in this competition. Next, contestants Sasuke Uchiha and Karin Uzumaki, please enter."
An almost imperceptible smile lifted the corners of Hayate's mouth as he read out the two names.
In the audience, Itachi picked up the Taro Dango he had asked Tenzo to sneak in for him and took a bite while Izumi had her back turned.
???
What happened to the taro balls I was promised? Why does this taste like something Izumi made?!
The instant the dango entered his mouth and touched his tongue, a soul-searing sourness assaulted him, utterly overwhelming.
Izumi happened to turn back just then. Smiling at Itachi, who had frozen stiff and might well have been frantically curling his toes against his soles, she feigned surprise. "Oh, Itachi, you brought dango?"
"Honestly, why didn't you ask me to make some for you?"
The corner of Itachi's mouth twitched. He had already licked away the concentrated lemon juice coating the dango, revealing its original sweetness, but his tongue was now too overwhelmed by the sourness to want to move.
He silently put down the dango in his hand and made a gesture of surrender to Izumi.
Izumi smiled in satisfaction, a