Naruto: The new beginning

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Back in the stands, Sasuke tried to approach Naruto, but Sakura pulled him back.

'Sakura did a great job, I'll be your wingman,' Naruto thought.

Sasuke couldn't spot Naruto, so he had to hold back his urge to act.

Naruto took a sip of his tea and continued to watch the battle, only to see Temari stepping on her giant fan and gracefully floating down from the stand.

After Shikamaru complained about the trouble, he wanted to raise his hand to surrender, but Asuma appeared in an instant and grabbed him by the back of his collar, pulling him back down.

"Watch closely!" Asuma lit a cigarette. After dragging Shikamaru back, he felt better, and his anxiety about not seeing Kurenai for a day was relieved a little.

Shikamaru fell to the ground, lying on his back, doubting his life choices. Only by quietly watching the clouds in the sky could he calm his mood.

"How long are you going to lie there?" Temari said irritably. It was bad enough that he wasn't as handsome as the previous little guys, but now he just looked like a lazy bum, which is annoying.

With no other choice, Shikamaru got up with difficulty and walked over sluggishly. With that dazed look, Naruto felt that he might unleash a sleepy attack at any moment.

After Hayate announced the start of the match, the scene could be summed up in one sentence:

Temari is showing off with her fan, while only Shikamaru is getting beaten.

With a single swing of Temari's fan, she unleashed a powerful Wind Release jutsu. Shikamaru could only run around in embarrassment.

Before two minutes had passed, Shikamaru already had three bloodstains on his arm.

If it were just Wind Release jutsu, it wouldn't be so bad, but the real trouble was Tenten's kunai and shuriken, which added more damage to Temari's attacks.

Yes, it was Tenten's kunai and shuriken. When the well-off kunoichi fought Neji, she scattered her ninja tools all over the battlefield. 

She didn't pick up any of them, and now they were littered across the square.

So Shikamaru was in a tough spot. The heavier weapons, like the maces and machetes, were fine—they just lay on the ground and didn't fly around.

But the small ninja tools, like shuriken and kunai, were mixed into the storm and came at Shikamaru like stones in a sandstorm.

Shikamaru finally managed to hide behind a statue and took a few seconds to calm down. The statue's surface was also covered with scars from the wind blades.

Crouching behind the statue, Shikamaru began to think of a countermeasure, hands forming a circle as he pondered.

Naruto couldn't help but want to narrate his thoughts: "Get ready, get ready, get ready, Shikamaru~"

After about ten seconds, Temari became impatient and was about to go around to deal with him when she saw a sharp shadow stretching out from behind the statue.

Although she had never seen this kind of Jutsu before, Temari knew better than to let such a strange thing touch her.

So, Temari hurriedly dodged sideways, with the shadow following in pursuit. Temari then retreated, and after a few meters, the shadow seemed to reach its limit and retracted.

Temari closed her fan and drew a line in the dirt with it, saying, "I don't know what that shadow does, but it seems this is the limit of your jutsu's range."

Shikamaru stepped out from behind the statue, picked up a bunch of ninja tools scattered on the ground, and with the Shadow Shuriken Technique, threw all the tools at Temari.

Temari swung her fan, knocking down the tools that could have hit her. She taunted, "So, aside from that strange shadow jutsu, you can't even use a shuriken properly?"

Then she saw Shikamaru's shadow, combined with the shadows of the various ninja tools that had fallen in front of her, stretch forward.

Seeing this, Temari hurriedly jumped back a couple of steps, letting the shadow lash out harmlessly in the air.

Temari drew another line in the dirt and said, "So that's it. You're trying to use the shadows of other objects to extend the range of your attack?"

Temari turned her fan sideways and said confidently, "I won't be careless anymore. You're out of moves at this distance!"

Then she realized she couldn't move.

"What... what's going on?" Temari's face turned pale. She had calculated the distance!

"Shadow Imitation, successful." Shikamaru controlled Temari's body and looked back. A thin shadow had passed through the ninja tools behind her and connected to her shadow.

"This... how could it be!" Temari said in shock. "You... those shuriken that missed earlier..."

"Yeah, I threw those ninja tools not to hit you, but to extend the range of my shadow from behind through the shadows they created. I knew you were good at analyzing situations and that you'd think you understood everything once you gathered enough information. That would make you drop your guard, allowing me to set up this trap."

As Shikamaru spoke, he had already controlled Temari's body, raising her giant fan as if to smash her head with it.

"Are you still not going to surrender?"

Temari gritted her teeth and struggled a few times, but found she still couldn't control her body. Finally, with great reluctance, she said, "I surrender."

"The winner, Nara Shikamaru." Naruto smacked his lips. "Tacticians always have such clever minds."

Looking at his empty plate, Naruto fell into deep thought.

Given Shikamaru's family background, his future wife should be able to support him for now.

But if his parents retire and he's still just a Chūnin, his salary definitely won't be enough, especially with that troublesome woman he has to support in the future.

He should think of a way to make some extra money. Maybe writing a novel with Jiraiya—those zeros on Jiraiya's bankbook are very tempting.

However, if Kushina found out he was writing that kind of novel, she'd kill him… Yeah, writing a novel is a dead-end.

Naruto reached for a plate of fruit this time; eating just snacks was getting monotonous.

The examiners in the stands were amazed. The strength gap seemed so big. In the first half, Temari beat Shikamaru so embarrassingly, how could he still pull off a comeback?

Asuma blew up with pride at the perfect time: "Shikamaru's IQ is over 200, so it's completely reasonable for him to come up with this kind of strategy."

"Over 200?!"

Asuma sighed like a bragging parent: "It's just his personality… too lazy."

"Geniuses, they always have something a little different from ordinary people."

For a moment, the scene turned into mutual admiration for Asuma and his student.

Asuma thought silently, It's a pity that Kurenai is so focused on her disciple lately that she didn't come to watch with me. I would have loved to show her how brilliant my student is.

The big screen in the arena began to scroll again:

[Gaara vs Yamanaka Ino]

"What nonsense is this?" Naruto stood up abruptly, slamming the table.

"I'm against this marriage!"

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