Naruto : The System Files

Chapter no.42 Ino, Shikamaru and Choji

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"What in the world were you thinking?"

Ino cringed, the same question running through her mind at the moment. It was currently lunch period, and she had taken up her place beneath a tree, only to immediately find herself under the scrutiny of the one person in the class that she would have least expected.

Choji.

Yes, not Shikamaru, who sat across from her, his eyes still in their usual lazy demeanor, the person who was actually scrutinizing her decisions, asking her the hard-hitting questions and making her realize the error of her ways, was Choji.

"Well… I wasn't really… thinking?" she said meekly, which was somewhat understandable as Choji sat beside her, his normally round and cheerful face twisted into a narrow-eyed scowl.

His bag of chips lay in his hands, but they were unopened.

Really, Choji was a darling but no one really understood how terrifying the boy could be when he was taking something seriously.

"Yes, Ino, you weren't thinking." He said, shaking his head and making her shrink further as she turned to Shikamaru and sent him her best 'help me' look.

The pineapple-haired Nara turned his gaze away, pretending as though he had not seen her at all.

"Traitor!" she mouthed.

He looked as though he was going to mouth something back, before shaking his head as though he realized it would consume far more energy than he was willing to give, and instead, he resorted to another lazy shrug.

To her side, Choji sighed, his face looking far less intimidating as he began rubbing his cheek.

"Ino – you know you can't beat Sasuke in a spar right?"

She was the type of person who usually did not like being told whether or not they could or couldn't do things.

"Come on – I have a chance –"

"No."

Shikamaru said, placing his input for the first time in the conversation, and turning both of their attentions towards him.

"Sasuke might be the most arrogant person in the entire class, but most of it is well-deserved. He just might be the strongest Academy Student in Konoha, whereas, you occasionally struggle to defeat Sakura."

"Hey! Don't use Sakura as a measuring stick, you make it sound like she's…"

Choji's gaze looked over to her.

"Ino, I don't like admitting it either, but Sakura really does have the lowest taijutsu and shurikenjutsu performance in our grade, and you… well…"

He sighed.

"You…struggle to beat her. I don't see how you can go up against Sasuke and win."

Ino found herself biting her lower lip.

"Maybe – maybe he won't show up?"

Shikamaru shook his head.

"His pride won't allow it. Failing to show up could send the wrong message that he was too scared of you to fight you rather than you not being worth his time, and he'd never allow it."