Game of Shadows by Adrian King1

Chapter 59

The girl barely had enough time to push herself away from her position with another use of her fan as the fireball hit the place she had been standing on, leaving a batch of scorched earth on the arena. If that scared the Suna nin, she didn't show it, because she sent another attack immediately afterwards.

Shikamaru for his part, was slightly slower, since he had to go through hand seals once more while she only had to wield her weapon for her technique. That didn't bode well for their lazy friend. Just as the events started repeating themselves, the kunoichi jumped away immediately after dodging. The reason? A shadow tendril that had been reaching for hers.

"Almost got her," Chouji commented with a grin. "Keep it up, Shika."

And keep it up he did. Fire kept raining on top of the Suna nin, but that was concerning for Shino. Not because the situation didn't look favorable for Shikamaru, but because the boy was spending too much chakra. It wasn't a secret that he was probably the one with the smallest chakra reserves in their group, and that meant that he couldn't afford to continue like that for much longer.

'You are planning something, right Shikamaru?' Shino thought to himself, mostly because that's how the Nara operated. There was always a plan going on, he wouldn't content himself with just overpowering his opponent and taking advantage of their respective elements. No, there was something else going on there, he was sure.

And there was.

This was shown when, after one of many Fireballs, the girl didn't jump anymore, she didn't so much as twitch, really. Until slowly, mechanically, the Sand kunoichi's stance changed. Before another second passed, she started walking forward, towards Shikamaru.

On the other side of the Arena, Shikamaru was doing exactly the same.

A look at their shadows revealed why and how. They were connected, not by a long tendril of darkness, but by a thin thread. Shikamaru had, apparently and while everyone was paying attention to the flashy fire and wind attacks, thrown kunai here and there in the arena, all of them connected by ninja wire. It wasn't much, but it was just enough for him to use his technique unnoticed until the last second, where the kunoichi wouldn't have time to react.

"And that's that," Chouji summarized and Shino could only agree. The match was done. Still, both of them stared straight at their friend as he approached his opponent, pulling a kunai from his pouch that he would likely use to threaten her until she surrendered.

"Shino Aburame," The boy stiffened at the familiar voice until, a second later, he recognized it and relaxed, if only a bit. More than a little apprehensive, he turned his head to look at the eight blue eyes of Shirakumo, Eiji's summon friend.

The whole group had been introduced to the little white arachnid, and that was as much as the boy had revealed to them, stating that all other members of the Spider Clan would be a surprise. Shino, and his own crawling/flying companions, hadn't been fans, but he had reluctantly put up with them when he'd gotten a promise that they wouldn't eat his bugs.

"Shirakumo," He nodded tightly. From the corner of his eye, he saw Chouji pick up on the new presence and narrow his eyes. "What can I do for you?"

"Eiji and the others have a plan for what's to come," The Spider replied and if they had been paying attention before, now they were hanging on her every word. Shirakumo gave her weird, arachnid nod when she noticed and continued. "Here's what will happen..."

[}-o-{]

[Hinata Hyuuga]

"The members of your group are doing remarkably well," Her father commented. In the past, Hinata would have thought, probably being right, that the words were out of disappointment in her. After all, her team had been taken out in the Second Test. Now, however, Hiashi Hyuuga seemed contemplative, even pleased by how the Exams were going.