GaaSaku: The Pursuit, The Ultimate Weapon

Chapter 11: Shikamaru vs. Tayuya

When Tayuya guides her three beasts after Shikamaru, she activates the first level of her curse seal to make controlling them easier.

"You've got nowhere to run, sewer rat!" Tayuya remarked proudly.

"You're not bad. A well-timed diversion attack, using all three of them. It must've taken a lot of practice, huh?" Shikamaru said smirking and thought to himself. "There aren't any openings when she uses that jutsu.

"How impressive... Not only did you just realize that my flute is controlling these creatures, but you have also figured out the complexity of this melody. However, you won't understand the melody entirely," she explained correctly.

"Of course. I'm not into such things called 'art,'" the smart-headed ninja stated as he was carefully creating a method in his mind. "If that flute is controlling them, there must be a two to three section arrangement of sounds within the melody which send out specific orders. I'm pretty confident with my analytical skills, but it's pretty bad this time around."

Tayuya started playing the flute, saying. "There hasn't been anyone who has listened to this melody and lived to talk about it!! The 9th verse, the Turmoil of the Pandemonium." Suddenly, the three beasts were flinching and began to launch their talons towards Shikamaru. Thus, smashing the tree branch into pieces.

"Something's coming!" He moved away from their attack and saw them summoning monsters out of their mouths that quickly charged at him directly. Though, he placed a bomb tag, sending an explosion in order to hide from his opponent. "Those white things... They only eat at my physical energy. Seeing how my throwing stars went through them, they're probably made entirely of mass-less ethereal matter. They're nothing but chakra with an instinct to feed. I assume most of it is composed of chakra imbued with that mental energy. They require stability and are starving for physical energy. Damn... This makes it seem like I'm playing the game without my knight and rook." He touched both of his fingertips as a way to concentrate on the plan he has. Then, he threw some of his kunai knives onto the trees with bomb tags attached to them as they exploded.

Tayuya kept dodging his attacks while she was nonstop playing her flute to continue her manipulation on her puppets. "Shit! Running around like a sissy, that trash!! Where is he?!" She then found his hiding spot when the three of her beasts attacked him. But she noticed that the traps were set only to erode his position. "Damn... What's he thinking?"

Shikamaru stepped on the tree branch and asked. "You know what's most fun about Japanese chess? It's the part where you can use the opponent's pieces you captured as your own." He stated after he extended the shadow with the light. He began to use his Shadow Possession technique, much to her shock.

"Impossible! How did you figure out the movement of all three!? There is no way you could have possibly figured out the pattern of my melody!!" Tayuya pointed out loudly.

"I didn't even try to listen to the melody in the first place. There's another thing I can read your command pattern from, besides sound. It's your fingers," Shikamaru answered as one of her beasts followed his move.

"Damn... He calculated their movements by memorizing my finger patterns?!" Tayuya thought in disbelief.

"Your right pointer finger and the ring finger. In addition to that, when you create a melody with your left middle finger and pinky, that center piece of yours hunches forward. While you were dodging my attacks and searching for me, I observed every single movement of your fingers and memorized them just like that. It's no good there. I've got them good and tight with the Shadow Mimic jutsu. Now, it's my game," Shikamaru said smirking, and continued on. "It's my turn to chase you into the corner with these pawns that I've obtained. Not alarmed, are we? Why don't you at least ready your daggers?"

Tayuya smiled darkly at this, saying. "Hmph. This flute is my only weapon! Don't make me repeat this... There's not a single soul who has lived to speak of the melody of this flute!"

"That's quite a bit of confidence you have there," Shikamaru noted in a smug voice when he started to control the three beasts to hit her on the spot, but they vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Hah! Too bad, you couldn't use your pawns!! Now, this is really my turn!!" Tayuya attempts to defeat him, but she was under the influence of the Shadow Mimic technique underneath her foot that turned out to be a success for Shikamaru.

"Didn't I tell you before? I'd corner you with those pawns. I just used those three as a feint. The initial strike was a diversion. It's the simplest of all basics to land with the second move," he pointed out logically with his kunai knife at her from a distance.

"Dammit... Seems like I've got no choice. I wasn't expecting to use level two in a place like this. What a piss-off. But I'll have to admit. This shithead really is something," Tayuya thought in mind once she started to transform the physical appearance of her curse seal.

"What the...?!" Shikamaru stared at her in horror.

"Seems like you're pretty clever. But from now on, cleverness means nothing!" Tayuya announced snidely.

"What?! She forced her way through my Shadow Mimic... What is that immense chakra?! If this keeps going on, the jutsu is going to disperse! If she gets away now, things are really going to get hairy! I have to use that jutsu!" He was reminded as he quickly made a few hand signs to perform a Shadow Neck Country jutsu on her.

"Ugh! Is this a different technique? This shadow is applying real pressure to my body. It's as if real hands are grabbing me..." Tayuya grunted in pain.

"Damn... What the hell is that power? From this distance, my jutsu's power is outmatched," Shikamaru held his strength closely to not let her go.

Unfortunately, Tayuya was still capable of playing her flute, transferring her illusion harmony jutsu, which therefore gave a restriction on her body.

His arms were displayed out in the open with the force of strings that tied his wrists and noticed that his right arm was melting down, revealing his bone structure, much to his trauma. Even though it was a genjutsu at a level 2 state that halts his move and restrains them.

"How do you feel now? Being held up... DIE TRASH!" She cried out maliciously when she was about to stab him with a kunai knife. But she was immediately stopped in a halt as she recognized a shadow controlling her once again. "He broke his finger with that. He got out of the illusion with that pain?! He then pretended that he still being cornered by the jutsu."

"How many times do I have to tell you? The first hand is a feint. It's the most basic thing to land with the second hand," Shikamaru explained as he ignored the pain forming in his hand.

"Hmph. I must admit you've got some guts for a shithead," Tayuya commented.

"Not only that, but I'm also kind-hearted. Socking a defenseless woman goes against my policy, but you don't seem in any way defenseless," Shikamaru told her, then aimed at her stomach with his fist, yet she gripped onto it from his attack.

"Don't think that in beating the illusion, you gained 'the upper-hand shithead!!'" Tayuya snarled.

Shikamaru managed to grip his shadow hand on her neck, suffocating her but doesn't have the strength to asphyxiate her, much to his distress. "Holy shit... This chakra!! Even at this range, the chakra is overwhelming. The Shadow Neck Bind uses too much chakra. If I let go once, I'm done for. It seems like I must use 'that' jutsu."

Both of them were fighting to ensure that one of them doesn't defeat the other first, and they don't know how much energy they have left to keep up with themselves.