Shikamaru: Troublesome Girls 5

Part Five

The next morning, all of the contestants were assembled in front of Chouji… except for Deidara. Also, Shikamaru was nowhere to be seen…

“What’s going on?” demanded Ino impatiently.

“Look, I’m afraid you’re just going to have to wait,” replied Chouji, munching a packet of crisps. “Shikamaru is dealing with yesterday’s incident.”

The ninjas muttered amongst themselves as they waited, and more than once Chouji heard the words ‘Akatsuki’ and ‘disqualified’.

Eventually, Shikamaru joined the group. Behind him came Deidara, and most of them gasped as they saw him.

He was no longer wearing the long black robe of the Akatsuki, and instead he wore a tight vest top and trousers. His left arm and side were swathed in bandages, and his left eye was bruised and swollen. Shikamaru looked extremely angry.

“Right.” He said, in a business-like way. “I have had it with all this troublesome squabbling. Can’t you all just act like adults?” he sighed. “Naruto, Deidara, I know you two have history, but you’re sharing a room, so from now on try and get on. Sakura, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t shout things like you did yesterday. If you really don’t care, you shouldn’t even be here.” Sakura looked upset, but made no attempt to leave. “Ino, stop lording it over everyone just because you know me better. And Temari, stop acting like you’re my favourite. Gaara, don’t look so threatening all the time. Sai… not everything in life can be learned from a book, okay?” He took a deep breath and looked over them all, now mostly embarrassed or apologetic.

“As for the selection today… there won’t be one, because Neji is disqualified.”

Neji looked up, eyes wide in alarm. “…What?”
“I made it very clear yesterday in the forest that I did not want any more violence. Then I wake up this morning and find out you’ve done THIS.” He gestured towards Deidara, who had the sense to look humble. “Do you have any IDEA how troublesome that is?”

“But…” Neji regained control, and began to argue. “But you saw what he did! He’s evil! He needed to learn a lesson! He-“

“Not from you.” Shikamaru replied sternly. “Go home.” He turned back to the others, who were all staring open-mouthed. “Break for an hour. Deidara, come with me.”

Neji stood, rooted to the spot, sputtering with anger.

“Fine!” he yelled defiantly. “Stay with these bimbos. You’ll never know true power!”

He kicked a stone and strode off angrily, trying to hide the deep shame he felt.

Group One

Ino looked over at Sakura. “I’m sorry if I bragged to you before,” she said shyly.

“Yeah… I’m sorry for being argumentative, too.” Sakura replied. They both exchanged a shaky smile, before planning how they could try to make Shikamaru less angry.

Group Three

Gaara looked over at his sister.

“Look, I wouldn’t really ever desert coffin you, you know.” He said eventually.

“I know. And you may be my little brother, but even I can see you’re cute. I won’t underestimate you any more.”

“Good…” they nodded in agreement to each other, and carried on with their own private tasks.

Group Four

Naruto stared at the figures on the shelf. Deidara had finished them the night before, and now he looked closely he realised they were incredibly detailed and realistic. In the place of Hinata and Tenten, a pile of dust now stood, from where Deidara had created a controlled explosion. Naruto wondered how long it would be before his model was blown up, too.

Group Five

Sai looked uneasily at the stack of books in the corner, desperate not to read them any more.

“But I don’t know how to do it on my own!” he whined to himself.

Shikamaru’s room

Although he wasn’t a medical nin, Shikamaru knew enough to treat Deidara’s cuts and bruises. As he worked, trying to ignore how toned his stomach was, he began to ask questions to distract himself.

“Do you play chess?”

Deidara looked up, puzzled. “Once. But, not any more, un. I have no one to play with, Stag. You play, don’t you?”

“Yes. But I can’t play with Asuma any more…” he looked away sadly.

“I thought you were going to disqualify me.” Deidara said after a while. Shikamaru made no reply. “I was scared, un.” He added in a whisper. Shikamaru patted him reassuringly on the shoulder.

“It’s alright. I know you meant well. But you have to be careful from now on, or I won’t have any choice. I’ll have to disqualify you. Do you understand?”

Deidara nodded slowly, and Shikamaru carried on treating him.

*****

An hour later, the seven contestants stood facing Chouji and Shikamaru.

“The next test,” said Chouji, “Is the superiority of jutsu test. Among the trees are fourteen ninja-shaped dummies. This means you get two each. In one strike, you must do as much damage as possible. You have two chances, so make them count.”

The first to try was Sakura. She sent concentrated chakra at both dummies so forcefully that they were destroyed, chunks missing out of them where she had hit them. Although her style was unremarkable, it worked.

Ino, although there was no enemy for her to take control of, knew that the forest was inhabited by all kinds of animals. It was a wolf she chose, creeping up silently behind the dummies and savagely ripping them apart, to the surprise of all those watching. No one had expected such an attack.

Gaara performed the predictable sand attacks, while Temari used her fan and wind attacks to devastating effect. Deidara threw a clay bomb at each, and seemed oblivious to the scowls the attack earned him.

Naruto’s rasengan produced gasps of admiration. It tore through the dummies, just as it had once torn through the a rooftop. They were both destroyed in the same shot.

As for Sai, he painted rapidly with his brush, and within a few seconds the dummies simply fell into pieces on the floor.

“Well,” said Shikamaru, “I’m glad they didn’t need me to do it. Shadow bind doesn’t work well on dummies.”