Match Two

Shikamaru stood down in the arena across from temari, who was glaring daggers at him. He let out a small sigh as his shoulders seemed to slump.

Hayate, who stood between the two genin, cleared his throat before speaking." Are both of you ready?" He asked as his eyes moved from one genin to the other.

"Yes." Temari answered simply as she reached behind her back with her tight hand and gripped her large battle fan.

Shikamaru on the other hand just sighed." I suppose so. If i said no then id be disqualified-" he took a deep breath." And if that happens then ill never hear the end of it from my nagging mom, so yeah.. im ready." He then frowned." Troublesome women.." he muttered out.

Temari glared harder at the boy who, in her opinion, was treating the situation as if it was no big deal, as if facing her wasnt that much of a problem. 'Grrrr! Ill show this lazyass just how troublesome i can be!' She thought to herself as she gripped her battle fan just a tad bit tighter.

"Alright.." hayate replied with a shrug before he raised one arm." The second mach of the chunnin exam finals begins... now!" He swung his arm downward before he vanished.

The match started instantly.

Temari swung her battle fan over her shoulder before said fan opened all the way." Take this!" She shouted out as she swung the fan upwards.

Shikamaru rolled to his right, barely dodging the multiple thin wind blades that had been produced by temaris fan and were now currently slicing deep into the ground where he once stood.

Shikamaru made a single handsign and the crowed watched as the boys shadow seemed to move a bit before it shot out towards the sand genins own.

Temari, seeing the shadow racing towards her, wasnt taking any chances and began to jump backwards. She continued to jump back as the shadow continued to race towards her, that is until it suddenly stopped. She landed on the ground before looking up at shikamaru with a grin on her face.

"So, this is the limit of your shadow, nice try jackass but your little party trick wont work on me!" She grinned at him and shikamaru cursed silently before his shadow began to come back to him. He stood up and looked at temari, who was now standing about twenty feet away from him, and began to come up with a plan.

He glanced up at the sky and saw that the sun was still sitting up there high in the sky and without a single cloud in sight. He then looked behind him and saw the part of the arena that was covered in trees and mentally smirked before looking back towards his opponent.

"It seems you've discovered the limit to my shadow possession jutsu." The nara stated with a small shrug." It doesnt matter really as i know for a fact that im still far better then you." He finished his statement with a small smirk.

Temaris eyes narrowed into slits. First he seemed to be disinterested in both her and this match, and now he suddenly thinks hes stronger then her?" Ohhh~ im gonna enjoy killing you shadow boy." She replied with a sadistic grin as she readied her fan." Take this!" She swung her fan once more." Wind style: wind scythe!" Multiple thin wind blades were shot out at rather high speeds towards the lazy nara.

Shikamaru mentally sighed as he spun around and made a mad dash towards the wooded part of the arena floor." Troublesome.." he muttered out as he began to zig-zag in order to not get sliced into multiple pieces by the wind blades.

• with naruto•

Naruto, who was now sitting in a seat with hinata on his lap, looked away from the match and up towards hinata. He smiled in amusement as he watched his girlfriend munch on a cinnamon bun with a rather pleased look on her face." Who do you thinks gonna win hime?" He asked her as he looked back down towards the arena where temari was now recklessly throwing multiple razor sharp wind storms at the wooded area of the arena where shikamaru was hiding.

Hinata hummed as she took another bite of her bun while looking down at the arena." Probably shika." She answered." His strategy is rather obvious but effective. Temari seems rather hot headed and hes using that against her by making her angry enough to recklessly waste her chakra." She summarized before she went back to eating.

Naruto hummed with an eye smile." I agree but i dont think thats all shika has planned." He told her before he put one arm around her waist. He then leaned back in his seat and continued to watch the match below.

• a few miles outside of konoha•

Tobi stood in a rather large clearing surrounded by forest. Beside him was a rather small hooded figure carrying a hooked staff and behind him was about three to four hundred white zetsus, all standing at attention while waiting for their orders.

Tobi crossed his arms and watched as black zetzu began to rise up out of the ground in front of him wearing his akatsuki cloak." Ive finished scouting konoha." Black zetsu stated calmly.

"Good, whats happening there?" Tobi asked the plant like man.

"Most of the villagers and shinobi alike are at the chunnin stadium watching the finals. The third hokage and fourth kazekage are there as well, along with the nine tails and the one tails container gaara." Black zetsu told the man before continuing." Ive found hidans head in one of the anbu prison cells located inside of the hokage mountain. It seems that the seals pein placed on us worked as ive found no record of konoha having any real information on us or our goals." He finished.

"Hows that possible?" Tobi asked as he rubbed his masked chin." I know for a fact that naruto knows what our goals are, so there should be some sort of report or some paperwork regarding our actions.." he hummed to himself.

Black zetsu shrugged with an uncaring look on his face." I dont know. All i know is that ive found no mission reports or any sort of information regarding us in konoha. Its possible that the third decided not to have naruto write anything about us down on paper?" He guessed.

"That could be." Tobi replied with a small nod." I dont want too many people finding out about us and our goals yet so itll do us some good to take out the people that know the most about us right now." He added." So make sure the third hokage dies today, okay?" Black zetsu nodded his head before he looked out over the sea of white zetsus that were standing behind his ' leader'.

"Are you sure about going through with this?" He asked and tobi looked at him with a curious tilt to his head. The masked man motioned for him to explain further so he did." I mean, this is about one fourth of our total white zetsu army. If they all die then its gonna take me at least two years to recreate all of them once more." Black zetsu explained." So are you sure this is a good idea?" He questioned.

Tobi let out a sigh." At this point i dont know if this is the right move." Tobi admitted softly." Everything that we've planned has been thrown out the window ever since narutos birth. Hes somehow gained the rinnegan, which we still dont know how he got, and hes grown so strong so fast. At this point im trying to stall him for as long as possible." The masked man stated with a small growl." The akatsuki arent yet ready to capture any of the tailed beasts and we are forced to seal them in order. Not to mention we've been set back by kisames death! It wouldnt be such a big blow if we still had shark skin but naruto destroyed it when he killed kisame!" Tobi clenched his fists in anger before he took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

Black zetsu hummed a bit before turning his back to tobi." Dont worry, lets just focus on the up coming battle for right now and im sure everything else will work itself out." His voice was calm but he too was angry on the inside.

He had spent thousands of years planning and manipulating the shinobi world all for one single purpose, and yet, even after all his careful planning, said plan was one wrong move away from being completely trashed! All because of some stupid overpowered blond brat that didnt know when to just give up! It was utterly infuriating and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it either!

He was black zetsu! He was created from nothing but his mothers will and despite all that the only strength he had was his brain! He wasnt a chakra powerhouse that could snap his fingers and summon up a storm, no instead he was forced to rely on these disgusting insects known as humans in order to complete his goal. And while it angered him to no end hed still do it so long as it meant that his mother would one day walk this earth again.

And when that day came, and it would come, he, black zetsu, would be standing right by her side like the loyal and loving son he was.

• konoha- chunnin arena•

Shikamaru was hiding behind a rather thick tree as the forest around him shook due to the heavy razor sharp winds that were being blasted into the forest. He let out a sigh as he looked up towards the tree tops, catching a bit of sunlight through the green leaves.

' i have a bad feeling... like something bigs about to happen and i dont think it has anything to do with this match..' he thought to himself as he slightly dozed off before the forest around him shook once more, snapping him back into reality." Troublesome women.." he groaned out once more.

•cliffhanger•