Chapter 138 Curfew

How on earth did he do it?

Neji took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

The match had been going on for thirty minutes and Neji hadn't hit his opponent even once.

Shikamaru obviously wouldn't be stupid enough to enter the attack range of his Sixty-Four Palms, and except for the first few minutes to disrupt Neji's rhythm, his shadow made him elusive in long-range combat.

"What's wrong?" Shikamaru taunted from the edge of Neji's attack range. "Are you a little out of breath?"

Ningci gritted his teeth and tried his best to control his emotions. But this was just an illusion - although his soft fist technique had a wide coverage and strong power, it consumed a lot of chakra.

Neji rushed forward again, and his fierce soft fist missed again, because Shikamaru crouched sideways, jumped up nimbly, curled up his body, and landed lightly at Neji's four o'clock position, quickly making seals with his fingers.

"Art fire escape ho fireball!"

Shikamaru turned and kicked out, a ball of flame gushed out with his movement, deep purple and extremely hot, forming a huge surging wave.

Neji had no choice but to defend with all his might, he turned his body and focused his chakra into complex defensive techniques to block the impact of the flames.

The flames spread around him, hitting the walls and exploding on the stone tiles, but the flames clung to them, spreading across the ground like congealed napalm, even as the main jutsu dissipated.

Neji didn't dare let his guard down at all; he had to concentrate and pay attention to Shikamaru's movements in order to have a chance to catch this slippery opponent.

Shikamaru leaped out of the way once again, dodging his attack with amazing agility and a kind of nonchalant grace that only irritated Neji even more.

"Will you just stop moving?" he growled in frustration, and to his surprise, Shikamaru actually didn't move.

The problem was, Neji couldn't move either.

Neji and Shikamaru were in a stalemate face to face, and Neji remained in a crouching position, motionless, as if he was imitating Shikamaru's posture.

Shikamaru's fingers were bent into a strange shape, and when Shikamaru straightened himself up, Neji was forced to follow suit.

Neji fought against this invisible force, anger mixed with a hint of fear, because his powerful strength was useless against the strange force that controlled his actions - the Shadow Simulation Technique.

Neji blamed himself for not noticing this - the scattered, still-burning flames around the arena were enough to cast heavy shadows, amplifying the power of Shikamaru's own shadow.

Shikamaru stirred slightly, stretched, and hummed in thought.

Neji felt his spine straighten involuntarily, even though every muscle in his body protested.

"Ah. I feel like you can't control yourself, Neji," Shikamaru said slowly.

Neji decided to get straight to the point.

"As soon as I regain my freedom, Shikamaru, you will be dead."

Shikamaru just snorted.

"The game is over."

"what?"

Shikamaru just smiled, lazily and slowly.

"Time's up, Neji. You lose."

Before Neji could figure out what that meant, Aoba's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Time's up! Draw; both winners! Advantage; Nara Shikamaru!"

Neji's eyes suddenly opened wide, and he realized what was going on. He clenched his teeth. You are kidding me.

Shikamaru changed his hand gestures and released the technique, and the strange power returned to its master like Shikamaru's shadow.

Shikamaru walked out of the arena with his usual laid back attitude.

"Your vision will eventually kill you," he whispered quietly, and it didn't sound like a threat or even a warning, but more like they hadn't even been fighting at all.

Before Neji could think of a response, Shikamaru had already walked away.

******

"Why can't we be the first on patrol?" Naruto complained.

"That's stupid," Sasuke agreed.

"The village is now on alert. All jonin and special jonin are on emergency duty unless there are special circumstances," Kakashi explained, shoving his newly sharpened kunai into his thigh pocket.

These were given to him by Sakura. She said she had nothing to do during the exam period, so she made so many of them.

"I'll be back before midnight. Naruto, don't forget to feed the ninja dogs, and make sure they stay home unless I tell them to go out. Sakura, make sure Sasuke remembers to take his recovery potion, and also, take all the first aid supplies Ryouta gave you. Sasuke, your mission is to rest and not use chakra."

"You don't have to say it twice, Sensei," Sasuke muttered.

Kakashi nodded.

"You three know what to do if you get into trouble, right?"

"Go straight to Iruka-sensei." Sakura recited carefully. "We know, Sensei."

Kakashi took a deep breath, crouched down, put one hand on Sakura's shoulder, ruffled Naruto's blond hair with the other, and stood up.

"Stay indoors and stay safe."

"We'll do it," Sakura promised.

"Go quickly and come back soon!" Naruto shouted at Kakashi's back when he disappeared around the corner where the jonin were on standby.

Kakashi raised his hand lazily.

Sakura watched him go.

They walked home at a leisurely pace, much to Sasuke's displeasure - he began to curse the damn seal under his breath.

She and Naruto knew very well that it was because he hated the feeling of being weak and vulnerable.

So, Naruto began to analyze with him how the seal worked, and why Sasuke's chakra reacted to it, which was actually a good sign.

Sakura absentmindedly placed a hand on his wrist, checking his pulse.

Naruto stopped at the corner, apparently noticing something.

His eyes fell on a familiar figure outside a meatball shop across the street.

"Hey, Hinata!"

Hinata raised her head, blinked her eyes as clear as moonstone, and smiled brightly.

"Naruto! Are you guys going home?" she asked as she ran towards them, wearing her regular clothes, which made the delicate embroidery on her belt stand out even more against the silk.

"Curfew," Sakura explained, "Because that snake-like bastard might still be lurking somewhere in the village."

"Where are you going?" Sasuke noticed the duffel bag on her shoulder.

Hinata smiled awkwardly.

"Well, I'm staying at an inn tonight," she admitted. "For the sake of my sister and the Hyuga clan, it's best if I don't go home right now."

"Inn? That's not very safe tonight," Sasuke said sternly.

Hinata shrugged.

"This is my only choice now. I have prepared all the barrier seals and detonating talismans." She smiled again, with a hint of bitterness in her tone.