Chapter 150 Blame

Shikamaru raised his hands helplessly, indicating that he did not want to participate in this war.

He took a step back, avoiding Sakura's murderous gaze.

Sakura is not to be trifled with, and Shikamaru is not stupid enough to bring bad luck upon himself. Good luck to you, Naruto.

Fortunately, Sasuke opened his eyes in time and resolved the crisis.

"Okay, Sakura, he's had enough, and he understands what you mean."

Sakura glared at Sasuke in dissatisfaction, then turned to Naruto and ruffled his hair hard, scaring the young master of the Uchiha family and making him scream.

"You'd better remember this!" Sakura roared, "Don't think that just because you have the Nine-Tails to heal you, you can get beaten to a pulp by that arrogant Hyuga idiot!"

Shikamaru thought, even though these words were not pleasant to hear, they were effective.

The reason why Naruto was injured like this was to force Neci's psychological defenses to collapse and make him understand that Naruto's strength did not come from any arrangement of fate, but from his own strength.

"Alright alright, let me go!" Naruto screamed.

Sakura finally let him go, but still put her hands on his shoulders and her mouth was almost to Naruto's ear.

Naruto gently nudged Sakura with his elbow, and the two began to fight again.

Sasuke waved at Shikamaru, motioning him to sit next to him.

Shikamaru gladly accepted and plopped down next to Sasuke.

"Is there something you want to tell us?" Sasuke asked calmly.

Shikamaru nodded, dodging the elbows that flew from the side while answering:

"Which news do you want to hear first? The long-term or the immediate?"

"Long term," Sasuke answered without hesitation. Shikamaru was not surprised by this.

Shikamaru hummed and nodded.

"The current situation is very clear, and I have made some arrangements that are in our favor. But we are already in the game and cannot stay out of it."

Shikamaru rubbed his neck nonchalantly, tilted his head and looked at Sasuke, his eyes firm and serious. "The old guy has already started to act, with black pieces going first."

There was a gleam in Sasuke's eyes and he gave an almost ferocious smile.

"Good," he murmured, "I'm tired of waiting anyway."

"It's time for Naruto to act," Shikamaru reminded, "He is the 'king' in this game of chess."

"It's also a 'prize' in the eyes of others." Sasuke muttered, the smile on his face disappeared, replaced by a frown.

Shikamaru looked Sasuke straight in the eyes, meeting his gaze.

"If you change your mind..."

Sasuke shook his head violently. "No," he said firmly, "I believe in you, and so does Naruto. You know what you are doing."

"If you want to know the details, I can explain it to you," Shikamaru said, and he meant it.

Apart from his teammates, there were only two people who could understand the complex, twisted, interlocking plans in his mind, Sasuke was one of them, and the other was Shino.

But Sasuke shook his head again.

"You said that the less we know, the smoother our plan will go. I believe you."

Shikamaru nodded.

A relatively quiet moment followed, as Sasuke watched his two teammates playfully, and Shikamaru saw a hint of tenderness on his face.

"So, what about the current news?" Sasuke suddenly asked.

Shikamaru shook his head, debating whether to be more tactful, but ultimately decided to tell the truth.

"Fengying is dead." He said bluntly without any preparation.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows, and Sakura and Naruto stopped playing and looked at him in surprise.

Shikamaru shrugged, pulled one of Choji's fries out of his pocket, and began to eat it slowly.

Naruto blinked in confusion, his eyes darting back and forth across the Kage's viewing platform.

"Wait, who's wearing that hat now?"

Sakura was the first person to react. She asked anxiously:

"You are kidding me!!"

Not long after, Choji also found them, followed by Neji and Inuzuka Kiba.

By the time Ino and Shino had found them as well, Shikamaru had come to a consensus with the others and it was time to move on and prepare for the next challenge.

By this time, Shikamaru had already drawn up six contingency plans in his mind, which he named "The Bad Sannin".

Seeing Ino, Shikamaru suddenly felt a little guilty because he was busy thinking about his own things and missed the second half of Ino's game.

But Ino didn't seem to mind at all, and she was happy to describe the game in detail to Shikamaru.

She talked on and on, and if it had been anyone else, Shikamaru would have lost his patience long ago.

Shino nodded in agreement from time to time, but mostly listened attentively.

However, from beginning to end, Ino never told Shikamaru who won the game.

"Wait, you didn't know? Didn't I tell you?" When Shikamaru finally couldn't help but ask about the result of the game, Ino blinked in surprise and asked curiously with her head tilted.

Shikamaru blinked slowly, and Ino finally realized what was happening, an awkward smile forming on her face. "Sorry, Shikamaru, sometimes I forget that you're not a mind-reading ninja."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, and Shino spoke up to help Ino out.

"Before the game started, Hinata, Ino, and Choji, the four of us made a...promise."

"To put it simply, we fought to our heart's content and then gave up together." Ino added, "We both defeated our opponents handsomely and then chose to give up at the same time."

"It certainly caused quite a stir," Shino commented dryly, "I didn't expect you would miss it."

Shikamaru imitated Ino and blinked.

Ino couldn't help but laugh when she saw his expression.

"You must be thinking about those complicated things again, right, Shikamaru?" She said with a smile, tapping Shikamaru's forehead lightly with her knuckles. "This means that neither Choji nor I will participate in the finals, but the judges are not fools, they will definitely promote us to Chunin. This way, we can show our strength while avoiding exposing our trump cards."

"Just like you planned before, right? Hide your strength and observe secretly."

Shikamaru smiled and rubbed the spot where Ino had hit him.

"I really didn't expect you to use this method." He whispered, then raised his voice and asked, "Then Hinata and Choji..."

"That's what we do." Shino replied.

Shikamaru sighed helplessly. His friends' actions reminded him that plans cannot keep up with changes.