Chapter 152 Shikamaru vs Temari

Temari tried to go into this match without any expectations.

Kankuro always said that she was too judgmental. Once she formed an opinion about something, it was hard for her to change it.

But her intuition has always been accurate, so she thinks there is nothing wrong with following her feelings.

Only this time, her intuition seemed to fail.

Nara Shikamaru couldn't give her any hints.

From his slouched stance to the half-smile on his lips, everything looked so ordinary, as illusory as a mirage in the desert.

Temari couldn't find any distinguishing features.

This annoyed her.

There was only a minute left until the match started, and Temari couldn't wait to start fighting.

She had carefully observed the match between Shikamaru and Hyuga Neji, but she felt that Shikamaru was hiding his strength. This seemed to be a common trick used by those experienced Anbu ninjas.

Ever since she learned that her opponent was Shikamaru, Temari had been eager to fight him, wanting to force him to use his full strength.

The referee announced the start of the match, and Temari did not hesitate at all. She pulled out a fan from behind her back:

Wind Escape Gale Palm!

He was so fast! One second, he was still standing there, lazily, with his hands in his pockets, as if he was shopping; the next second, he disappeared without a trace, leaving only the fragments of rock torn apart by Temari's ninjutsu.

Then, Temari saw him standing on top of a raised rock, his hands still casually in his pockets, as if nothing had happened.

Shikamaru whistled softly, as if surprised by the power of Temari's jutsu.

"That's amazing." he said.

Temari was about to go crazy. How dare this guy tease her! Just like he did to Hyuga Neji, deliberately provoking her and testing her bottom line.

Temari took a deep breath, trying to control her rage that was about to explode and transform her anger into strength.

She knew that Nara Shikamaru was good at long-range attacks, as could be seen from his battle with Hyuga Neji. He could only exert his full strength at a long distance. But she had to be careful, because Shikamaru's Shadow Simulation Technique was very dangerous, and she couldn't let him get close to her. If she could anger Shikamaru and make him fight her in close combat...

Temari opened her fan again and twirled it like a dancer, unleashing another wave of ninjutsu.

This time, she hid a large number of detonating tags in the wind escape technique, which flew everywhere with the strong wind.

The detonating tags exploded one after another, blasting the rocks into pieces and sending them flying everywhere. Temari raised her fan to block the flying debris.

The stone fragments struck the steel frame and iron wood of the fan, making crisp sounds but causing no damage.

"oops."

As Temari raised her fan, she heard Shikamaru let out a small cry. How is this possible?!

This time the attack was all-round and powerful, even the strongest defense could not resist it. She had used this move to defeat many experienced jonin. Simple, effective, and impeccable.

However, Shikamaru only suffered minor injuries, a shallow scratch on his cheek, nothing more.

He wiped the blood off his face carelessly, his movements casually and slowly, as if he didn't care about the wound at all.

Temari finally understood why Hyuga Neji was so angry.

"You're so cruel." Shikamaru said calmly, "Are you always so impatient?"

Temari finally couldn't stand it anymore and exploded.

It turns out that trying to provoke Nara Shikamaru and make him fight in close combat is not a good idea.

The atmosphere around them seemed to change suddenly, and the temperature dropped sharply, even though the battlefield still lingered with the scorching scent of fire.

Before Temari could react, Shikamaru suddenly appeared in front of her.

She instinctively waved the fan in her hand and barely blocked Shikamaru's attack.

Temari's iron fan was heavier than her own weight, but in front of Shikamaru, the heavy weapon seemed to have lost its weight.

He held a sharp kunai against Temari's fan, easily neutralizing her attack, the tip of the kunai resting precisely under the axis of the fan.

Shikamaru was much stronger than he looked, and Temari could clearly see the taut muscles beneath his black shirt, how those muscles stretched up his arms, how they converged at his shoulders, and how they transmitted strength throughout his entire body.

In Temari's perception, which had been honed by countless battles, time seemed to slow down as they remained in a stalemate, motionless.

Nara Shikamaru said nothing, just raised his head with a mocking and angry smile on his lips, as dangerous as broken glass.

Then, Temari saw something in his eyes that horrified her.

Deep in those dark pupils, there flickered a golden light, filled with anger and predatory desire.

Temari felt like her blood was about to freeze.

She has the sharpest intuition among her peers, but what is hidden behind this boy makes her feel extremely scared.

The golden light quickly disappeared, as if it had never appeared.

But the lingering fear on Temari's spine reminded her that everything that just happened was real.

She saw something moving in the darkness, but she didn't dare to look away from Shikamaru because she could still see a hint of cruelty in Shikamaru's eyes.

The black shadow was getting closer and closer, and Temari finally saw its true face. It was a black shadow that was slowly wrapping around Shikamaru's arm, like a black poisonous snake, blending into his black shirt.

Shikamaru's muscles tensed even more.

Temari couldn't believe her eyes. Her fan moved, but how was this possible?

These damn shadows had to be some kind of augmented reality genjutsu, that was it; neither ninjutsu nor taijutsu had any effect on them, they weren't bound by the normal laws of physics like space and inertia.

They can touch, but cannot be touched.

But even the most powerful genjutsu couldn't enhance true muscle strength, nor could it serve as a secondary source of torque and power - it violated every law of chakra differentiation that Temari knew.

There was a low rumble, like the sound an earthquake makes before it cracks in the Earth's crust, like the low roar of an impending dust storm, barely visible on the horizon.

Shikamaru thrust her fan into the air with such force that it curved over her head, whipped through the air, and then fell to the ground with a deafening thump.

Before the ringing in her ears had faded, her arms were locked and Shikamaru's blade, paper-thin, was pointed coldly just below her chin.

The game is over.

---