NUS Ch.13 Shadow vs Shadow

 Upper lip quivering, Margay looked out the corner of her eyes and held her breath. She felt black eyes on her body again. The girl never checked her surroundings and she worried about the person next to her. Could he be the man from her dreams? She shook her head, no, no. Leeandra explained he was still back in the village they passed, Suna. 'S-stop being so scared. Just be friendly and greet him.'  She could feel the slow and steady heartbeat of the person and relaxed.

 "What happened to you?" Kankuro asked, peering down at her.

 A pang went into her heart. His voice. Margay held her arms close to herself and dared to look. Purple paint, black clothes and black eyes. It was him. The man of her nightmare, the man from Suna, the man she feared was right there. As fear immobilize every inch of her body, she lost her voice.

 The puppet master tilted his head, confused if the brown haired girl didn't hear him. Of course she did or else why would she have faced him after he spoke to her. A hissing noise rung in his ears as he turned to the side of him. Nothing. He looked at his legs as he felt something wrap up to his waist, then his chest and finally, there was pressure around his neck, coiling powerfully. He reached for his throat but an invisible force blocked him. The snake squeezed and lowered his jaw, poison dripping from his fangs.

 "N-no, Seddu, stop hurting him!" Margay placed her hands on top of Kankuro's, pulling a coffee colored snake, unseeable to the ninja of sand, away. As the puppeteer caught his breath, Margay whispered to her protector. "Seddu, please don't do that."

 Seddu turned at the man then back at his child. "But, you were frighten. I felt your sense of danger."

 "I-I wasn't in distress-hon." She crawled over to him, apologizing weakly. "S-sir, I'm sorry. Are you alright?"

 "Yeah, I'm fine. What the hell was that about?" Kankuro shot a glare at the girl, un-nerved how she attacked him without laying a finger on him.

 The younger Lerush twin didn't know how to answer. Always living in Hitotoki, everyone understood the girls had spirits called protectors watching over them like children therefore, she never had to explain about her own, a king cobra. "I-It was not of my doing, please believe that." Standing, she shied away from him and shielded her face with a fan. Margay reached inside her jacket with her injured arm and handed a bottle of water. "Have this. Ah!"  

 He took her offer but grew concerned over her sudden cry of pain. "Shouldn't you get that looked at?"

 The time ninja switched hands with her fan and nodded her head. "I'm a-alright." She had used her medical ninjutsu to ease the pain but she needed to compress it. Blushing, Margay prostrate herself before him, placing his hand on her forehead. "I'm c-called Mar-Margay." So far, he was not acting like he did in her dream. She shouldn't have been so startled in the first place as Margay felt ashamed of herself for judging him. 'I'm such a horrible person.' They parted as she looked at the battle below.

 "My name is Kankuro. I signed up to fight that person everyone has been going against." He faced Caral as well but heard another cry.

 Margay held onto her wrist and leaned over the railing. "My fan!" She dropped it when another sting burning her skin.

 Kankuro found the item on the ground. It wasn't near the Nara nor the older Lerush which made his move easier. He pointed at it as a chakra string attached itself to the fan and sighed seeing Margay's sad face. "You need to stop whimpering like a beaten dog. I got this." A twitch of his finger and the fan strung into his hand. He grabbed her good hand on slapped the fan into her palm. "Here. Do you have any bandages?" Margay looked into her medical pouch and hesitated to give him the roll. She almost dropped it but Kankuro took it and tightly bounded her swollen wrist. "There."

 "T-thank you." She bowed and applied her medical ninjutsu, knowing it was now easier with the bandage she couldn't have wrapped by herself. He acted harsh but she manged to smile a little.

 "Shikamaru, please stop throwing things at Caral. It's not as if you can rip her cloak anyways." Leeandra complained, petting Kinco on her head. "Mom, I'm not even going to bother helping him anymore."

 Kinco laughed lightly. "Boys his age are foolish."

 'Is that so?' Shikamaru ran towards Caral and threw two kunai knives. She reached to deflect them but by the judge of the angle, they weren't aimed at her body but the ground.

 'A distraction perhaps?' She ignored the kunais' travel and focused on Shikamaru as he ran closer. He made the rat hand sign again and his shadow lunged. 'I must not allow his shadow to touch mine.' Caral tried to jump back but she was held down. She looked around for another shadow but there wasn't. She then faced where those knives stabbed her cloak into the dirt. She held onto the handles as the shadow closed in. Caral launched an ice blockage on the ground.

 "Huh?" The ice was in his pathway as the shadow stretched. 'Wait a second.' The shadow stopped when it met with the ice.

 Caral pulled on one kunai and removed it but noticed the shadow curved around the ice. 'He has that kind of control over his jutsu?' She sprout a larger formation of ice at the ground. She struggled with the second kunai as the shadow swerved around. Her body disappeared and reappeared further back near the trees. Shikamaru's shadow thinned as it become closer but reached a limit just an inch from Caral. 'So, it has a restriction on its distance.'

 The Nara retreated his shadow back to his feet. 'She's really fast. Moving that quickly should tire her out if I keep trying to get her. However, that'll tire me out too. Just a little more though.' His shadow struck from his feet curving pass the ice again.

 Salise watched, following the black mass heading for Caral, doubting his win. "Shikamaru can't touch her, she not within his range."

 "Shikamaru has a plan. He always does." Shino stated, looking as the shadow connected with the kunai Shikamaru gave Caral when he caught her. It increased as the girl moved further back away until it stopped. Again, Shikamaru ended his jutsu.

 He squatted and held his fingers together, going into that habit of his. 'Only one piece left.' The leaf ninja closed his eyes, smirking slightly.

 Naruto pointed out the lazy man's not so lethargic expression. "He looks pretty confident." Suddenly, an enormous shadow began to cast over head, sweeping the arena. "What the-?" The Uzumaki faced upwards and covered his eyes from the sun blinding him.

 "Is this another shadow jutsu?" Leeandra questioned as the whole area grew completely dark, engulfing the sheen from the weapons and darkening the light of day. Kinco pecked her head gently and looked up at the sky. "Why do you want me to-gah!" She hunkered down under the railing and huffed. "You can not be serious." Salise placed her palm on her face then rubbed the temples of her forehead. The Roteorn stared up into the darkness of the once blue sky and folded her arms tightly on her chest. "An eclipse of the sun?!"

 "Very unexpected." Kinco shook her head.

 'He can defiantly reach me in a situation like this.' Caral didn't know which direction he would attack her from and so, she twirled her body, freezing the ground and forming a circle barrier of ice around her feet. Keeping her gaze on the man, she only had to wait for the return of the sun.

 "What a turn of events." Kakashi stated, holding a flashlight to read his Icha Icha book. "Very lucky for our friend down there."

 Sasuke felt arms wrap around his waist, hugging him. Sakura held her tongue out at Ino and mocked her even if the blonde couldn't see them. "Let go of me, Sakura. I know you're not scared of the dark."

 "You can hang onto me if you like." Naruto joked since he knew Sakura wouldn't take his offer.

  'I never thought the eclipse which I looked forward to would be used against me.' No matter though, what could the other ninja possibly do? Feeling the coldness beneath her, the girl stayed in her circle, seeing it as the only safe spot. Soon, the sun flooded the arena with its warm light as the celestial event subsided. A shadow ran towards her, stretching out pass the former ice spots.

 Leeandra adjusted her arm as Kinco crept onto her shoulder, jeering the Nara. "What good will that do him? Caral protected herself already so he's just using up what's left of his chakra."  

 Asuma over heard her. 'Who is she talking to? No matter, Shikamaru, play your card. Believe me, we're all anxious to see.'

 The shadow stopped just a few inches from the edges of Caral's ice. Her hood turned downwards as it tried to move closer but it could not and recoiled back to its owner. 'I've seen enough of this man's skill to know his jutsu is only deadly in close proximity. I should defeat him to allow the next shinobi-' That familiar restraint around her body squeeze each time she twitched a muscle. 'H-He couldn't have-!' Her eyes darted to the ground in front of her where a shadow was not present. Then growling to herself upon finding the deception he played, she couldn't help but appreciate the effort. "Very clever."

 "There we go." The spiky haired ninja stood from his position, proud of the success in his strategy. "I'm not one for tricks but hey, that loud mouth konochi up there said this was a skills test."

 "What did he call me?!" Brown feathers ruffled out from her hair as Sasuke took noticed.

 The other teams watching tried to find the one trail of darkness from Caral to Shikamaru. Naruto looked into the cracks of the ground and bushes by the walls but nothing. "Where did he lock shadows?"

 Asuma clearly saw it and smiled, breathing in a puff from his cigarette. Ino grunted at his pleased expression, disliking being confused. "What is it sensei? How did he get her?"

 "Just watch."

 "I'm impressed with you and I don't say that to anyone." Caral stated, grinning under her mask from battling with such an amazing adversary. 'If it weren't for the fact he was a male born in this village instead of a female born in mine, imagine the victories he could gain with an IT.'

 "That girl up there didn't do you a lot of good. I noticed how easily you left your attention on me when she was yelling in the beginning. It's your main downfall. My kunai pinned your dense robe to the ground on my second try but when you got scared and used ice to stop my jutsu, that gave me an idea to make things easier."

 "What is he talking about? It did stop him." Neji asked, listening intently.

 Caral nodded as much as she could. "You tricked me."

 "I did and you fell for it plain and simple. I had you think my shadow couldn't go over obstacles so when the eclipse happened, you thought you protected yourself with the ice. In fact, the whole time I wanted you to stay in one place." He threw his hands up with a smirk. "I could have waited for a big cloud to drift by but who could predict that? Once the sun came out, just to make sure you didn't move or notice my second shadow, I made one right in front of you."

 "Second shadow? Where?" The Hyuga took another gaze along with the Uzumaki and turned up empty.

 "Look at his feet," Asuma declared, pointing to his lazy but brilliant pupil, "his shadow connected into the shade of the trees and by her feet you see it overlap the ice. As for constantly looking up at the sky, he was stalling to used the little surprise mother nature gave us as a cover up."

 Shikamaru held up senbons between each finger as Caral mirrored him again. He threw one set and then another. They aimed for her mask but Shikamaru made her dodge them at the last second. The shadow user threw eight shuriken and forced Caral to evade them as if they weren't for her. 'What's his angle? He knows he can't hurt me with those so why even used them and make them miss me?' She heard the sound of wood splintering apart by her face. Caral couldn't move but knew it was a tree cracking. 'Does he intend to crush me?'

 "And another thing I noticed. Those senbons and shurikens I just threw are the same ones you had earlier. They're pretty sharp, aren't they?" He poked the small holes in his collarbones where tiny lines of blood seeped out.

 "Ok, big deal! It doesn't take a genius to see they cut bark." The red head mocked. "You'll need a lot more to do any real damage to her if you plan on using a tree."

 Naturally, Shikamaru how to overcome that. "I'll use her own."

 Rejecting the idea, she pointed out to him. "Hm! You don't even know where Caral has them."

 "I do. You keep them in back pouches." He demonstrated by grabbing said weapons. "Kunais are on the right, shurikens on the left and senbons on the small of your back." The Shadow of Speed stood there then Shikamaru held out his arms where Caral showed her ninja tools. He caught the weapons after she sent them in his direction with some difficulty because of their weight. "I wasn't wasting time when we threw weapons back and forth, I was figuring out where yours were located."

 "So he planned this from the start?" Salise asked out loud.

 The younger Lerush could only blink at the incredible feat. "N-no one has ever been able to out smart my sister before." Then again, this wasn't a life or death crisis.

 "Let's see how well that armor of yours can hold up." Slashing a wedge into one side of the tree and then a small notch on the other, the wood creaked louder as its weight leaned to Caral's side.

'So long as I am caught, Teiryuu Taimu is useless.'  Very slowly, the towering tree split from its base as it fell downwards onto the cloaked girl.

 "He got her!" Ino exclaimed, waving a fist in the air.

 After making sure the collision completed, Shikamaru then released his jutsu on Caral. He saw folds of her robe sticking out from under the bark a then he faced Leeandra. "Alright, now can I go home?"

 She sneered and turned up her nose at him. She watched for any movement and exhaled heavily. "Well then-Ah!"

 Asuma heard crackling before seeing the large tree rise and flung at the Nara at high speeds. "Shikamaru move!" But, Shikamaru only had enough to time turn and feel the roughness scratch his cheek before it crashed into the arena's wall. Everyone held their breathes as their stares were onto the falling dirt showing shards of bark in a heap. "Shikamaru? Shikamaru!"

 "Sister used her Teiryuu Taimu jutsu." Margay whispered but Kankuro caught her words.

 "Teiryuu Taimu? Is that the jutsu that allows her to move so fast?" Margay nodded as Kankuro was glad to get some insight on Caral.  

 "Did she just...?" Naruto angrily advert his eyes to the Lerush but his eyebrows rose while he scratched his head. "Oh."

 Caral held Shikamaru like a groom carried his bride over the threshold. The Nara was still bracing for impact with crossed arms over his face but after hearing his name called, he peeked his head. He jolted from Caral's arms once seeing how close he was to her mask. Stumbling to his feet and glancing at what was left of the thrown tree, the leaf ninja couldn't understand how she pulled him away in time. 'That girl must be fast and strong.'

 "Hmp!" Leeandra raised her hand, shouting. "Since Shikamaru would have been a pancake if Caral hadn't saved him, she wins this round."

 "I'll have you know, my armor withstood that attempt. I have to say, I really enjoyed that battle. We should spend some time afterwards."

 He sighed. "My chakra was running pretty low but oh well. No one can say I gave up this time." Searching in the bushes, the Nara grumbled to himself until he found some of Caral's ninja tools. "I'll keep these as a reminder." With that, he returned to his teammates. Asuma patted his back with a grin while Choji offered a bag of his chips.

 "You deserve some of these."

 "I'm a little surprised you spoke to him." The crimson referee read into her scroll.

 Caral looked up at Leeandra and asked. "Who is my next opponent or rather, student?"

 Someone moved against the foliage of the arena and lunged out before Caral, ready for battle. After wanting a closer look, he was hidden, out of sight, watching every move for a while. He knew what to expect and wondered why no one else thought of it. "I am." The shinobi answered.

 "Who might you be?"

 Leeandra answered. "Neji Hyuga."

 "I know how you fight. I'm aware of your techniques." Seeing as she never once used a ninjutsu or genjutsu, Neji believed she was much like Rock Lee, solely relying on taijutsu. If that were the case, he would subdue her easily. 'Except her speed is astonishing. After blocking all her chakra points she won't be able to move.' He took his battle stance of spreading his feet and holding his palms forward.  

 "You're wise to take such an action. Let us see if it's enough." Caral stated, waiting for him to begin.

 He noted her pattern of not going first and advised. "Patience is a virtue but it could be a mistake in combat."

 Caral's fist tighten, her voice stern. "I've learned from another's mistake that you should always be patient because you never know the outcome of your actions if you rush into it." Mist seeped from the mouth part of her mask with a snarl leaving her lips.

 "I want to prove how expedient I am. Prepare yourself." He warned once his Byakugan released, spreading veins from his eyes. There was a problem. 'What is this?' His vision of her body was blurred by something. From what he could make out, her bones where horrendously disfigured, elongated and thick. 'What is she?' It caught him off guard but he remained attentive. 'It doesn't matter if I can not see her points, they're found in the same places.'