Everyone eagerly awaited Sasuke, anticipating the next match against Gaara.
Examiner: "We'll briefly delay this fight and move on to the next one."
Shikamaru: "Hey! That means my match is coming up sooner!"
Hinoka: "Oh, come on, Shikamaru, don't be like that!"
Examiner: "Alright, onto the next pair! Temari and Shino Aburame! Step forward!"
As both fighters prepared, the battle began.
Shino released his bugs, but Temari countered with a strong gust of wind, pushing him and his bugs back.
Despite Temari's constant attacks, Shino managed to evade, keeping up his defense.
Temari used a strong wind attack, blowing back Shino and his bugs with him. He hit the wall, struggling to his feet as Temari was preparing to throw another attack at him.
But before she could, she stumbled back and fell to the ground clearly exhausted.
"What? I shouldn't be this tired yet." Termari mumbled to herself as she tried to stand back up but was unable to.
The crowd was surprised while Shino calmly stood up, dragging his body across to Temari as he explained, "My bugs have been absorbing your chakra throughout the fight, and it seems you've finally run out."
He stopped in front of her as a swarm of bugs flew out from under his clothes, surrounding the two, "I'm surprised. I thought the ninjas from the Sand would be stronger."
"Who knew Shino was this cool!" I exclaimed, watching in anticipation.
Approaching Temari, the examiner asked, "Can you still continue?"
Struggling to get up, Temari shook her head and said, "No," looking irritated; she wanted to make him eat his words but didn't have the strength to do anything.
Examiner: "The winner is Shino Aburame. Next, Shikamaru Nara and Hinoka Hyuga. Step forward!"
Hinoka: "Yeah, finally my turn!"
I jumped down to the arena pumped from the last fight and looked up at Shikamaru, who wasn't moving.
Shikamaru: "Maybe I should abstain."
Just then, Naruto hit Shikamaru on the back, saying, "C'mon! Shikamaru, fight hard!" sending him falling into the arena.
The examiner announced the begining of the match as I smiled and started running towards Shikamaru.
"Hey Shikamaru, where's your fighting spirit?" I asked, punching where Shikamaru was, but as the cloud of dirt cleared and I looked at the gigantic hole I created, Shikamaru was gone. I looked up to see him.
Shikamaru: "It doesn't really matter if I become a Chunin or not. But there's no reason why a man should lose to a woman."
Hinoka: "Is that so? Well, we'll see who wins, Shikamaru!" I said with a grin.
"Well… let's do it," Shikamaru replied with a slight smile on his face.
I charged towards Shikamaru with a kunai, which he blocked with his own. I tried to kick him, but he dodged by jumping down. As I turned, he was already gone.
I couldn't help but think, 'What are you planning on doing, Shikamaru?'
I knew better than anyone just how smart he was; after all, if I didn't, after losing almost a thousand times to him, I'd be a fool.
After a while, Shikamaru stepped out with a smile on his face, which I returned as I ran towards him and attacked from above with a kunai which he blocked with his own.
Shikamaru: "You're seriously using close-ranged attacks knowing my jutsu?"
Hinoka: "Yep."
I jumped back as I stared at Shikamaru, before running towards him again, thinking, 'I need to find a way to beat him… I could always just wait for him to run out of chakra...'
As I ran towards him, his shadow started coming towards me. I dodged it as I got closer to him; when I was about to slash him, I spotted his shadow from behind me.
'That's what he was planning. He wanted to lure me in, and when I would be about to strike, he would use his hidden jutsu.'
Just as I was about to hit Shikamaru, I jumped over him and was about to kick him when he said, "Okay, that's it, I give up."
I stopped and landed on my butt. Looking at him, dumbstruck.
He said as he continued, "It's too much of a drag fighting you. Even if I make the perfect plan, you'll find a way to drag this match out, and I would end up using all my chakra, and you would end up beating me, so I might as well just give up now."
I was trying to contain my laugh as the examiner said, "The winner is Hinoka Hyuga."
Shikamaru extended his hand to help me up with this look on his face that said, 'My hand's tired; hurry up.'
I grabbed his hand, standing up as we walked back.
I looked at Shikamaru and said, "The first time we get to fight against each other, and you decide to quit."
Shikamaru: "It was too much of a drag."
I smiled as I said, "You never change."