____________
[— Manga Scene —]
Shikamaru's shadow shot across the arena once again, forcing Temari to retreat, but as it continued chasing her, it finally began to shrink.
"It's shrinking!"
Temari stopped, realizing something.
'So there's a limit to how far his shadow can reach.'
…
Shikamaru sat against the wall and raised his eyes toward the sky.
'Ah… how I envy the clouds…'
'They're so free…'
'I have absolutely no desire to fight. The whole reason I became a ninja in the first place was so I could live my life the way I wanted…'
A small smile appeared on his face.
'But… it looks like it won't be that easy.'
…
Temari studied Shikamaru's shadow, then the wall behind him and the position of the sun.
"Even though you can stretch your shadow at will… you can't increase its overall size beyond its normal surface area, right?"
"Ha ha… right."
Temari retreated beyond the point where the shadow had stopped.
'This is the farthest his shadow can reach.'
'I'm definitely safe here.'
…
"Ninja Art: Wind Scythe!!"
Wind exploded across the arena, tearing branches away and scattering stones and dust in every direction.
In the stands, Tenten's eyes widened.
"That's the move she used to destroy my weapons!"
…
"But… hey, how can Shikamaru use his shadow anyway? I mean… he's already within the arena's shadow…"
Choji asked in confusion.
Ino raised a finger.
"If there's even a little bit of light, you can get a shadow within a shadow."
…
In the arena, Temari remained in position.
'Taking into account the sun's current position and his last maximum attack distance… I'm definitely safe here.'
Suddenly—
"Temari! Look up!!"
Kankuro shouted.
"!!"
Temari looked at the ground beside her.
From the hole Naruto had created in the previous match… another shadow began to stretch outward.
It connected with Shikamaru's shadow.
"No way!"
Temari leaped away.
But the shadow raced after her.
[— End Scene —]
…
Konohagakure:
In the seats occupied by the Nara Clan, Hiketsu said nothing when the scene ended.
Shikaku, meanwhile, went back three pages.
He studied Shikamaru's first attempt, then the second, before stopping at the moment when the shadow began to shrink.
"He showed her."
Hiketsu raised his eyes toward him.
"What?"
"His range."
Shikaku pointed at the page.
"Temari didn't guess where his shadow stopped. Shikamaru showed her himself."
A small smile appeared on Hiketsu's face.
"And did he lie to her?"
Shikaku paused.
Then he returned to Temari's words.
The shadow's surface area was limited.
His position near the wall allowed him to make use of the wall's shadow.
And this was the farthest distance his shadow could reach.
Everything was true.
"…No."
"That's the point."
Hiketsu returned his gaze to the volume.
"If he had given her false information, she would have searched for the flaw in it. Instead, he gave her everything she needed to reach a correct conclusion on her own."
Then he pointed toward the hole.
"Correct… but incomplete."
Shikaku's eyes narrowed.
He returned to the first time the shadow had rushed toward Temari, then followed her movements with every attack.
Shikamaru had not been hiding the limitations of his technique from her.
He had been displaying them.
Piece by piece.
Until Temari herself stopped at the place she believed was safe.
"The attacks weren't meant to catch her."
Shikaku finally said.
Hiketsu did not answer.
"He was teaching her where to stand."
This time, the older man's smile widened.
"Now you're starting to understand."
…
Beside them, Choza was staring at the hole on the final page.
"Wait…"
He flipped back.
Then returned to it.
"That's Naruto's hole."
"Yes."
Houzhô answered simply.
"Shikamaru didn't make it."
"Yes again."
Choza paused.
"So his plan depends on something someone else left behind in a previous match?"
Houzhô raised a piece of food toward his mouth.
"Is there a rule saying you can only use things you brought with you?"
Choza had no immediate answer.
From nearby, Shikaku heard them and returned his attention to the drawn arena.
The wall behind Shikamaru.
The wall's shadow.
The trees.
The position of the sun.
Then the hole.
All of those things had existed before the match began.
But to Shikamaru, they were not merely background scenery.
"I see…"
Shikaku said.
"The range of his shadow doesn't end where his own shadow ends."
Hiketsu looked at him.
"It ends where the shadows he can reach end."
Silence lingered for a second.
Then Hiketsu nodded.
"Exactly."
…
Nearby, Inoichi had stopped at a different scene.
Ino explaining the Shadow Possession Technique to Choji.
"If there's even a little bit of light, you can get a shadow within a shadow."
He read the sentence again.
"She knows the Nara techniques well."
Inoi smiled faintly.
"Better than the Akimichi, apparently."
Houzhô's voice immediately came from the nearby seats.
"We can hear you."
Inoi chuckled.
"I know."
But his eyes quickly returned to the page.
Nara.
Yamanaka.
Akimichi.
Three names had appeared together repeatedly throughout these exams, and now a Yamanaka girl was explaining a Nara technique as though she had seen it dozens of times before.
They did not need to assume anything beyond what the pages had shown them.
But one thing was becoming clearer with every chapter.
The three clans were still close in that future.
…
Sunagakure:
The Third Kazekage was not looking at Shikamaru.
He was looking at Temari.
From the beginning of the confrontation, the girl had not relied solely on the power of her fan. She had watched her opponent, studied his technique, discovered its limitations, and even taken the position of the sun and the shadows into account.
"She did everything correctly."
One of the Suna shinobi said.
"Almost."
The Kazekage replied.
He pointed toward the hole.
"She studied her opponent well."
Then his finger moved toward the shadow emerging from it.
"And forgot to study the battlefield."
The man fell silent.
The Kazekage turned back a page.
"The Nara didn't make this hole. That's why she never considered it part of what he could do."
Then he reopened the final page.
"And that was the mistake."
There was no need to explain further.
Temari had spent the entire match asking how far Shikamaru's shadow could reach.
The question she had never asked was:
What other shadow could he reach?
…
In the rear rows, one of the Suna shinobi struck his knee in frustration.
"He tricked her!"
A jonin beside him shook his head.
"How?"
"He made her think she was safe."
"Did he tell her that?"
The young man fell silent.
"Did he tell her his range?"
"…No."
"Did he tell her to stand there?"
This time, he gave no answer at all.
The jonin pointed toward Temari.
"She was the one who figured out his range."
Then toward where she stood.
"And she was the one who chose that position."
Finally, he pointed toward Shikamaru.
"He simply knew beforehand what she would do once she understood the information he had given her."
The young man looked at the page again.
And somehow, the trap seemed worse that way.
Because Shikamaru had not needed to deceive Temari.
He had only needed her to be intelligent.
…
The words reached the Third Kazekage as well.
For the first time since the match began, his attention shifted completely toward Shikamaru.
The boy who had entered the arena against his will.
Who had sat there staring at the clouds in the middle of the match.
Who seemed to regard the entire battle as a burden he wanted to get rid of as quickly as possible.
"Interesting."
"Temari?"
One of his men asked.
"No."
The Kazekage replied.
"The Nara."
He returned his eyes to the final page.
"The girl understood his technique."
Then his eyes narrowed slightly.
"But he understood how she would think after understanding it."
…
Konohagakure:
Shikaku still had not turned the page.
There was one last thing.
Something he had not noticed at first.
"Father."
"Hmm?"
"He didn't just need her outside the range of his shadow."
He pointed toward Temari's position.
"He needed her here."
Hiketsu looked at the page.
The hole was almost directly beside her foot.
Shikaku returned to the previous attacks.
With every attempt Shikamaru made, Temari retreated.
And with every retreat, she moved closer to that area.
"He was moving her."
This time, Hiketsu's smile disappeared.
Not because Shikaku was wrong.
But because his son had finally reached the point he had been waiting for.
"Continue."
Shikaku looked at the arena again.
Throughout the entire match, Temari had seemed to be the one controlling the distance. Her fan forced Shikamaru to remain far away, while she chose when to advance and when to retreat.
But she had always retreated in the same direction.
Toward where he wanted her.
On the page, Kankuro's shout came.
"Temari! Look up!!"
Her eyes widened.
The shadow emerged from the hole.
Connected with Shikamaru's.
Then rushed toward her.
"No way!"
Temari jumped.
But the shadow followed.
In the Nara seats, Shikaku leaned forward slightly.
Now he understood.
Temari had spent the entire match calculating how far Shikamaru's shadow could reach.
Shikamaru, meanwhile…
had been calculating where she would stand once she finished calculating.
____________
Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 233: An Innovative Fighting Style!
Chapter 234: I Give Up! (End of the Volume)
Chapter 235: What We Know About the Future
Chapter 236: Heroes of the Manga!
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