Gaaras dilemma and Shikamarus despair

Shikamaru stood up from his seat. The eyes of his comrades turned to him, but even if he was nervous, he tried to play it cool. Still, there was nothing he couldd o about the beads of cold sweat that began to run down his forehead. "Sheesh, I really hope this guy plays by your rules, Naruto.", he muttered to his blond friend.

"Hey, I'm telling you, it's true. I told Temari that he should take it easy on everyone but me, okay?", Naruto assured his body. He believed her when she had promised him to make Gaara swear on it.

Shikamaru scratched his head as he heard Naruto say this. "Yeah yeah, I believe that... the problem is, do you really think he's going to to do that?", he wondered aloud as he looked over to the small balcony over the arena where Gaara stood.

And indeed, Gaara exuded a strong bloodlust. The last fight had excited him. The pain that the kunoichi had inflicted on the blond had stirred Gaaras inner beast. Temari noticed the psychotic stare of her brother. "Gaara! Remember what you promised me? No killing, okay?", she reminded him of her words earlier.

Her brother turned to look at her. His eyes showed that he knew only disdain for his older sister. But he would comply for now. "Yes. But I will kill Uzumaki Naruto today. Down there or anywhere else... he will die...", Gaara said in a still monotone voice. Then, he disappeared in a swirl of sand and reappeared in the arena.

Temari swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat as Gaara had stared at her. That was definitely bad. All Temari could do was hope that her brother could retain his control for a bit longer.

"Well... see you later, I hope.", Shikamaru said with a wry smile and headed off to the arena, the voices of his friends in his ears that wished him good luck. 'Good luck... yeah, I can really need that.', he thought to himself. He was already working out several strategies, but none seemed too sure. After all, they were both range fights whose weapons were rather flexible. They were pretty much even in terms of resources, only that Gaaras sand was much more powerful in terms of sheer destruction...

Still uneasy, Shikamaru arrived in the arena a moment later. The proctor, confirming that both fighters were present, raised his hand. "The fifth match, Sunagakure-nin Subaku no Gaara vs. Konohagakure-nin Nara Shikamaru! BEGIN!"

The first thing Shikamaru did was to hop back a considerable distance. He needed to know more about Gaara than just what he had seen in his fight with Rock Lee. Gaara meanwhile simply let the lid of his gourd pop out and his sand slowly spilled out, floating around his body like several halos.

It was an intimidating sight, but Shikamaru evaluated his chances. 'I can't reach him like that, but I still don't know his range... if this monster even has something like that.', he analyzed Gaara. In his earlier fight, Gaara had demonstrated several abilities.

The fighters simply stared at each other for a few minutes, each one not too sure how to begin, but for different reasons. Shikamaru thought about how to win without getting killed while Gaara wondered how to win without killing.

Finally and surprisingly, it was Gaara who raised his voice. "You're not the one I want to fight... give up. You saw what happens if you don't.", he growled, making only a thinly veiled threat with a nod towards Rock Lee.

But Shikamaru was not so easily intimidated. "Well, it's a pain in the ass, that's for sure, but... my friends are watching, so it would be kinda lame for me to just stick my tail between the legs and run.", he replied with a smirk. He could only hope to not regret those words later.

Gaara did not reply. Just as he thought the conversation had already ended, Shikamarus attention was drawn to a small, almost unnoticable movement on the ground. A crack appeared there and not only that, it grew. It curved around him and then, the ground below to him began to shake softly. 'No way... it doesn't even have to be his own sand!', Shikamaru exclaimed in his head as he jumped away from the now hostile ground.

It was a decision made not a second too early as the ground sacked in and turned into something like quicksand. That was it. That was definite proof that Gaara had no range. Shikamaru knew that the ground was not safe anymore. No, he had to go someplace else, and so he used the technique Kakashi had taught them way back and ran up the wall of the arena. At least here, he wouldn't have to worry about the ground sucking him in.

But there was no time to relax, because now, there was little option left for Shikamaru. He HAD to attack or give up. And since he had forbidden himself from doing the latter that easily, it led to him crouching and performing the handseals necessary for his jutsu.

The distance was still a little too far away, but there was something that cast a shadown on the ground that he could use to lengthen his jutsu: Gaaras own sand that still swirled around him. "Kagemane no jutsu!", he proclaimed as his jutsu activated.

The shadow crawled down the wall and over the ground, and then into the shadow of the sand on the ground. And then, it connected with Gaara, who had either not seen or simply ignored this jutsu, as he had not made any step in this match so far. "Shadow possession successful.", he said confidently as he stood and slowly raised his arm, with Gaara repeating the motion.

His friends in the audience erupted into a cheer. "Yes! Now he has him! This fight is over, Shikamaru did it!", Kiba cheered. Once an emeny was caught, it was over. He knew it. Now Shikamaru only had to crack out a nice scheme to make that Gaara-kid lose and they could all celebrate.

Shikamaru too knew that. But something was off. Then Shikamaru noticed something moving behind him and jumped away from it on instinct, cancelling his jutsu in the process. He hadn't been wrong, right behind him, the sand had formed a huge ball that would have crushed him if he hadn't moved. "Not good...", Shikamaru muttered. Whatever jutsu this was, it was clear now that Gaara did not need his body to control it...

Which meant that there was a substantial difference between the two. He needed to activate his jutsu and it only had a certain reach, but Gaaras sand could be everywhere in a flash. And that was the case now, as Shikamaru was encircled by the sand. There was no way out except...

"I give up! There's no way I can win this.", he said loudly as he raised his own hand. "You have no range, you can manipulate the very ground I stand on and you need no handseals to control your sand. In short, you're superior to me. To keep fighting would be suicide.", Shikamaru explained to Gaara who only looked at him with an indifferent look. He held his promise at least...

"Winner of the match: Subaku no Gaara!!!", the proctor exclaimed as the shoulders of Shikamaru slumped. He had lost, yeah. But at least he was still alive...

The judges were a bit at a loss on what they should note about this fight. "Hmm, if you get down to it, it was a pretty short fight.", one said, cratching his chin in thought. Could there even be much to take note off in this fight? "But that kid made pretty accurate observations of his enemy by just this one action. And then chose the best option. Not only for him, but also for other under his command on a battlefield...", the other responded.

The Kazekage was satisfied with the outcome of this battle. "And this one is my son... so far, my two children have done well. Hmm, by the way, that famous prodigy Uchiha Sasuke still hasn't shown up, Hokage.", he mentioned. Seeing how Sasuke was only due next round to the the number of contestants being uneven, it was still weird that he hadn't appeared at all.

Thoughtfully, the Hokage nodded. "Yes, I know. Even if it pains me, he'll be disqualified. Punctuality was not something his teacher was famous for, but I would've thought at least for this, Kakashi would be able to make it.", he replied, regretting a little that such a fine shinobi like Kakashi still had those traits.

But the name caught the Kazekages attention. Kakashi, that was a name that was famous far beyond the borders of the Fire Nation. "Hatake Kakashi you say is his sensei? Why Hokage, let's wait for the Uchiha a little longer. He still has some time before he needs to be in the arena, right?", he suggested.

The Hokage nodded again. "You're right. A lot of people have come to see him fight... it would be a shame to let them down.", he agreed finally. The shinobi down in the arena looked up to the Hokage for further instructions. He wasn't sure if he should disqualify Uchiha Sasuke now or not.

But a nod from the Hokage answered it all. Interpreting it correctly, Hayate turned back to the audience. "We'll now begin with the second round of the finals... if the two next contestants would please come down to the arena again?", the Special Jounin called out.