How Kurama Leads Naruto Astray

"Ugh," with no other choice, Shikamaru dropped a smoke bomb, watching as the thick smoke enveloped him.

This made Temari laugh. The smoke would block her vision as well as his, and the position of her iron fan was out of reach for his shadow imitation technique.

Without hesitation, Temari rushed towards her iron fan. By the time she got it, the smoke would have cleared. Even if he reached the center, she could use her powerful wind release first. Then, even if he used his shadow imitation, he'd be hit by her wind release.

She had won!

Stepping over the huge fallen trees, Temari saw her iron fan seemingly calling out to her. Just as she was about to grab it, victory within reach, her body suddenly froze. Why couldn't she move?

In disbelief, Temari looked down to see a thin black shadow stretching from afar, connecting with her own.

Impossible! How did he know where she was? No, his shadow couldn't stretch that far, could it?

Controlled by his technique, Temari stood rigidly straight and turned around. She wanted to break free from his ninjutsu, but she wasn't Gaara; she didn't have a tailed beast. To her, at this stage, the shadow imitation was an unsolvable technique.

Turning around, Temari finally saw the source of the shadow—it was the large tree she had overlooked!

Her eyes widened as she remembered the preliminaries when Shikamaru used his shadow imitation attached to the thread's shadow to control his opponent, "Can your shadow get longer by attaching to other shadows?"

The other half of the smoke was still spreading. As Temari stepped forward, Shikamaru's disheveled figure also emerged from the smoke.

He rubbed the back of his head, mirroring Temari's action, and slowly said, "The shadow imitation can indeed extend itself using other shadows. So, if there's something between you and me that casts a shadow, I can use that to increase the range of my technique."

And as time passed, with the sun setting, the shadow imitation's range would grow longer with the angle of the sunlight. Of course, there was no need to share that information with her.

Shikamaru lowered his hand, and they stood facing each other, less than five meters apart. Just then, Shikamaru smiled, "Shadow Imitation Technique, successful."

Temari's face turned ugly, very ugly, "You let me detect the range of your technique on purpose, making me think that taking the center would give me an advantage. You didn't use your technique again to hide the fact that it could extend."

"Using the smoke bomb, you made me think your target was the center. Then you deliberately exposed my chakra ninja tools to make me subconsciously think that with my ninja tools, I could win. From the start, your positioning wasn't to reach the center but to align yourself, the big tree, and the fan in a straight line, maximizing the distance of your technique. And in the end, you aimed at the direction of the fan using the shadow of the big tree because you knew I would definitely go back for my ninja tools."

Shikamaru looked up at the sky: "I guess so, but I didn't expect you to be so straightforward."

Indeed, she's very straightforward. Whatever the enemy says, she believes. It's hard to tell which lucky fool will end up with her. Married life is sure to be interesting since she's naive enough to believe even her enemies.

Temari... she's naive, not in the sense of being unintelligent, but rather emotionally naive. Otherwise, how could she have fallen out with Gaara to such an extent? Anyone with normal emotional intelligence could have risen to great heights by sticking close to their brother.

To put it plainly, she's straightforward, like a steel beam. In the end, it was Temari who confessed her feelings first, right at Naruto and Hinata's wedding.

What? You're saying Gaara was brutal when he was younger?

Well, Gaara became brutal because of his dad's influence. Before that, he was a cute little panda, fond of playing ball and frolicking with peers. Unfortunately, he was rejected, which led to occasional outbursts due to his mental breakdown.

Fear, that's how people view the Tailed Beasts, except for Uchiha Madara, Senju Hashirama, Uzumaki Mito, Uzumaki Kushina, and others, including the Akatsuki... why are there so many?

On second thought, it seems only those who haven't seen much of the world fear the Tailed Beasts. No, that's not quite right either,

Jiraiya and Tsunade have seen the world, and their attitude towards the Tailed Beasts isn't exactly fear, but they certainly don't want to face them.

The Akatsuki really don't treat the Tailed Beasts as such; they capture them as they please. Each member has the capability to fight a Tailed Beast alone. But when it comes to strength, half of them couldn't beat Jiraiya, which is quite curious.

Okay, I've gone off-topic. Anyway, now that Shikamaru has caught Temari, the fight might not be spectacular, but it's definitely far beyond what most people imagined.

Like Kurenai, she's been surprised ever since she realized Shikamaru's intentions and hasn't stopped being amazed. Seeing Shikamaru take control of Temari, she even rubbed her eyes as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing: "How did he do that?"

Asuma, smoking beside her, replied with a smile: "Didn't you see? He lured the girl to the right spot, then guided her into his attack range and took her down in one fell swoop."

"That sounds too simple," Kurenai retorted with a glance, "Not to mention the success rate of such a strategy, but that tree used to extend the shadow's reach is quite unbelievable. If everything in this fight went according to Shikamaru's plan, as you say, then did he know in advance where that tree would fall?"

That's impossible.

It's one thing for Temari's Ninjutsu to blow away the tree, and it's okay that Shikamaru knew she would use a powerful Ninjutsu since he exposed himself on purpose. But how did he know the tree would be blown away? And how did he know where it would fall?

This isn't just strategic fighting; it's more like Shikamaru is controlling the entire match.

"It's not as far-fetched as you think," Asuma said, shaking his head with a smile. "Shikamaru had a battle plan from the start, but he didn't stick to it rigidly. He optimized the plan with every variable and continued to execute it. There's no such thing as a perfect plan; his plan is always changing."

"How strong must his calculation abilities be?" Kurenai was skeptical, preferring to believe that Shikamaru just got lucky.

"Heh," Asuma chuckled, "Whether you believe it or not, Shikamaru can do it. He's... the most outstanding member of the Nara clan I've ever seen."

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