02x07 - Zero Motivation: The Guy with Cloud Envy!

[bunniefuu]

Damn, Naruto...

Envy Of The Clouds...
A Man With No Drive

They are disappointed and in a bad
mood because they have to watch the...

...side-kicks' fight, instead of Sasuke's fight,
which they were looking forward to see.

There’s no meaning to do this match
since nobody is looking forward to it.

What's wrong?

Are you going to forfeit too?

My opponent is a woman again?

From the start he doesn't have any drive to do anything.

Damn it! What's he doing?

Hey, Shikamaru! Do your best!

If you don't start things, I'm going to!

Hey, I didn't say the match begins...

Gezz... This woman is full of drive to fight.

If I can't become one, I don't need to be a Chunin...

...but a man shouldn't lose to a woman.

Well, I guess I'm gonna fight.

He's quick to run away.

A man shouldn't hit a woman with his fists...

...but I don't want to get beaten up by her either.

I remember that he's a Ninja who uses shadows.

Kagemane-no Jutsu

He wants to pull me into the woods where
shadows are everywhere, but I won't let him.

Why do only I have to fight against women. Shit!

Shikamaru! Beat that woman up with a -continuous hit combo!

May I sit next to you?

What? Did your stomach fully recover already?

Yup.

Potato Chips!

Huh? Wasn't the next match Sasuke's?

It's alright, isn't it Sakura?
Because it's Sasuke-kun after all...

I'm going to leave her alone for now.

Shikamaru being in the final round
seems to be out of place, isn't it?

Don't say that. It may be true that
he doesn't have any special skills...

...but Shikamaru is always good at creating battle plans.

I think that is why we survived
to the prelims of the final round.

Oh, yeah. That’s true.

Just a second ago, he jumped down to the arena by himself.

He seems to be excited unlike usual.
He has some part that is "hot"!

Go for it, Shikamaru!

Oh man. I envy the clouds... they're free.

Anyways, I have no drive. The reason why I
became Ninja is I thought I can live easily.

Be a man! Shikamaru!

But, I guess it won't be that easy.

What an idiotic face he puts on. It gets on my nerves.

Ninpo Kamaitachi
(Blade of Wind)

That's right. With this attack, my
w*apon att*cks were all shut out.

I see.

Kagemane no Jutsu, the secret is out.

I see that there's a limit to extend,
shorten, or change the shape of shadow.

No matter how much you change the shape or extend it,
you can only extend to the size equal to your surface area.

Isn't that true?

You're right.

Even if I assume that he extended his body shadow
from the edge of the shadow of the arena's wall...

This is the limitation for his shadow to
extend. This is the maximum reach he can attack.

meters and centimeters

She calculated the distance with her fan.

She's better at long distance battles than
a close match. The result is obvious already.

What? What is that In (hand seal)?

That isn't an In. It's like his habit.

Habit?

He knows to enjoy how time flows slowly. He's like an old man.

He likes Igo and Shogi and he has me
as his opponent all the time. But...

...whenever he's stuck, he does that every single time.

Why?

He's planning a battle.

Therefore, I have never won against him.

A battle plan? This is true battle, not a game.

But people say that the game originated
from the real battle plan tools.

In other words, Shikamaru is an able military brain.

Hold on a sec. When making Genin teams, I saw his
grades and it was almost the same level as Naruto.

He said he was always sleeping during the academy's
paper exams because even moving a pencil is too tiresome.

Tiresome?

I didn't get it because he was so good at battle-planning games.
So, I once had him take an IQ test, saying it's just another game.

And, what was the result?

The best of the best. He is a super genius with an IQ of .

?

He's done thinking. It begins from now.

I can see you're a little bit motivated now.

There's no use hiding.

I wonder if he actually has a battle plan.

Probably...

He can't get any closer with that. Shikamaru, Do your best!

I think it's useless. He's going to give up soon.
He's one who thinks everything is troublesome.

He won't... I believe he won't... or not...

How long are you going to run? Stop it already!

Useless. As long as I'm outside of this
line, there' no way he can catch me...

No, hold on. That's not good!

Impressive to see through that.

I see that you took your time to wait for the sun to come down.

It's to have the line of the wall shadow extended, and
hence increase the surface area of your body shadow.

As sun comes down, the shadow gets longer. Isn't that right?

So close!

But why can he use a shadow? He's
inside of the shadow of the arena.

If there's a slight light, then there will be a shadow
within a shadow. You don't know anything about Shikamaru.

Shadow in a shadow?

Calculating based on the height of the sun and the last max
distance of his attack, there's no trick of this distance.

Temari, above you!

I see.

What is it?

Damn it!

I'm not gonna let you run away.

Who'd guess he'll create a shadow he needed
by using his clothes as a parachute.

What a guy.

If I noticed the parachute above, then my
attention to the shadow below me would be less.

It's an annoying attack without any chance to work.

But, that makes it very clear. Kagemaneno-jutsu is...

...a jutsu to catch the opponent by using other shadows.

You dodged this attack, too, eh?

He didn't have the good last move.

Yeah. His opponent is also a good
analyst. She read the next move very well.

If the fight goes slowly, the shadow of the arena
wall expands and his territory would expand, too.

I'll finish with the next move.

I make a feint operation with Bunshin-no jutsu.

Right now, his shadow is...

Good.

Bunshin no...

No way!

My body...

Finally, Kagemane no Jutsu succeeded.

What?

How's that possible?

How many moves ahead is he reading?

That's Shikamaru's ability.

Why doesn't my body move? His
shadow shouldn't be able to reach here.

I'll let you see behind you.

The hole...

You were watching it, too, right?

That hole is the one Naruto came out by digging through.

That’s why it's connected to the big hole in front of you.

That means there's a shadow inside of the hole...

Right.

This is Shogi with a lot of calculation.

Letting Temari know the limit of
the shadow and let her calculate...

...it over and over was the subplot
for the final use of the holes.

Temari always chased only the visible shadow, calculated
the limit line and battled from outside of the line.

He cornered her with an invisible shadow which is
outside of her calculation, and caught her from the behind.

There's no way out.

Perhaps...

The attack with his clothes shadow was to lead me to this position?

That was a subplot? This guy...

The next is checkmate.

My body moves without my will. I can't stop it.

Everybody is into this game now.

A guy nobody marked was a good one.

Alright! Finish up!

Go, Shikamaru!

Checkmate.

I lose. I give up.

I told you that he gives up. Ino
doesn't know anything about Shikamaru.

What did you say?

I can't hold you any longer than more seconds because
I used up my chakra for doing Kagemane so many times.

I thought about of the next moves,
but all seem to be out of time.

It's so troublesome now. One game is enough for me.

What a strange guy.

Winner, Temari.

Wow, such a great cheer like nothing like before!

Of course. This exam's main battle's going to
start. Well, I am also looking forward to it.

Shikamaru. I couldn't hear what you said.

The main battle that everybody was long waited
for. There's nobody who's not excited in this arena.

I can never take my eyes off from this match.