"Shikamaru, that jutsu of yours, what was that about? Did your father teach you?"
In a quiet, empty clearing, Asuma looked at Shikamaru with open curiosity.
"That? Nah, it wasn't from my dad."
Shikamaru gave a lazy smile. Asuma had clearly been referring to the shadow trap Shikamaru had cast earlier, the one that spread out in a one-meter radius.
"I came up with it myself. I call it Shadow Snare. You already saw what it does. It sets a trap made of my shadow within a limited radius. Only one meter, though…"
He explained honestly. There was no point hiding it, especially not from Asuma, who knew his father inside and out.
"Oh?"
A strange gleam flashed through Asuma's eyes. He regarded Shikamaru with a mix of surprise and admiration. Creating a new jutsu was no small feat. Even though Shadow Snare would be classified as a B-rank technique at best, it was incredibly effective in close combat. For someone his age, it was nothing short of remarkable.
Since the day teams were assigned, Asuma had been leading Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino on daily D-rank missions, things like pulling weeds, babysitting, and finding lost pets.
By the second day, Shikamaru had had enough. He left a shadow clone behind to go through the motions with the team while he himself snuck off, dressed in a newly bought casual outfit, hair untied and all. Quietly, he slipped out of the village.
"Ugh… My strength might be Chūnin-level now, but I've got zero real combat experience. Hm... Maybe I'll start by hunting some bandits. It'll be good practice, and technically, a public service."
Wandering through the dense forest, Shikamaru muttered to himself, cloaked in a new outfit that made him nearly unrecognizable.
On an unnamed mountain, a bandit gang had made their hideout. Shikamaru soon arrived at the foot of the hill and casually strolled up to the front gate.
"Stop right there, brat! Who are you? What do you want?"
The guard at the entrance shouted, leveling his weapon.
"Me?" Shikamaru's tone turned cold and sharp. "I'm the one here to kill you."
His fingers blurred through hand signs.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Poof poof poof poof!
Ten clones burst into being around him.
"Wipe out everyone in the hideout."
"Yes!"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The ten clones shot into the base like streaks of black lightning. Shikamaru darted in after them, vanishing in a blink.
He had removed his training weights earlier, and his current speed now rivaled that of Lee during the Chunin Exams after dropping his own. But unlike Lee, Shikamaru wasn't fond of taijutsu, so his hand-to-hand skill wasn't quite at that level.
Screams soon echoed from within the mountain fortress. Shikamaru moved like a shadow, his presence swift and lethal. One by one, the lives of the bandits were extinguished. Old, young, men, women, it didn't matter. At first, Shikamaru hesitated. His hands trembled with uncertainty. But with every life he took, the hesitation dulled.
When the final scream died out, silence fell over the blood-soaked compound. Bodies lay scattered across the ground, limbs twisted, eyes wide in death. Blood dyed the dirt red, and a heavy stench of iron hung in the air.
A breeze stirred.
Shikamaru, his clothes soaked in blood, suddenly snapped out of it.
"Urgh!"
He doubled over and vomited, face pale and drained. The aftershock of his first kill hit him hard.
It took a long while for his breathing to return to normal. Eventually, he composed himself, gave the carnage one last glance, and disappeared into the forest.
From that day forward, the bandits around the Land of Fire, especially near Konoha, found themselves in a nightmare. One den after another fell. What most ninja ignored unless part of a mission, Shikamaru treated it as training. Even bandit groups led by rogue ninja weren't spared, most were Genin-level, and little more than warm-up practice.
Not long after, while taking a break back in Konoha, one of his shadow clones relayed some news:
Team 7 had accepted the mission to escort a bridge builder to the Land of Waves.
Shikamaru had adapted shadow clones for communication after getting the idea from fanfics he'd read in his previous life, and to his surprise, it actually worked. Of course, each message meant sacrificing one clone.
"So… another part of the story is beginning, huh?"
Shikamaru looked up at the sky and muttered.
With a flicker of movement, he turned toward the Land of Waves. There was no way he was going to miss that arc, not when it was one of the best parts of the whole series.
And besides… he still wanted to know:
Was Haku really a guy?