Original subtitles

Thank you for

watching!

Damn that Naruto.

Zero motivation.

The guy with cloud envy.

They don't care about this match.

Just the warm -up for the main event.

All they care about is watching Sasuke.

Listen to me.

The jerks.

Well, if that's the way they're gonna be, maybe I won't give them a match at

all. Why knock myself out for them?

What is it?

You planning on giving up too?

And to top it off, my opponent's a girl.

Again.

Well,

he never was very driven. But this?

Gather, Shikamaru! You gonna get going sometime this year?

Well, if you won't move, I will.

Hey, I didn't start the match yet. I forgot.

This girl's a spunky one. I hate spunky.

It really doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me whether I ever become a

Chunin or not.

But I guess maybe I shouldn't let myself get beaten by a female.

So, let's do it.

He's quick enough when it comes to running away.

I know it's not very classy for a guy to clobber a girl, but whoever said I was

classy?

Nice try, but I know what your game is.

Shadow Possession Futsu!

He's trying to lure me into the shadow of that tree.

I'm not falling for that.

So why do I always have to fight girls?

It sucks, man.

Go for it, Shikamaru!

Use the super ultimate technique on her and take that bitch down!

Yo, is this seat taken?

I thought you were in the hospital. Your stomach's okay now?

What's up?

I thought Sasuke's match was supposed to be next.

Oh, I'm sure Sasuke's fine.

He'll be here any minute now.

Man, you'd think her puppy died or something.

Hmm, never expected to see Shikamaru in the final.

Weird.

What do you mean? Come on.

Shikamaru may not have as much fighting spirit as some other people.

And okay, his technique is pretty lousy, but he's strong at strategy.

So strong, in fact, that without him, we might not have gotten through the

preliminary round.

Well, maybe.

What's more, you should have seen how he threw himself into the arena.

I'm telling you, Choji, he seems unusually aggressive.

I think he's going to show us his passionate side today.

Sometimes I wish I was a cloud.

Just floating along.

Going wherever the breeze takes me.

That's my style.

I'm just not into putting effort into stuff.

The only reason I became a ninja was so I could do whatever I wanted.

Jeez. Who knew it'd be so much work?

A guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do.

What's he thinking behind that stupid grin? Is he mocking me?

Ninja Art!

One, two, three, go!

I remember.

This is how she beat me in our fight. Nothing I threw at her could get past

Now I get it.

Almost got me.

Aren't you clever?

With that shadow possession jutsu of yours, you can manipulate any shadow

in.

The wall's shadow, for instance. But there's a limit, isn't there? No matter

thin you stretch it, it'll only reach so far.

Isn't that right?

You got me.

And now I know just where that limit is. Even using the wall's shadow, his jutsu

can only reach to here.

16 meters, 32 centimeters.

That's the range of his attack.

If I can just stay outside this line, he can't touch me.

She's measured his range.

This plays right to her strength. She's better at long -range attacks anyway.

This match is as good as over.

What's that?

A hand sign?

No, he's not making a hand sign.

It's something more like a habit.

A habit?

That kid.

He's like an old man. He likes to take things slowly.

I mean, really slowly.

That's why he's so good at games like Go and Shogi.

He's always challenging me to a match.

Whenever he gets stuck in a move... He does that thing with his hands.

What does it mean?

He's working on a strategy.

Huh?

All the times we've played, I've never beaten him.

Well, that's fine, but...

This is a real fight, not some game of shogi.

Strategy on a game board is no different from strategy on the field of battle,

and all great generals know that.

Shikamaru's got the mind of a great general. Just you watch.

You could have fooled me.

Don't forget, I saw the test scores when we grouped the genin.

His were no better than Naruto's, maybe worse.

He says the act of putting pencil to paper is a drag. It's too much work for

him. He'd rather take a nap than a written exam.

He would, huh?

I didn't say he wasn't lazy.

But he was so good at strategy games, I had him take an IQ test.

Of course, I had to deceive him into thinking it was just another game.

What happened?

Hmm.

As I suspected, his score was almost off the charts. Beyond genius. The kid has

an IQ of over 200.

200?

He's done thinking.

Now it begins.

So you have some fighting spirit after all.

No use

in hiding!

Are you sure he's even got a strategy?

I hope so.

Look at that. He can't get anywhere near her.

Go, Shikamaru! Do something!

Don't waste your breath.

He'll give up soon.

This is way too much work for him. What are you talking about?

No way he's going to give up.

At least, I don't think he's going to give up.

You can't hide forever!

Forget it. As long as I stay on this side of the line, he can't touch me.

What the?

It's still coming.

You're pretty quick on your toes.

Now I see what you've been up to.

You weren't just hiding. You were killing time, waiting for the sun to get

and the shadow of that wall to get longer.

The longer the shadows, the farther your range is, right?

Damn! He almost got her!

How's Shikamaru gonna use his shadow anyway?

I mean, what's he gonna do? He's in the shadow of the arena already.

Unbelievable! You really don't know anything about what Shikamaru's capable

do you? He can use anything.

He can even make shadows within shadows.

Shadows within... shadows?

All right. If I just calculate the height of the sun and measuring the

he's gained from his previous attack, I can still keep out of range.

No problem.

Hmph.

Tamari! Over your head!

Hmph.

What is that?

Got you now!

He made a parachute out of his jacket to create an extra shadow.

Clever move.

Now I not only have to worry about the shadows on the ground, I have to keep an

eye on this thing above my head. And it extends his range indefinitely.

Guess I've been underestimating this lack of clown.

His shadow possessions you through is a lot more dangerous than I thought.

She learns fast, I'll give her that.

Good, but not good enough.

She thinks in the same way he does.

She's a strategist, too.

The longer this match takes, the lower the sun gets. The longer the shadow, the

farther his ring.

Time to finish this.

I'll create a diversion with the clones you two.

Yeah, that'll work.

Now! Clone jutsu!

What?

My body!

It's frozen!

It took a while, but my shadow possession finally worked.

No!

How the hell did he do that?

Amazing. He was thinking three moves ahead all along.

As I said, that's Shikamaru's strength.

Impossible. How could he have caught me with his shadow?

It couldn't reach this far.

Look behind you. I'll let you.

Don't you recognize that hole?

It's where Naruto popped out of the ground and knocked Neji for a loop.

The hole in front of you is where he went into the ground.

The two are connected.

Now I see.

I never thought of the shadows underground.

That was your mistake.

Like I said, he's thinking three moves ahead.

He gets her to retreat behind the line she thinks is the limit of his shadow

attack. Then, just when she's starting to feel safe, he surprises her by

extending his range, forcing her to fall back again, all the time making her

think it's her idea, when actually he's maneuvering her closer and closer to

that hole behind her. And then she's caught.

Now that's how you play the game.

I don't believe you.

The whole time I thought I was keeping out of range of his shadow jutsu, when I

was really walking right into it.

Amazing.

This slacker clown outsmarted me.

The next move is checkmate.

He's got control of my body.

I'm helpless.

Look at everybody. A minute ago, they were throwing things at him.

Well, who would have ever thought the guy turned out to be a ringer?

Yeah, he did it! He pulled off an upset!

You got her! Way to go!

Checkmate.

The hell with it. I give up. Huh?

Huh?

He what?

You've got to be kidding me! Sousa!

See? I told you he'd give up.

Looks like I know Shumaru a little bit better than you do, huh?

I used up all my chakra on that shadow possession jutsu.

I'm good for about another ten seconds, and that's it.

Bummer. And here I'd already planned out the next two hundred moves in my head.

But my chakra's running low.

Anyway, if I was to win this thing, it would just mean more work.

This guy is something else.

The winner is...

Tamari.

I said it's the big match. It's Sasuke. That's why everyone's going crazy.

I can't hear you. The crowd's making too much noise.

Forget it. Next time, Dancing...