Sasuke was satisfied with the latest results. Zaku winning his fight meant that Sasuke might face him again in the Finals, and the fact that he'd done so by removing one of that monster's teammates from the final line-up was icing on the cake. Not that Sasuke hadn't seen it coming. He already knew that Zaku and Temari used the same Wind Element, their only difference being the way they used it. This made the outcome simple to predict. In a battle of power versus flexibility, flexibility won every time, and there were only so many techniques the broad sweeps of a war fan could facilitate.

Zaku had also been laughing his head off at his partner Kiba's performance against Kabuto. Apparently Kabuto had led Kiba around the arena like a Carnation Country matador, constantly evading without revealing a single one of his techniques, and finally tricked the frustrated genin into using a super-high-speed taijutsu attack to crash headfirst into a wall. It would have been a lot more impressive if Sasuke hadn't been aware of the true gap in strength between the two.

But the final battle was the only one Sasuke had any interest in. It was obvious by process of elimination that it would feature Naruto, Shikamaru, Tenten and Kin in some combination. And while it would be absurd to suggest that Sasuke was cheering for his rival, fighting him in the Finals would be even better than getting his revenge on Zaku or Kin, and infinitely preferable to having to find a way to defeat that thing.

For now, though, he had a different problem on his mind. Kabuto had asked him some very pointed questions, almost as if he suspected that Sasuke was hiding something, and Sasuke still didn't know whether his acting had fooled the jōnin. Nor was he sure that he'd done the right thing. When he thought about it…

Unsanctioned encounter with a foreign ninja? Check.

Missing-nin? Check.

S-rank criminal? Check.

Capable of penetrating Leaf's defensive barrier without raising the alarm? Check.

Knows information that might make a difference to Leaf's survival? Check.

Is almost certainly evil, despite his assurances? Check.

Has plans, probably sinister ones, for one or more Leaf ninja? Check.

Implicitly has spies in Leaf? Check.

Only a madman would hesitate to tell the authorities in the face of that list. Except…

Orochimaru was prepared. It was impossible for him not to acknowledge the possibility that Sasuke might report him. If anything, he'd probably planned around it, thinking of ways to take advantage of the fact that Leaf knew (or thought they knew) certain facts about him and his actions. He may even have deliberately fed Sasuke information with that in mind, leaving the truth for after Sasuke was committed to his cause. If that were true, it would be frankly irresponsible for Sasuke to report him.

On the other hand, if Orochimaru could predict that Sasuke would report him, could he not also predict that Sasuke was insightful enough to be aware of all this? He might have deliberately presented himself a certain way in order to make Sasuke want to report him but decide against it. With his apparent ability to read Sasuke's mind, he might exceed even the mind game prowess of the Uchiha.

There was an argument for telling the authorities and letting them decide how many layers of deception Orochimaru was using. But that would take the decision about joining him out of Sasuke's hands. There was no possible way they'd allow him to go if they were aware of the possibility. Sasuke still wasn't sure what he wanted—but he knew that if he gave away control of his destiny, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

And there were other considerations. Sasuke could easily believe Orochimaru's claims that reporting would have negative consequences for him, Sasuke, personally. Ever since Madara, Leaf policy had tended towards paranoia where its missing-nin were concerned, and Sasuke was the brother of one of the worst. He was already the cursed Uchiha who carried the mark of a terrible disaster, and whom Itachi had suspiciously left untouched. The brother of one of the Leaf missing-nin to join Akatsuki did not need to be known for consorting with the other.

Besides, he reasoned, if he made the decision not to join Orochimaru, he could always report the conversation to them then. Whatever the fallout for not doing so straight away, it could not be worse than having control over his future being taken out of his hands. And conversely, if he decided to accept Orochimaru's offer, it would no longer matter when and how it had been made.

So Sasuke would put off the decision until he had a chance to think about it some more. It was the only rational thing to do.

Sasuke looked up at the announcement screen.

"Nara Shikamaru…

"and Tenten…

"versus…

"Uzumaki Naruto...

"and Tsuchi Kin."

Don't disappoint me, Naruto...

-o-

Naruto and Kin stared at each other uncomfortably.

"Right," Naruto said, "I don't have much time, so could you just tell me what you can do? I know you're a taijutsu user and you can use genjutsu with the bells on your throwing needles. Anything else?"

Kin sneered. "It was enough to take out you and your little playmates, wasn't it?"

Naruto didn't dignify that with an answer, partly because he didn't want to admit she was right. He was really starting to hate genjutsu.

"Is there anything else you can do?" he repeated. "I can't come up with a plan if I don't know all our options."

Kin was silent for a few seconds, looking away.

"No," she said quietly. "No, that's it."

"Seriously?" Naruto couldn't help the note of incredulity slipping into his voice. When he thought about the variety Zaku had shown with his ninjutsu arsenal…

Kin whipped around. "Some of us didn't get to grow up in a fancy ninja village with friendly jōnin falling over themselves to hand us an 'education' on a plate. Dosu and I joined Sound on merit, after surviving a hell where a spoiled brat like you wouldn't last an hour. We completely crushed you with maybe a fifth of your training—so you can take your condescension and shove it right up your ass.

"Now, you got a plan or what?"

-o-

Shikamaru considered Tenten, who was playing with the clip on her shuriken holster but otherwise seemed to be paying attention.

"Are you OK with following my suggestions during this fight?"

"As long as they're not stupid."

"And are you OK with me taking control of your body with Shadow Imitation in an emergency?"

"As long as you don't do anything weird."

Shikamaru nodded.

"Now, I know you have an exceptionally good memory, and I have a system of codes I've prepared for you to memorise. But first, please tell me what equipment you've got with you, including in the storage seals, as quickly as you can."

Tenten's eyes lit up with a sudden glow.

"ThirtyexplosivetagsseventyshurikenonebrandnewFūmashurikenfortykunaifourkusarigamafoursicklestwolargemacesoneflailfourshortswords…"

-o-

In the absence of any special equipment or preparation time, Naruto's only notable assets were shadow clones and Kin. Given that he was facing an opponent who probably knew about the Shadow Clone Technique, Naruto would really have liked to have more options. But if there was one thing the Academy took pains to drum into every student, it was that genin did not attempt to learn new techniques on their own, and the instructors took an unhealthy delight in showing children examples of why not. Naruto hadn't forgotten being shown the girl who'd started to mould Fire Element chakra on her own and didn't know how to stop (the worst part was how little there was in the urn), or the finalist who'd thought the Earth Element's Flesh to Stone Technique would give him a secret edge in the Genin Exam (and was now regularly knocked over by students doing cleanup duty in the second storage shed). As for learning a super-advanced ninjutsu like the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique without supervision… there were plenty of safer ways to gain new powers, like stabbing himself through the heart with a magic katana, or having monster parts implanted into his body, or making pacts with supernatural beings without checking exactly what they wanted in return. Naruto still couldn't articulate what had possessed him.

Meanwhile, Kakashi-sensei had been understandably in no hurry to teach a freshly-graduated class idiot new ninjutsu in the days before Wave, and after Wave they'd spent all their time on the road. Since their return, Naruto had had enough other things on his mind to overlook the possibility of advanced training, and he was regretting it now.

Naruto's second asset was Kin. He didn't want to rely on her for taijutsu—if she was really a new recruit, it would be dangerous to put her up against Tenten, whereas Shikamaru wouldn't require much skill to take out if you managed to trap him in melee in the first place. Her other ability was more interesting. Genin weren't taught how to defend against genjutsu, only how to dispel it once it was active. Granted, having to put a bell next to the target, instead of simply making seals the way Kurenai-sensei did, was pretty lame. But if he forgot the genjutsu part and just looked at it as an unblockable, one-hit-kill area-of-effect ranged attack, it suddenly became quite promising.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru had his Shadow Imitation Technique, which at its most basic completely locked down one target as long as you were willing to keep spending the chakra and not doing anything else useful. Naruto felt confident that there were more advanced applications as well—he could already think of several ways in which forcing someone to mimic your movements could be used to take them out or make them a hazard to their own team.

Shikamaru also had to be fairly intelligent to have accomplished this much with the resources available to him. He himself had a single narrow-applicability technique, and Ino had a single powerful and expensive ability that left her helpless if it missed. Chōji was a very respectable taijutsu user with specialised ninjutsu skills, but one good fighter did not a Chūnin-Exam-conquering team make. And yet.

On top of that, Shikamaru's notable asset was Tenten, an older and more experienced genin whose only known qualities were specialisation in tool use, an abrasive personality, and exceptional proficiency in the use of storage seals. The last of which was cause for special concern, because depending on her skill and equipment clearance they could contain anything from spare kunai to a trebuchet.

Now, as for objectives…

Shikamaru was a team player, and that meant he'd probably want Tenten to win as well. Certainly, he wasn't going to stab her in the back. If nothing else, he'd still be in the same village after the exam was over, and the cold hells had no fury like a kunoichi scorned who probably had access to enough chains, blades and pointy things to set up her own ANBU interrogation facility.

Shikamaru's strategy would thus have to revolve around eliminating Naruto, since that would leave Tenten with Kin, against whom she was at a major advantage. She could freely choose to engage at range or in melee (her unknown taijutsu skills augmented by a wide arsenal of weapons), and she had multiple means of deflecting Kin's bells. On the other hand, if Shikamaru were the one left with Kin, he'd be stuck with no real way to deal with her attacks, trying to use one medium-range technique against an enemy equally comfortable at long and melee range.

On the third hand (a perk of the Shadow Clone Technique), if Shikamaru were to eliminate Kin himself, he'd leave Naruto with Tenten, a dangerous match-up for her. Tenten might have an enormous arsenal, but Naruto could create virtually any object if he knew its structure in sufficient detail (or a lot of objects, anyway—the Transformation Technique wasn't magic), and he'd managed to get through the exam so far without demonstrating most of his techniques, and Shikamaru would likely know both of these things.

On the fourth hand, Shikamaru wouldn't want to be left alone with him either. Given Shikamaru's low raw firepower, Naruto could simply bury him in clones. So Shikamaru would need to rely on Tenten to simultaneously defend him and create an opening through which he could take out Naruto, thereby both winning himself and leaving Tenten with her preferred opponent.

That would be another weakness for Shikamaru: he couldn't take opportunities to eliminate Kin even if he saw them, because it would leave one of the team alone with Naruto, and both would be necessary to take him out.

Overall, then, the two teams would pursue asymmetric goals. Shikamaru would seek to take out Naruto with Tenten's support, while trying to avoid or disable, but not defeat, Kin.

Naruto's objective was simpler. He'd heard about the abuse—not combat injuries but unnecessary abuse—that Kin had inflicted on Sakura while he'd stood by, oblivious. In a way, being left to imagine it was even worse than if he'd seen it himself.

So his aim was to have either of his opponents take Kin down once she outlived her usefulness, removing themselves from the battlefield in the process, even if he had to place Shikamaru in check to force him to do it.

-o-

"I'm sorry about this, Naruto," Shikamaru said as the barriers went down. "But my mum made me promise that I'd make a real effort to get into the Finals. Meaning I can't hold back too much."

Naruto shrugged. Other people's responsibilities to their parents were not something he had a great deal of respect for, especially after seeing the effect they had on Hinata. And if Shikamaru thought he could beat him while holding back at all—well, Naruto looked forward to the coming curb-stomp.

"Uzumaki-style Ninjutsu: Private Party Technique!"

A bunch of shadow clones transformed into the soundproof black panels Naruto was coming to love, placing him in a sealed environment. While he made his preparations, Kin served as his eyes on the outside, watching enemy activity and ready to alert him by destroying the rear panel if necessary.

He managed to stow away his equipment pouch just in time as Tenten popped his panels with shuriken. Well, two could play at that game. Or ten. Or thirty.

"Uzumaki-style Shurikenjutsu: Firing Squad Technique!"

Several rows of shadow clones began throwing shuriken at great speed, some aimed at Shikamaru but the majority targeted at the floor, walls and ceiling.

Tenten moved to protect Shikamaru without a second's delay. Drawing a huge war fan from a storage scroll, she proceeded to block shuriken after shuriken with exact motions that wasted no unnecessary energy. Most vanished in puffs of shadow clone smoke, but a few were real enough to bounce off in random directions.

And then there were the five that flew over her head, just out of blocking reach. Each was a clone ready to transform, touch off the rear wall and go for Shikamaru's undefended back with the kind of explosive horizontal leap he'd accidentally learned during tree walking.

While they were still flying, Shikamaru reached for a storage scroll. Then, in a single turning motion, he drew one of Tenten's katanas out of it and performed a textbook iaijutsu slash. The clones, only just landing on the wall, were in no position to dodge.

So far, it was as Naruto had suspected. He'd need to get past Tenten in order to have a clear shot at Shikamaru. The bad news was that Shikamaru had apparently been smart enough to borrow some of Tenten's gear and that he knew uses for it that weren't part of Academy training, both of which would make his capabilities that much harder to predict. The good news was that, judging from that move, his strength and speed were still mediocre, and nobody in this day and age took iaijutsu seriously anyway. If Naruto could get a clone or two within melee range, it wouldn't matter if Shikamaru had been trained by one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen.

The next step, then, was to deal with Tenten. Naruto's firing squad drew kunai and advanced in a particularly intimidating manga-inspired formation.

"C-4!" Shikamaru called out.

Tenten swiftly interposed herself between Shikamaru and the clones, a many-headed flail whirling around her. Like the Demon Brothers' bladed chain, flails were an obscure weapon, one from an age predating standardised ninja gear, and difficult to counter using normal taijutsu. But while they had some distinctive strengths, including reach and power, they also had certain disadvantages. For one, they required total concentration to wield, as their potential for self-harm was even greater than that of nunchaku. For another, they limited the user's range of motion, since once you started whirling a flail, it was very hard to stop, and tricky to quickly change direction.

These two weaknesses naturally suggested which of his plans Naruto would pursue next. His clones moved in.

Tenten alternated broad swings with small abrupt motions, careful footwork keeping her stable as the flail ceased to be an individual weapon and became a solid steel aura of death around her. To Naruto's rapidly vanishing clones, her offence was not a matter of individual blows, but rather of instant destruction as soon as they entered her expanded range.

Naruto waited until Tenten's focus became absolute, then gave the signal. Tenten's own skill would be her downfall as—

A clone froze as Shikamaru's elongated shadow touched its own. The clone, out of an entire crowd of indistinguishable clones assaulting Tenten.

Shikamaru sharply slapped himself on the chest. The clone, trapped by the Shadow Imitation Technique, was forced to do the same. The damage dispelled its disguise—revealing Kin, who had been this close to bringing her bells within effective range of an unsuspecting Tenten.

Shikamaru reached for another storage scroll, and pulled out a set of ANBU-style manacles. Why did Tenten carry around ANBU-style manacles? No, stupid question. She was a highly-prepared kunoichi who was on the same team as Rock Lee.

Tenten kept Naruto's clones locked down while Shikamaru tossed the manacles to Kin. In an impressive feat of coordination, he moved his hands so that she made the catch. Kin began to shackle herself…

"Substitution Technique!"

If there was one thing Naruto could not permit to happen, it was having Shikamaru take Kin out of the fight without formally making her surrender, leaving Naruto in a two-on-one scenario. Kin certainly wouldn't surrender of her own accord, not when sticking around meant letting the enemy team pound Naruto into dust while she watched.

However, nor was she going to let herself be defeated while there was still a chance to win. Naruto had consent to swap with her, leaving him caught in Shikamaru's technique while she disappeared together with the still-unlocked manacles. Before Shikamaru could do anything, Kin used their agreed-on emergency anti-Shadow Imitation counter. Namely, she kicked him hard in the side, sending him flying and breaking the connection.

Naruto didn't know how Shikamaru had managed to single out Kin, but that had been too close. Somehow or other, Shikamaru had deduced Naruto's plans for her, which meant he could no longer use her as a sacrificial pawn—at least not until a really good opportunity came up. But there was no time to dwell on it. His error had been to use a tactic with a single point of weakness, one which Shikamaru could exploit despite his low offensive capability. This time he would do better.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

Tenten moved in to intercept.

"E-7!" Shikamaru called out.

Tenten drew a full-sized naginata from a storage scroll maybe twice the length of her hand. Her first swing obliterated an entire line of clones, as they had not been prepared for anything like that sort of range and speed.

The clones were pressed hard, their numbers barely compensating for their constant destruction as Tenten spun in unpredictable circles and spirals, ducking to perform low sweeps, rising with diagonal slashes, reversing direction at unexpected moments and occasionally using the back end of the weapon to stop clones coming in from behind. Watching from the rear of the room, Naruto found himself entranced by the deadly beauty of her dance.

It would take Uzumaki Naruto himself to overcome that level of incredible martial superiority. Fortunately, he was Uzumaki Naruto himself.

"Uzumaki-style Taijutsu: Spoked Wheel Technique!"

Naruto visualised the space around Tenten as divided into regular radial segments, each clone assigned a segment from which they would attack and move, attack and move, with coordinated timing that would consistently create blind spots for Tenten. Without superhuman reflexes or eyes in the back of her head, it was only a matter of time until she went down. He created and dispelled a clone to send the others the information.

Each clone immediately created another shadow clone, pre-transformed into a spear. Naruto was aware that kunai weren't always enough for melee combat, and had taken the time to familiarise himself with the materials and structure of a few different weapons specifically for this sort of situation. Of course, Naruto wasn't particularly good with spears, and they'd vanish with a single instance of solid contact, but he vastly outnumbered Tenten and he only needed one solid hit.

After a few seconds, the first blind spot came up. The clone caught the timing for a killer thrust—and froze for a fraction of a second as Shikamaru's shadow flicked against his foot. His balance disturbed, he missed his opportunity, and Tenten quickly destroyed him.

The same thing happened again and again. Shikamaru's shadow lashed out for a series of touches, like a cat's tongue lapping water, each so brief that it barely cost any chakra to maintain, but lasting just long enough to disrupt the clones' movements and make them vulnerable. And every time, it was the clone in position for a successful hit.

Shikamaru had worked out the pattern.

Naruto quickly created and popped more clones, devising new patterns as fast as he could to stay ahead of Shikamaru's power to decode them—while simultaneously generating new spearmen to reinforce the steadily dwindling army.

He was fighting a losing battle. Tenten seemed to have an extraordinary ability to concentrate on her taijutsu, getting the best out of whatever weapon she was wielding, while Shikamaru's support kept Naruto from taking advantage of her one-pointed focus.

But unlike the flail, the naginata's motion did not risk knocking Kin's bells away before they could do their work. And the inertia of its broad movements would make it hard to dodge even if she saw the attack coming in time.

Naruto watched Kin throw the needle—and then Tenten, aborting a movement that she should not have had the reflexes to abort, knocked it out of the air at the limit of the naginata's range.

For a split second, Naruto was completely bewildered. Then he saw Shikamaru's shadow withdraw from Tenten's.

At that same instant, Shikamaru, his hands already together in the seal he was using to chain Shadow Imitations, segued smoothly into the Substitution Technique, swapping places with one of Naruto's discarded shuriken and evading the needle meant for him in the nick of time.

Naruto felt his temper starting to rise. Even when he was fighting Zabuza, there'd been a certain back-and-forth dynamic, the two fighters reacting to each other's techniques and constantly looking for turnaround opportunities and unexpected advantages. But Shikamaru, a mere fellow genin, was simply standing there and shutting down every single move as if he'd seen it coming.

"How in cold hell can you be prepared for everything?!"

Shikamaru gave him a sardonic look.

"A shinobi does not need to prepare for every possible stratagem," he said like an Academy instructor quoting some great work of ninja wisdom. "Only for the ones his enemy will use."

Shikamaru's superior attitude was making Naruto even angrier. Screw trying to find Shikamaru's weaknesses through iterative testing. It was time to set up for the endgame.

Naruto sent another bunch of clones at Shikamaru. Naturally, Tenten moved to intercept.

Shikamaru's Substitution had left him standing close to a side wall, and the clones split into four groups accordingly. One ran along the floor as normal. One ran along the wall, attacking Tenten from a new angle. One ran further up the wall, circling around outside Tenten's reach to get onto the rear wall and attack Shikamaru. And one moved onto the ceiling, waiting for a chance to drop down with a surprise attack.

"L-1! F-13!"

Without looking, Tenten threw a kunai in a random direction.

The third group pushed off against the rear wall, flying at Shikamaru, kunai out and ready for any more unexpected katanas.

"Substitution Technique!"

Shikamaru vanished from sight—to be replaced by Tenten's kunai. Substituting with someone else's thrown kunai was not normally possible. You'd need to know its speed and angle of throw very precisely, which suggested that either his pre-made codes had included exacting instructions on how to throw (and Tenten was capable of carrying them out without error), or that he'd calculated the necessary values on the fly. Both possibilities were disturbing in their own ways.

Just as the clones reached the transported kunai, the explosive tag attached to it went off.

With one group down, the remaining three focused on Tenten, now ready to attack her from both horizontal and vertical positions and this time taking advantage of a spear's extensive reach.

"B-8!"

Tenten swapped weapons quickly, drawing two short swords and taking a few steps back. As the clones attempted to stab her, she quickly dealt a light chopping blow to each spear, making it vanish.

Naruto changed tactics. On a signal, his clones created swords as well, though only one each. He'd experimented with dual-wielding before, and quickly come to the conclusion that there were more efficient ways to slice himself into ribbons (which made Tenten's expertise all the more surprising). On the plus side, his research into swords had also taught him about sword-breakers, cool sawtooth-like edges that would capture Tenten's blades just long enough to leave her vulnerable as the clone swords popped.

The clones on the wall could no longer reach Tenten directly without coming down to the floor. But they had other options. As Tenten fought, clone after clone launched itself from the wall or ceiling—out of the way of any pesky Shadow Imitation—and flew through the air at her blind spots.

"5-3-18! 5-8-11! 5-7-7!"

Shikamaru rapidly reeled off instruction after instruction. Tenten turned and twisted accordingly, destroying clone after clone that should have been in perfect ambushing position.

That one at least Naruto could decode. They were his clones' spatial coordinates, and he had the perfect counter lined up.

"Uzumaki-style Ninjutsu: Signal to Noise Technique!"

"7-6-10!"

"4-6-4-9!"

"42-42-564!"

Tenten frowned.

There were half a dozen additional Shikamarus in her peripheral vision, each shouting out random numbers, and her constant motion left her unable to track which one was real.

Naruto was pleased with his move for about three seconds before he noticed that Tenten was continuing to listen only to the real Shikamaru.

"What?! How?!" the increasingly aggravated Naruto demanded.

"I don't follow stupid instructions," Tenten said in a matter-of-fact voice as she destroyed the last clone.

Through the gradually descending screen of rage, a little alarm bell rang through Naruto's mind. There was something wrong with Shikamaru's strategy.

"Why are you fighting so defensively? There's no way you can win if you don't attack!"

"A ninja only needs one opening to win," Shikamaru told him, that wise-man-quote voice even more irritating the second time round. "The rest of the battle is spent preparing for it."

That line sent a shiver down Naruto's spine. Did Shikamaru mean he'd... no, he couldn't have.

Whatever. Naruto couldn't revise his plans based on a single throwaway line that was probably intended as psychological warfare anyway. He nodded to one of the clones he'd been keeping for personal defence ever since the Private Party Technique. The clone swapped with a real kunai which a now-gone clone had dropped almost directly at Tenten's feet.

"Uzumaki-style Taijutsu: One-Man Army Technique!"

Suddenly, that clone became enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Every single item of his clothing had transformed back into a shadow clone—forehead protector, wristbands, jacket, trousers, sandals, underwear…

The original clone quickly dispelled himself before the smoke faded and the other ninja were hit with an unintended form of the Sexy Technique.

Tenten, on the other hand, was now surrounded by a whole crowd of shadow clones in tight proximity, not taking the time to draw weapons but attacking bare-handed before she could react.

She destroyed several immediately, but the extreme close range was a problem for her swords, and one clone managed to hit her hard on the back with an open palm strike, making her stumble forwards. The rest immediately piled on top of her, and soon she was lost in the ensuing mountain.

At least for a second. Then the clones on one side of the pile started popping, one after another. Tenten quickly worked her way out, revealing the punch daggers in her hands. She dropped them in favour of a mace, and went to work on the prone clones before they could get up.

That was the final straw.

"Just remember, Shikamaru. What happens next is on you. You made me do this. You made me use the Uzumaki Style's one forbidden technique."

Naruto struck a dramatic pose and took a deep breath.

"Uzumaki-style Kinjutsu!"

There was a cloud of smoke, and a chorus of dozens of ninja shouting "Substitution Technique" in a single voice.

When the smoke cleared, countless Kins were standing on every available surface, in the places where the various shuriken and discarded objects had been before. The objects themselves were all now piled up in one small area around where Naruto had been, leaving only a single predictable spot for anyone wishing to use the Substitution Technique to escape.

Without hesitation, all of the Kins threw their needles at Shikamaru.

The countless angles made conventional dodging impossible. If Tenten didn't protect him, the real set of bells would reach him and he'd fall under the genjutsu. If she did, it would incapacitate her instead.

Shikamaru had time for one and only one instruction.

"12-43-17."

Then a lot of things happened very fast.

As the first clone needle hit Shikamaru, it vanished from existence—but so did he.

The Kin army, instantly drawing the obvious conclusion, dispelled their disguises. Only two Kins remained.

"Shadow Imitation Technique!"

Before anyone could react, Tenten lashed out with a very long weighted chain, wrapping it around one of the Naruto clones and yanking it towards her. The clone soared through the air, then slammed against the floor at Tenten's feet hard enough to make it disappear. A caltrop which had previously been in its pocket fell to the floor.

Shikamaru's shadow was already in motion. It moved through the caltrop's shadow, and twisted around to capture the other, real, Kin.

Naruto, in caltrop form, had time for a moment of horrified realisation. As far as he knew, the Shadow Imitation Technique could not be used to hold multiple people at the same time, whether as a limitation of Shikamaru's chakra reserves, his control or the technique itself. But he was not a person right now—and if the difficulty of holding someone was set by the target's size, chakra level or ability to physically resist, then in any of those scenarios he was helpless.

Tenten picked up the caltrop and held it tight, leaving Naruto unable to transform back thanks to the Rule of Conservation of Space.

"You've lost. Dispel your clones."

Naruto didn't have a choice. While he couldn't surrender in caltrop form, and he wasn't unconscious, by any real-world measure he was as good as dead. The clone army vanished.

Shikamaru, having dispelled his disguise in order to use the Shadow Imitation Technique, had no expression on his face as he addressed Tenten. "Now, can I make one last suggestion? Please throw Naruto at the wall as hard as you can, and have a weapon ready to deal a killing blow as soon as he transforms back."

Then he turned to consider Kin, still held in the Shadow Imitation. At some point during the battle, she'd swapped her kunai holster to be on the same side as his (the left, as opposed to the right where ninja normally kept them), preventing the obvious Shadow Imitation trick. Casually, Shikamaru reached into his holster and pulled out one particular kunai, its blade missing and the broken-off edge blunt. He raised it to his throat. Kin imitated his movements, but the kunai she held next to her carotid artery had a distinct, sharp edge.

"I surrender," Kin muttered.

Tenten began to lift her arm for the throw.

There was a puff of smoke. The small slip of colour-matched paper on her back, glued there with an open-palm strike by one of the members of the One-Man Army, transformed into a shadow clone. While you couldn't transform into a liquid, any liquids you happened to have on your person when you used the Transformation Technique made the journey with you into phase space, and that included glue-covered objects (with the bonus that the glue wasn't going to dry in the absence of air).

The clone sharply slapped the back of her wrist to make her drop the caltrop. Then he grabbed said wrist and pulled her off-balance. Before she knew it, she was on the floor with a kunai pressed against the back of her neck.

"I surrender," she acknowledged.

The battle was over. As an afterthought, Shikamaru removed his earplugs.