Dancing Leaf, Squirming Sand

Caught and beaten, Shikamaru raises his hand — to forfeit. Out of chakra, two hundred moves deep in a fight he'd already won on points, he calculates that promotion isn't worth the next round and quits at his moment of triumph, scandalizing the stadium and delighting the examiners measuring judgment over jutsu. Then the leaves swirl: Kakashi and Sasuke materialize in the arena, fashionably catastrophic, new speed on display. The Kazekage's veil hides a smile. Gaara, in the tunnel, kills two ambushers on his way down.