Tayuya plays Makyou no ran (the Haunt of Pandemonium) and the three blind oni (demons) attack together. Shikamaru avoids the attack but then the oni open their sewn mouths and ghostlike wisps of tubes with lips come out. The lips open to reveal rows of sharp teeth. One of the eel-like creatures grazes by Shikamaru’s hand and eats his chakra. Shikamaru throws shurikens but they past right through. He sets an explosive seal and a smoke bomb to hide his retreat. He realizes he should go straight to the source to stop the sound from the flute, but it’s impossible to get close to Tayuya or use kage mane to stop the oni movements since they fight with uncertain timings. He thinks how there is no opening to attack Tayuya, and she would be really good at shogi. Shikamaru checks his equipment (12 kunais, 9 shurikens, 12 meters of wire, 1 flash bomb and 1 explosive seal) and thinks it’s like playing shogi with no hisha or kaku. Shikamaru assumes his thinking position.

Kiba wades in the river holding onto Akamaru and hides among the rocks. He takes out 3 food pills but Akamaru won’t eat them. He places Akamaru on his head and continues to wade in the water.

Shikamaru has finished thinking. He has nine attacks. He throws a kunai with an explosive seal at a tree (1) near Tayuya. It explodes and she is forced to jump to another tree. There is another kunai in a tree with a flashbomb (2) nearby. Then Shikamaru throws a kunai (3) at Tayuya but the oni with pinchers blocks it with his arms. The oni with bound arms jumps in the direction from where the kunai was thrown. Shikamaru throws a kunai (4) to cut a trap (a branch bent back with a kunai attached at the end) but the oni with pinchers blocks again. Another 4 kunais are blocked (5-8). Shikamaru drops in sight of Tayuya and throws a kunai to release the flash bomb (9) and the 3 oni advance towards him. Tayuya realizes he’s using the light to extend his shadow to bind the oni shadows! Tayuya complains how he could not have figured out the pattern of her song. Shikamaru says he didn’t bother to listen at all, he watched her fingers and the most interesting rule in shogi is that you’re able to use the pieces you’ve captured as your own. He grabs a kunai from one of the oni but Tayuya is not concerned at all. She says her flute is her only weapon then disspells the oni. Shikamaru appears shaken and falls to his knees, but he has bound her with his shadow coming from the back. He explains that the 3 pieces were a decoy and during an offensive move, the first attack is a fake, and the second attack is used to end the game. Tayuya activates her cursed seal to go to level 2. She tries to break the kage mane with her enormous chakra. Shikamaru then tries ninja technique kage kubi shibari no jutsu (shadow neck choke technique) and the shadow reaches up around her body toward her throat. Tayuya is able to raise the flute to her lips for mateki mugen onsa (demon flute illusion tune). The environment around Shikamaru starts to distort. He throws a kunai at Tayuya but misses by a wide margin and ends up in a branch in front of her. His shadow bind is released and his arms stretch out as if he were being crucified. In the illusionary state, he is strung up by strings. His right arms starts to melt and disintegrate and he screams in pain. Tayuya picks up the kunai from before and approaches Shikamaru. She’s about to stab him but he punches her in the stomach! He had used his shadow to break his finger to break free from the illusion. She tries to stab him but he has her in his shadow neck hold and since it’s at close proximity, it’s much stronger. He purposely threw the kunai to miss so she would be tempted to pick it up and come closer.

Review: Shikamaru is so smart! It’s always an interesting battle when he’s involved. The traps he set were cool!

Notes:

Shikamaru thinks how the ghosts consumed his physical energy, and since the shurikens went through them they’re probably made from something highly refined and weightless - mostly chakra from spiritual energy so they crave physical energy in order to maintain their stability.

Shogi pieces: hisha = rook, kaku = bishop

Shadow neck choke is like being grabbed by real hands.

We get to see Kiba without his ratty jacket.

The light from the flashbomb appears behind the oni and in front of Shikamaru so he could manipulate and extend his shadow to bind theirs easily.

Flute directions: Index and ring finger of right hand combined with the middle finger and pinky of the left makes oni with pinchers go forward while the index and ring finger of right hand combined with the left index finger and pinky moves the one with the club

Thoughts:

Tayuya is cuter at level 2 than in her normal state.