My eyes darted back and forth between the quivering vortex and the struggling equine. Jujo laughed in my direction and waved the scroll in front of my face. It flew into the dimensional rift just feet away from him and my body burned at the sight of his sneer.

“How long can you keep up that technique boy?” His face lit up with all sorts of crazy. As if that wasn’t enough, the incalculable number of clones trapped in the same technique all laughed as well. My eyes returned to the original Jujo Higuken and I reached into the satchel behind my waist. Asuma’s blades sent a cool chill up my arm, almost as if the guy whispered into my ear to keep my head amidst the chaos.

“Pinkie Pie,” I called, withdrawing the blades, “You’ve got to make sure you get out of harms way when I drop the Shadow Possession.”

“Are you crazy?!” I expected such a reply. She still didn’t understand.

“I can’t hold it for much longer, not with these many clones. I might have a way to get rid of them, but you’ll have to stay out of it.”

“Shikamaru, I’m not going to let you fight this Jujuju by yourself!”

“You’re encased in a wall of dirt Pinkie Pie,” I groaned. The shadows beneath me wavered suddenly. “This isn’t like those other times, you can’t stray from the plan!”

“What plan?! You never tell me your plans!”

Why do you have to be such a pain?! I bit my lip. I probably have twelve seconds after I release the jutsu. It’s small, but it’s still a window.

“Time is wasting kid,” Jujo declared obnoxiously. “We can wait until your shadows run out and you expend all of your chakra, or you can release me and I kill you and continue with my plan.”

“Either way, I still kill you,” a clone chuckled from behind. The multitudes bursted into obscene laughter.

Damn, my Shadow Possession is almost done. I’ve only got enough chakra to perform one more technique… Twilight and the Princesses are occupied with the Jujo clones in Canterlot, and a rip in the space-time dimension flutters about like a carefree flag. Come on Shikamaru, think...

Author's Notes:

I actually wanted this to be my first story on here, but I felt I wouldn't have done it right. All of my writing experiences so far now have prepared me for this moment. I don't see a lot of Shikamaru based fics on here, and I need to change that.

Prologue and Chapter 1, enjoy.