The chunin exams are an even bigger drab than Shikamaru could have possibly anticipated. How'd he even get talked into this crap? He could be napping. He could be doing literally anything else. But no, Asuma-sensei had to talk them into this. Now he's locked in to participating in a camping trip deathmatch round. The first stage was one thing, but this? This is a problem. He wonders how much his team would hate him if he disqualified them; all the same, by the time the genin start the trek to the next area he already knows that’s not going to happen. No matter how much he’d rather be asleep.

The long walk clear across Konoha isn’t helping his nerves any. There's so many other nin left still. Even after so many washed out or gave up during the written test, there has to be at least 150-something genin left by the time they filter out of the classrooms. He gets a good startle when a Sand team he hadn’t seen yet goes swanning past him. Shikamaru takes stock of them entirely despite himself. They look especially ridiculous, even for ninja, except for how they make Shikamaru’s hair stand on end. The redhead kunoichi is dressed in such finery that she looks like a misplaced daimyo; the rest of her team give the impression of especially volatile, mismatched bodyguards. He’s not sure which is worse, the green haired guy festooned with weapons or the crazy-eyed clown faced guy that keeps staring. They absolutely radiate menace as much as Gaara does.

Another strange team brush past him, and somehow, it’s even worse. Three kunoichi. The first two sneak up behind him and walk around him on each side. And then the third. He turns to find himself staring up into the face of a very tall, incredibly dead looking woman. She brushes past him to join her teammates. His blood chills. It’s like someone stepped over his grave.

Oh, man. Why didn’t he just stay home? Why hasn’t he quit already?

So many participants he hadn’t noticed before. It’s enough his stomach sinks a bit. There's a lot of mostly unremarkable looking older genin that stink of bitterness and failure already. Probably because some of them have been trying for god knows how long; he sees a handful of teams considerably older. He doubts any of those will advance, but they're gonna be troublesome all the same. And that’s just the filler ninja nobodies.

Shikamaru catches a glimpse of Uzumaki’s dumb orange jacket through the crowd, and heads towards that before he changes his mind. Naruto is not subtle. Naruto cannot even spell subtle. He’d probably just start yelling, or something. His yelling in the written test was already too much. Ino and Choji head on. Shikamaru hesitates until he spots another familiar face among the crowd. The Kurosawa heir is stupidly tall enough to stand out among this crowd - he hadn't even realized that team was even participating this year. He groans to himself, and makes his way over there. At least he can probably talk to ~Team Fancy~ with less goddamn problem.

Aburame and Fukumori are as ridiculously dressed as Kurosawa is. Shikamaru scowls up at all of them - even Hitomi, frustratingly. "Y'know, the other teams look so ridiculous you guys almost look normal in comparison."