The Next day after the fight against Kiba the Eds were told that thier guard would be meeting them at thier room in the afternoon. So the Eds waited for said guard by performing thier usual favorite activitys, Eddy was counting his winnings, (with a bit taken off to repair the arenas stands), Ed was reading the local comics known as "manga", and Edd was researching new battle tools and the leaf villages strengths and weakness's in the individual signeture styles of the villages clan.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Eddy was the first to respond. "Well what are you waiting for go answer the door, Sockhead!"

"Eddy inside voice please?" Edd replies before heading to the door. Just as he turns the knob the door bursts open with a triumphent shout. "I Konohamaru Sarutobi of the village hidden in the Leaves have come to watch over you!"

"E-E-Excuse me but can you get off my chest please?" Edd says from his place on the floor. Konohamaru jumps off him embarrased before Ed runs over.

"Hi my names Ed! That was so cool! Are you Scarf man!" (as seen in "the adventures of scarf man the well knitted".)

"No Ed he said his name was Konohamaru Sarutobi, which i might add means that makes him the Grandson of the Late Third Hokage. Thus we should be treating our guest with the utmost respect." Edd lectured his oafish companion.

Konohamaru however would have none of that. "I dont want to be given respect i want to earn it!"

"Whatever. Look squirt get outa here were waiting for the guard that was sent to us to show up. So scram!" Eddy yells from over where he was counting his money which to his annoyance fell over due to the commosion.

"Who you calling squirt, we are the same height. And for your information i am your bodyguard!" Konohamaru replies.

"What! That old hag must have sent you to torture us into giving up! She wont get away with this!" Eddy gripes.

"Eddy! If we are staying in this region we must respect its leaders at the very least." Edd replies before turning to aplogise to Konohamaru. Just to find him laughing.

"Granny Tsunade told me you were like that. She said not to get offended by you three, expecially the "Short bratty one."

"Why that old..." Eddy started to retort before Konohamaru inturrupted him.

"Now that introductions are done i gotta escort you guys to the arena. Your next match is soon."

"Oh Dear! I was barely ready with Eds new tool, that spatula he insists on useing is not going to cut it much longer, just allow me to grab it quickly from my workshop." Edd says worridly.

Konohamaru scratchs his head in confusion. "He fights with a spatula?"

"Yeah a couple years ago he got into a kind of fight and he used a spatula, he won and has used it whenever he gets into another one. It works for him better then you might think." Eddy explains.

Edd returns with a device in a box and the four of them make for the arena.

Before they enter Edd stops them to give Ed the box. "Okay Ed l will now show you and explain to you this ones usage. Useing some recently aquired Chakra metal i have designed this device to take advantage of your limited pool of chakra in a a ranged attack that you should be familier with." And with that Edd pulls out a metal Tube with a red rubber ball on the other end.

Eddy examines the object for a second before asking. "Is That one of my canadian squirt guns?"

"Yes Eddy it is. Nice of you to remember. I Have taken the liberity of useing a tool Ed should be familier with. This Squirt gun has a good deal more water stored in it then the old one could contain and because of the barrels material it fires with a great deal more force then our earlier models." Ed takes the new squirt gun and the accomanying sock holster belt and straps it to his waist along with his spatula before marching into the arena.

The other Eds follow Konohamaru up to the Kage Booth where Shizune is yet again waiting for them. This time however the arena has a couple off duty Shinobi and civillians in the stands. "Now this is what im talking about! Hey secretary lady you guys chargeing these pigions to watch this?" Eddy says as he enters the booth.

"Eddy at least refer to her by her name. Miss Shizune what my rude companion was saying is if the veiwers of this event were charged admission?" Edd cuts in.

"The Civillians were charged a small fee but the Shinobi are here free of charge." Shizune replies.

"WHAT! Free of charge? Why?" Eddy rages.

"The point of this was training correct? Its not very useful to us if only the direct combatants learn from the experinces. So we allowed others to watch and learn from the fights." Shizune points out.

"Hmmph a watse of resources if you ask me. but its not my wallet thats emptying."

"Quiet now the match is starting soon Eddy. Who is his opponent today Miss Shizune?" Edd speaks up.

"The Match is against Shikamaru Nara. Tsunade has the a good deal of faith in him regardless of his laid back personality."

"Oh dear Eddy... i have heard of this fellow. Its entierly possible that hes smarter then i from the rumors i have gathered about him."

"What Ed against a super egg head? You cheating little... you guys chose an opponent just to beat him didnt you?" Eddy rages. Shizune smiles a little but remains silent.

Down in the arena Ed squares off against Shikamaru.

"Hello my name is Ed. Whats yours?"

"Shikamaru Nara. So i heard you beat Kiba up?"

"Oooh the guy with the doggy. He was cool! He was super fast and pretty strong, but he was no match for I Ed the gladiator king of the ninjas! Was that the thing to say Eddy?"

"Yes Mono brow now quick beat this guy before he thinks you to death! Hes as smart as sock head!"

Shikamaru simply sighs before getting into a battle stance. Ed Draws his spatula of reflection and following Eddys advice charges straight in. Shikamaru's eybrow raises before he uses the hand seal for his clans signiture move. Ed makes it halfway to Shikamarau before he is ensnared by the shadow. Shikamaru starts running towards the wall at full speed with Ed copying him but being un-trained he simply couldnt chakra run like shikamaru. His legs hurting with the effort of keeping up. Suddenly Shikamaru came to a screeching halt close to the wall of the arena cutting the shadow with ed right before he slowed as well. Sending Ed smashing into the wall at full speed.

"WHAT WAS THAT? Thats the best he could come up with?" Eddy exclaimed.

"Well Eddy if you think about it while catching Ed was simple the rest was rather complex. Figuring that Ed lacked formal training on the use of chakra for speed increases and that he couldnt stop himself when placed at such a speed. That attack both tired out and harmed Ed."

"Bah the lummox wouldnt be hurt by something like that." Eddy retorts.

Back down in the arena Ed went to peel himself from the arena walls when Shikamarus shadow weaved a patch over his crater keeping him in place. Shikamaru then reaches into his pocket and produces a Kuni with an explosive tag fixed to it. He promtly throws it at Ed. Ed quickly draws his Squirt gun from his sock holster and points it at the Kuni. He Squeezes the ball to fire it and a huge blast of water fires out knocking the kuni out of the sky and causing Shikamaru to jump out of its way relesing Ed from the wall. However with his pitiful chakra reserves the use of the gun quickly tires Ed out causing him to fall to his knees when he gets out of the crater. Ed quickly stands back up and re-holsters his squirt gun before makeing a run for the tree line in order to get "ammo."

"Oh dear it seems that i underestimated the chakra consumption of the gun..." Edd mumbles to himself from the stands.

Shikamaru catching on to his plan quickly throws more tagged kuni at the trees splintering them before Ed can reash them and covering the arena in dust. Ed himself was at least smart enough to try to cover the distance towards Shikamaru but as the dust cloud cleared he was once again trapped in Shikamarus snare. However this time instead of sitting there he tried resisiting against it. But before he could break free Shikamaru turned him around and then released him. As Ed righted himself again he heard a thunk at his feet. He looked down to see another explosive tag at his feet. This one detonated in his face blasting him across the arena again.

"Oh Dear Ed! Are you alright!" Ed calls worringly from the stands. Eddys confidint facade starts to break with worry for his possibly injured friend. However Ed stands tall as the dust clears though there is a couple scorches on his coat and his face is scuffed from the fragmentation from the explosion.

"This is fun!" Ed exclaims with a big grin on his face. Shikamaru sighs again before replying. "Heh you seem a lot like a couple people i know..." Then Shikamaru drew his late teachers chakra blades and cautiously drew closer to Ed, Intent to finish the battle before he ran out of chakra. He was not by far the best Taijutsu fighter and lacking the same chakra affinity as Asuma. But it seemed that ranged attacks were ineffective and Ed seemed to have no skill in the area relying on strength alone.

Ed however was not one to be beaten easily. He leans down and tears a large dirt clod of the hard packed earth of the arena grounds and throws it at Shikamaru. Who ducks beneath it and finishes closeing the distance. He slashs up from below up towards Eds chest but Ed instead wrapped his arms around Shikamaru in a big bear hug. But suddenly he exploded in a puff of smoke leaving behind a log.

"Gotcha!"

Behind him Shikamaru had his daggers out and across Eds neck while his shadow binded him in place, unable to move.

"Do you surrender the match?" Shikamaru asks.

Ed just grunts in strain from trying to move through the jutsu... but not as much as Shikamaru thought he would. With a great shout Ed turned around and smashed the log between his arms and covering shikamaru with shrapnel and breaking his concentration long enough for Ed to swing at Shikamaru with his fist. Shikamaru managed to re gain his jutsu but the fist still connected, but with less power.

Shikamaru was only knocked to the ground instead of into the wall. But the efforts on both parts were too much and they both simply collapsed where they were breathing hard.

"How troublesome." Shikamaru managed to wheeze out his old catchphrase.

Ed on the other hand was thinking to himself how he could really go for some toast right about then. And with that both of them passed out from exhaustion.

Up in the stands Eddy was on his feet yelling already. "Get up you big lummox and punch the guy one last time or something just to make it a win already!"

Shizune though stepped up and announced. "The second match is a draw!"

Edd was ,with official notification, on his way down to the arena floor to check on his possibly hurt friend with his Ed specilized med kit in tow. By time he made it down there the medics were already takeing them off the field. Edd inturrupted them before they made it far.

"Excuse me gentelmen i will take care of my friend he recovers fastest with some specilized medical practices unique to him. Allow me to show you." With that Edd pulls the first item, a plate with a piece of buttered toast on it, and places it on the ground. Which was quickly accompanied by a gravy dish and a napkin. Next He pulled a glass jar sealed tight with a single piece of rotten chesse in it. Which with a couple mutters of "repiulsive dairy product" before unsealing it beneath Eds nose.

Ed Immediatly gasped awake with a cry of "Sheldon you came back!" before he noticed the meal laid out before him. He immediatly started eating.

Meanwhile up in the stands. "So what happens when we tie?" Eddy asked dreading the answer.

Shizune's answer was just as he feared. "No winnings are paid and you still have to pay arena damages."

Eddy growled maliciously before sighing and answereing with. "Just send me the bill at my room and tell me when the next fight is im going home for the day." With that Eddy leaves the arena after checking in on his friends and heards home.

I Honestly couldnt figure out how to end this one Shikamarus smart but Eds pretty tough and almost as un-pridictable as Naruto minus the occasional bout of genius so it was a tough match.