Strategos (English version)

By Dewie

Shikamaru is a central character in the plot that unfolds in Naruto, especially on the path that the young man has to travel in search of his dream. The idea of sharing their story arises precisely because of this, because of the need to find in the middle of an unusual analogy what we can learn from God in the midst of the adventure that both undertake, even faced from different senses, where the initial purpose aims to remind ourselves in a way that this journey, as different as it may seem, is also ours, especially that of all those who, through hope, stopped seeing life as a nuisance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dewie
• Release date: Dec 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005816964

Dewie

Estudiante de Psicología y Filosofía, aprendiz insoportable, escritora de a ratos y ser humano, cuando me dejan.Contac.me: [e-mail]

Book preview

STRATEGOS

DEWIE

Copyright © 2021 by FARES

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission of the author, except for brief citations in reviews. Please do not participate or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of copyright.

All images in the book are used as references and belong to Masashi Kishimoto, author and creator of Naruto.

Edited by FARES

1st Edition

© DEWIE

INDICE

1) SHIKAMARU

THE LAZY GENIUS

THE COWARD

MATES

2) ¿WHO IS THE KING?

THE KING

REVENGE

LEGACY

3) THE STRATEGIST

THE STRATEGIST

4) AFTERGLOW

DARKNESS

SHADES

LIGHT

5) REFERENCES

SHIKAMARU

I would like to be free, like the clouds that roam the sky without any concern.

THE LAZY GENIUS

I think that anyone who has paid at least a little attention to the series can easily notice that one of the most outstanding traits of Shikamaru is undoubtedly his intelligence and the wisdom with which he chooses his steps, the speed with which he contemplates his obstacles, as well as the temperance he has when making each decision are clear examples of this, but even if it was useless to deny something so evident, from the beginning we can see that in more than one chance, our character was never considered a potential genius. There were a lot of reasons for this, you couldn´t expect much from a student who preferred to sleep rather than pay attention to his classes, and to be honest it was precisely his teacher who from the beginning did not have it easy at all, especially because he had to divide his attention with Naruto, someone that like Shikamaru didn't find much sense in the academy either.

They were kids, and as such, they surely did not measure the importance of listening to Iruka's lessons, for this they had found a way to manage to go unnoticed before him, however, their teacher knew them well enough to know that at the slightest distraction he would find them sleeping, a situation that on more than one occasion led them to be punished as a whole, because Chouji usually in his eagerness to help them, ended up being part of the group of troublemakers. Iruka knew them, that's why he knew that there was no point in making a lot of drama about this, they had a long way to go and they didn't have to respond in the same way as the rest, however, he also kept the hope that somehow their behaviors and motivations will change over time, especially after they managed to graduate despite poor performance.

The lazy son of the Konoha strategist thus began a new stage of his life as a genin, he was assigned a group composed of Ino and Chouji, led by Asuma, and thus gave rise to a new formation Ino / Shika / Cho, which previously had been conformed by their parents. Expectations were present, the abilities of these three were important to the village, and it was up to these children to continue their legacy, however until that moment, from their perspective, everything was still part of a game. Shikamaru couldn't take it seriously, less when he found out that even Naruto had managed to graduate, because ¿what were the criteria required to be a ninja then? if at the end of the day someone like him and his clumsy partner had reached the same level as the rest. It was obvious, no one could foresee a successful future for either of these two, perhaps this is why Asuma and Kakashi's decision was so surprising when they chose to summon teams seven and ten to sit for the chūnin exams because by then the groups had a couple of missions completed and they didn't stand out too much from the rest, but their teachers were confident in their preparation, and they knew that for better or for worse, it would aid their growth.

The situation was a novelty for those summoned and perhaps because of this they were relieved when upon entering the place they found some familiar faces, however as the teams from other villages joined, the concern began to increase, the skills of these people were diverse and their goals seemed to be even quite different from theirs, the tension between the groups grew as time passed, and if this was the climate before the first exam when they arrived at the evaluation place, the situation just got worse. The first activity at first glance seemed simple, they had to do a written test where supposedly their theoretical knowledge about different hypothetical situations that could be presented in combat would be evaluated, however, one of the directives alerted the students about the true objective of the exam because within the rules it was stipulated that any student who was discovered cheating would receive a penalty regulated by the supervisors, then before the sum of a certain amount of faults, the students would be failed and together with them, the entire group would lose the possibility to access the next instance, something that did not seem out of the ordinary, at least if it was not read between the lines, because this type of action logically implied that copying was not prohibited, since the basic purpose of this test was that students could obtain the information of their peers without being discovered.

Many groups lost their chance by not being able to decipher the initial purpose of the evaluation, others decided to use means that made their actions very evident, however, team ten found in Ino's ability the satisfactory solution for that situation, and in that way they managed to overcome at least the first instance of the exam, which was followed by another type of covert test that consisted of an answer on which the permanence of the entire group depended once again, an obstacle that all Konoha candidates, based on their principles of loyalty, they managed to overcome with ease.

Now, too much was expected of the chūnin to simply promote a genin to that category using something as simple as a written exam, which is why the second test that the students had to face consisted of a survival exercise of five days in the forest of death, where day after day these young men would have to battle with the groups they found around them in search of scrolls that they had to take for a limited amount of time to the headquarters. This stage was impressive, not only because until then the development of most of the characters was quite short, but also because for the first time the rookies of Konoha had to face situations that were quite different from the activities they had previously had to do in their missions, however, they all managed to complete the challenge. When the time limit was met, the students who had managed to pass the test were summoned to a meeting with their teachers, where they were informed that due to the number of students who were in the place, they should have preliminary matches between the groups, one against one, randomly assigned, an interesting moment in which the true capacities of each of the participants would begin to be elucidated in the series.

Of all the possible opponents, our character was paired with Kin, the ninja of the sound village with whom group ten had to confront in the forest of death when they tried to defend group seven. In contrast to his mates, the choice wasn't bad for Shikamaru, however, he knew that he had to be careful because unlike her, he did not know much about her rival. Anyway, at least at that time, the expectations about him were minimal, the battle did not arouse great emotions either, especially if we consider that in that same round there were confrontations like those of Rock Lee and Gaara, however true to his style, taking a couple of precautions in some moves and in a totally unexpected way, he managed to defeat his opponent, something that none of his teammates managed to do in their respective matches, thus being the only representative of team ten to advance to the next stage.

Now, beyond wanting to raise a context to go exactly to the point where it seems necessary to get to, I think that in the history of these characters there are minimal details that we can in no way miss, one of them is precisely the question that Shikamaru makes about the format of the round to be played, because not only did he learn in that place that due to the odd number of finalists he would have to have an additional confrontation with Dosu, but he also noticed that the battles were presented with a tournament format, where only one would be chosen as the winner, then following this logic, of all the participants just one genin could become chūnin, however, the Hokage before the confusion increased decided to dispel the doubts and clarified that nothing ensured even that the winner could be promoted, because his evaluation did not depend on his victories or defeats, but on his performance.

When I got to this point, I had to stop to take some notes because, unlike the logic that prevails in our daily lives, in this sector of the story we can see an important turning point where the idea of success is redefined. In the world that we live in, we cannot deny that we are inserted in a result culture that determines the value of our journey only when we manage to reach the goal, so what matters is where you arrived, how long it took, and in what position you remained about the rest of those who ran the same route as you. There are very few who stop to look at the process, to contemplate who you became as you progressed, or the decisions you had to make to get to where you are, which is why we often value the what, above the how, and proud we agree to each phrase that proclaims that 'the end justifies the means' however in our daily walk as Christians this type of logic lacks sense, and the truth is that with this I don't wanna say that getting there doesn't really matter, but instead I think that of the important things, at least this one is not the first. We are so used to generating certain expectations around our experiences that we simply discard them when they fail to resemble what we wanted at the time, so we may, again and again, try in vain to combine that series of numbers that we receive, because sometimes the product simply It does not change, however in this purposeless coming and going we forget that whether we want to or not, the steps we took end up being part of who we are today, this is why I feel that it is quite unfair to consider only the final phase of everything like the dream because for me the dream itself is all that set of experiences composed of mistakes and successes that we find as we walk, that is why it is precisely in this 'meanwhile' where we can find the value of the prize.

There is a story in the bible that I like to use as a reference when I'm talking about these things, and this is the story of Joseph, Jacob's beloved son. This story is undoubtedly one of the best known and it is simple to understand why if we take into account that in its narration it manages to take our emotions from one extreme to the other, allowing us to feel part of the story as if we were that young protagonist, however, the fact that we are often fascinated by the way the facts are presented makes us forget that this story is not fictional and that Joseph, as much as you and me, was a normal person who had to deal with a couple of situations that would have made anyone in his place rethink their faith on more than one occasion. The story presented to us in Genesis [1] shows us the young man as one of the heirs of the patriarch with whom God had decided to renew the covenant that would lead them to one of the most important promises for the people of Israel.

By then our protagonist was only seventeen years old, but in the eyes of his father, he was trustworthy enough to take care of his belongings and even watch over his siblings. Joseph was the most loved of them, not only because he was born in Jacob's old age, but also because he was the son of the woman he loved, the one for whom he had served his father-in-law for fourteen years. [2] Before his eyes, there was no one like him, and this was evident to everyone, including his brothers, who for obvious reasons began to feel an incipient hatred that motivated this series of conflicts that led to the departure of Joseph as a slave to Egypt. The level of tolerance of his siblings every day was reduced a little more and if there were no lacking reasons for being upset by his presence, one day the young man thought it appropriate to share with his family a series of dreams that showed that not only would he be in a future above his brothers, but also ahead of his parents, something that Jacob did not see with good eyes at first but that he took into consideration after paying attention to his words, the message was clear, already He was not only his father's favorite, but he was also God's chosen one.

The patience of his brothers had reached its limit, however, there was nothing they could do to him while he was close to his father, that is why that day in Dothan when the young brother went to look for them, they were presented with the perfect opportunity to remove it off the middle, then as if all of that was devised it for years, they set in motion their plan to kill him, but Reuben stopped them, and thus far from being a good gesture on the part of the older brother, actually hid his fear of having to assume in front of Jacob the responsibility for what they were about to do, however, he did not arrive in time because when he returned to rescue him, he noted that his brothers in his absence had sold him as a slave to the Ishmaelites, then there was nothing else to do except finding a good excuse that would justify his disappearance.

Up to this point, we can find in this story different dyes and directions, but this was only the beginning, for this reason, I think that before moving forward it is interesting to consider the situation under the results-oriented logic that I mentioned earlier because as far as we can know, Joseph beyond from looking a bit smug and perhaps being a bit annoying, he hadn't done anything to make his brothers want to get rid of him that way. The situation was completely unfair, he did not deserve anything of what he was receiving but he also had to steel himself and face the situation as if from the beginning he had already been prepared for this, and if we go a little further back in history, We can see that Job even lived something similar, the just and pious man that God enjoyed talking about, fell from one day to the next in disgrace and suddenly lost everything he had, there was nothing within his works that could seem worthy of such punishment and even if there were surely divine mercy could intervene to help him, but the days passed and the situation only got worse because those who supposedly knew him best, seeing his situation judged his character by its results, surely you have done something. So there, in a story like the other, for our protagonists, the risk zone began to appear, because if it is our apparent failures or successes that determine us, surely our perception of God is not different from that of the rest, either. Because understanding life outside of the process that makes it up makes us lose sight of those details that can only be perceived when we understand that God is not good because of what He does, but because He says He is, and we believe Him precisely because we experience it. Of course, the world situation is not ideal and that is why even most of the time things may not turn out as we want, however that does not mean that our Creator has forgotten us in the middle of the journey, because God is still God, and his plan is not thwarted even if we lose the means. [3]

Honestly, I would like to say that Joseph from the beginning had it easy, but the truth is that Egypt was not for everyone, as soon as it arrived, it was put up for sale and of all the places it could end up, it ended up precisely in the house of Potiphar, the official of Pharaoh. The spoiled son of Jacob, the great heir of the patriarch was going to have to experience endless new experiences, not only far from his home, culture, or customs, but also living as someone else's slave, but Jehovah was with Joseph. This very important statement is mentioned several times in the young man's story, but if we do not deconstruct our idea of failure or success we could never understand the effect that knowing just this had on his life because at first glance this expression does not seem to have In this sense, Joseph was captive in a foreign town, he had been sold by his brothers and his father believed him dead, I mean, if we knew someone in a similar situation, could we say that this guy was blessed? Surely not, however, if we put this in context to what we often find in the bible, we can understand that the situations in which we find ourselves never determine the way in which God is working in us, this is why in one of the most well-known Psalms, we find a statement that reads Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me. [4] He does not say that this part of the road will be suppressed, that he will let someone else walk it for us, or that we can take an alternative path, however, he does assure us that in the midst of all that challenge, He would remain with us, and this is precisely the reason why everything that was previously confusion begins to make sense, because only by its side can we understand that beyond what happens in the midst of all this, there is an unchangeable reality and it is that despite some of the situations that we have to face are very different from the ones we expect, each one of them, understood in its totality, will end up working for our good. [5] There is one more point in this statement that I think is necessary to consider, and that is that the fact that God was with Joseph is also added that he was prosperous, something that undoubtedly sounds strange because we were talking about someone who was working as a slave, then in what way could we come to think that a person in that situation could be defined in that way? it was simply inconceivable, however here as in the previous expression, the meaning that defined this term from the divine was quite different from the way in which we usually consider prosperity because unlike the image that is presented to us when mentioning the same, for God to be prosperous implied not only the absence of deficiencies but also the wisdom necessary to create what was needed in the midst of scarcity, this is why we often find in Jesus a perfect model of well-understood prosperity, because someone that he did not even have a place to sleep was the only one that at that time could provide humanity with everything that could be lacking, because just the one who seemed to have the least was the one who was most accustomed to giving, turning water into wine in a party that was about to be ruined, multiplying a couple of loaves and fishes loaned for four thousand and five thousand people in an instant, healing the most incurable disease, illuminating even the deepest darkness, a perfect example that prosperity does not have to do with the way you perceive yourself, but with the way others do it based on the way you move, and that was how people saw Joseph because God is a God of abundance and not of sufficiency, then everything that the servant had was being multiplied through the hands of the Creator, thus filling the house of the head of Pharaoh's guard.

Until that moment, things seemed to improve for Joseph, however, little did he know about the situation that was going to approach him in the near future, and the reality is that as time went by, through divine grace reflected in His life, people began to change the concept they had of him, because not only did he have an admirable character but he also had a beautiful countenance and a beautiful presence, and this did not go unnoticed by Potiphar's wife, who after trying again and again to conquer him, finally ended up obsessing over him, however, history tells us that José refused from the beginning, and although his response was admirable, especially considering the situation in which he found himself, the gesture is even more valuable when we consider the reasons why he did it: my master wotteth not whats is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand.. neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?

He knew his position and the responsibilities assigned to him, he had established a commitment with his master, but mainly he had done it with God, he knew better than anyone that everything he was collecting since his arrival in Egypt was by pure grace, he was not going to disengage from his commitment or evade his responsibility, even if that place was not exactly where he deserved to be, then with all that courage and integrity that characterized him, he simply rejected the proposal of Potiphar's wife and walked away from her, however, his master's wife set a trap for him and made his partner believe through false and exaggerated accounts that his servant had wanted to take advantage of her, a situation that led to Joseph's imprisonment. So there he was once again, disappointed and abandoned in a place where he did not deserve to be, he had given his best, maintained his integrity, and did not even take lightly the trust that his master had placed in him, however not It was enough, apparently, nothing was, at least that was what the world wanted him to understand, but the wonderful thing about this story is precisely in the fact that beyond the desire to surrender that he might have, he continued to believe, and God constantly reminded him that no matter what happened, He was always going to be there for him. He needed it, that was the kind of voice he had to hear, he was about to start a new challenge in a completely different place, but his God and his faith remained the same, then like that time in Potiphar's house, divine mercy accompanied Joseph during his stay in prison, and put grace on his life in front of the responsible authority of the place, who immediately seeing how everything was transformed into a blessing through his walk, decided to leave him in charge of the whole place.

At that time things in the palace were quite hectic, both the baker and the cupbearer of Pharaoh had been accused of committing crimes against the highest authority in Egypt, and they finally ended up as punishment in the same place where Joseph was, and even if we don't have exact details about the number of days these two were in prison before knowing their sentence, if we can deduce from what the story shows us that at least the time was enough for our protagonist to meet them in detail, because one of those days when Jacob's son came to serve them, he noticed on their faces a kind of sadness that was not the usual one. Clearly, these kinds of issues were not his concern, his task was simply to assist them in any basic need they might have, but Joseph was never satisfied with doing the job just like that, he took his responsibilities very seriously and was truly interested in the situation of his two companions, because of this, he investigated the reason and tried to know in-depth what had so worried the servants of Pharaoh.

Both noticed the sincerity of his gesture and decided to open up, they entrusted the matter to him and revealed that each of them had a dream, however, neither of them knew exactly what their meanings could be, to which the servant simply hit the mark to respond enthusiastically, Are not the interpretations of God? as he asked them in detail to tell him everything they had seen. His character was simply incredible, he had enough problems to go about taking care of the rest, however, this was not something that worried him too much, he had also had a dream some time ago, he could understand them and that's why, knowing the support he had from God, helped them find a solution. Finally, the dreams were revealed and each one received his interpretation, the head of the bakers would end up dying, but the cupbearer would resume his post; Joseph could not miss this opportunity, even if there was a slight possibility that this man would help him out of that place, for this reason when he saw him he insisted, because he knew that coming from God the dream would come true, so he only begged him don't forget me.

Three days after this episode, Pharaoh's birthday was celebrated in the palace, then in the middle of the celebrations the revelation was fulfilled and the companion of our protagonist returned to his old position, however immediately after everything that happened, he forgot about Joseph. The cupbearer's life had returned to normal, and it no longer made sense to think about what happened, so he simply decided to put that episode behind him, abandoning along with this all kinds of memories of that prisoner who helped him. Nothing seemed to work at that time for José, because no matter how hard he tried, time just kept passing by, and beyond remaining faithful to that dream he had received at the beginning, the results seemed not to accompany him in any way. The more he tried to be different, Egypt constantly reminded him how useless it was to even try, but he had a deep conviction that he was much stronger, God was still by his side and unlike the rest of the people he had served, he was sure that his Creator would never forget him, [6] so he continued doing his work, trusting that sooner or later his eyes would see everything that had previously been revealed to his spirit.

The waiting time was longer than we sometimes suppose , because José remained in the same place not only for a couple of weeks or months, but for two years he was in charge of continuing to carry out the position that he had been assigned as a prisoner, with all commitment and responsibility as always, but then, one of those days, things around the palace began to shake up once more, this time Pharaoh had sake a series of dreams that had tormented him and none of his magicians had been able to give him an interpretation, but suddenly the atmosphere and all the confusion present in that place awakened the memory of the cupbearer, there was someone who could respond to the need for the highest authority in the kingdom, for this he decided to tell Pharaoh everything that had happened with him and his partner when they were accused long ago. Upon hearing the news, Pharaoh sent for Joseph and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon, the time had come, so having the great leader in front of him, he asked him to tell him his dream, and given the expectations presented by the maximum country's authority on its capabilities only responded, It is not in me, God shall give Pharaoh an answer.

I think that by now no one would have reproached him for using this opportunity to get out of that place, he could easily have attributed great gifts, or at least try to let Pharaoh know how complex his history had been since he arrived in Egypt, however, he limited himself to fulfilling his mission and put, as always, all the focus on the work of his Creator, then he began in detail after listening to the dream to give an interpretation of everything that was going to happen in the kingdom, times of prosperity were expected followed by times of great scarcity, the leader