Game of Shadows - 115 (Patreon)

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

Cover Art: Kissuli.

Chapter 115

The Squad followed the Kumo nin and Eiji couldn’t shake off the feeling of wrongness with the situation. That wasn’t so strange though. After all, they had spent a good chunk of their time preparing to battle the Cloud’s agents. Instead, there they were, on their way to helping them.

The team leader didn’t dwell on those thoughts much though. His mind was too busy going through the Akatsuki members that remained and how to fight them. There were Itachi and Kisame, Pain and Konan and Zetsu.

The latter of them all wasn’t too much of a concern. Eiji didn’t remember much about the plant man or whatever he was supposed to be, but he was fairly sure that he was more of an information gatherer than an fighter. However, that same lack of knowledge was worrying. That kind of shadowy character was usually the one that was pulled for a plot twist in a story. Considering what he did remember regarding the plot of the series, Eiji didn’t feel like dealing with anything of the sort. Besides, he wanted to take no chances anyway, especially with Akatsuki members.

That was why he was preparing though.

Itachi and Kisame weren’t too worrying regarding the situation that they were in. Which wasn’t saying much, really, but Eiji remembered something about Samehada leaving Kisame for Killer B. Then again, his knowledge had been faulty before and could be faulty now, he knew very well. Still, overall, it wasn’t looking too bad on that front.

On the Itachi side of things, there was a chance that the Uchiha would work in his favor. If he was actually on Konoha’s side of things, which was also not a sure thing. In the case that Eiji was wrong regarding that, at least he had some good contingencies in place against him too, so there was that.

Those two were certainly less worrying than the other pair, at least in his mind. He had somewhat of a counter to Konan in Conflagration, but she wasn’t the one he was the most worried about. Pain, Nagato, was the true troublesome one in that duo. The team could probably hold back most of the Paths well enough, but the main one and Nagato were another thing entirely.

Eiji was confident in his power and all, but that was a guy that hadn’t even been defeated, truly. Instead, he’d been taken down by his own technique. That was all sorts of worrying, because he thought it was unlikely that he’d be able to Talk no Jutsu his way through that like Naruto had.

“We’ve got this, Fearless Leader,” Tayuya said from his side and, as he focused back in the present, he noticed that all the Squad was looking at him as they moved. He’d concerned them, which meant that he’d been showing more than he expected from what was in his mind.

“We’ve planned and trained for this,” Kabuto told him then.

“We have,” He acknowledged with a nod. That didn’t mean it was enough, but there was no need to say that. Everyone knew that, after all. They’d just have to hope.

Eiji stopped then and the team followed suit.

“What are you-?” The Kumo nin started, only to be interrupted by a hand to his neck. Red eyes stared straight at him, silently judging him. However, he wasn’t acting. Everything he’d said was the truth.

“Eiji?” Jirobo called, not really curious or confused, but awaiting information for his leader’s behavior.

“Kumo,” The boy growled, sending a cold shiver down everyone’s spine. “They’ve just attacked everywhere on the border.”

“It makes sense,” Kage said, his voice neutral, knowing that Eiji didn’t have the calm to analyze the situation. “You and your team are known for mostly one thing.”

“Going after Akatsuki,” Hachi finished then, and Eiji’s bloodlust spiked. “Calm, Eiji, this is exactly why you left the spiders and the clones in place,” The twin whispered in his mind.

Then he felt Tsuchigumo’s presence. She was as angry as he was, as thirsty for blood as he was. Somehow, that snapped him into place though. He knew he couldn’t let himself go like that with the chakra beast pushing him into a more impulsive mindset. He needed to keep his calm, to keep his cool.

“So, it was all a play?” Fu asked, looking at a very confused Kumo nin with narrowed eyes. The poor man didn’t get what was happening, which made sense. He’d been fooled by his own people to do as he had. He’d been played as much as them, because Kumo had thought it was the best way to move them. They’d guessed that simple acting wouldn’t likely work and thus they’d chosen another way.

“It was,” Eiji confirmed. “We are going back to Iwa. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go back to Kumo. Maybe Akatsuki is really there, I don’t know. But if the Cloud can still try to go after another Nation even with that, then I’m sure they’ll be fine,” He said to a very pale, sweating man. “Now, go,” He growled and the ninja instantly flickered away, even if the man was still probably very confused.

“Fearless Leader?” Tayuya called when he didn’t move after that.

“Everyone,” He said, unmoving. “We go back to Iwa. I want all of you to teach Kumo not to mess around. I’m angry, very much so, and I don’t appreciate being considered a fool. I’ve been slaving around trying to keep Akatsuki in check. If they think that’s a joke, I want to make a joke out of them.”

The team took that in, ideas forming in their heads. It seemed they had a new mission, yet again. This time, it was more straightforward. No politics, no simple guarding. The order was simple…

“Cut loose. I want Kumo to learn to fear us.”

And then, they all started on their way back to the Land of Earth.

[}-o-{]

[Jirobo]

He was grateful for several things, he reckoned.

One of them was in the fact that his new orders didn’t involve any sort of stealth, really. That allowed him to use Rock Surfing to his heart’s content without having to worry about keeping the wall of stone behind him unnoticeable or anything of the sort. On the contrary, he’d made it very obvious, actually, throwing the thing right in front of where Eiji had told him the Kumo forces were moving.

A little spider sat on Jirobo’s shoulder at the moment, whispering to him the intel that her kind and his leader’s clones gathered for him to know. He knew she’d pop off back to her realm later, eventually replaced by someone else that would have been informed of more up to date information. He wasn’t too concerned with that though.

Instead, Jirobo stood on top of his wall, overlooking the space in front of him. Soon, he found himself confronted with squads of Kumo nin. There were jounin in there, he knew. He was also aware that he could have battled one of them easily enough. However, the numbers that he was faced with would have been concerning.

“Would have” being the operative words there. After all, Jirobo had grown quite a bit from the time when he’d been part of the Sound Four – or Five, depending on who you asked – and he’d grown much stronger under the guidance of his new leader. He’d gotten more techniques under his arm. He’d gotten better at keeping his mind even under the Cursed Mark’s effects.

He’d grown stronger.

The odds weren’t against him, even though they should have been.

It was a thrilling realization, really. Jirobo liked to think that he was a calm person. Someone that wasn’t easily excited, or angered, or anything of the sort. He was also aware that he was likely a simple minded individual. At that moment though, he guessed he could understand some of what went through people’s minds when they looked forward to a battle.

Granite Shield formed around him, boosting his power and resistance quite a bit. The Mark burned as it flooded him with energy. “Cut loose,” Eiji had said and cut loose he would.

It was the least he could do, to repay the kindness that had been offered to them. Jirobo knew, after all, that nobody else would have so much as looked at them, let alone give them a chance. Anyone else would have thrown them straight into a prison – or just killed them, to be honest – and gotten rid of the key.

Eiji had chosen them though. There were no delusions that it had been because they were dispensable. Nobody would have cared if they died, which was why the boy had been able to get them without too much problem. The fact stood, however, that Eiji had extended a hand. Hesitantly and almost forced, but he’d done so.

Ever since, his new leader had proved to be worth following. Eiji Satou had the power, certainly. However, that was the least important part, in Jirobo’s opinion. Because the boy also taught them, trained them, to be stronger than they thought they could be.

‘Much stronger,’ Jirobo thought to himself, grinning widely as he smacked a jounin away before he could even send a Lightning jutsu his way. It was exhilarating, to be able to just do that to them like they were chuunin, or even genin.

With merely a gesture, he sent a person-sized rock towards someone else as they rushed him. ‘Fools,’ Jirobo thought. ‘They don’t know who they are facing.’

He rather doubted that it would remain the same after that day. He rather doubted anyone would try to make a fool out of his leader after what would befall Kumo. And really, they only had themselves to blame.

Eiji’s work wasn’t in Konoha’s favor. It wasn’t even in their allies’ favor either. It was for everyone. Even Kumo itself benefited from his work, since they’d had two Jinchuriki’s of their own. But the Cloud was a greedy place and in their incessant need to get stronger, they’d poked something they shouldn’t in the eye.

The Earth itself opened under his enemies’ feet and swallowed them up to their necks. Those that got away weren’t the lucky ones, however. Instead, they were faced with a stone giant with more strength and speed than he had any right to have. They should have been grateful, however.

Jirobo was sure everyone else would make the Kumo nin suffer much more. He knew his teammates, after all, and he also knew that they’d bring hell on these people. If not because they were perfectly fine with the idea, because Eiji had ordered it.

‘Hm, on second thought,’ Jirobo mused, a fireball washing harmlessly around him as he paused for a brief second. ‘I shouldn’t take it easy on them either,’ He decided with an absent nod as he regarded his opponents once more.

Eiji had ordered it, after all. Not to fight them and send them back to Kumo. No, those hadn’t been his exact orders, after all. “I want Kumo to learn to fear us,” Was what the boy had said. And that’s exactly what the Squad would do.

‘Sorry,’ Jirobo said in his mind, even if he wasn’t actually all that apologetic. ‘But you brought this on yourselves,’ He added as he changed his approach. Rock projectiles stopped being blunt and became spiked, edged. The fists of his Granite Shield armor grew heavier and the knuckles pointier. His movements grew less measured and more wild.

Kumo had earned Eiji Satou’s wrath, he decided. And Jirobo saw no more fitting way to repay some of his leader’s kindness than to show Kumo why that was a bad idea. It was the least he could do, really.

He chuckled to himself, imagining what everyone else would likely do. Even if he put more effort on his side, it was unlikely he’d measure up to them. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t try though.

[}-o-{]

[Fu]

The sounds of the battlefield reached her ears.

Screams and shouts resounded all around, some desperate, some angry, some fearful. Bones cracked loudly under her armored fists. Jutsu after jutsu was sent her way, the whooshing of the wind, the cackling of the lightning and everything in between.

All attacks met her armor, a thing made in collaboration with her tenant, and did absolutely nothing. All enemies were taken down with ease by her strong attacks. Nobody could stop her, and nobody would stop her.

Fu was a girl on a mission, after all.

She wondered how shocked some people would be if they saw her. After all, many had this impression that she was just a cheerful, innocent little girl. She liked to think she was too, but there was no denying the truth. That was hardly all there was to her, for sure.

She’d been trained to be a weapon by Taki, after all. The village had done their absolute best to make her into the perfect defense and offense for their enemies. And while that was hardly much, considering how weak they were when compared to the Big Five, it was still something that had impacted Fu.

She’d take every chance she could get to be who and how she wanted to be. She wanted to be happy and free to do as she pleased. She wanted to enjoy herself and have friends. She wanted to have a home and a family.

Eiji Satou arrived then and gave her all that. He’d taken her away from Taki’s clutches and offered her the world. He’d played with her and let her be the child she’d never got to be. He’d taken her along to see a world that was denied to her and introduced her to a whole lot of friendly and not so friendly people.

More importantly, he’d offered her a place where she could belong.

Thus, why she’d asked to join his team. It was really the only thing that she could think of to repay him. It took away some of the freedom she’d been given, for sure, but she’d known she would never be truly free. As a Jinchuriki, it was her fate to be an asset for someone.

She’d accepted that for the fact that it was and decided to make the best of her situation. Thus, if she couldn’t escape that, she could at least choose the better route. Choosing to be Eiji Satou’s asset was it, in her opinion.

Even the Seven Tails agreed with her, whispering in her mind like it’d always done. For most of Fu’s life, the chakra beast had moaned and complained about their shared situation. Lamenting the fact that it couldn’t spread its wings, figuratively and literally.

Now, however, since they’d both left Taki, it was much more cheerful, just like her. And just like her, it knew who to be grateful to for that. Which was why they were both getting into their new orders so much. Fu liked battling as much as the next ninja, but there was an extra bit of enjoyment whenever she punched a Kumo nin, because she knew she was also doing a favor of sorts to the person she owed.

The Seven Tails whispered to her then and she laughed merrily even as she sent yet another enemy flying with a few broken bones.

Her tenant wasn’t wrong either. If they did a good enough job, maybe they’d get more free time too. Yes, Eiji had the right idea. Scare everyone into avoiding fighting them and that’d lead to peaceful times when she could play and enjoy herself. Truly, he was a genius.

She giggled to herself as she continued fighting. For some reason, that seemed to unnerve the Kumo nin more than just her stoically fighting them in Bijuu powered armor. People were weird though, so she didn’t think too much about that. It worked in her favor for her mission, so that was all that she needed to know, really.

Thus, she continued laughing at them. It was kind of funny to smack them around, after all. ‘Hm, maybe I can make a game of this,’ She mused, the Seven Tails completely agreeing with that idea.

“She’s crazy,” A Kumo nin shouted before sending a jutsu her way. Which was rather rude of them. In Fu’s honest opinion, they were the crazy ones for trying to fool Eiji. Even if they had gotten away with it for a little bit, they had to have known it wasn’t a good idea, right?

Fu herself was on Eiji’s good side and she knew not to annoy him too much. What was left for people that Eiji didn’t care about? Truly, they were the insane ones.

Focusing back in the present, Fu cheered happily as the ninja she’d punched flew and hit another. ‘Wonder if I can hit more than one? Maybe make them bounce between several ninja?’ She thought to herself. Yeah, that sounded like a good enough game to play.

She could afford to be a little careless though, as long as she kept smacking them around. This was proved when a spider appeared nearby and told her where some people were leaking through for her to go take care of it. That was the nice thing of being in a team. The others would take care of the boring parts Fu didn’t like doing for her.

‘Hm, maybe we can come up with other games too, in the meantime?’ She thought idly, because smacking Kumo nin into one another was all well and good, but surely there could be other ways to have fun on the battlefield. Fu was sure between her and the Seven Tails they could think up something.

Maybe she could ask Eiji to brainstorm some games for the future too.

[}-o-{]

[Kabuto Yakushi]

Something had to be going on there.

The Kumo forces were entirely too easy to dispatch, after all. Surely their jounin were better than what the Squad was facing, right? Was it all yet another scheme? Was there something going on somewhere that they should be aware of?

Kabuto was doing his best to try and find something going on. The lie that had gotten them away for a little bit had been good. That plan had been solid, if not for Eiji’s ridiculous amount of chakra to make clones and summon spiders. That had played against the Cloud, since it had allowed him the chance to keep an eye on Iwa even as they moved to help Kumo with the faked Akatsuki attack.

It had been good because they’d gotten a guy that could tell the lie believing it was the truth. This, however, was something else entirely. Furthermore, Kabuto was reluctant to think that even the Cloud would just send all the forces they had to just be a distraction. Those were a lot of resources being thrown away.

Thus… He concluded that the Squad was just ridiculously strong. Not a groundbreaking realization, to be sure, but it still managed to be surprising. Kabuto guessed that it was because Eiji had skewed their perception of strength, since he was the only one they fought against except for themselves. So, their capabilities had grown steadily through their time under his lead and they hadn’t even realized how much, evidently.

‘Interesting,’ He mused, his puppet hands floating around and shooting poisoned senbon to every opponent that he could find. He considered this new information for a moment before deciding it was best to focus on his current situation and mission.

‘This isn’t going to cut it, I think,’ Kabuto thought to himself as he looked around. Poisoned needles were as good a method as any to take down his opponents, but that wouldn’t really get what he needed to do. After all, his orders hadn’t been to just take the Kumo nin out. No, they had been to scare them.

Thus, Kabuto found himself wrapping an enemy’s throat with his fingers. Some say that the most dangerous type of foe is a doctor, because they know your body better than you do. A medic knows what and how to target your body so as to best take you out.

And they aren’t wrong.

Kabuto decided then to show Kumo why it was a bad idea to anger his leader, the person that had helped him become a real person. The Kumo nin in his grasp writhed and screamed as he activated his techniques and proceeded to mold the ninja’s body to work against him. He’d cripple everyone that he came across, he’d turn their own selves into their biggest enemies. Many of them would never be able to be ninja again unless he wanted them to.

The ex-spy would show them the true horror that doctors could inflict upon them.

It was the least he could do, really. He himself was rather stressed with so much danger on the horizon and so dangerous foes in their future. Having their lives made more difficult by idiotic nations that couldn’t remain in peace for the shortest of times while dealing with bigger threats wasn’t something he enjoyed, for sure. So, even without taking into account that they’d angered Eiji, Kabuto found himself rather annoyed with the Cloud.

It was just a convenient turn of events that his leader had ordered them to go all out against the Kumo forces. Really, they had only themselves to blame. It wasn’t only Eiji that was stressed with their job and such, even if he was the one most affected. Thus, Kabuto felt no guilt taking out said frustrations on them.

‘I should check on everyone though,’ Kabuto considered, holding down his twentieth enemy as he shifted their muscle and bones. ‘Make sure they don’t let loose too much. We are in the Land of Earth, after all. Gotta make sure we don’t end up making more enemies.’

He didn’t think it was likely to happen, what with Iwa having asked for their help and all. But then again, there were people in the Squad that he wouldn’t be too surprised if they did something stupid. Not because they were stupid but because they could easily let things get out of hand, either by overenthusiasm or by sheer annoyance at their enemies.

So, coordinating with Eiji, Kabuto moved around the border, checking on the others. Fu seemed to be… mixing up fighting with playing games as she happily hopped around the battlefield. Jirobo was, as expected, perfectly fine on his own. If anything, the Earth Release user was being too controlled about things, considering their orders.

On Tayuya’s side of things, she had turned her side of things into a chaotic mess. The Kumo nin were attacking each other, either thinking the others were enemies, or because they didn’t see their allies or for a myriad of other reasons. Kabuto was honestly a little curious of all the illusions that she was making up around the enemy forces, but he also valued what little sanity he still had.

As for Eiji… Well, while everyone else was just doing as they were told, or having fun, he was truly unleashing all his annoyance on anyone that happened to be unlucky enough to find themselves in his path. Lightning and fire rained from above and it was all that the Kumo nin could do to try and run away. Unsuccessfully so, of course, but there was nothing else they could do. There wasn’t even a semblance of trying to fight back like with everyone else.

“Mister Yakushi?” A spider called, landing on Kabuto’s shoulder. When he turned, it spoke again. “Eiji says that you are last place on the score.”

“Score?” He asked, confused.

“Yes, sir,” The arachnid replied. “Eiji has us spiders keeping track of how many ninja everyone in the Squad takes out. I believe it was Miss Fu’s idea.”

“Of course,” He replied with a wry smile.

Why was he even surprised?

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Welp, this was… something. I’d give you guys yet another speech about how this wasn’t the plan and all that, but really, I think you’re probably already aware of that. I’ll just hope that you’ve enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Do you have a pet? What is it? If not, what would you like to have? I don’t have one, personally, and my list of wanted pets is entirely too long, in all honesty. Cat, dog, fish, lizard, snake, spider, etc etc. Maybe one day I’ll have one of those.

See you.