Game of Shadows - 130 (Patreon)

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

Cover Art: Kissuli.

Chapter 130

“So, what do you think?” Eiji had asked Sasuke once he’d finished talking with Itachi. He’d made sure to take as many precautions as he could. He’d gotten permission from the Spider Clan to host the meeting there, with all his team present for good measure. Granted, everyone stayed far enough away from the two brothers that they couldn’t pick up on what was said, but if anything happened, they’d be ready.

Eiji wondered, through the whole event, if it had been the right thing to do. Especially once Sasuke came back and explained that on top of telling him about the massacre and what had gone on back then, Itachi had also offered him the Mangekyou, his Mangekyou to boot. That had caught Eiji off guard, to put it mildly. As if the whole mess wasn’t enough by itself, he thought.

“I don’t know what to think,” the younger Uchiha replied with as they sat on top of a building in Suna, gazing towards the setting sun. For the moment, they were alone, although Sasuke planned on taking Naruto up on an offer to spend some time together. As it was though, he wanted to enjoy a bit more calm than was possible with the blonde. “I really don’t.”

“Understandable,” Eiji said, which was the whole truth put in a single word. It’d barely been a day since the conversation. It would be stupid to expect the boy to already have gathered his thoughts. Hell, Eiji himself could barely keep up. The question had been more to see if he could help than anything else.

“It sucks,” Sasuke told him after a few moments of silence. “When the world doesn’t make sense and, at the same time, it does. It really sucks.”

“It does,” Eiji agreed.

“I hate Konoha, for taking away everything I loved,” Sasuke said, his jaw clenching in suppressed anger. “I hate that my Clan was so… So…” he trailed off then, sighing in frustration. “Why did it all have to happen?”

“Sometimes there’s no good reason for bad things, just like sometimes there’s no good reason for good things,” Eiji replied, wishing he could have better answers to give him. As it was, he didn’t, so he could only offer his support and hope it would be enough.

“I hate that.”

“Yeah, I do too,” Eiji agreed, deflating slightly. And wasn’t that the truth? Things would have been much easier for him if there weren’t so many nonsensical things happening in the world. However, it was as it was. Maybe it was the shift in the laws that ruled the world, or maybe it was just like in his own world there had been things he didn’t understand either.

“Not all my Clan had to die,” Sasuke said then and Eiji glanced towards him at the shift in tone. Unsurprisingly, the Sharingan burned in his eyes as he glared off into the distance. “Danzo Shimura will die.”

“He will,” Eiji agreed with a nod. That had been the plan already anyway. “I can help with that.”

“Thank you,” Sasuke nodded. “I just… Maybe I…” the boy started, seemingly unable to find the right words to express himself. His tone then went from angry to tired as the words spilled from his mouth. “I think I just… need some time alone.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“Ok then.”

“... And Eiji… thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

[}-o-{]

“Fearless Leader?” Fu called from where they all were trapped in his wires. Blinking, Eiji looked around for a moment. He’d spaced out, it seemed, but then again, he had a lot in his mind, even without considering recent events. With a sigh, he pulled his team free.

They’d stopped their traveling for a moment, because they needed to rest for a bit before continuing. Eiji wasn’t eager for another international trip without stops, that was for sure. He didn’t think his body, his energy reserves and Tsuchigumo were quite ready for one either. Despite being full capacity once more, that didn’t mean that they could be strained like that again without consequences, especially so soon after the fact.

‘If only we weren’t in such a rush,’ he thought, his eyes turning to follow the wires that had before contained his teammates. The threads were being pulled from spools that were located inside his new puppet arm. That was the main thing that Kabuto had added to the new model of his prosthetic arm besides a bunch of seals courtesy of Naruto to make them more durable. They’d eat at Eiji’s chakra to keep them strong but… Well, Tsuchigumo had him covered if it really came to that.

There were ideas for more stuff to be added in the future, but he was happy with what he had. After all, it might not have all the myriad of addons that Kabuto had in mind for it, but it was a sturdy piece of metal and it had enough wires inside to keep Eiji content. It also almost made it seem like he actually had an arm. It certainly did to the outside world, but it unfortunately didn’t fool Eiji himself. Regardless, his arm now looked like it was armored all the way to his shoulder, and he had to admit that if it weren’t for the permanent void he felt where his arm should be now, he’d have liked the look.

It was also part of the reason why he was actually training instead of just traveling. On top of having to level up Puppet Mastery and Single-Handed Seals Mastery, he also had to get used to a new fighting style with the addition of his new arm and armor. So far… Well, things were going pretty well, if he did say so himself.

[Single-Handed Seals Mastery - Lvl 15

Increase the skill of the user to use Jutsu with single-handed seals.

Usable Jutsu Ranks – E, D, C and B.]

Not quite where he wanted it, but certainly not bad, Eiji supposed. If he wasn’t too wrong with his math, he was pretty sure he should be able to get it to cover S ranked jutsu before he actually needed it. If for no other reason than because he couldn’t cast Wit’s End without it now. One of the techniques that might be necessary in the near future.

It was a relief that his most important jutsu at the moment was already maxed and didn’t need seals anymore. Then again, he’d made sure that it was to avoid just the situation he was in. Having the ultimate weapon and needing a few seconds to cast it with hand seals just wouldn’t have done. No, Relentless Storm was ready, and that was the most important part.

“Let’s rest,” he said, because he really wasn’t having an easy time keeping his mind focused. He smiled appreciatively when he heard Tayuya start playing as she walked towards him. Soon, they found themselves sitting back to back once more. “It’ll be over soon, and we’ll be able to relax,” he said, more to himself than to his girlfriend.

If the almost cheerful tune of her song was anything to go by though, she agreed.

[}-o-{]

He’d have moved away, but instead Eiji watched Sasuke stand up and move away. He’d make sure that he was watched, just in case the Uchiha decided to do something drastic. A few spiders would do, he supposed. Even still, Eiji could at least make sure that the boy was left relatively alone, to process things.

As it was, he had something else to process himself, it seemed.

[Quest Complete: Save Naruto Uzumaki from the Akatsuki attack.

Rewards:

+ 5 to all Stats

+ Title Updated: The Weaver

+ Perk Updated: Resilience

+ Perk Updated: Mettle of Men

+ New Perk: Borrowed Time]

The first thing that got Eiji’s attention wasn’t the surprisingly high boost to his stats. Nor the number of other rewards, really. Not even the new Perk, if he was honest. No, what got his attention didn’t even have all that much to do with the screen at all.

‘Why did I get this just now?’ he wondered with a frown. After all, he’d saved Naruto a while ago already. It wasn’t like he’d just then done it, not even that day, so… His eyes widened and darted to his side, where Sasuke had just sat next to him. ‘Was… Was Itachi still a concern until just now?’ he thought, because that was a very big concern then. How was the man still considered a threat to Naruto even while incapacitated and sent away to the Spider Realm…

‘Itachi, you scary motherfucker,’ Eiji couldn’t help but think to himself.

Still, the screen thankfully put those concerns to rest at the same time it rose them. However, he’d have to remember this for future reference. If he didn’t get rewards when he should then things likely weren’t done just yet. ‘I’m pretty stupid for not realizing I should have gotten them before, honestly,’ he chastised himself. To be fair, he’d had other things in mind but that wouldn’t be an excuse if the mistake actually caused problems.

It was only then that he deigned the rest of the screen with some attention.

[Eiji Satou

Main Title: Prodigy

Secondary Title: Aspiring Prodigy

Energy Points: 1320/1320

Chakra Points: 1650/1650

Natural Energy Points: 0/1650

Beast Chakra Points: 0/0

Strength: 66

Dexterity: 69

Constitution: 66

Chakra: 66

Chakra Control: A]

‘I wonder who do I have to sell my soul to in order to get Chakra Control to S or higher,’ Eiji wondered idly, but still, he was pretty pleased with his Status. After all, his stats weren’t really going up anymore. At the stage he was, he depended exclusively on Quest rewards to get them to raise even a little. Even one stat would be a very welcome change, nevermind five.

[The Weaver

Increases stats when fighting alongside members of the Spider Clan by 20%.

Increases stats when fighting with Nuibari by 40%.

Increases the effects of Bloodlust when using threads by 45%.

Increases the effects of thread-based techniques by 35%.

Increases the effects of Lightning Release techniques by 25%.

Increases the effects of Fire Release techniques by 15%.

Increases Energy Point regeneration by 100%.]

‘This Title gets more and more ridiculous with each update. It’s glorious,’ Eiji celebrated in his mind, unable to stop a smile from forming. Most percentages had gone up with the update and he even got a whole new effect to boot. 100% increased Energy Point regeneration might be a lot less than it sounded when said like that, but it was still a nice thing to have. He’d certainly have welcomed it all the times he had to buy himself time while waiting to recharge that mid battle, that was for sure.

[Resilience (Advanced)

The user recovers from injuries considerably faster than normal.]

‘Not sure how much of an improvement that is, but I’ll take it,’ he thought to himself. He might rely more on World Ender than anything else when it came to recovering, but the technique was eating away at his lifespan, so it was nice to know that he had something to rely on whenever he didn’t really need to speed things up. With some luck, it’d work well in those circumstances. He needed that kind of boost to not feel antsy whenever he was going through recovery periods.

[Mettle of Man

The user’s stats increase by 30% when facing a foe with higher stats than them.

The user’s stats increase by 30% when facing more than 3 foes at once. (Clones do not count for the effect)]

This change made him wonder though, did it get updated because the Perk counted Pain’s Paths as different foes or was it because one or several of the people he fought had stats 30% higher than him? Because surely it updated because it was related to the Quest, right? The first option was a nice thing to know, but if it was the second… Well, like before, it was a concerning, possibly. Not so much then, considering he’d still defeated them and had gotten a boost to his stats to boot, but still… It’d be nice to know which of the two possibilities it was.

As for the new Perk…

[Borrowed Time

Once a day, the user can willingly replenish all his Energy Points.

Energy Points are dropped to 0 after a minute.

Energy Points regeneration is stopped for 24 hours.]

‘Nice~,’ he thought, his grin widening. That was certainly a nice effect, even if the downsides to using the perk were harsh to say the least. It was something of a last resort, he supposed. A double-edged sword too, he’d add. If he used it and it still wasn’t enough, he wouldn’t get another try at using EP skills to turn the tides of the battle. Although, at that point, he probably would already be screwed anyway, he supposed.

Dismissing the screens, Eiji looked towards the horizon, where the sun was vanishing behind the dunes and sand flew about with the errant wind.

[}-o-{]

Eiji sat some distance away from his team as they had some light spars with his clones. The training wasn’t anywhere close to what it usually was, but he didn’t want them to be tired in case of an attack or something. Things were more tense than usual and he wanted to have everyone as able to fight as possible without crippling their progress.

As it was, he’d have joined, but his clones would do well enough to adjust his fighting style to what it needed to be. As for himself and another bunch of clones, they’d train in the two skills he needed to focus on. On top of that, well, if he could add something else on top without affecting the other two, that’d be nice.

Which was why he found himself training with his puppet/armor arm to raise Puppet Mastery. At the same time, he practiced his Single-Handed Seals Mastery with his other arm. That last one allowed him to also train with Jutsu that had been sort of left aside with time, like the standard genjutsu that he’d long since stopped using. He doubted that he’d ever use them very much, but if he already had them, why not raise them while he trained with something else.

That wasn’t to say illusions were the only thing he was working with besides his main concerns though. He also was trying to max out the Lightning Beast Tracking Fang. It was a bit redundant, since Hou-ou and the Sacred Flock were basically the same thing except better, but who knew? Maybe he’d find himself in the need of a weaker technique at some point and if not that, then if he ever actually taught people, he’d need to start at a lower level instead of jumping to A and S ranked techniques.

Furthermore, as if that weren’t enough, he was also working on Chakra Flow. He’d already maxed out the Lightning version, but he’d found that it worked well enough for Lightning Manipulation so he was still using it. The Fire variant was still a work in progress anyway, so that was nice to work on too.

[Lightning Manipulation has gone up a level.]

[Quest Complete: Reach a Lightning Manipulation level of 50.

Rewards:

+ 1 stage of Chakra Control]

He blinked.

‘No way,’ he thought to himself, before quickly calling for his Status. Sure enough, there it was, in all its frustratingly elusive – until that point, that is – glory.

[Chakra Control: A+]

Eiji’s eyes instantly darted towards his threats, covered in electricity and flames. ‘So, the next levels lay on Nature Manipulation? I can work with that. I can certainly work with that,’ he mused, already going over ways to better train the two skills. He’d likely set a few clones to actually train those, instead of just half-heartedly doing so with less than idea techniques. Before, it’d been a nice bonus but it hadn’t been life changing despite its seemingly strong effects. Now, it was more.

Chakra Control wasn’t the best thing in the world either, of course, but the stat was very important for medical techniques, and that’s where the crux of the matter laid. If he could get that stat higher, he would be able to mitigate the effects of World Ender a bit. Maybe, if he got it far enough he’d be able to completely negate them. If not that, maybe he could get a chance to work out a new technique to counter those effects or outright rework World Ender into a more effective skill.

‘Definitely need to see if I can get it higher this way,’ Eiji decided with a frown. ‘If that works, then does Senjutsu count? That’s Nature Chakra Manipulation basically, right?’ he wondered with narrowed eyes.

[Senjutsu of the Spiders- Lvl 20

The user gathers and balances natural energy with their own chakra to increase Physical Stats and gain a sensing ability.

Physical Stat Increase - 200%

Sensing Range - 800 meters]

‘If it does, which level? 50, like with Lightning Manipulation? That’d take forever,’ Eiji thought to himself, growing a little disheartened. He’d have preferred to be able to make progress more in the short term. Not because he was impatient, but because shit was about to go down, so he’d have preferred to have a better grasp of World Ender when it did. As it was, he might just have to take the little boost he’d just gotten. Although, Fire Manipulation wasn’t so far off that it was impossible… If he focused on it…

[Fire Manipulation – Lvl 40

Increases control of fire according to level.

Fire jutsu use 20% less chakra.

Fire jutsu are 20% more effective.

The user is 20% more resistant to fire.]

‘Yes, I think I might manage if I dedicate a bunch of clones to this… I’ll have to push off the fighting style training, I think. My usual style will have to do for the moment. I need this up to 50 to hopefully boost my Chakra Control some more. Puppet and Single-Handed Seals Mastery too, of course… Those three things are priority and anything else I can add to that as a bonus… Yes, that should do.’

“Let’s take a break, guys!” he called, stopping the training his clones were doing with his team. He needed to make new clones that had adjusted to the new plan and his team could use a little rest too for that matter.

His eyes trialed off to the side, towards Amegakure.

He really hoped they’d all be ready for what was about to go down.

[}-o-{]

“Already sent those letters you talked about, Fearless Leader?” Tayuya asked him with her illusion voice as she played. He didn’t immediately respond though, focusing on his efforts to play the guitar. It’d been frustrating, to have to re-learn much of what little he had. Despite his already raised level, it didn’t quite translate that well when he was still getting used to his puppet arm. He guessed it had more to do with Puppet Mastery than Guitar Mastery, in that regard. He knew what to do, but he didn’t quite manage to do it as he should have.

“Temari and I are still working on it. There’s no rush and I’d really rather not push people’s buttons by accident. She’s been a godsend in that regard,” he replied when he had a moment to pause, not that his girlfriend stopped. “Temari isn’t too happy with me.”

“None of us are, idiot,” Tayuya told him bluntly, as could be expected from her. “But we grudgingly agree, which is more than you should have expected, dumbass.”

“I guess that’s true enough,” Eiji agreed with a slight smile and a snort. “Still… I think it’s the right call. I don’t like it myself, but that’s the irrational part of me only.”

“Are you trying to explain yourself to me? I literally just fucking told you that we agree,” his girlfriend told him, sounding supremely unimpressed. Which was fair, really, he guessed.

“I know, I’m just… justifying it to myself, I guess,” Eiji replied with a sigh. Deflating slightly, he let the guitar rest on his lap as he learned his head back on Tayuya’s shoulder. “I really, really can’t wait to be done with all this shit.”

“You, me and the whole bunch of bastards that we call our team, Fearless Leader,” his girlfriend told him. “We aren’t done yet though, so you better not get all mopey on me, am I clear?”

“I’ll do my best,” he answered, somewhat amused even through his weariness. She wasn’t wrong though. They’d get there eventually, so there was no point in complaining. Didn’t mean he didn’t want to do it though.

“Pick that shit up, will you?” Tayuya demanded then, making him blink. “Don’t know where you got the idea that I’m a fucking patient person, Fearless Leader. You better put some damn effort into learning the guitar or just quit it. I’m not gonna wait to play together forever.”

“Ok, ok,” he relented easily, a grin on his face as he picked up the instrument once more. With a deep breath in, he pushed aside gloomy thoughts and focused on the guitar. That might have been Tayuya’s goal with her words, or she just might have been brutally honest with him. It could also be both things, for all he knew. “The new arm sucks for this though,” he grumbled half-heartedly, which went entirely ignored by his girlfriend.

He wasn’t even a full minute back into practice when something made him freeze. It was just a little thing, almost unnoticed if not for the material it was made of. His attention zeroed in on it as he all but glared a hole in the thing just with his awareness. This, however, gave him pause after a moment.

“Fearless Leader?” Tayuya asked but he didn’t answer her. His mind was working and the more he thought about it… He paled. “Eiji? Did something happen?” He still remained silent as a bird flew up to them and settled right in front of him. “Is that…?” his girlfriend started, before the creature hopped closer until it was on top of the guitar.

Then the bird unfurled into a letter.

A letter that he’d already read the contents off with his Web Sense.

“I need to go,” Eiji said, picking it up and folding it so the content remained hidden. Nobody was around, but that would soon change, after all. “Gather everyone at a house, will you? I’m gonna go look for Temari. I… I need to think this through, but I might need her help.”

“Sure thing, Fearless Leader, just don’t do something stupid,” Tayuya told him, this time with her actual voice, the music long since having stopped.

“Yeah, not sure how well I can manage that, but I’ll try,” he replied wryly as he finished standing up. “I’ll see you later,” he added absently as his mind pulled away, going over things with the twins that were now at the forefront of his mind.

“Later,” Tayuya replied with a nod, and he Flickered a second later. Not much more than that was what it took him to reach his destination, before he knocked on the door. He tried his best not to sound insistent or hurried, but it was kinda hard with the information that had just been dropped on his lap.

“Yes?” Temari asked, opening the door.

“I think there’s a change of plans. I have to write a letter to all Kages, and none of them is gonna like me much for it… Except maybe the Mizukage,” he told her, going straight to the heart of things, which made the girl pale instantly. He couldn’t say he blamed her, honestly.

“Why?”

“It seems that… things are happening,” Eiji said, being vague because he himself was having trouble processing things. Or better to say, deciding what to do with the information he’d got.

From Konan to boot.

However, the message she’d delivered to him… It made sense. It was entirely too possible for his liking, and that made it all the more worrying. If they were setting up a trap for him, they would have said something else, not that, he was sure. No, the more he thought about it, the more sense it made and that meant he didn’t have time. He needed to pull all the stops.

“I think the final fight might be on us,” he said, opening the letter once more, as if reading it with his own eyes would make it more real… or change into something else. However, it didn’t.

Obito was hunting Nagato for his eyes.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

I give up. I really give up trying to understand what the fuck my characters are doing. The last sliver of my precious plans has officially gone up in flames and will never recover, so, fuck it all. I guess I’ll just watch where this shit goes along with you, guys.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: I’ve been toying with this style of flashback/present/flashback/present and so on writing for a while in my side stories. This might be the one instance of me using it that I’ve liked the least, but it might be because I have to actually post this and for a very important point in the story (So, yeah, I shouldn’t have used it here, but my muse is a bitch and she wanted things to go like this). What I’m getting at is, did you like it or not?

See you.