Chapter 58

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

Chapter 58

The night before the finals was… something.

I barely managed to get out of bed that day, if I was honest. Not that I had slept much through the night, since my mind was plagued with thoughts of what was coming. Worrying over what could happen to any of my friends through that shit storm.

I knew I sounded like a broken record, even in my own mind I could tell. My own mind even told me, figuratively and literally since Shade and Hachi loved to tell me that I was thinking too much about it. I just couldn't stop myself from doing that. It was one of my problems, I guessed, worrying too much.

Eventually though, the time came to get up and stop just twisting and turning on the bed.

"Naruto! Time for breakfast!" I called out as I moved down the stairs. It was slightly amusing, to be calling up my first competitor for the Finals like that. It was also my routine, however.

It was even more amusing that the rest of that morning went as all of them usually went. Naruto grumbled against his pillow until I kicked him off the bed. I dragged him to the bathroom and threatened not to leave any food for him if he didn't hurry up. I forced him into helping me with the dishes and so on.

The series of habits was broken when both of us went to our rooms to get ready to go to the arena where the Finals would be held. Putting on the clothes Danzo had gotten me was… weird. Mostly because it fit perfectly and I wasn't sure if I wanted to know how they had managed that.

I wanted to think that Root had someone in the organization that could tell measurements with just a look or something of the sort. That was the story I was sticking to, at least. The other options were increasingly more unsettling and, honestly, I had better things to be worrying about than that.

Walking out, I was greatly amused by Naruto's surprised and awed expression as he met me at the entrance of our house. It was nice to know that the outfit was as cool as I thought it was. It was good to know that it was a hit, at least with the blonde.

"Oh, man. Now I wish I had decided to change my clothes," Naruto complained, looking down at his black and burnt orange outfit, with his jacket open to show the bright orange shirt underneath. "Why didn't I think of that?" He whined to the heavens.

"Well… not much you can do with your… preferences," I commented, looking down at his clothes.

"Can you stop dissing the orange?!"

"I mean, it isn't so bad but still..." I looked down again with an unsure expression. Internally, I was holding back laughter since I was mostly just teasing him. He actually didn't look that bad, really. It was just an old joke I was still running with, at that point.

"I swear to the Ramen Gods, I'll make you all pay for dissing the orange," Naruto grumbled as he walked beside me through the front door. Then, once alone, I chuckled to myself.

A few seconds later, the smile fell off my face and my expression became void of emotion. The weight of my worries returned with a vengeance once there was nothing to distract me from them. It was a shame that Naruto had agreed to meet up with Sasuke to go together to the Finals. A team thing was what I had gathered from the blonde's words. Still, it was nice to know that Sasuke was much more connected with the people around him than his canon counterpart had been. I was almost sure that there wouldn't be any shenanigans regarding him and Orochimaru with all the changes that had occurred.

'Another change though,' I thought to myself. 'Sasuke isn't going with Kakashi… maybe because he didn't have last minute training or anything of the sort, what with the extra month?'

That was one thing that I could scratch from my list of worries… Shame that it was pretty low on it though.

'Stop thinking,' I told myself with a grimace. 'Let's get on with it.'

[}-o-{]

"Wow, nice clothes, Eiji!" Was Ino's way of greeting me once I stepped inside the room where the participants were directed to. To my slight surprise, it wasn't the balcony that I had notes about but another room altogether at ground level where we would enter the arena before moving to the aforementioned balcony.

"Thanks, it was kind of last minute," I replied with a smile.

"You look awful," Shikamaru said with his usual disinterested look, prompting Ino, Naruto, Sasuke and me to roll our eyes. Everyone, from Konoha at least, seemed to be there already when I arrived, which was expected since I had taken a bit of a detour to try and get my mind off things (And also to check if there was anything suspicious going on now that most people were already at the arena). Although, Lee was standing separately from us, maybe because he was older than us, or maybe because the group was just that close.

"Geez, thanks, Shika. Hello to you too, by the way," I said with a half-smile that might as well have been a grimace.

"What's going on, Eiji?" The Nara asked, and I was surprised when the other three straightened their backs, officially killing any casual atmosphere there was. I looked at them in askance.

Had they noticed something? Things were obvious to me, since I knew that something was actually going on, but I didn't know how much it actually was for someone that didn't know. It was a possibility, I guessed. Shikamaru could certainly notice, I decided in the end, but whether the others had been told by him or had managed to catch on on their own was still a mystery to me.

"You've been killing yourself with training, I can tell just by looking at you," Shikamaru told me, making a show of looking me up and down. "And I've noticed stuff going on with my parents. They all but confirmed it some time ago, but they didn't say anything."

"What makes you think I know something?" I asked then, shrugging and praying internally that he wouldn't push for more information. The look he gave me told me all that I needed to know about the success I had. "Yes, there's something happening but..." I trailed off.

I had been a breath away from just telling them that I couldn't say anything. However, was that even the case? Nobody had actually told me not to say anything. It had been more than implied, but nobody had directly ordered me to keep the secret. 'Did the higher ups expect me to only say anything if I needed to? Was it a test?'

Regardless, it gave me something to work with. If it was a test, I would happily fail if that gave my friends an edge on the shitshow that was coming. Slowly, a smirk formed on my face, something that all my friends picked up on.

'Now I wish I had thought of this sooner,' I lamented before sighing.

My eyes darted to the side.

"Naruto, do you have something so that others can't hear us?" I asked, looking at Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi that were standing in one corner of the room. There was still no sign of the Suna siblings though, nor of Choujurou for that matter.

"Sure thing," The blonde nodded and a second later he slapped a tag on the ground in the middle of us. I didn't feel any change though, which might actually be the most frightening bit, since I was 100% sure that the seal worked. This was Naruto after all. "Nobody can hear us, Eiji," He said and I nodded.

"There'll be an attack," I said and if the atmosphere had changed to serious a bit ago, then the tension rose fairly high with that statement. "Orochimaru wasn't done when he attacked me and Sasuke in the forest."

"You think he is back for us?" The Uchiha frowned, and it didn't go away when I shook my head.

"No, he is attacking Konoha as a whole," I continued, and I saw all of them giving me their complete attention. "Suna is involved, apparently, so we should keep a close eye on the siblings that are competing," I added and saw their eyes widen.

"Is a war starting now, Eiji?" Shika prodded this time, obviously being the one to pick up that part the quickest.

"If things go as I think they will… there shouldn't be one. But with the Mist and the Stone here… I can't be certain," My eyes moved towards the two Iwa nin in the room once more. "I don't think they are on Orochimaru's side. At least, what I know doesn't say that, but they could be, or they could just join in after shit hits the fan," I explained and the Nara nodded.

"So..." Ino joined the conversation again, biting her lip. "What can we do to avoid that?" She asked.

I looked at the four of them as they stared right back.

"I have ideas, but I need your help, Shika," I replied then with a grimace that the Nara shared with me. The boy pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed before nodding.

"Tell me everything you know first."

[}-o-{]

[Hiruzen Sarutobi]

Him, Ohnoki and Mei were, at that moment, engaging in what could be considered as small talk with Rasa. Or the person impersonating the Kazekage, at any rate. None of their focus was in the conversation though. No, Hiruzen was sure that he wasn't the only one splitting his concentration between two things, the Chuunin Exams about to be held and, more importantly, the Invasion his student was about to unleash on Konoha.

His eyes moved to the sides, wondering not for the first time how his fellow Kage would react if Orochimaru followed the plan Kabuto had described or any of the considered variations of it. Would Mei honour the alliance they had, despite never actually having formalized it? Would Ohnoki hold onto his bitterness and the hate his village had for Konoha instead of helping them deal with a threat to all nations?

Hiruzen also wondered, not for the first time, if his decision to station Jiraiya outside, to deal with other threats, was a good idea. However, he still thought it was for the best. Putting such a person inside a room with other Kages was a bad idea, even if most of those Kages knew the reasons behind the action, others didn't. The last thing he needed on top of everything was people thinking he didn't trust the other village leaders… or worse, that he wanted to attack them. No, his normal escorts would have to do.

Despite the tension that filled the room, Hiruzen had to withhold a smirk when he saw the Mizukage and the Tsuchikage perk up and narrow their eyes at the arena. He was sure that some of it was due to their own representatives, but he was also sure that there would have been more pride or satisfaction on their faces if it were only that. No, there was something else catching their attention, or maybe it was more accurate to say that there was someone else catching their attention.

"Bold statement, the one that brat is making," Ohnoki pointed out, and Hiruzen could see his eyebrow twitch. This time he definitely smirked as his own eyes found the person that was bringing the most attention to himself.

The Kage had been unaware of Eiji Satou's change in outfits, mostly due to the fact that it had been a long time since he had spoken with the boy. The most they had interacted was when the boy had been made to interrogate Yakushi and through reports that were delivered with barely two words being said between them. Still, the current God of Shinobi didn't need to speak with the Genin to know that the change wasn't entirely his idea.

He could see Danzo's touch all over the outfit.

Hiruzen found himself grateful for the Shimura's interference and he would have paid good money to know how Homura and Koharu were reacting to the sight of the Satou. 'What would you have thought, Tobirama-sensei?' He wondered to himself. Would his teacher have seen himself in that boy? They shared many of the same traits, although it was also true that there were many differences between the two.

The fact that his sensei might actually get to see the boy, however, wasn't a happy thought to Hiruzen. If what Kabuto Yakushi had said was true, and Orochimaru had gotten his hands on the Impure World Reincarnation then… Then there would be hell to pay. If his student thought he could disturb the dead to further his goals, then he was wrong. Nevermind if he did so to Hiruzen's sensei and Hashirama Senju, someone who had also taught him much during his youth.

"Indeed," Mei nodded, relaxing her posture the smallest bit and leaning back on her seat. "It's good to see that he decided to follow the tradition of the Swordsmen, even during this," She added, likely eyeing Nuibari, the sword not being hidden at all in its place on Eiji's lower back.

It was only the fact that he was facing worse issues at the moment that stopped Hiruzen from worrying too much about having one of his Shinobi carrying one of the Legendary Swords of the Mist. He was sure there would be trouble in the future because of that, but with Kiri being unofficially on their side, it became a minor concern at worst. For the time being, that is.

And even then, Hiruzen wasn't sure who they could send Eiji's way that he wouldn't at least be able to escape from. The boy was growing at a terrifying rate. So much so, that the Hokage knew there were Jounin that couldn't beat him, nevermind make him run.

Although, that didn't mean much. Most people didn't know, but there was a very clear line between average people and exceptional people. And the Jounin rank didn't do the latters justice, despite being about as high as one could go. There was ANBU too, yes, but they were more like specialized Jounin than another level of power as many seemed to believe, really.

Regardless, a rough few years awaited Eiji if he wanted to cross that line. Hiruzen had no doubts that he could do it, however. He would be surprised if the boy didn't, what with the drive that he showed. Furthermore, he expected that the child would make a name for himself soon enough, maybe even that same day.

As it was, today would be the day Eiji Satou became Chunin, of that Hiruzen had no doubt.

Something else caught Hiruzen's attention then, and he wondered if the other leaders had picked up on that. He doubted it though, because while it was a clear contrast to how his shinobi behaved, the other Kages couldn't know that. His eyes scanned the Konoha participants and saw clear signs of tension, wariness and thoughtfulness.

'So, you told them, huh, Eiji?' Hiruzen mused, not really surprised. He had expected as much, actually, just like he had years ago when he told the boy about Naruto and the Kyuubi. The then Academy Student had proved trustworthy back then, which was why he had no compulsions on letting the boy know about what Orochimaru was planning. That was one of the reasons why he had even allowed Eiji to be part of Kabuto's interrogation to begin with.

Despite seeing it coming, Hiruzen was actually intrigued by the fact that Eiji had told his group about the Invasion. Not really because of him having told them at all, but because the Kage was reasonably sure that he had done so either that same day or a few days prior at most. This was due to the fact that the Hokage had met with Naruto a week ago and the Uzumaki had shown no signs of knowing anything regarding the Invasion.

'Was that planned or did it take you that long to decide to tell them?' Hiruzen wondered.

The Sarutobi couldn't decide if he was relieved or concerned because of this development. On one hand, he was happy to know that the young group wouldn't be caught off guard by the attack, however it may happen. On the other, there was a chance that the Genin would take action in some way and make things worse in their attempt to help. Hiruzen could only hope that having Eiji and Shikaku's son would be enough to prevent that.

For the moment, interrupting his musings, the introductions were made and the first match was announced. The Yamanaka Heiress against Rasa's eldest son. If the Kazekage thought anything of the match, he didn't say nor show it.

"That's one of your boys, is it not, Rasa?" Ohnoki pointed out, and Hiruzen was sure that all the attention was on the Kazekage. To be fair though, it had probably never left him to begin with. There was no way any of his fellow Kages would let their guard down when they were sitting next to a potential threat.

"He is," The man nodded. "And I'm told that the girl uses poisons on top of her Clan's techniques. I wonder how that will go for her against Kankuro, considering that he uses them too."

"Both of them showed that card during their battles in the preliminaries," Mei commented, apparently not overly interested in the first match. "The question is, did they prepare new tricks for this or hide some beforehand?"

"I'm sure they did," Hiruzen nodded. Not specifying which part of the question he was agreeing with. After all, in most cases, it took a special type of battle for one to show all their cards, which he was sure wasn't the case. Besides that, they were children, they could add new tricks to their repertoire with relative ease since they were just at the beginning of their careers.

"Begin!" Hayate Gekko called and so, the Finals began.

[}-o-{]

[Ino Yamanaka]

Pushing aside thoughts about the Invasion Eiji had told them about, Ino's hands snapped together in a single seal. To her shame, the girl hadn't managed to get the Jutsu she had learned to work sealessly, but she had greatly reduced the number of seals until she could make it work with just one, which was just as good, in her opinion. With that done and the technique starting its job, she opened her mouth and let out a long breath.

She may not have gotten the Mind Jutsu to the level that she wanted, but she did get it with the Poison one. It actually worked out pretty well for her, Ino had decided while planning how to go about facing the Suna nin. After all, if one of her Jutsu required seals and the other didn't, and none of them had visible effects, then her opponent would think that she was using the one that she had already shown.

"That again?" The make-up wearing boy asked mockingly. Just like she expected him to, he was underestimating her. That or he was overestimating himself, either was fine. "You know I know it's poison, right? I would be surprised if anyone didn't," Kankuro pointed out flippantly.

"Doesn't make it less poisonous," Ino replied with a smirk.

"Wow, it's because of people like you that the stereotype against blondes exists, you know?" The Yamanaka felt her eye twitch at that. "We are out in the open here, a slight wind will take away at least a good bit of your poison. I would know, I use poisons too, which is point two, actually. Poison won't work with me."

"You sure like the sound of your voice, huh?" Ino taunted, not because she wanted the fight to start though. She very much would have prefered to let the banter drag on. However, she didn't want to be too obvious about that fact.

"Just doing you a favour, blondie," Kankuro shrugged with a confident grin. "At least you won't be taken out too fast this way. Really, you should thank me."

"In your dreams," Ino replied with a roll of her eyes. She was trying to project as much confidence in herself as she could. Fake it till you make it and all that. After all, she could feel the nerves gnawing at her insides. The technique she was using required time, time that she didn't know if she had.

Now, on top of that, she had to worry about not using too much chakra so that she could help during the attack. That added a very unwelcome increase in difficulty to the whole Exam. Moreover, she would have to forfeit if it became obvious that she would struggle too much, if only to save chakra and avoid injuries.

'That sucks though,' Ino thought, hiding a grimace. However, leaving her friends to deal with the attack would suck even more, that much she knew. If it came to that, she would just have to wait some more time to get promoted. 'No big deal,' She told herself.

"Well, I was expecting something more from you, blondie, but I see that I overestimated you," Kankuro sighed, taking off the puppet behind his back and setting it next to him. Not knowing if that was actually a puppet or if it was himself would wear on her, Ino knew. Good thing neither of her Jutsu required an actual target.

Nervously, she pulled out two kunai from her pouch and readied herself to deal with whichever of the two was the puppet. Hopefully, the guy would continue to be an idiot and not join in on the fight. She wasn't counting on it too much though.

'Maybe I should get a weapon, if I'm going to be stalling so much in all my fights,' She thought with a grimace, not being a fan of her own strategy. As it was, she had added bracers under her arm warmers, just in case the kunai weren't enough.

She had to consciously stop herself from grinning when she saw one of them blink repeatedly and shake his head. Her approach might not have been the flashiest, but there was something very satisfying about attacking her opponents without them knowing that she was doing so. Maybe she could continue that path alongside some other clan techniques, despite how much she had complained about it before. 'And now I know which is the real one, there goes that problem,' She thought to herself.

Both Kankuro and his puppet pulled kunai from behind them with both their hands. 'So, both of them, huh?' Ino grimaced. 'Next thing I'm doing is also learning some jutsu to fight normally, if only to help with this part,' She decided, adding that next to a weapon.

She cursed internally when both the boy and his puppet separated from one another and rushed her from the sides. Once they reached her, she decided to dodge instead of block. Trying to block from both sides was a bad idea, she knew that much. Jumping backwards to one side, she blocked a kunai with hers.

Ino would have liked to get away from both of them at the same time, but that would put her back in square one where both of them would rush her again. Instead, she decided to maneuver herself so that one of them would be between her and the other. She chose to get away from the real one, since she suspected (and wished) that it would be a little harder for him to control his tool while also trying to fight himself.

Especially with her Jutsu becoming stronger and stronger as time passed.

This last part showed at that moment, when the boy tried to attack once more, this time with the puppet. The slash went wide and didn't even come close to her. Still, she took that moment to move to the side again, to better position herself.

"What?" Kankuro voiced, once more giving away which one was the real one. He didn't even look like he noticed he did. That was all part of the plan though. 'I can win this,' Ino thought with a widening grin. The technique was acting a lot faster than she had anticipated. Maybe combining it with the invisible poison had helped? Something to test later.

Taking advantage of the moment of doubt of her opponent, she sent a kick towards the puppet, sending it straight into its puppeteer. Both user and tool fell to the ground in a tangled mess. While the human sputtered, evidently very confused, Ino used that moment to make it rain shuriken on the two. It wouldn't hurt much, but that wasn't the point. All the things were coated in poison.

Against a poison user, they might not be the most effective, but Ino was sure that between the gaseous invisible poison and this, it would have some effect on him. That together with her Mind Jutsu, there was no way he could fight at top condition. 'Maybe I can stack some more things on that?'

It turned out, in the end, that she didn't need to. Maybe if her opponent had rushed her instead of talking uselessly, he might have stood a chance. However, he didn't, and thus he lost his chance at victory.

The Mind Body Numbing Technique had, in the end, been the right thing to learn. She would have to make sure she told her dad that. He deserved that after putting up with all her complaining. It might not be the flashiest of techniques, but slowly messing up with the connection between body and mind of those around her was pretty cool, she decided.

It required them to be close to her at all times and if they got away the effect would be lost and have to restart, but in this closed arena? They would have had to be on opposite sides for that to happen. It was perfect.

Soon enough the Suna nin couldn't even fight properly, giving up with a very angry expression as he realized that there was no point. It would be even more embarrassing for him if the battle continued, considering that his body did anything but what he wanted. The whole thing might have been a shameful event for him, but it would just get worse from there.

A quick victory for Ino, but she was perfectly fine with that and, as she arrived at the balcony with her friends, she could almost forget what was coming.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

Well, this chapter was a lot slower than I thought it would be. And here I thought that what happened in here would be just half a chapter instead of a whole one. I wonder when I'll finally accept that my predictions are always wrong about my works.

Anyway, not much to say about the first half of the chapter, really. And about the fight… Well, we all know what I think about writing fights, right? I'm, once again, wondering why I decided to write for a very much action based fandom.

That's all I got to say. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:

P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing

Random Question: What's your favorite footwear? I like high top converse. I know that's actually the company name, but I trust you all know what I'm talking about. I honestly don't know if the things have an actual name.

See you.