Game of Shadow

chapter 5

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

Chapter 5

Chouji's fist impacted against my forearms as I covered my chest. The Akimichi's renowned strength send me skidding backwards while I felt my arms go numb. Once I regained a firm enough stance, I kept my eyes on my friend. Chouji was panting heavily as sweat covered his brows.

[Physical Resistance has gone up a level.]

Dismissing the screen, I thought about how much it had taken Naruto and me to curb Chouji's extremely gentle nature so that he could actually spar with us. Between him pulling his punches and Naruto's messy fighting style that I was still trying to improve, it had taken entirely too long for me to get the Resistance skill tree. So far, I only had the Physical branch but it was sure to have some to resist the jutsu elements at the very least. I hoped so at least.

After getting the skill, I had spent the better part of a day wondering if I should find a way to grind it. I decided against that for several reasons. First of all, I wasn't masochistic enough to beat myself up just to grind the skill. I didn't even have Gamer's Body and Mind to help keep me undamaged and sane. I liked having a modicum of sanity, thank you very much.

Secondly, it only seemed to give one percent per level, so at the rate my skills leveled I would have to received too much damage for it to be worthwhile. Something that I wasn't about to do to myself. And lastly, I doubted the shitty Game would allow me to get it high enough to make myself invulnerable. It was sure to have a cap of some sort and I would be happy if I never had to find that out.

Back to my spar with Chouji though, he was completely exhausted and my arms were covered in bruises after so much blocking. But I was ready to take him down. Both of us had put extra effort in this spar as it was the first time, we had to spar in an actual class instead of our get togethers at the Nara or Akimichi compound. It somehow made it even more important than those.

I smirked at him and he groaned.

"Shit." He said simply before I started running at him. With a last-ditch effort, he tried to attack again but I had dragged the spar on for a reason. I had more stamina than him. All my training had made sure of that. I was also sure that if I could check his stats his Dexterity would be lower than mine.

The match had been long. I had spent the entirety of it dodging to the best of my capabilities and blocking when I was unable to. I was confident in my Taijutsu prowess after weeks of defeating the civilian students and the weaker clan members. But I wasn't crazy enough to get up close with Chouji from the very beginning. I had made that mistake on our friendly spars and after his change of attitude towards training he was a beast.

Now, a tired Akimichi heir wouldn't be able to touch me and that was proved when I dodged the incoming fist before punching his side and positioning myself behind him. With a kick behind the knee he went down and then I punched him in the jaw as he tried to turn to me. After that I put some distance between us. While fast, my punches didn't do much damage, not against an Akimichi's physiology at least.

I went back in when it was evident that he wouldn't stand back up fast enough to be a danger and kicked him in the back sending him to the ground. After that I threw myself on top of him at put his arm behind his back. I had him.

"I yield." He groaned before Iruka called the match. With a relieved sigh I stood up and offered Chouji my hand to help him. We both did the Seal of Reconciliation and went back to our group. "You are so annoying to fight, Eiji." He grumbled and I chuckled tiredly.

"Tell that to my arms, I won't be able to train shit with them like this." I looked at said limbs and they looked as bad as they felt. I grimaced as I thought about how painful cooking would be with them like that. In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have blocked with both arms and so much. I forgot about that as I looked at a new screen that had popped up.