Game of Shadow

Chapter 28

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

Chapter 28

"You still aren't at the point of doing it sealless, kiddo, give up," Anko said mockingly as she dodged yet another Lightning Flicker kick. She was right, I still lacked two levels to be able to do the jutsu without signs. But still, using the skills in actual combat was the best thing I could do to grind levels. Leaving the skill for normal grinding training would just slow me down.

As I got kicked against a tree though, my resolve wavered for a moment.

"You know what, you are right," I growled, and my sensei made a show of fixing her laidback stance. Either she was mocking me, or she really expected the battle to kick up like the second phase of a boss fight or something. 'Let's grind some more skills, shall we?' I thought to myself.

"Oh come on, I believed you, brat!" She whined as she saw me do the hand seal for Lightning Flicker again. Meanwhile, I smirked.

Instead of stepping towards her for a kick as I had been trying, I stepped to one side before using my second step towards her. Midair, I placed both feet towards her. Unfortunately, the slight change in strategy didn't work.

Fortunately, that wasn't my actual plan.

As I flew past Anko, I made another hand seal and pulled the fuuma shuriken from my hip and threw it at the Tokubetsu Jounin.

[Fuuma Shuriken Throwing has been maxed.]

[Lightning Release: Flashing Shuriken has been maxed.]

[New Perk Acquired: Shurikenjutsu Master]

Ignoring the screens, I made the seal for the Flicker once more. Then, I pushed myself towards were I guessed she would dodge this time. I almost cackled when I was proven right and found myself right next to her and doing another hand seal.

The wide eyed expression on Anko's face as I spat an Embers at her point blank was glorious.

"Not bad, kiddo, not bad at all," She said, appearing a split second later on the side. I gave her my best smug look when I noticed the singed sleeve of her trench coat. She rolled her eyes, which might have been justified considering that I looked pretty terrible in comparison with a completely missing sleeve and bruises everywhere.

Speaking about that…

"I liked this coat, you know?" I grumbled, grimacing as I looked not only at the missing piece but also the several tears in my clothing.

"Yeah, yeah, cry me a river," She rolled her eyes again and I grumbled some more. Mentally, I called for the maxed skills' screens and... 'Shurikenjutsu Master?! I have to see this.'

[Shurikenjutsu Master

Increases damage with shurikenjutsu weapons by 20%.

Increases accuracy with shurikenjutsu weapons by 20%.

Increases travel distance of shurikenjutsu weapons by 20%.]

'Very, very good,' I thought to myself. 'Very strong too, my other perks don't have numbers like those… Wonder what will it take to get one of these for ninjutsu or something.'

[}-o-{]

"Bro! We are back!" The scream froze me while I was preparing dinner.

A month. It had been a whole month without me hearing anything about Naruto or Team 7 as a whole. I had been this close to a panic attack due to my own paranoia several times. Anko had even had to smack some sense into me when it had started to affect my performance during training.