Game of Shadow

Chapter 54

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

Chapter 54

"That seems… like a bad idea," The Shade of Orochimaru in my mind mused, a frown on his face as I tried to get him to tell me if what Kabuto had told me after his second stay in my personally created Void was true. This had been Hiruzen's idea, although I was sure half the reason I was sent to do this was so that I would go away and he could hold his meeting with Mei and Onoki.

"I know right?" I nodded, with a scowl of my own.

It wasn't that Kabuto had said something that I didn't know. It was that he had said exactly what I knew. Now, many would think that was fine, that it was good even, but they would be wrong. Kabuto hadn't babbled all the details, but that was only because he didn't know all the details. Orochimaru was many things, one of which was a paranoid bastard, that was for sure.

Still, the spy, now reduced to a babbling mess in a cell somewhere probably still recovering from his experience, had, as stated, told us all about the things I already knew about the Crush. That was all sorts of wrong, mainly because canon had long since flown out the window and this wasn't me expecting butterflies to appear at every corner. No, this was me knowing there would be a butterfly somewhere in the Invasion. After all, the Mist and the Stone were in Konoha now. If that didn't merit a slight change in Orochimaru's plans, I didn't know what would.

There had to be an addition somewhere, something that would go differently. The plan that I knew had only worked because Orochimaru had impersonated the Kazekage, which was the only Kage other than Hiruzen to be present. Now, however, there were two others there.

The Snake Bastard couldn't be so sure that Onoki would side with him, could he? Was the Tsuchikage already on his side?

I hated that I didn't know the answer to either question.

That was why I was slightly relieved that the Shade agreed that it wasn't an ideal plan. I fed the thing as much information about the situation as I could. Yes, even my foreknowledge, although I hadn't told him where I had gotten that information from. I wasn't pulling any punches with this shit.

'Speaking of which,' I thought, my eyes narrowing in the Shade's direction. He must have sensed my gaze or something of the sort, because he instantly grew tense. 'He could try to tell on me with Inoichi during the check ups, if only just to screw me over, since I'm opposing his real self or whatever...' I considered for a moment, my mind running through options.

I could just tell the higher ups that I had to throw him back in the Void after I was done bouncing ideas off of him. They would easily believe me if I said that the thing had tried to mess with me in some way, it was a very Orochimaru thing to do, after all. However, I didn't want to lose such a useful tool. After all, it was like having two minds to think with and everyone knows what they say about two heads…

Still, the problem remained.

'I could place a trigger on him, send him straight to the Void if he tries to speak of this...' I theorized. 'But that would be too obvious. Inoichi would suspect something… even if only a bit… I don't think they would believe it if I said it was a trigger for him doing something bad. He wouldn't dare do that with Inoichi in the Mindscape…'

'No, I need something that would make it seem like nothing happened. To silence him without anyone knowing...' I mused, the gears in my mind turning.

"Have I displeased you in any way?" The Shade asked, unaware of the thoughts that I was going through but obviously picking up that I was less than pleased with him, not that he had given me a reason. But just going by who he was… or who he was a shard of, at least, I distrusted everything he did and said. "Because I swear that what we've discussed regarding this invasion is the truth," He voiced adamantly, and I believed him. If there was anyone that knew the true horror of the Void besides me it was him, with Kabuto running for third place.