Game of Shadows by Adrian King1

Chapter 39

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

Chapter 39

Anko led me right into a room with Hiruzen and, surprise surprise, a Yamanaka. The actual unexpected fact was that it was Ino's father, of all people, the one that was there. Ibiki stood to the side of the room, staring at me like he wanted to know all my secrets, which was probably exactly what was on the man's mind.

"So, let's see this solution of yours, ok, brat?" Anko asked, and I wasn't even surprised that everyone in the room already knew what I had told her. Either they had a way to listen to our conversation from a distance, or there had been someone listening in and reporting before we arrived.

"How do we do this?" I asked, grimacing as everyone turned to Inoichi.

"I know you don't like the idea, Eiji," The man spoke understandingly, the familiarity we had gained with each other after the last few years shining through. "Nobody likes having someone else in their mind."

"How do we do this?" I repeated, my face showing how seriously I took this. My mind was my own. And even if Inoichi was a master of mind-related things, I would do what I could to fight him if he tried anything. No matter how friendly we were with each other. So, if these bastards thought they could just ask me to reveal everything about me they could go fuck them-

'Breath,' I thought as I discreetly did just that, mentally counting to ten.

"Hm," Ibiki hummed from his corner. "You were getting angry," He pointed out. It wasn't a surprise that he had seen through me, really. "You do have some control over it. I still remember how out of it Anko was at the beginning."

"I thought so too," The woman herself commented. "But I don't remember well enough... I've tried to forget for a good while, after all. That's why I hadn't said anything about that."

"Anyway," Inoichi clapped, getting my attention back to him. "You said you have access to your mind?" He started with a small frown. "Can you explain that a bit more in depth?"

"I... don't know the theory of it... like, at all," I explained hesitantly. "But while I meditated a few years back. I... accessed this place in my mind. It took me some time to realize what it even was, but I started... working on it after a while. Looking through memories, organizing them... And protecting them, when I heard about your clan's specialty. No offense."

"None taken," The man reassured with a wave of his hand and a wry smile on his face. "Now, can you tell me..."

And from there, the conversation/interrogation continued for a while, with Inoichi asking more pointed questions about how the entering and being in the mindscape felt or how I had changed things and how I had tried to make the protections. He didn't ask for any of the details, which was a mild reassurance at best.

Maybe I was just paranoid, or maybe it was the Mark's influence, but I couldn't shake the thought that the man might have collected all he needed to get around my mind without me actually realizing. It was the kind of crazy shit that I couldn't help but expect of Jounin and higher ranks. The 'look underneath the underneath' mindset really made one jump at shadows a lot, I had come to realize.

"That..." Inoichi started, once I finished explaining what I had done with Orochimaru's presence due to the Cursed Mark and how I had, supposedly, separated him from the chakra the seal gave. Speaking of which, I hadn't even got a chance to look at the skill I had gotten, frustratingly enough. The man seemed at a loss for words, surprisingly enough.

"Is it possible?" The Hokage asked, speaking for the first time since I had arrived. A thoughtful frown on his face as he took a drag of his pipe. "We've been focusing on the seal side of the Mark since we first learned about it. Could we have dealt with it through the mind instead all this time?" He asked out loud and I was surprised that nobody had considered the approach... Although, I had only done so because I had access to my mindscape to begin with. And considering that the only marked person the Leaf had was Anko, they didn't have many chances for testing.