Game of Shadows by Adrian King1

Chapter 41

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

Chapter 41

'Come on,' I thought to myself, impatiently tapping my foot against the ground. 'Come on!'

After my talk with Sasuke, I went out and chatted with Naruto and Sakura. I was very relieved that, at least, Orochimaru hadn't gotten to mess with my brother's seal. Small mercies and all that. That meant that they were mostly fine, even if, after the attack, the two of them had had to carry Sasuke almost the whole way through the forest and fight for their scroll.

The two had decided to follow the Uchiha's example and just rest for the rest of the day, since the Second Test would be done the next day. Anko herself had had to go to appease foreign ninja that could suspect foul play. There were probably ways for us to get away with it, but it wasn't worth the political trouble that could follow.

'Where the hell are you guys?' I called out in my mind as I grew nervous. Team Ten was still nowhere in sight and it was starting to get to me. Every time I closed my eyes I would remember that Gaara had killed people inside the Forest. How many others had done so too? After all, they could do so without consequences, with the waivers and all...

Granted, there probably weren't many people around like the Suna Jinchuriki who would risk killing Clan heirs and bringing the anger of Konoha on them and their countries. But, evidently, there were exceptions to every rule. And that meant that they could be-

'They are fine,' I told myself, screwing my eyes shut for a moment.

"Been waiting for a while, huh?" My eyes snapped open to see a smirking Shikamaru come out of the Forest, closely followed by Ino and Chouji. The three of them looked terrible, I wasn't even gonna sugarcoat that. But they were standing, there were no visible wounds and-

"What happened?" I asked, my eyes locked onto Chouji's form. The boy looked fine... at first sight and if you didn't know him though. He was standing straight, making his big body look pretty imposing, and his eyes looked straight ahead, unflinching.

But that wasn't Chouji. Chouji never stood so... stiffly. He was always relaxed, like he was a breath away from taking a snack from somewhere and starting eating, which was often the case. His eyes were never so cold either, they were always warm and inviting. The guy hadn't even said anything to me. He looked like a soldier.

"Yeah..." Shika sighed as he continued walking. "Let us finish this... we have to talk."

I nodded as I walked next to them, keeping my worries in as I waited for them to be done so they could tell me what the hell happened in the woods. A part of my mind scolded me, telling me that I was being overprotective again. That I should calm down. But this was serious. Maybe once things calmed down, once there wasn't any more danger on the horizon. Like during the three years timeskip, if it even happened to begin with. Very little happened during that, which meant that I could relax.

But now, in the middle of the Forest of Death, with one of the most dangerous Missing Nin roaming around and messing with everything, with all five of the big Elemental Nations having teams in the village and who knew what else that I probably wasn't aware of... I could do nothing but worry. Especially when my friends looked like they had been put through the wringer and one of them looked nothing like he normally would.

Their sensei appeared in a cloud of smoke and, after giving the speech about them passing with a bored tone, took one look at his team and said:

"You look like shit," Both Shika and I rolled our eyes at Asuma's very subtle wording. "Right, the three of you, straight to the infirmary," I nodded appreciatively. At least he clearly cared. His eyes found mine and I stared right back at him, raising an eyebrow. I was sure he wouldn't, but I still dared him to tell me to go away or something. "So, you are the one these three won't shut up about?"