Game of Shadows by Adrian King1

Chapter 42

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

Chapter 42

"She is a weapons specialist, as far as I know. Must have pretty good Taijutsu too," I told Sasuke as he passed besides me on his way down the balcony. "And don't forget what I told you."

He nodded without replying, but his expression remained serious. I took solace on the fact that he didn't seem to have grown annoyed at my advice and reminder. I knew that Mark had to be eating at his patience, but there was no way for me to help him.

'I hope he wins though,' I thought to myself, feeling worry building inside me. After all, if he lost, he may blame me for telling him not to use jutsu. Or he might feel like he wasn't progressing fast enough and that he needed more power, which would drive him right into Orochimaru's clutches. And I couldn't let that happen.

"Thoughts?" Shikamaru asked beside me.

"Could go either way," I replied, eyeing both fighters. "Sasuke can't use Jutsu and Tenten, as I said, specialises in weapons. Also, her sensei is a Taijutsu master so..."

"Doesn't look too good, huh?" The Nara finished, a small, concerned frown on his face. It still surprised me that I had managed to change his lazy attitude so much. Maybe, before the changes, he would have cared too, but I was sure he wouldn't have shown it as much.

"It's still Sasuke. He might surprise us," Naruto noted with a big grin and the both of us gave him a half-smile. 'He's not wrong, I guess,' I thought, turning back to the current participants.

"Begin!"

Eight shuriken appeared the second the word was finished, four from each side. Both of them caught the projectiles before they could hit. I let out a soft whistle at that, it was nice to watch, at least. Like a fast, difficult and very dangerous game of catch.

"You are decent, at least," Tenten praised with a smirk as she sent the metal stars back to Sasuke, immediately pulling out more and following up the attack.

The Uchiha, for his part, decided that catching or blocking was overrated, it seemed. Instead, he dashed to the side, the little weapons hitting the walls that would have been behind him as he ran. I was a bit surprised by that, actually. With Rock Lee as a teammate, I expected her to-

A kunai nicked Sasuke's arm then and I realized, 'She had to get used to his speed. Makes sense,' I guessed. It wasn't like throwing things at Lee was the same as throwing things at someone else. Even if you could hit something that went super fast, you still needed to at least get a hang when it came to a different target speed.

Unfortunately for Sasuke, he hadn't managed to close the gap between the both of them. I was, however, unsure if that would even help. She had two Taijutsu specialists in her team and a Taijutsu Master as a sensei. Even if it wasn't her focus, her hand-to-hand combat should still be very advanced.

From there, the Uchiha seemed to switch strategies. Instead of just running, he added dodging to the mix. Or, at least, that's what it looked like. 'It's more like he's zigzagging towards here but... he's using different speeds to mess with her aim,' I realized with a small smile.

"At least he isn't dumb, that's good," Shika voiced and I hummed.

Eventually, Tenten grew tired of the little game that was going on, as Sasuke grew closer, she pulled out a scroll. My eyes narrowed and Naruto let out an interested sound as he noticed what was going on. As little clouds of smoke started appearing from the now open roll of paper, I clicked my tongue.

Sasuke had to pull back just to avoid the veritable barrage of projectiles that came his way, but not without at least throwing some of his own back. That was good, if he let her do as she pleased, she could keep that up for a while. This way, at least she had to stop to deflect his attack. Problem was... almost all his progress was lost and it showed. His brows were now furrowed into a scowl and he was almost snarling.