Game of Shadows by Adrian King1

Chapter 70 (Status)

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

Chapter 70

[Ibiki Morino]

He looked on, from the side, as Hachi placed Orochimaru under Eiji's Genjutsu. God, the whole situation was a very confusing mess. However, Ibiki had long since gotten used to being a little crazy here and there. This was more than a little over that, but he could push through that and continue operating as normal.

Or as normal as could be, given the circumstances.

It was that mindset that allowed him to process what he was seeing when Hachi let go of the Jutsu, looking worse than before, which was saying something. After all, Eiji Satou hadn't been in good health before, suffering from Tailed Beast chakra poisoning. Ibiki didn't want to know how it felt for someone like that to cast a Jutsu of any kind, let alone one such as the one Satou had created.

Back to the point, Ibiki was taken aback by the reaction of Orochimaru to the Genjutsu. He'd gotten progressively more agitated as time passed, twisting and turning on his seat. Janking his arms and legs around in an effort to break out of whatever he was experimenting at the moment, either that or trying to damage himself with the cuffs to break the technique.

It didn't work.

The Sannin shouted and screamed, as he continued his vain attempts at escaping.

It was a sight that nobody had ever thought possible, Ibiki was sure. Many had dreamed of hunting Orochimaru, making him pay for his crimes, be them against the village or against themselves if they had been victims of the man. However, none ever actually thought it would happen, that much he knew.

And then the Sannin was snapped out of the technique.

The man breathed erratically, deeply, as if that sole action held some unknown, precious value to him suddenly. His eyes were wide and his face so pale that it almost looked like Ibiki would be able to see through him. For a moment, the shinobi that people in all Nations feared for years sputtered incoherently before finally starting to string words together.

"What... What did you do?"

"Showed you what waits for you on the other side, Orochimaru," Hachi replied, with a smile not unlike the one the Sannin always wore. "Death. The Afterlife. Or, as we call it, the Void."

Ibiki didn't know what was more unsettling, the message itself, the fact that Hachi delivered it as if he really believed what he was saying or the fact that Orochimaru seemed to believe him. The T&I commanding officer had been there when Eiji Satou had interrogated Kabuto Yakushi and it had been a surprise when the spy broke. Everyone had been shocked that a mere kid could just make someone like that talk.

Ibiki would have tried to get the kid to join his division if not for the fact that the boy was clearly made for more than just interrogation and spionage. Satou would go places and everyone knew it. Especially Ibiki though, since he was privy to the boy's... side-education, as it were. Here was hoping it wouldn't turn him into the monster he could certainly become.

"How did you even... make such a thing?" Orochimaru asked, his expression disturbed and horrified. Which said a lot about the situation, considering the inhuman things the Sannin had done through his life. Or perhaps it was just the fact that it had been used against him? Maybe even both.

"I didn't make anything," Hachi answered, looking positively amused. "Eiji did. It's truly a terrifying technique, is it not? Shade and I got to experience it too, which is why we aren't going to betray Eiji. I'm not that crazy even if I'm based on you, indirectly."