Game of Shadows by Adrian King1

Chapter 74

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

Cover Art: Kissuli.

Chapter 74

[Hiruzen Sarutobi]

"Hachi again, I'm guessing," He said, almost casually, as he stared at Eiji Satou's body. His sole visible eye was golden yet again though, which belied who was currently truly in control.

"It's good to see you again, Sarutobi," The man spoke through the boy's mouth, a scene that was still as unnerving as the first time the Hokage had seen it. "Things in Eiji's Mindscape have... calmed since the last time," The supposedly created consciousness supplied. Hiruzen would have been reassured if he trusted anything that came out of the boy's mouth while this... "Hachi" was speaking.

"That's good to hear," The man said regardless of his distrust. Try as he might, he was a little relieved hearing that, even if his mind told him not to trust this... being. He'd gotten them the information about the Cursed Seal, at least, and that afforded him a modicum of... not trust, but certainly the benefit of the doubt.

"Eiji, and to a lesser extent we, have been interacting with the Beast," Hachi started, making Hiruzen and even the Anbu guards tense up. That could go wrong in many ways. "We all agree that she behaves like a child. We theorize that she's a newborn, basically. Our best guess as to why she acts like a child instead of a baby is that she either took some of Eiji's knowledge while she was throwing her... tantrums, or she took some just by existing."

"..." That was a lot to take in, especially when Hiruzen had thought this would be merely an update to let them know that everything continued as it had been before. That or maybe asking for a report for Eiji regarding his friends.

"We don't know how to take that either, honestly," Hachi continued, taking the Hokage's silence for what it was, uncertainty. "For now, Eiji is entertaining her. He turned what, in his Mindscape, is Training Ground Thirty Three and made it into a playground for her. Even managed to create a deer-like construct that acts the part of prey for it to hunt."

"..." Hiruzen's mind did its best to wrap itself around what he was being told. After a moment, he was fairly sure that he'd... processed the report. "She?" He asked, more curious than confused.

Hachi shrugged lightly, barely moving, really, since Eiji's body was still affected by the Tailed Beast chakra poisoning. On top of that, the man in control of the boy's body gave the Hokage a sympathetic smile/grimace, as if he himself couldn't understand all that was going on. It was probably the case too, he supposed.

"We don't get that part either. Our best theory is that it- she wanted to differentiate herself from the three of us and chose to do that by picking a different gender," Was what Hachi said after a moment, clearly unsure of what he was saying. "That's our best bet, at least. Otherwise, everything points that it should have been male... if it had to have a gender at all."

That was as good a theory as any, Hiruzen supposed.

"You said you are interacting with it now, why take that risk?"

"Kage and I think that Eiji started doing that because he wasn't entirely recovered from having his Mindscape suffer such an attack," Hachi explained with a concerned frown. The Hokage had never expected his student to use such an expression. The man was growing increasingly more sure that this wasn't actually Orochimaru just trying to fool them all. Still, he was far from trusting this person. "Anyway, it seems to not have been... the worst decision to make, really. We think we can bond with her. Eiji is sure of that, actually. If he can actually manage it, we could emulate what the Kumo Jinchuriki have achieved."