Game of Shadows by Adrian King1

Chapter 75

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

Cover Art: Kissuli.

Chapter 75

"It seems Sarutobi wasn't available today," Hachi told the other two, coming back from another of his visits to the outside world.

"Things are all over the place," Eiji noted, leaning back against his chair. He'd put a set of them and a table in the middle of the clearing in the Playground. Tsuchigumo was currently chasing after some deers. Not really hunting, much to his surprise. She seemed to enjoy the chase, probably a side-effect of playing tag, he guessed. "I'm not surprised he has other stuff to take care of and it's not like we had an appointment."

"Indeed, now, if you would tell us the new information?" Kage urged and Hachi acquiesced. The three of them took notes on notebooks to have all of it compiled for themselves. "They don't have much."

Which was an understatement. Hachi had gotten both Iwa and Kiri's reports regarding the incidents with their Jinchuriki. There was very little on the assailants though. Every possible witness had been killed off, leaving only what they could gather from the scene, which wasn't much at all, really.

There was the possibility that either of them, Iwa more than Kiri, had withheld information, even if they had been the ones to ask for him to do this. Eiji really hoped that wasn't the case. The whole situation was difficult enough without the people he was trying to help working against him.

"Yeah," Eiji nodded, not looking particularly worried. "We know that Deidara was in Iwa though, which is something," He pointed out. After all, the report said there were plenty of signs of explosions. Too many to be anyone but Deidara. The fact that it had been in Iwa just added to that, really. "Which leaves Hidan and Kakuzu as the ones that attacked Kiri since Itachi and Kisame are supposed to be..." Eiji then trailed off.

His face paled, and off to the side, Tsuchigumo tensed.

"Are supposed to go after Naruto," Hachi finished with a smile that was more of a grimace. "They haven't said anything about any of that happening," He added, already seeing the question coming.

"But they could just not want to tell me, or they could just not know," Eiji said, his whole body stiff.

"There's nothing we can do regarding that, Eiji," Kage replied. "Besides, we know the truth about Itachi. Chances are that he'll find a way to avoid that from happening."

What "that" was went unsaid, since they all knew what it meant.

"I know," Eiji admitted, sighing wearily as he slumped forward and rested his arms on the table. Tsuchigumo approached behind him, laying her body behind the seat and curling her body in a C shape around the boy's chair. Eiji couldn't see that, but the same couldn't be said about his companions, who shared a look between themselves before deciding to act as if nothing had happened.

"So, we agree that it's unlikely that Nagato and Konan were the ones to move against either of these targets?" Hachi asked, bringing the conversation back to the topic at hand. Both, Eiji and Kage nodded at that. "We can reason Deidara's presence in Iwa well enough, provided we can justify our knowledge of him at all. However, what about the rest?"

"We need to get our hands on a Bingo Book," Kage offered as a response before continuing. "That way, we can just say that we looked for unaffiliated people that are dangerous enough to take on a Jinchuriki. From there, we just have to find enough clues to point at the ones we know are behind all these."

"It could give us more information about them than what little we have too, which is a very nice plus," Eiji added, mulling over the idea. "However, none of that helps us find them though."