Game of Shadows by Adrian King1

Chapter 99

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

Cover Art: Kissuli.

Chapter 99

"I still can't believe you won't celebrate your promotion," Naruto grumbled and Eiji deflated and rolled his eyes at him. Seriously, the blonde just wouldn't leave that alone. Yes, he was a Jounin now, officially since he came back to Konoha, really, but...

He didn't feel any different.

One would think that becoming a Jounin would change something, right? Didn't feel that way at all for Eiji though. The only thing it seemed to add to him was a title, really.

[Jounin of Konoha

Increases stats when taking part on a Konoha sanctioned mission by 30%.

Increases skill efficiency when taking part on a Konoha sanctioned mission by 15%.]

It wasn't a bad title, really, but Eiji was pretty sure he still preferred to have Weaver and Wielder of Nuibari. After all, those had pretty much the same effect so long as he had Nuibari with him, with Weaver having some other bonuses added to that. Only thing Jounin of Konoha had going for it was the skill efficiency part, but it wasn't enough, really. Besides, he wasn't too sure about the 'sanctioned mission' requirement, really. What if it didn't work at some point because something wasn't actually mission required? Yeah, Eiji much preferred to have something that would work all the time.

It was underwhelming, honestly.

What else was there to celebrate about? Being a Jounin gave him access to knowledge on almost any Jutsu he could want, but... he was a little past that part. If he wanted a technique, chances were that he could just make one and it would be tailored to his style instead of something more generic.

Authority? Please, Eiji didn't have more of that than he had before. Only thing that changed on that front was that he now could be put in positions of power over people. However, out of missions, he didn't have much more authority than anyone else. People would listen if a Jounin told them something, for sure, but abusing that was a quick way to get thrown back to Chunin, or even Genin. Besides, he didn't want authority in the first place, really.

He had access to missions with higher pay, yeah, but those usually came with increased risk. There were more than a few missions that Eiji wouldn't have much trouble with but... He couldn't even go on those, since he was apparently stuck dealing with Akatsuki while the world struggled not to fall apart around him.

'Fun stuff,' he thought wryly.

"Naruto, will you leave it alone," Sasuke grumbled from where he sat opposite to the blonde. The Uchiha, much like he'd started doing before they were even out of the Academy, had joined them for most meals. He'd never accepted their offer to just stay with them in the extra room they hadn't ever actually filled with anything, but it was what it was.

Turned out to be a sort of good thing, since their place now housed Karin too. Then again, with just the money Eiji had been given for the Iwa mission alone they would have been able to get a bigger place. Funny that, since nobody had told him about that part. Probably foreseen that he didn't much care about it, really. It had been a nice bonus though.

Speaking of Karin, she was currently looking between the three of them. Poor girl was still getting used to the group's antics, it seemed, which told Eiji that she hadn't been around for very long. He didn't have a single clue how that had come to be either, which just confused him more. What change had led to that? Or was it just an entirely AU thing? Both?