Game of Shadows by Adrian King1

Chapter 111

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

Cover Art: Kissuli.

Chapter 111

Usually, Eiji didn't much enjoy the bitter taste of coffee... but he'd gladly put up with that. It was a god awful hour to be awake, really, much less work on all the stuff he had to. On the ground in front of him were laid several files and notebooks and loose paper sheets. It would've been a mess if he weren't able to keep track of all of those things through Web Sense.

"And us," Kage reminded him, sounding slightly annoyed. Eiji just smirked to himself. He wasn't wrong about that. Even Tsuchigumo was helping, the chakra beast keeping an eye out for anyone that tried to get a look at the things he was working through.

Was it stupid to take Danzo's files with him to the training grounds? Maybe. The files weren't that important anyway. Besides, nobody had stopped him, so he'd take that as permission to do as he wanted.

He took another sip of his drink, wishing he had sugar close by to pour a whole lot into the thing. 'And there's people that drink this without any? They are mad,' He thought to himself, noting down something before stretching his back.

Almost distractedly, he focused a little more on his team's training. With three members less than when they'd been at Konoha the last time, they painted a very different picture than they did before. Fu helped a bit to not make it seem like a three person team, at least. Last thing Eiji wanted was to picture himself as the Jounin sensei of a three person team. Especially since he was dating one of them.

"Do we need to leave?" Hachi asked jokingly, making him roll his eyes.

He'd obviously thrown a barrier in between his mind occupants and the outside when he'd gone on a date with Tayuya. It'd have been all sorts of weird to have them there on the back of his mind through the night, after all. 'Maybe I should do that more often,' He mused to himself. After all, the twins had been insufferable since then. 'Not you, Tsuchi,' He amended when the chakra beast let out a low whine before instantly cheering up at his reassurance.

"Take a break, guys!" He called. Cracking his neck, he turned back to the papers while the squad stopped where they were before relaxing. If they'd thought he would go easier on them because he was distracted or whatever, they'd been wrong. If anything, he wanted to make them work more. He cared about his little band of misfits, if his attempt at a relationship wasn't enough of a clue.

"It sounds like it failed if you call it an attempt, Eiji," Hachi pointed out and he grimaced. He supposed she had a point there.

"You know the drill," He said out loud to his team. "Study, do some light training or whatever. Just don't be idle."

"We know we know, Fearless Leader," Tayuya replied with a roll of her eyes. "You could just say that it's meant to be for Skitter, you know? Everyone knows that's what it is."

"I just didn't want to put her on the spot," He told the redhead, massaging the bridge of his nose. "Anyway, if you have nothing to work on that's not very demanding, just take a break, Fu. Or do so anyway. You're not actually part of the team, so I'd feel bad about forcing you to work at our pace by yourself too."

"Ah, that's ok, Eiji," The girl said, scratching the back of her neck. "Ah, I could work with, um, with the Seven Tails," She muttered, sounding a little unsure.

"Sounds good," He nodded and the girl relaxed for some reason.

"Oh?" Hachi voiced.

"Oh, indeed," Kage agreed.