Game of Shadows by Adrian King1

Chapter 137

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

Cover Art: Kissuli.

Chapter 137

[Tsunade Senju]

"Thanks for not sending Team 8 away while we were on our way here. I know it took us a while," the boy of the moment told her.

She had to smile wryly at his words. What else could she do? Tell him that she couldn't do anything other than what he asked? That'd make him entirely too insufferable to deal with. Besides, he was likely aware of that already.

"It was no problem, brat," she replied, clinging to that semblance of control she still had. It was a little pathetic, but she'd seen worse lows through her life, quite honestly. "Any plans for the moment? I'd like to know where my loose cannon is pointing, if nothing else," she added. And that was nothing but the truth.

Tsunade knew, after all, that Eiji was basically a free agent. Hell, he'd been one for most of the time she'd known him. It was only the fact that he played the part of dutiful shinobi well enough that made nobody care that he was doing what he wanted. Now though, with peace and no immediate great threat to get his attention and make them willing to just point him in that direction... It became a lot more evident that he was going to do whatever.

'To think I met him bedridden and begging to be taught medical jutsu,' Tsunade thought wistfully. Granted, maybe things hadn't quite played like that, but she could at least fool herself into thinking they had. He'd already been a monster back then, and she'd learned that very quickly once she came back to her village.

At that moment though, Eiji Satou had reached a whole new level. That wasn't the most frightening thing though. No, the scary part was that he was still growing, that he'd reach even further as time passed. One day, he'd be so far ahead that the mere idea of confrontation would be laughable. He'd be spoken off as a boogeyman by more than one person, something that had already started in Kumogakure.

"The team and me want to go visit the Nations we haven't been to yet," Eiji replied from where he lunged on the couch of his office, looking to the world like a person without a single fuck to give. Which she guessed was accurate. After being out and about, fighting impossible battle after impossible battle and being thrown off the deep end more than once... Tsunade kind of wondered how fast the polite and respectful boy that Hiruzen often spoke about had turned into what she knew.

His words also brought much to think about for her too. The Nations he hadn't been to so far. That meant the Land of Water and the Land of Lightning. And a whole lot of smaller nations too, but that wasn't as important. The former would be interesting, since the boy was very connected to them in a number of ways. Two, mainly, since he had a pair of their legendary swords in his possession, the mad bastard.

Mei was sure to welcome him like he was her best ninja as it was. Tsunade wondered how the woman would react if she knew he'd been one of the catalysts to the Leaf deciding to get involved and help her side in the Civil War. Maybe she would tell her that, just to see what happened. There were no downsides to that, really, and it would spread the influence of an already very important person.

And it would probably, maybe, cause some harmless annoyance to the brat, which would be great. Especially since as far as Tsunade knew, he still wasn't aware of the fact that he'd been involved in that mess, besides the Sword Retrieval mission. Yes, it was sounding more and more like a good idea the more she thought it over.

"I don't like that expression, old hag," Eiji called from where he sat, looking at her, unimpressed.

"It's nothing to worry about, I assure you," she told him with a grin that clearly stated she was lying through her teeth. "Regardless," she continued, before he could further ask anything. "I'm sure A will be overjoyed to learn that."