Note: So I had a dream a few nights ago where members of the Akatsuki were actually teams competing in the LCS Spring Split. If you don't know what that is, it's the League of Legends Championship Series. After toying with a couple of ideas I figured it would make for an interesting story, so I thought I'd try it out and see how it went.

They're not playing a known game - it's something that I guess you could say it like a cross between Dota 2 and Halo. And all of the teams are basically Naruto clans and teams groups together like how they are in the franchise, but the clan members aren't actually family because that would be kind of weird. There probably won't be any OCs since we have a pretty huge cast of characters to pick from, though I might use some of the more obscure Akatsuki members (Like Itachi's teammate before Kisame). I dunno.

Anyways. Let's get started.

Itachi furrowed his brow as if creating tension in his brow would create a filter for the coarse language that was streaming through his headset.

"God dammit! You playing with your dick or something?!"

"Funny, I was just about to ask if you were hitting your triggers with your fucking balls, asshole."

Clearly sharing his sentiments, he could hear Shisui sigh despondently into his mic, "Guys, calm down – getting pissed at each other isn't helping. Itachi, drop a ward."

Sasuke and Baru both grumbled irritably to themselves, with Sasuke muttering a few more profanities under his breath, but both conceded to their captain and waiting for their respawn. With the click of his D-pad, Itachi selected an observer ward from his menu and watched it materialize onto the map and bounce into place.

The effect was almost instantaneous, with the shadowy part of the minimap brightening up to reveal one enemy running up to an ordinance while another was standing next to a requisition station, but there was a sudden shout in Itachi's ear that surely deafened him, and the rest of his teammates, just a moment before the end-game screen came up and "Blue Team Wins" flashed over the monitor.

They were the red team.

"Baru, what the fuck?!" Sasuke barked, yanking off his headset to glare angrily at the teammate that was sitting on the other side of Itachi.

The man's frown deepened, "I got fucking spawn-killed, what the shit do you want me to do!?"

"Alright, guys, we gotta get off the stage for the next teams," Shisui's voice rang with disappointment as he scooted back in his chair, already unplugging his controller from the system that sat vertical to his monitor, "Save it for the hotel."

Itachi wasn't so much disappointed as he was exasperated with their situation as he mirrored his friend's actions, carefully wrapping the wire around his hand before using a twist-tie to keep it from becoming unraveled. It wasn't a particularly big tournament, just a minor two-day event, though it was the fifth time they lost on just the first day, never even making it to semi-finals. Itachi hated laying blame on anyone, but he would be lying if he didn't admit that half of their team had attitudes that were very quickly dragging the team down.

As if to prove his point, Sasuke and Baru exchanged heated glares with one another while stomping down the stairs and across the stage that would lead them away from the show floor. Shisui pinched the bridge of his nose when he realized that they weren't going to do the customary post-game handshake, looking particularly exhausted, and followed after them with slumped shoulders.

He couldn't blame him for his unusually grim demeanor.

"Flicker!"

For the love of god –

Itachi watched one of the two event hosts scuttle up to Shisui's side before he could disappear into the section of the building that was reserved for players. The older man gave her an almost despairing expression, a silent plea for her to just leave him alone, but it seemed to fly right over her head, or she just chose to ignore it as she asked, "Could we steal you for just a minute for a quick post-match interview while the other teams set up?"

By that point Itachi had caught up to his teammate, and he met his gaze while rolling down his sleeves with a subtle nod. He turned back to the host, "I'll be more than happy to perform an interview," Itachi said with a pleasant smile that did nothing to betray how glum he felt, "Flicker needs to make an important phone call that cannot wait."

A light flush spread over the host's cheeks as their eyes met, though she looked torn over the offer. It was generally expected of the captains of both teams to spend a minute or two discussing their thoughts about the match results, but it wasn't by any means mandatory; it was more of a tradition than it was a rule.

After a few seconds she shrugged, still a little pink, and a shy smile tugged at her lips as she reached out for his hand to pull him to the stage. Itachi deftly swung his hand out of the way with as much subtlety as he could manage and gave Shisui an understanding smile when he clapped him on the back and muttered his thanks before darting down the passage.

Just a few moments later he was standing back on the platform with the event host as a cameraman counted down with his fingers.

"Hey guys, my name is Ino Yamanaka, and I am standing here with Susanoo from Team Uchiha, who just lost a disappointing match against Sand eSports," she turned a little from the camera to face Itachi, who folded his arms over his chest, "So, tell us, when do you think the turning point was that locked in your defeat?"

Trying to not make a face at her rather unpleasant phrasing, Itachi leaned his head in so that he was closer to the microphone that was being presented to him, "I would say that it was about halfway through game three that things became unstable on our end," he explained calmly, "Two of our members grew anxious and began ignoring some of the calls Flicker made, and Sand eSports was able to quickly take advantage of our inability to work as a team."

Blonde hair bouncing as she nodded, Ino brought the mic back to her face, "So you would say that it was bad communication that lead to your loss?"

"Ultimately, yes."

Itachi's eyes left the host to scan the crowd – it was easier said than done thanks to the plethora of lights shining down on them, but it looked like the stadium was pretty full.

"How would you compare Anbu eSports to Team Uchiha, now that you've spent a few months with them?" Ino asked, eyes glittering with beneath the harsh lights. She really was pretty, he had to give her that much, even if he really was beginning to get a sour taste in his mouth from her questions.

"Anbu worked really well together as a group, and they truly move like a single-minded unit, but I feel like Team Uchiha's roster has players with more talent," Itachi explained, "Especially with Prophecy, who is one of the most promising players I have had the honor of playing with. I feel like once we can find our synergy then we'll have little to no trouble with performing better at future events."

It wasn't a complete lie – Sasuke truly was a child prodigy, one of the youngest in the scene, and had an immense amount of skill. With Shisui's knack for leadership, Itachi's support and Baru's aggressive play style, they really did have the makings for an excellent team. The only problem was that he knew there was no way Sasuke and Baru would ever get along, and they were both too impulsive and arrogant to listen to anyone other than themselves.

Ino turned back to the camera with a pearly smile, "Well I'm sure the fans are definitely looking forward to seeing that. Until then, we're going to go to a quick commercial break before the final matchup of the day between Will of Fire and Team Kaguya!"

Itachi wasted no time in turning on his heel to march over to the tunnel that would take him to the players' lounge. He wiped the small beads of sweat that were beginning to accumulate on his brow, thanks to that infernal lightning system elevating the room's temperature by twenty degrees, and shrugged off his team jacket the second he was out of sight.

Sasuke was pouting in the corner in an easy chair with an unopened energy drink in his hands. Baru was pointedly staring at the floor with his arms crossed defensively over his chest, the muscles in his jaw flexing as he ground his teeth. In the center of the room Shisui was whispering with Obito and only barely acknowledge Itachi's entrance, which meant that their coach was pissed.

Lovely.

Dropping onto the sofa next to Baru, Itachi fished his phone out of his back pocket and powered it back on so he could read whatever vitriol was being spewed over the internet. It was a habit he picked up from Kakashi, who regularly perused Twitter and Reddit for feedback and support from fans after matchups. It used to be fun to watch the gifs and memes people created and sent, but now it was more or less a form of self-induced torture as the notifications on Twitter were primarily from people asking "wtf was that?" At least Reddit users were constructive.

He loaded up the camera and snapped a quick photo of the way Obito was shooting daggers out of his eyes at Shisui.

Coach is nearly as upset as you guys, Itachi typed into Instagram, Sorry to let you all down, again. We will try harder.

Apologies were beginning to feel customary for him, anymore. The drama was rough, but he wasn't so prideful that he couldn't admit that he missed playing with Anbu – or just a team that had synchronization, in general.

Itachi hit the icon for it to crosspost to Twitter and opened up the Reddit is Fun app, swiping around the screen for the Shippuden subreddit; there were already three threads dedicated to the "Disaster clusterfuck" that was their match.

I'm surprised Susanoo's teeth didn't fall out with the way he was lying through them, one commenter wrote.

did u see how they didnt even shake hands?

they'd be lucky if they even get invited to a qualifier for the major, another wrote.

If they just released Prophecy from his contract they could get someone onto the lineup that was a better fit they would have an easier time placing. Talent isn't everything. How many chances do they plan on giving him when someone like Shadow is still looking for a team?

Itachi sighed. They weren't wrong.

I don't even understand why Susanoo left Anbu for Team Uchiha. Who leaves a perfect team for a tier-three org that struggles to even make it to premier-level events?

If only they knew.

Flicker's gotta be at the end of his rope, too. When they did the listen-in you could hear a part of his soul dying when he was trying to break up that argument between Prophecy and Izanagi.

"We've got one more night here, so let's get some food before heading back to the hotel," Shisui snapped Itachi out of whatever Reddit-induced daze he was in, "I need a burger."

Sasuke huffed and pushed himself out of the chair he was sulking into, "Fuck it. I just wanna sleep."

With a hum of agreement, Baru pulled out his phone, "I can't believe I'm agreeing with the brat but I couldn't give a shit about dinner," he ignored Sasuke telling him to go fuck himself, "I'll take an Uber back to the hotel."

After months of their incessant griping at one another, Shisui didn't bother trying to pacify the situation and just ran a hand through the mess of curls that adorned his head with a heavy sigh, "Fine," he met Itachi's gaze, "You going back to the room, too?"

He shook his head and stuffed his phone into his pocket, "I'll come with you." There was no way he would be able to handle everyone else if he didn't get some food into his stomach.

The group parted just a few minutes later, with Obito heading back to the hotel to ensure that the other two didn't literally tear each others' throats out. Shisui promised to bring back something for him, and Itachi wordlessly summoned an Uber that was waiting patiently by the curb by the time they managed to navigate their way outside of the stadium building. Thankfully their driver knew exactly what they needed when Shisui asked for a place with feel-good food and booze, and it only took a few minutes of tense silence for them to get dropped off at a grungy-looking family-owned place that the driver swore up and down was better than it looked.

It didn't take long for them to realize that he wasn't lying. Itachi scooped a generous amount of their in-house garlic sauce on the thin slice of tomato basil pizza and savored the way the flavor spread over his tongue like a wave of everything comforting in the world. Next to him, Shisui was nearly halfway through some clusterfuck of a burger that had fried onion strings, bacon, barbecue sauce, jalapenos, horseradish, and god knew what else crammed between two halves of a pretzel bun.

Never before had he been so grateful for locals that knew more than just chain restaurants in their area.

Eventually the misery of their loss was buried beneath four slices of thin crust pizza and an expensive amount of Belvedere and Sprite, and Itachi was happily eyeballing the dessert menu until he realized that there was still a miserable glazed look over Shisui's eyes that was usually gone by the third or fourth beer after a match loss.

When he realized he was being observed, he gave a sheepish, halfhearted grin and rubbed at the condensation on his bottle.

"Hey, Itachi… You ever think about getting out?"

Getting out? Itachi frowned, "You mean retirement?" He was going on his fifth year in competitive gaming – it wouldn't be entirely unheard of for someone to step away from the scene.

"Nah, nothing like that," Shisui shook his head but didn't meet his gaze, "Or, well, it's a little like that... I've been sorta playing with the idea of getting back into Melee."

Before joining Shippuden, Shisui was a relatively successful Super Smash Bros. Melee player – he was even sponsored by Monster and Razer – and even made it to the grand finals of EVO one year. It was ultimately the beat down he got from some guy from Will of Fire that made him shift paradigms, which was about when the Shippuden scene started picking up speed.

Since stepping away he kept in touch with his old friends, and Shisui still played it almost as much as he trained with his team; his sister even had a custom-made fight stick made for his birthday last year.

Pushing his drink away, which was mostly the remnants of a drink that was diluted with melted ice, Itachi rested his elbow on the bar and held his chin in his palm, "I understand that our team has been performing poorly, but is that really enough to push you away from the game entirely?" he asked with genuine interest. Shisui was his best friend, of course he would support any decision he made, but it was still a pretty extreme decision.

"Logitech pulled the plug on our sponsorship, and Madara's been having shit luck with finding anyone interested in supporting a team that can barely walk in a straight line together," he answered glumly.

After Rockstar dipped out a few months back, Logitech had been the only thing keeping the organization in the green. Without them, Itachi was pretty sure the team would have to downsize the team house and start cutting salaries.

He felt his stomach sink, but Shisui wasn't finished.

"I told them that there's no way we're gonna pull ahead with Baru and Sasuke weighing us down, but Obito swears that he'll turn them around and won't release their contracts or do any trades," Shisui paused long enough to order two slices of coconut crème pie, and one classic burger to-go, "I'm pretty sure Team Uchiha's done for. Madara and Obito are running it into the ground, and, coincidentally enough…" he sighed and his frown deepened, "I got an email from Hidden Mist a few weeks back after I practiced with one of my old friends, Haku. They offered me a place in their organization, as long as I was his partner in doubles."

If Itachi was the type for swearing, he would have hissed out a profanity under his breath. Instead, he sighed and sat back in his chair as if the weight of what his friend was saying was literally pushing him back, "Shisui…"

He knew how close the Smash scene was – it was like a freakishly massive family, if nothing else, and it was a game they were all extremely passionate about. Not only that, but Hidden Mist was a massive eSports organization that had teams and players in nearly every game that had a competitive community that was worth investing in. Suddenly, Shisui's wish to return made a lot more sense and Itachi honestly couldn't blame him for having a renewed interest in playing it professionally.

"I'm pretty sure I'm gonna take the deal. I mean… The starting pay is already a hell of a lot better than what Uchiha offers, and with the way things are looking for us…"

Itachi reached out to give his friend's shoulder a brief squeeze, "If it's what will make you happy, then accept their offer while it's still on the table," he said kindly.

With a sigh that told him that this was a talk Shisui had been genuinely worrying about, the stiffness in his shoulders melted away and he finally looked up with the familiar warmth that Itachi was so used to seeing, "Thanks, man... You don't know how bad I needed that."

Itachi smiled and turned his attention to the pie that the waitress was sliding in front of him.

He was happy that Shisui had his situation sorted, but what was going to happen to the rest of them that were still stuck on the sinking ship?