Chapter 2

Sasuke's headset was suddenly dead. He couldn't hear game audio or his team speaking to him. It was only by the grace of the silent crowd that he could hear the faint voices of his comrades from behind the padded cuffs.

He tore them off his head. They didn't have time for technical issues. He had just taken out that Temari girl on the other team right as his headset crackled to their death. Out of the corner of his eye, she could see her throw a mini-fit. Guess she had forgotten about Minako's teleportation power.

He quickly reorganized his thoughts as Kakashi was quietly yelling for a new headset for him. Akane was defeated by him. Then Neji and Sai had taken out Tabito... but Sai had left himself open to be taken down by one of Michi's deadly arrows. Temari was absolutely livid with Minako and his teleportation. No doubt she was drilling it into her teammate's heads about it. Sasuke would not be able to do that again, not that that Gaara character would have made the same mistake. Sasuke had the sinking suspicion that guy knew the ins and outs out every character, same as Sasuke.

Both he and Lee were jumping toward Neji's character when an apologetic-looking stage hand rushed to his desk and replaced the headset with a pair that was exactly the same as the previous one. Thankfully for that, the computer recognized the new headphones without needing to freeze the game and ask for permission to use the new hardware. He slipped them on, "This better?"

"Welcome back," Lee greeted with a seriousness that was rare for him. He only had a hard tone when they were playing a tough opponent. "You ready to kick some butt?"

"Always."

They came to a rest at a river that sparkled with the moonlight. Toichi was positioned in the open, with a temporary, circular force-field around him. Sai's character, Aiko, lay at Toichi's feet. Neji glanced toward Sasuke, "Careful. He'll be close by."

"Yeah. I have no doubt." Sasuke pressed the W key on his keyboard, causing Minako to shoot forward and then hit CAPS LOCK to skid to a quick halt. Once Minako was settled, he hit Ctrl+T, which sent the blond character rotating on the spot. As he spun, he sent seven of his special kunai flying. They landed along the battlefield, on the ground, in trees. If it weren't for the small little pulses on the mini-map he'd probably would have lost them completely. Seven close by and that one lone one that had not been destroyed by Lee's and Sai's combo. All he'd have to do was point his screen toward one and hit T to teleport. Easy.

"How do you know some much about Minako?" Sai asked. He was leaning back in his chair, lazily. "He isn't exactly chosen often, even in casual play."

"I used to play him all the time," Sasuke explained, "everyone's forgotten about him. He just needs someone who knows how to handle a lot of speed and movement."

"Don't get cocky. He's still way out-classed by Michi and Kosami," Kakashi's voice warned him, "You were lucky Akane's player forgot how Minako is handled."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "I know, I know. He needs a buff. Doesn't have nearly enough strong jutsus to keep up. But right now we don't need strong jutsu. We need cunning."

ooooo

Minako straightened up, eyes darting around the clearing after sending a majority of his kunai out into the forest. He heard Koko shuffle behind him. "Do we know the last opponent?" Koko's voice floated meekly over the air.

"Kosami." Toichi answered, his brows knitted as he concentrated on keeping his force-field up around him. Minako could see the strain it was causing him, wanted to tell him to stop... but knew better than to say anything. It was better he keep the shield up. Not very much could get past it, not even Michi's arrows.

"Alright," Minako murmured, "I'm going to go into the trees. I won't go far." Before either of them could protest, he focused on a kunai up in the thick branches. He felt himself be tugged away and land among the leaves. In the same movement, he retrieved the kunai and gently placed the handle in-between his lips.

Now, to scout for Kosami.

He leaped away, catching other branches as he swung around his team in a wide circle. He tried to remain as silent as possible, swinging then stopping for a moment to look around the vicinity before continuing on his way. After about five swing-n-lands, something rustled. He stopped on a thick branch, his teeth grinding against the kunai as he watched for movement in the leaves to his right. His hand found the pocket he had slipped the poison into and pierced another blade into the soft top of the jar.

Retching coughing fits from below told him that Kosami had found Koko. Minako turned, ready to dart into the smoke that was filling the clearing he had left Koko and Toichi in. His muscles tensed for the jump when an arm was firmly slung over his shoulder and a soft body pushed up against his back. Normally, this would be an amazing feeling—however, the arrow tip that hovered by his throat was a bit of a downer.

"So... it is Minako. It's been a while, old friend." Michi's quiet voice stung his nerves like a wasp. She moved the arrow closer to his neck.

"Aye, it's been a while." Minako's eyes darted toward the direction of his first kunai, easily detected by the scent of the smoke on the wind. Possibly?

"Unfortunately, I have to end you now."

It all happened in a blink. The arrow pierced the skin, but Minako grabbed her hand and tensed. His other arm shot behind him and gripped down onto her head, pushing her vision into the fabric on his shoulder. She wasn't going to kill him today. His vision focused in the distance, toward their original battleground...

The most intense heat he'd ever felt in his life engulfed him. Flames licked up around his body as he held tight to Michi, still on his back. Her scream as the fire hit her shattered his heart. He couldn't stop this, though. It was his mission... his duty... He had known Michi as children... or at least thought he had. Why did he have no remorse over burning to death with his childhood friend?

Michi broke away from him and he rolled out of arms' reach of her. He was falling. Falling out of the branches until his body cracked onto the ground. He had taken too much damage earlier, from the explosion and tumbling around from Akane's wind. The fire had just about done him in.

His knuckles scraped the dirt as he crawled out of the flames and smoke, back toward Akane's body lying peacefully in the center of the chaos. He was sore, and his skin felt like it was bubbling away from the muscle it typically clung to without any protest. Involuntary, he moaned. After this, he was retiring. He'd go back to his beautiful wife and never set foot into this god-forsaken place again. He'd bury his friends in a beautiful place, someplace safe and never look back.

He had successfully crawled out from the fire and was a couple meters from Akane when Michi dropped down from the trees, landing on one knee and coughing up the smoke she must have inhaled. He clamped down on his kunai, which he had managed to keep a hold of both the one in his mouth and the poisoned one in his hand. Minako slowly, and painfully, pushed himself up. Michi would be on him the moment she recovered, he needed to be ready.

Michi staggered up. Her own flesh looked similar to a steak that was only half-way cooked and her silver hair was all but gone. She looked him dead in the eye, her hand moving to her back and pulling out the bow, agony written all over her face with every move.

He threw the poisoned kunai as she began retrieving an arrow. Her eyes went wide and she dodged forward. He watched with bated breath, waited for any sort of contact with her skin. And it did. As she ducked her head forward, the newly hairless portion was sliced, just a sliver. That was enough. There was no way the poison wouldn't overtake her and—she raised the arrow up, aiming straight for his heart.

This was it, this was his end. Yet he felt nothing, no fear, no relief. There was no acceptance or the want to flee. He watched her pull the string back, stressing the wood of the bow with elegance and strength. He closed his eyes, ready to die.

The arrow was released with a whoosh. He waited, but before the arrow pierced his body there was a clang of metal colliding with more metal. His eyes snapped open. In front of him, Koko crouched, his katana out and the arrow resting on the ground where it must have made contact with Koko's block.

"Good work, Minako." Koko murmured, nodding to his comrade who sat, stunned by his sudden appearance. "You look terrible."

ooooo

Of course, Sasuke knew Lee was back on his way to help finish off Michi after he had stabbed Kosami through the stomach. Unfortunately, Neji's character had been fodder. He had shielded Lee last second and took the death over Koko, who was the character with the most DPS and could take both Kosami and Michi out if Sasuke couldn't.

Of course, Sasuke did.

He watched Michi fall, the poison did enough to knock her down. The first battle was done.

"Very smart, using the fire," Kakashi praised, his hand was squeezing the back of Sasuke chair as the image swapped from the forest-world to the victory screen, "I don't think you would've taken Michi out otherwise."

"Do you think they'll be banning Minako next round?" Lee asked, pushing away from his desk to stare toward Kakashi.

Kakashi merely shrugged. Sasuke, on the other hand, smirked, "Let them. If they think they can defeat us by banning him, then they can keep on dreaming. We're not going to lose."

"That's right." Sai piped up.

Neji simply nodded.

"Alright. Looks like the next round is starting. Look alive." Kakashi commented, taking a step back and watching the next round unfold.

Their opponents did indeed end up banning Minako at least once in their five-round stint against each other. Though they seemed to decide it was better to let Sasuke have Minako over Sanehiro after he completely trashed three of their players, albeit with assistance from the rest of his team. Afterward, Minako became Sasuke's main, allowing him to flash around and take out the enemy line. Though he didn't always end the match burning alive.

It was close. With their final match coming to an end, it was Sasuke and Neji still alive against Gaara and another boy who wore a hood. They were all in the open, clashing against each other. The boy with the hood was keeping him busy, while Gaara was keeping him on his toes. Every time he blocked a punch from hood-boy's character, Gaara's sand ninjutsu would crash at the ground around him, causing him to dance away from the two characters as much as possible. Neji was back on Toichi and was trying to support him as much as possible with shields and trying to catch Gaara's attention.

"This is a stalemate," Lee whispered.

"Eventually one has got to cave," Sai told him.

Unfortunately, Minako's teleportation had a 15-second cooldown. Sasuke was using it as much as possible in hopes to gain an opening. But so far to no avail. Then something caught his eye.

Movement in the audience. Not a single soul had budged or said anything louder than a whisper as they viewed this intense final. Some jerk had decided to excuse himself from the second to the front row, so close to the stage the audience there could probably feel the sweat from their brows fly when the whipped their head too hard. But he left his bag behind. Probably just needed the bathroom.

The hood-boy landed a punch straight across Minako's jaw. Sasuke let out a small yelp and hit T, making Minako disappear and reappear behind Toichi. Toichi spun, the force-field dome surrounded them so neither of their opponents could get to them.

But the sand started building around it, quickly. The force-field was rapidly encased with grains, leaving Sasuke's and Neji's screens in the dark.

"OK... plan." Sasuke breathed, straining his eyes against the darkness. He could see the outline of Toichi, barely. "I will teleport us to the kunai behind Gaara. Then we can take them out."

"That's your only strategy, isn't it?"

"I doubt they'll realize we can teleport through the sand."

Neji sighed, "Alright. Just don't lose."

"Ten seconds. Just keep holding the shield."

He waited with bated breath, watched as Neji's chakra bar slowly ticked downwards and he held firm against the sand pushing against the force-field. "Three... two..."

Minako lurched forward and Sasuke hit T. They landed behind Gaara and Sasuke grabbed the kunai stuck in the ground. Neji's force-field had canceled the moment he had Minako teleported the two of them outside, which caused the sand to start collapsing in on itself. Sasuke quickly lined up the shot and clicked.

But before Gaara could turn... before Sasuke could see if the kunai landed, a rush of heat blasted against his face. Wires from the PCs went flying first, then the monitors and the PCs themselves were ripped from their places on the desks. Sasuke turned, his arms flying over his face in hopes of guarding himself against the explosion from the second row. Bodies and chairs flew. People were screaming.

He hit the stage, feeling a numb rush over him. Something toppled over him. He saw Neji, laying shock still with his monitor and desk crushing him. Kakashi had gone through the curtains that were set up behind them to block all the ugly computer equipment that made this event run. Sai and Lee... he couldn't see them... Where were they? He tried to move. He couldn't. He looked around and saw that not only was his desk on him, but the decorative podium that had separated the two teams had landed square on his back.

The other team... were they alright? He could see their coach, slowly pulling himself to his feet with a hefty amount of blood pouring from his head. Everyone else from their team, however, was buried under debris.

Sasuke struggled once more, using his right arm to pull himself a little further out of the wreckage. It was no use. He was laying belly down with a heavy podium on top of him. There was no need for him to try and squeeze his way out of this mess.

And then the building shook again.

ooooo

Sakura Haruno stood at her table in the meet and greet hall of the convention. A young girl took a photo with her and ran off. She smiled, adjusting the ribbon that held back her hair as she beckoned forward the next fan in her short line. And short was OK with her. All around her, the bigger streamers were getting lines that reached the end of the room, that couldn't even fit the hall. She, on the other hand, could take time with her guests. She could greet them, hug them, sign a photo...

"Oh, thank you!" she chirped as a round woman presented her a knitted beanie. Sakura pulled off the ribbon and fitted the hat over her head. She grinned, "How do I look?"

"Absolutely adorable. I made it myself! And and..." from her bag, she retrieved another knitted item, this time a very, very long scarf that was a little too bulky for the summer outside the convention center, "this is from my daughter. She loves you very much. Unfortunately, she had a camp to go to so I promised her I'd come meet you."

Sakura cooed and accepted the pink and white scarf that was so obviously made with love. She draped it around her shoulders and beckoned for the older woman to take a selfie with her. She also requested a signature for her daughter which Sakura wholeheartedly accepted.

"I absolutely, absolutely love you." an awkward man said from the other side of her table after the woman had left.

Sakura just smiled at him. "Would you like a picture?"

"Please?" he squeaked out.

The love and support were almost too much for her. She hugged, she took selfies. Each fan of hers brought a different, but equally important interaction to her meet and greet table and she loved each and every one of them. A warmth filled her with every person who greeted her at her booth.

Little arms slipped away from her neck when there was a loud boom and the building suddenly shook. As if by instinct, she grabbed the girl protectively and looked around as the entire meet and greet hall went silent. Quiet murmurs rippled through the wave of people. The girl's father slowly peeled his daughter away from Sakura, which she allowed. A security guard appeared at the far end of the line of streamers and whispered to the first one. She witnessed the ripple effect of that streamer motioning to the rest of them that they had to exit.

Warning lights began to flash around the giant room, the fire alarm started to screech. Sakura gave an apologetic look to her few remaining fans and followed her peers into a room where they'd be able to filter out of the building without going through the crowd.

Whispers from her peers, all asking questions about what happened. She jogged to the front of the pack, looking for a security guard to ask. But she didn't need to hear it from the guards. Around her, people were on their phones and speaking to one another in hushed tones.

"A bomb... at the e-sports stage." one voice said.

Another one whispered, "So many people... what event was it?"

"It exploded during the last round. Just now."

Sakura had heard enough. She turned sharply and headed back towards the way they came. She maneuvered through the evacuees, not caring if anyone saw her heading back toward the evident danger. She was close, almost to the door when a hand caught her wrist.

"If there is a bomb threat, you should leave." a monotonous voice said.

She snapped her head around, glaring. Shikamaru, someone she recognized from Glitch as the one who ruled the strategy category. He was standing, with a disgustingly relaxed pose. She pulled her wrist from his grip, "I refuse to evacuate when I can do something."

"What a bother." Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head with that had that had held her wrist tight. "Fine, lead the way. You may need some brain to your brawn, after all."

Sakura blinked in surprise. She knew him well enough. Shikamaru was lazy. He ended his streams early due to just wanting to stop so he could watch the clouds, or so he said. Yet he still had an avid fan base thanks to his brilliant brain. She nodded and dashed through the door.

ooooo

Minako watched as his kunai sunk into the back of the sand-wielding shinobi in front of him. Yet everything, everyone froze up around him. He tried to move his arm, tried to kick forward... nothing worked. "What's... happening?" he moaned.

Toichi was as equally stuck. He groaned back, "I.. don't know..."

The entirety of their world flickered. And for the first time in maybe since the beginning of his existence, Minako could feel. Fear. Panic spread through his limbs as the world around him disappeared, Then there was nothing again.

Absolutely nothing.