Game of Shadows by Adrian King1

Chapter 133

"You are the most annoying little shit I've had to deal with, and that's saying something."

"Funny that, I was thinking much the same thing about you," Eiji replied, Flickering to dodge a fire technique that came his way. Obito had grown tired of just using weapons, it seemed, and had started flinging Jutsu at him after a while. Not that it changed the weird stalemate they were in.

'He's not that strong,' Eiji thought to himself, finding that fact strange. He'd prepared and trained thinking that nothing would ever be enough. That'd he'd ultimately find himself outclassed no matter what he did or what he learned. And yet, there he was, keeping up with Obito, of all people, like he was just any of the other ninja he'd ever had to deal with.

He was fairly sure that Madara and Kaguya were still out of his league, but still...

'I can win this,' he thought, grinning from ear to ear. This seemed to annoy Obito, but he could care less about that. He was winning and he was going to win, Eiji knew that now. And then, as he jumped and twisted his body around a chain that his opponent sent his way, he laughed.

"What are you laughing at?!" Obito shouted, clearly growing frustrated, which worked just fine for Eiji. "You are on your backfoot, idiot!"

"That's what you think, isn't it?" Eiji asked back, still chuckling, while moving himself mid air with ninja wire. "That's what you would like, isn't it?"

"You haven't landed a single attack!" Obito said, a hint of triumph behind his manic voice. Poor fucker actually thought that.

"I only need the one attack, and it's not time for it yet," Eiji replied, idly, almost leisurely twirling Nuibari in his hand. He wasn't even lying, really. He'd prepared a single technique to deal with Obito and he was sure it'd be enough. He had vague memories, back when he'd arrived, of how to deal with him and he'd turned those into a project once he was able to.

He'd tinkered with that idea for long before it even saw a semblance of success. And once it did, Eiji had worked tirelessly whenever he could to bring it to the level he'd need it to be. Finally, he'd done so some time before. It had been such a relief when it happened. Despite the fact that the world was still going to shit and there were great dangers out there, the sole fact of having this one technique ready for its eventual use had helped him a great deal.

He was pretty sure that much of his recent calm had come from it, even if what happened with Naruto had thrown everything overboard in a single day. Now, there was no danger to his brother and the man that was hopefully the final boss for him was right there. Even better, Obito couldn't beat him.

Eiji was deliriously happy, really, to the point he wondered if he wasn't dreaming. Quite the contrast from the increasingly more mad Obito across from him. He could feel the man growing more and more rabid by the second as Eiji and him continued their fighting dance where neither could hit the other. Which made sense, really, since a random boy had one day popped up and started screwing up his plans, destroying all that he'd worked towards.

Akatsuki was done, basically, maybe not that very day, but they would be soon enough. The Squad had hopefully taken care of Zetsu already, which would keep the plant man sealed forever, if Eiji had any say in the matter. The remaining Jinchuriki were basically safe and Nagato's eyes were out of his reach now because of his interference.

Everything had failed for him.

And it was all because of Eiji.

"How does it feel to fail?" the boy asked the man, grinning widely. "A familiar feeling for you, right?" he added, not really because of all that he'd done, but more of a dig to the old Obito. "You were never meant to win. Never meant to get anywhere. At most, you'd have been a bad guy for some hero to beat."