Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, A Slight Smile is Devastating, or Love O2O, nor do I receive any commercial benefit from this fic. All rights belong to their respective rights holders.

Four years had led to this. Four years of blood, sweat, and tears. Four years of all-nighters, energy drinks, and drunk breakfasts - once they did this, there was no going back. They were going to commit to this dream. Sasuke didn't let his feelings show on his face, but he fisted his hands under the desk. It was real now. We're actually about to do this crazy thing.

"Here, teme," Naruto slid the pen and papers over. Their eyes met, and Sasuke saw the same trepidation and excitement reflected in Naruto's blue eyes. Not that he'd ever tell the bastard, but Sasuke was glad they'd ended up as roommates who fought 13 PVP matches the day they'd met. He'd known he could build a game company on his own, but he made it a better one with this guy and their friends.

"And with this, you have your own space. Congratulations," In the office area of his Internet cafe, Kakashi smiled, looking up at the two young men sitting across from him.

"That would sound so much more convincing if you hadn't spent the past half hour reading that Icha Icha book while we were signing this thing, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto complained.

"I've waited a long time for Icha Icha Innocence, and I'm not about to give it up just to watch you guys sign your names," Kakashi retorted, unperturbed, "You guys are about to start your last university term. You should have figured this out in kindergarten."

"Not this loser," Sasuke muttered as he took one last look over the papers, then slid them across the desk.

Naruto ignored him, instead getting excited about what the signed contract meant for them. "We can have an actual team now! They can actually sit at desks. I can have actual storage! I don't have to store paper's on Sasuke's bed any more! This is going to be AWESOME. Dattebayo!"

"Does Sasuke sleep somewhere else? With a woman?" Kakashi leered.

"My brother is a professor now, remember?" Sasuke retorted, "Campus housing."

"Besides, he's basically a monk," Naruto grinned, "I wouldn't believe he really is Mr. Popular if I didn't have to deal with the love letters every week."

"Go die," Sasuke only scoffed at Naruto.

"Who would eat your Valentine's Day chocolate then?" Naruto teased.

Kakashi put on a look of fake concern, "Are you okay, Sasuke? Do you need to see a doctor about...." when Sasuke glared at him, he cracked and gave a small, teasing grin.

Sasuke wondered how his older brother had resisted the urge to punch Kakashi while they'd been in the same Master's program. Then again, Itachi had only been 12.

"You still need to sign the papers, you know," Sasuke said wryly.

"Fine," Kakashi sighed, "I don't know if I should, you guys drive a hard bargain. Look at what you're paying for the upper level here! It's a prime location! Che."

"You're the one who told us not to be nice," Sasuke replied.

"You didn't have to be that mean," Kakashi muttered. Sasuke smirked with satisfaction. He must be cursing himself for taking them under his wing when they first started out doing the whole game development thing. Kakashi'd thought he was doing his old teacher and kouhai a favour, give their son and brother the benefit of his past experience in the industry. Now that he was only the small business owner of an internet cafe though, they were ruthlessly taking advantage of his slowly declining business.

"That's Sasuke's job, y'know," Naruto grinned sunnily, "He's such an asshole, we let him loose on the people we don't need to be polite to."

"Otherwise we'd be bankrupt by now," Sasuke muttered darkly.

"Hey!"

"Fine, fine. Don't fight, boys. This is supposed to be a happy occasion. You can treat me to ramen to celebrate." Kakashi said, not even looking up.

"Sensei, shouldn't you be treating us to ramen?" Naruto retorted.

"You guys are the ones who'll be making money once you find a partner for your mobile game. With that one's ruthlessness, you should make plenty out of it," Kakashi replied, handing one copy to Sasuke and tucking one into his filing desk drawer. Something down at the bottom caught his eye.

"I suppose we could treat you this once," Sasuke let a small smirk creep out as he tucked the papers into his messenger bag, "considering we just cleaned you out."

Naruto snorted as they both got up to leave but took a quick look back when Kakashi didn't follow them. "Coming, Kakashi-sensei? Otherwise we'll leave you behind."

"Actually, Sasuke, could you step out for just a minute? I have something for Naruto," The older man asked, rummaging in his desk drawer.

Sasuke closed the office door behind him as his business partner went back in. If Kakashi didn't want him there, it was probably something to do with Naruto's parents. Sasuke knew he was only trying to be considerate, considering both him and Naruto were orphans. He walked a couple steps away to give them some more privacy, so he wouldn't overhear anything, and scanned the various screens to see if anyone was doing anything interesting.

The cafe was clean and busy, but quieter than expected, especially on a Thursday evening near the beginning of term in Konohagakure. Now that personal PCs were common and people had so much computing power in their pockets, not as many people used internet cafes these days. Kakashi was still doing okay, all things considered, but sooner or later Naruto would rope him into working for their company. He had faith in his business partner's ability to recruit. They would need a few more years before they could afford the former programming star from ROOT Inc., though.

All of a sudden, his eyes stopped in one booth, booth number 27 in the corner. He recognized the game: Way of the Ninja, an older but still popular MMO. The figure in the booth was hidden in an oversized grey hoodie with Konoha U's emblem on the back. Sasuke raised an eyebrow when he saw what was unfolding on the screen.

A Clan War? In the Forest of Death? And they're the attacking side, not the defending one? Clans warred on other clans for only two reasons: because they wanted their Clan Hall, and thus Clan Name, or for a huge amount of cash. Defenders, however, could claim a huge monetary penalty from the attacking team if they successfully fended off the attack, and they had a home-field advantage on their clan grounds.

The Forest of Death Clan was a notoriously difficult clan to war against because of two things: The defenders had a broken advantage on this map, and the War Leader's ability was an immobility attack that would turn its targets into sitting ducks. Sure, the War Leader would have to leave the base, make themselves more vulnerable, and give up their birds' eye view without the fog of war to use the attack, but it still could easily turn the tide.

He soundlessly prowled a little closer, peering over the player's shoulder to get a good look at his chat bar. This player was part of the Rolling Jade Seas Clan, a well-respected clan on the Hidden Leaf server. Sasuke couldn't see his avatar on the screen, but he could see all of the other person's clanmates on his mini-map, which meant that this player was a War Leader who hadn't left the base and activated his ability yet.

This should be an interesting fight to watch. The Rolling Jade Seas Clan had a slight numbers advantage, and their players were near the markers the war leader had placed. All of a sudden, the person sitting in the booth froze, and from the text that had appeared in map chat, Sasuke could understand why.

[Map] System: [Forest of Death] War Leader Nuxalia has entered the battle.

"Shannaro!" the figure in the seat cursed.

The opponent's War Leader was in? That was quick. They're only 10 minutes into the fight. I wonder how that happened...

(°ロ°) !

How that happened...

[Map] System: [Rolling Jade Sea] Clan has entered the [Forest of Death] Clan grounds. You have three minutes to the end of the invulnerability period. Please prepare for the Clan War. War Leaders must be in their bases by the time the invulnerability period ends.
[Forest of Death Clan] War Leader Nuxalia: Aight Let's do this. Food and Buffs at base, save your cool downs, don't waste your kunai. And fer ****'s sake, used ranged attacks.
[Forest of Death Clan] War Leader Nuxalia: We lose if I die, so keep me safe, boys by LISTENING TO ME
[Forest of Death Clan] War Leader Nuxalia: Section 6, watch the base
[Forest of Death Clan] Vice Leader SerNorth: Remember boys, we're fighting for the hall.
[Forest of Death Clan] Vice Leader SerNorth: Lose, and we lose our sacred land
[Forest of Death Clan] War Leader Nuxalia: And the nice buffs and perks that come with it
[Forest of Death Clan] War Leader Nuxalia: Do you want to go back to using Newbie City?
[Forest of Death Clan] Vice Leader SerNorth: Win, and we get lots of nice hard gold.
[Forest of Death Clan] Vice Leader SerNorth: Enough to buy the next clan hall upgrade and have enough left over to buy you all Top-Tier weapons
[Forest of Death Clan] War Leader Nuxalia: Click the ready check when it comes up. Squad leaders on the markers
[Forest of Death Clan] CanonFodder69: rdy
[Forest of Death Clan] Vice Leader SerNorth: use the ready check, not chat dumba***
[Forest of Death Clan] Squad 4 Leader YugePen1s: lets **** these ****ers

Surrounded by the fog of war, ninjas quietly activated stealth jutsu and spread into the canopy like a miasma, ready to descend upon the intruders. Kunai at the ready, they posed a deadly, unseen threat to the poor souls below. The first timers were nervous and excited, but the veterans were relaxed and confident. They had the home-field advantage. They held the high ground, literally and figuratively Many clans had tried, and many had failed. So what if the challengers were a top 5 clan? It just meant that they needed a small number advantage. But this was their forest.

Chat was silent, until -

[Forest of Death Clan] War Leader Nuxalia: Incoming. Listen to your squad leaders, don't engage -
[Forest of Death Clan] CanonFodder69: wtf
[Forest of Death Clan] CanonFodder69: 1 person
[Forest of Death Clan] CanonFodder69: 1 person
[Forest of Death Clan] Vice Leader SerNorth: other side might be using stealth, leave
[Forest of Death Clan] YugePen1s: 1 *****
[Forest of Death Clan] YugePen1s: wtf she's drunk
[Forest of Death Clan] War Leader Nuxalia: Squad 2 take aim and then shift to square markers. Don't give away your position.
[Forest of Death Clan] Squad 2 Leader InstantKillSh0t: OK
[Forest of Death Clan] Squad 2 Leader InstantKillSh0t: We're not hitting her.
[Forest of Death Clan] Squad 2 Leader InstantKillSh0t: Not sure wtf is going on
[Map] Chun_Lee: Ya scared of a little girl?
[Map] Chun_Lee: Come and get me you ****ers
[Forest of Death Clan] War Leader Nuxalia: Oh ****
[Forest of Death Clan] Squad 4 Leader YugePen1s: It's one drunk ***** are we a top 10 clan or not
[Forest of Death Clan] Squad 4 Leader YugePen1s: Let's just kunai the ****
[Forest of Death Clan] War Leader Nuxalia: NO
[Forest of Death Clan] War Leader Nuxalia: NO
[Forest of Death Clan] War Leader Nuxalia: NO AGGRO
[Forest of Death Clan] War Leader Nuxalia: YOU ****ERs
[Forest of Death Clan] War Leader Nuxalia: SHES GOT THE DRUNKEN FIST TRAIT YOU CAN'T HIT HER

But it was too late. In a sleepy bedroom in Hoshigakure's sleepy suburbs, Nuxalia swore loudly as she watched six blue dots appear on the map and converge towards one lone red dot on her mini-map. She leaned forward on her keyboard and started frantically mashing the buttons, desperately issuing orders and trying to save the fight, but in her heart of hearts, she knew they'd seriously fucked up.

[Map] Chun_Lee: Lolololololol [Rolling Jade Seas Clan] War Leader SakuraBlossom:They took the bait.

No matter what taijutsu moves the six ninjas from Forest of Death's Squad 4 tried, none of them could land a blow on the lone, bun haired kunoichi they were targeting. Despite everything they threw at her, they just brushed the edge of her blue and gold qipao, while she danced around like a sot. In a small room at Konoha Tech's Male Dorms, YugePen1s gaped at the screen, not believing what he was seeing. He just managed to dodge one swipe of her white boots, but it connected with a nearby clanmate, and the red damage numbers that flashed on the screen made his eyes pop. Truly angry now, he mashed a key sequence for his ultimate ninjutsu.

In yet another room far away in Iwagakure, Chun_Lee watched the rapidly depleting health bar while frantically clicking on every potion in the open inventory window. While the Drunken Fist trait might be broken in that it didn't require the user to actually fight, as the system took care of pesky things like attacking and dodging, it eroded hit points like crazy.

[Rolling Jade Seas Clan] Section Leader 1 Chun_Lee: I'm at 60% health now
[Rolling Jade Seas Clan] Section Leader 1 Chun_Lee: Need back up soon, drunken fist isn't going to last much longer
[Rolling Jade Seas Clan] Section Leader 1 Chun_Lee: You can't even hit a little girl?!
[Rolling Jade Seas Clan] Section Leader 1 Chun_Lee: Sry, autogen in the wrong channel.
[Rolling Jade Seas Clan] Section Leader 3 FriesWithThat: Taunt where they can see it.

Too late, the ninjas of Squad 4 realized why their war leader had ordered them to use ranged attacks. The Forest of Death gave the defending clan a huge advantage when it came to defense: 50% accuracy and 50% ranged attack boost, but unlike most places in the game, it also allowed for friendly fire. YugePen1s' ultimate Ninjutsu did huge Area of Effect damage to his poor teammates, but somehow, the bun-haired kunoichi just fell forward in a summersault and got out of range before the cast time had elapsed..

[Map] System: First blood! Friendly Fire! YugePen1s has killed CannonFodder69 with an assist from Chun_Lee

YugePen1s gaped at his screen. How the hell had she done that?! She was fighting 6 people at once, she shouldn't be able to watch his hand seal animations! He didn't have time to think, though, when her fist connected with someone else and their health bar went grey. Grimly, he started dodging for all he was worth.

[Forest of Death Clan] War Leader Nuxalia: ****
[Forest of Death Clan] War Leader Nuxalia: Squad 1 & 2 dispelling jutsus

12 more dots turned from blue to grey and appeared on the mini-map, fanning out in a sweeping motion, but Nuxalia had seen the four blue xs on her map. She knew that meant they were in deep shit. After this, she was going to challenge that idiot Section 4 Leader to a PVP duel herself and beat the shit out of him herself, damn the clan rules.

Chun_Lee breathed a sigh of relief when the red x's marking the downed enemy players appeared. Mission accomplished.

[Rolling Jade Seas Clan] Section Leader 1 Chun_Lee: 40% 4 down
[Map] Chun_Lee: Nyahahah Missed me!
[Map] Chun_Lee: C'mon c'mon!
[Map] Chun_Lee: Ya scared of a little girl?
[Rolling Jade Seas Clan] Section Leader 3 FriesWithThat: Dispelling Jutsus are coming
[Rolling Jade Seas Clan] War Leader SakuraBlossom: GO

Ninjas abandoned their stealth jutsus as they reached the tops of canopies and on the forest floors below. Above, the kunais and ranged jutsu were flying like bullets, and below, deadly taijutsu moves were exchanged with ruthless precision. While the ninjas of the Forest of Death Clan put up a valiant fight, throwing 20% of their forces away against one kunoichi had been a blunder that would be very difficult to recover from.

Nuxalia gritted her teeth. She had no choice, now. She had to enter the fray.

[Map] System: [Forest of Death] War Leader Nuxalia has entered the battle

(メ°皿°)ﾉ

Sasuke watched as the player in the booth frantically started laying down new markers. He could read as well as the Rolling Jade Seas Clan War Leader could, though, that panic was breaking out in their clan chat.

[Rolling Jade Seas Clan] FireyKunai: I can't use ninjutsu
[Rolling Jade Seas Clan] SakiChan: wtf I can't use taijutsu
[Rolling Jade Seas Clan] Clan Leader MightMasterEbisu: wtf
[Rolling Jade Seas Clan] Clan Leader MightMasterEbisu: I just got OHKO-ed

He'll enter the fray soon. He's their War Leader, he can't just leave them to die.

[Rolling Jade Seas Clan] Section Leader 3 FriesWithThat: They launched their Warleader ability. I'm still stealthed. Saku go
[Map] System: [Rolling Jade Seas] War Leader SakuraBlossom has entered the battle
[Rolling Jade Seas Clan] Section Leader 3 FriesWithThat: I'm targeting

When he saw the pink-haired figure leave the Rolling Jade Seas' base, he realized that the player was using a female avatar. Another male avatar carrying a giant brush joined her, dark purple on her mini-map so he was still stealthed to everyone else.

Hrn. Must be a married couple with a big boost fighting together, if this guy, FriesWithThat - what a dumb username - gave up the numbers advantage to stay behind with her. If he's targeting for her with genjutsu, judging from his brush, she's probably a ninjutsu main. This is getting more and more interesting.

With a jolt, he remembered something. The Rolling Jade Seas Clan War Leader's special ability a passive one, unlike the Forest of Death Clan's. It was a 200% taijutsu boost. For most players, taijutsu was a waste of chakra, as Ninjutsu was able to do so much more damage for the same amount of chakra spent. The disadvantage of Ninjutsu was the hand seals that could give away what they were casting to a veteran player and the cast time. It can't be. This war leader is a taijutsu main?

(o_O) !

Large roots erupted from the earth, and whippy branches lashed out from the trees to tie down the fifteen Rolling Jade Seas Clan members with the most hit points at the moment. Their skill bars that required hand seals were dark, leaving many of them helpless.

[Forest of Death Clan] Vice Leader SerNorth: GOGOGO WL SKILL
[Forest of Death Clan] Vice Leader SerNorth: FAST&HARD
[Forest of Death Clan] CannonFodder69: That's what she said
[Forest of Death Clan] Vice Leader SerNorth: STAY DEAD

Fireballs, wind blades, and