Blake inspected his surroundings. They were at some sort of a gym, where the Akatsuki had clearly spent time honing their skills and sparring. Everyone was on the sidelines, looking at Nagato, who stood in the middle. Even Yahiko was surprised that Nagato volunteered to fight the creature, but Nagato turned out to be curious about Nightmare.
Blake didn't know how to feel about his opponent, but Nightmare was clearly more than excited about the situation.
"Don't kill him and don't inflict permanents wounds on him, Nightmare. This is just a spar, no need to push yourself too much." Blake stated and Nightmare acknowledged with a nod, though Blake felt like the Minotaur was barely listening.
He doubted Nightmare could actually do any of that, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
"Go, show me and them your power."
The Minotaur nodded, when Blake suddenly thought of something.
"Wait, Nightmare, you are a male, right?"
The Minotaur stopped in its tracks. Then it grabbed the piece of clothing covering its intimate area and removed it. Everyone who was looking had their eyes fall out of their sockets. Blake scratched the back of his head, grinning a bit awkwardly. "A male, then."
"He is packing."
One of the shinobi standing near Blake mumbled, and Blake could only nod.
Once Nightmare stood in front of Nagato, silence befell the room. There was no judge, nor anyone who shouted the beginning of the battle. The battle began when Nightmare suddenly roared angrily, spreading his crazed voice to echo throughout the expanse. All the shinobi froze momentarily, including Nagato. Blake was the only one unaffected.
Before Nagato came out of his stupor, Nightmare was upon him, punching him from above. Nagato didn't have time to dodge, so he raised his hands to protect himself. However, it was a bad idea to try to face Nightmare head on. Nagato was sent flying away effortlessly, colliding against the wall and shattering it. Dust rose into the air, covering Nagato.
Everyone gasped. Konan stood up, whilst Yahiko stared into the dust.
"[Wind Element: Gale Palm!]"
Suddenly, the smoke cleared, revealing blades of wind flying at Nightmare, who, as slow as he was, simply raised his hands and took the attack on. Despite having [Tough Skin], little cuts began appearing all over Nightmare's body. He roared again, without using the skill, grabbed his axe strapped to his back and swung it around, causing the wind to dissipate.
The Minotaur looked around. Nagato was gone. Nightmare was getting irritated, wanting a proper fight, not some sort of hide and seek. Hands emerged from the ground beneath Nightmare, grabbing his legs. Nightmare looked down, seeing three Nagato's staring at him.
"[Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique]"
Before Nightmare could do anything, he found himself buried within the ground, only his frightening head sticking out. Nagato was standing before him, but Nightmare could only see his enemy's toes. Anger flickered in his red eyes. Coward fight! Coward!
Anger built up. Nightmare's fury was endless.
[Battle Rage]
Suddenly, Nightmare's eyes flickered a different shade of red, as he begun thrashing underneath the ground. To everyone's horror, the ground began to crack all around the Minotaur.
"What monstrous physical strength." Nagato stated, as he began to retreat backwards, right when the ground broke into an explosion. Nightmare walked out of the rubble, his muscles twitching and eyes blazing. He was angry, and he was out to destroy.
Blake stared at the Minotaur, feeling that the creature was perhaps getting a bit too excited.
As Blake was about to intervene, Yahiko appeared in between Nightmare and Nagato.
"Everyone has seen enough. Nightmare, right? You have proved your power, it is time to stop before this place gets completely destroyed. There is no need for blood."
Nightmare was clearly not having any of that, but Blake walked up next to him.
"Enough, Nightmare."
Only then did Nightmare nod, its flickering eyes slowly becoming simply red. The creature was uninjured, but it was bleeding from all of the minor cuts around his body. Blake put a hand on his shoulder.
"Good job, Nightmare. You can rest up a bit."
As he said that, Nightmare vanished, getting sucked inside of Blake.
Yahiko approached Nagato, whispering into his ear. "So, how was it?"
"Nightmare is powerful. Its roar is effective in creating an opportunity. Its physical power is enviable, especially when he gets mad. It defense is pretty good, considering that he simply took the wind ninjutsu head on. He…would be a great addition to the team."
Nagato glanced at Blake.
"But, Blake is most surprising."
"Oh, how so?"
"To be able to summon such a creature and store it within him is an incredible power. Nightmare is self-sustained. If Blake is able to hold more than summon at the same time, he can simultaneously use all of them, whilst not spending any chakra."
"It is indeed incredible."
Konan walked up to them. "However, we still shall assess whether he is trustworthy. Some of his facts don't add up."
Yahiko nodded again. "That will be a task for you both, Nagato, Konan."
They both stopped, staring at Yahiko, who was awkwardly scratching the back of his head and looking away.
"What do you mean?" They both said simultaneously.
"Guys, as the leader of the Akatsuki, you know I am a bit busy." Yahiko smiled sheepily. "So, both of you will have to train Blake, at least until he gets the basics."
They rolled their eyes, when they saw Blake approaching them.
"I am sorry if my summon caused some unnecessary damage." Blake glanced around at the destroyed arena. "Did he pass the test, though?"
"Naturally." Yahiko was the one who answered with a smile on his face. "My name is Yahiko. This is Nagato and Konan." Blake shook everyone's hand. "Welcome to Akatsuki."
Blake smiled. People began to approach him, bumping on the shoulder or shaking his hand, saying compliments about Nightmare. Blake tried to be as respectful as possible, suddenly feeling a deja-vu. It felt like he was in a football team, scored a goal and now everyone was coming to congratulate him.
Blake cleared his throat. "Also, I was wondering whether I could get my stuff back?"
"Oh, talking about your stuff." Yahiko fished around in his pocket, producing his iPhone and a pair of wired headphones. "What the hell is this?"
Blake took the phone in his hand, suddenly feeling much more secure. He pressed on his screen, seeing the time. 15:24. The battery was at 68%, but he had to save it, so he turned the brightness and everything as low as possible. After checking a few more things, with everyone gawking over the phone like it was some evil object, Blake pressed on Spotify.
"It is a phone. It is a pretty popular technology back in my hometown, but it is pretty useless here. It can take pictures and do other cool stuff, but the best thing is…" Blake pressed on a saved song in his playlist. Redbone by Childish Gambino.
As soon as the slow beat escaped the phone, everyone reeled back.
"What the fuck?"
One of the men shouted, holding his kunai and pointing at the phone like it was going to explode at any moment.
"Calm down, everyone." Blake stopped the music, trying to calm the Akatsuki. "It is just music, which is recorded on this object."
"How does that even work?"
Yahiko was holding his chin.
"Honestly? No idea."
Blake beamed a smile, for he really didn't know much about how it worked.
"I am going to play it again. Don't be afraid, just enjoy the music."
Blake pressed on the play button, sending explosive sounds out of it. The shinobi were still visibly disoriented, but as the music kept on playing, they relaxed. It was a kind of music that they had never heard. They stood there, listening, some with closed eyes. And, as they were reaching the end of the song, a loud grumble echoed within the room.
Blake blushed a bit.
"Sorry, I am starving."
Yahiko giggled slightly. "Then, let's go eat."
-
After a few bowls of some vegetable soup, along with a few pieces of bread, Blake was satisfied enough to call it quits. He drank some water, cleaned himself in the common area, where he just had to splash buckets on top of him, and finally had a moment of peace.
The Akatsuki, excluding those three, all slept in one room, with beds arranged a few feet away from each other. It was almost like a military set up, but Blake cared little about privacy right now.
"Hop out and protect me if anyone is trying to attack me when I am sleeping."
Blake mumbled, directing the order for Nightmare.
Leaning backwards, Blake fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
-
When Blake opened his eyes, he almost had a heart attack. Nagato was standing next to his bed, looking down on him with his Rinnegan eyes. Blake got so startled that he flew out of the bed like a bird, and was on his feet in a second.
"Damn, man, don't scare me like that."
Nagato shrugged. "It is not my fault you got scared."
Blake wanted to retort, but decided to drop the matter.
He narrowed his eyes at Nagato. "So, why did you hmm.. wake me up?"
"I am meant to train you today and explain you some of the basic chakra characteristics. I…wanted to wait until you are fully rested, but you have been sleeping for over 24 hours, so I thought I will wake you up." Nagato delivered the words without a change in his expression.
"Over 24 hours?"
Blake pressed his hand against his temples. How had he slept for so long? He did indeed need some rest, but he didn't think it was that bad. Perhaps it is the cause of this depressing place, where sun has not shown itself for whoever knows how long. Vitamin D deficient for sure.
"Okay, give me 20 minutes. I am going to change and have some food. I will meet you in the gym downstairs?"
Nagato considered for an instant and nodded. "Don't be late, I have only an hour before I have to go on a mission." Nagato was about to go, when he spoke up again. "Besides, I understand that it is prompt, but I believe we will need the assistance of Nightmare today."
Blake nodded. "What kind of mission?"
"Later." Nagato looked around. "Eat fast and go down."
Fifteen minutes later, Blake was standing in the hall, his belly half-full.
"Considering the wasteful way in which you are excluding chakra, I would guess you know nearly nothing about it." Nagato stated, forcing Blake to not slightly. It was true, despite knowing some techniques, he had kind of skipped over the training itself in Naruto. "Okay. Then we are going to start with the basics. I have not taught anyone in my life, so be aware that I might not provide the best guidance."
"Before we start, could Nightmare listen to your explanation as well?"
Nagato stopped, startled for some reason. "Your summon…you think it can learn ninjutsu as well?"
"I don't know. I has its own chakra reservoir, so I don't see the reason why we shouldn't try. Its intelligence might be a bit lacking." Blake shrugged. If Nightmare could learn at least one skill, or be able to walk on walls that would already give him a crazy advantage. Blake would be able to sleep even more comfortably, knowing there is a minotaur ninja guarding him.
"I see, let's try."
A moment later, Nightmare materialized next to Blake. However, it had a huge scowl on its face as it stared at Nagato, whilst didn't break the eye contact at all.
"Hey, Nigthmare, calm down. He is not an enemy, but an ally."
Nightmare's scowl didn't disappear. Blake felt only one emotion within his summon. Coward.
"Listen, Nagato would have beat you." Blake stated, his voice assertive. The minotaur glanced at his master, slightly angry. "I understand that you are angry. It might not have been fair, might have not been a fight you wanted, but it was a battle nevertheless. It doesn't matter how Nagato would have beaten you. In the end, you would have lost, fair or not fair."
Blake narrowed his eyes.
"But now you are given an opportunity. Most of the warriors in this…place are going to fight in cowardly ways, and you have to know their ways. Otherwise, you are not going to improve. Nagato is going to teach us, so let all the anger wash away and listen as closely as possible. You can grow stronger, or do you want to remain as you are now, knowing that if Nagato was a real enemy, both you and me would be dead?"
The Minotaur listened closely, his anger dissipating. Yet, the red light in his eyes was shining. Desire. Power. Nightmare stared at Nagato, looking at him with a different kind of hostility. Rival. Nightmare wanted to beat the man in his own game.
'That was…inspiring.' Nagato thought to himself, looking at Blake. The talk, despite not being directed at him, urged even Nagato to desire more strength. There were leader qualities in their new recruit.
Nagato cleared his throat, drawing their attention. It was comical to see a peculiar human and a huge monster standing next to each other, but Nagato refrained from commenting. "Chakra is the combination of spiritual and physical forces within everyone's body. Some people have so little chakra within them, therefore, they are unable to feel it. You two, in this case, have more than enough."
"Usually, future shinobi have to spend years learning teamwork and listening to myriads of theoretical concepts, but I am going to skip over all of that. First things first, we are going to spend the remainder of today's training on trying to feel the chakra within you. If you are able to do it fast, then we could spend the rest of the day practising with it."
Blake narrowed his eyes. "So, how should we actually feel the chakra within us? Is there some special way to do that? Meditation?"
Nagato shrugged. "There is no consistent way how people discover chakra, but for individuals with an abundance of it, it shouldn't be an issue. Think of it this way…if you focus hard enough, you can feel the your heart beating, slow and steady. Chakra is the same. Juts focus and try to find it, pulsating, asking for your control."
"Sensei, you are not that bad at being a teacher, if that is truly your first time. That last part was quite motivating." Blake smiled and Nightmare crossed his hands. Despite his frown, Blake felt excitement rushing within Nightmare's body.
Nagato smiled back and turned around. Blake saw him blush slightly, before he raised his hands. "You can begin now, I will come back in around 30 minutes to see how it is going."
Blake grinned, feeling that he had broken a wall of unfamiliarity with Nagato. Now, at least, they wouldn't ignore each other if they passed each other in a corridor. "Well, Nightmare, what are you waiting for?"
Much to Blake's surprise, Nightmare had started as soon as Nagato finished his explanation. Nightmare stood with his eyes wide open, his legs outstretched in opposite directions and his hands crossed. Blake took out his phone and promptly took a picture, laughed a bit and sat down.
He felt good about this. They were going to feel chakra in no time.
They didn't. Neither Blake nor Nightmare managed to do it.
They spend the entire hourstrying to feel the chakra, yet, it was without fruition.
Then, it was finally time to Nightmare's first mission.