After the guards made sure that Bke roperly cuffed up and giving him a new shirt, they guided him away from the prison. In light of what they just saw, the guards kept a delicate distance away from Bke, as if afraid of him. However, Bke saw them at guard, almost to the point of reag for their ons.

  One of the shinobi run forward, perhaps to inform of what happeo whoever Bke was going to meet. sidering their attires, which sisted of fully dark coats, Bke could guess who were people in power. He didn't know how to feel about that, but it was not the worst situation.

  His eyes fshed. At the very least, he had some sort of way to protect himself. Besides, he felt stronger, much stronger. Bke took a deep breath, trying to calm his beating hard. Nightmare. He felt it. If he wanted, he could unleash the beast at a moment's notice. He could sehe summon hiding within him, somewhere, desiring to protect its master.

  "Runny day, right?"

  Bke tried to strike up a versation with the man on the left, yet he barely gnced his way. They kept walking, in plete sile was, in fact, pretty awkward, but Bke seemed to only be the oo feel that.

  They passed through long corridors, crossing multiple ers. There was no furniture, no windows, nothing, except the dles on the walls. Bke tried to remember the byrinth to his best abilities, but it was all the same and at some point Bke felt lost.

  "Don't try anything funny."

  Bke narrowed his eyes at the man.

  "I am saying that for your own good."

  Bke nodded, finally seeing a ge in the surroundings. There was a staircase leading upwards. Bke prepared himself. Fear is death. He climbed the stairs and after a few minutes, he was standing in front of three figures. Behind them, there was a baly overlooking the expanse of the Rain Vilge, with, of course, rain p from heaven.

  Konan.

  Yahiko.

  And… Nagato.

  They were standing in the form of a triangle, with Yahiko being in the middle. Bke gulped, gng at Nagato, who was standing a bit further away, yet, Bke still saw his eyes. Rinnegan, in the flesh. However, Bke sensed no hostility within the man's gaze…yet.

  "We don't have much time." Yahiko took one more step forward, staring at Bke. "I am going to ask you some questions and you will ahem without lying. If I even sehat something doesn't make sense, you are not leaving this p one piece, uand?''

  Bke sighed and nodded. A threat just as soon as they met, not a good beginning.

  Yahiko twisted his head, nodding at Nagato and Konan.

  "First of all, who are you? Which Vilge are you from?"

  "My name's Bke and I am…not from any of the great vilges. I am from a pce far away, whione of you had probably seen."

  Yahiko narrowed his eyes. "You are not from the great vilges? Are you a shinobi then?"

  "I am not." Bke answered promptly. "I was travelling and simply got caught in some trouble when I discovered the bodies." As he said the st part, the memory of that horror fshed in his mind, but he kept his cool.

  This time, it was Konan who joihe interrogation. "So, you are saying that you are not shinobi, yet you have mao kill aremely skilled one. Besides, who in their right mind would travel here during these time. That make zero sense. He is obviously lying."

  "Konan." Yahiko narrowed his eyes and Konan shut up. Then Yahiko's eyes moved back to Bke. Bke was not sweating, calm as he could be, for he had no reason to be nervous. What he was saying was not the whole truth, but truth heless.

  "What my rade is saying is true. That shinobi of Hidden Stone has killed over 5 of our members, along with many other shinobi. He was especially skilled and we have been having trouble deteg the man. How does it makes sehat someone like you would kill him?"

  Bke sidered for a sed. Yahiko's fusion was not without merit, but Bke had no idea how he had survived that either. Luck? Intelligence? Logistics? However, a different answer formed in Bke's mind.

  "I am not a shinobi, that's true, but I have never said that I am defenceless. I am a summoner."

  "A summoner?" Nagato spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. Bke's heart begaing a bit more wildly upon making eye tact with the man. Calm down. Nagato was not the man that would ravage vilges yet. It was fine. "Summoning teiques require extensive trol over chakra, as well as its abundance."

  Yahiko scowled, clearly annoyed. "Listen, stop spouting lies and aruthfully, or you might as well rot in that prison forever."

  Ahreat. Bke bit his lip. "All of what I said is true, and I prove it to you easily. I have chakra, but I have never been taught to trol it. Despite that, I am a summohat is also the way that I have freed myself of impriso."

  "We heard about that." Yahiko narrowed his eyes. "But what about the injuries on your back? You must know healing jutsu, or was it the work of your summon as well?" Yahiko said the st part with clear sarcasm in his voice.

  Bke gritted his teeth. Now he was getting annoyed.

  He looked around. Over 10 Akatsuki members, excluding the trio in front of him. All the path of escapes were blocked. Trapped. Yet, Bke felt little fear. He o be more assertive, more dominant of this versation, or else this would not end well.

  Taking a deep breath, Bke stared at them.

  "Listen, Akatsuki boss or whoever you are, I was just passing through the woods, trying to stay away from the trouble and then I stumbled on that crazy guy who was more thaermio kill me. I fought him and I won, removing one of the many issues you probably have. Yet, instead of saying thanks, you imprison me and interrogate me like I am some sort of criminal? How I did I heal? How did I win? It doesn't matter. I gave you a favour."

  Yahiko frowned, not expeg such a suddealiation. Bke was surprised by himself as well, but this is what o be done. He had to bite back, had to show that he wasn't going to be thrown around.

  Bke felt a kid on his back, f to him to fall to his knees.

  "Don't you dare talk to Yahiko like that!"

  The man with strange blue line on his face shouted, clearly taking the insult more than Yahiko himself.

  Bke gred back as he stood up, but stopped once Yahiko began talking.

  "What you are is true." Yahiko nodded. "You have given us a favour and now we finally bury the dead that were missing. However, you have to uand our situation as well. A man of unknown in appeared out of nowhere and infiltrated a secure location. That man killed a powerful shinobi, then he healed his own injuries and now he cims to have barely any knowledge about how to trol chakra? I thank you for what you did, but it is extremely suspicious."

  Bke sighed. What Yahiko said made sense.

  "Okay, so what do you want from me?"

  "I need proof. Proof that you are not a shinobi, and therefore, not just some spy. Show us your summon."

  Bke narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure?"

  Yahiko nodded. Konan and Nagato were clearly ready for a fight if one broke out, as well as all the shinobi behind him. Bke cursed. If they attacked Nightmare at the same time, the minotaur would not survive. Perhaps it would give Bke an opportunity to escape if the situatio shit.

  Bke sighed. He had to do it.

  "Nightmare, e out."

  A ball of darkness jumped out of from within Bke's stomading to the ground. Immediately, a tall figure materialized in the spot. The shinobi stared in horror at the sight of the huge, bulky moheir eyes went to its horns and to its red eyes, as the image of a devil formed in their minds. Nightmare was holding its axe, ready to behead a an order's notice.

  "Don't attayone, Nightmare." Bke ahe minotaur turo him and nodded. Bke saw the shinobi were tense, some of them were already holding their ons. Yahiko was wide eyed, whilst Nagato and Konan were both frowning. "Uhey attack you or me."

  This time, the minotaur nodded with much eagerness.

  Hearing this, the shinobi were clearly unfortable.

  ing out of the stupor, Yahiko mumbled. "Nagato?"

  "I have never seen anything like this. This is a strange summoning teique, which requires no trol over your chakra, for the summoned creature seemed to be hiding within Bke in some sort of way. I…don't know how it works." Nagato stated, making Yahiko frown. If Nagato didn't know, then it was a straeique for sure. "However, this proved that Bke was saying the truth…this summoning requires no trol over chakra, but some sort of other dition, and the creature is clearly under Bke's trol."

  Yahiko nodded, but it was Konan who interjected into the versation. She was staring at the tall bull with apprehension. "What is this creature?

  "It is Nightmare. It is a minotaur." Bke thought for sed, almost releasing a smile. "Protector of the cows." Minotaur turned around to stare at Bke, clearly dissatisfied with his introdu, but Bke bli him.

  "Okay." Yahiko ruffled his hair a bit, clearly not expeg such a development. "You have proven to us that you are not a shinobi…and I have no reason to restrain you any longer."

  Yahiko the guy who kicked him in the back, who, with some hesitation, removed the rope from Bke's wrist. Finally free, Bke stretched his wrists, looking around. That was it? Could he go now? Where would he even go?

  Bke felt at his grumbling belly, the depressing rain outside. He had no money, no clothes, nothing. More than that, he was weak, despite having Nightmare. He had to earn money somehow, try to learn chakra trol to grow stronger, but where? Bke looked around again at the Akatsuki that were all still staring at Nightmare. Bke made eye tact with Yahiko. Here.

  "I wasn't fully truthful with you." Bke said, drawing everyone's attention. Yahiko raised his eyebrow. "I e from the A Family Reinold, known for its summoning prowess. We have been in hiding for turies, afraid of the shinobi world. Yet, during those turies, our family grew smaller and smaller, until only I was left. I…used my family's relic to teleport myself into the main ti, that's how I passed through whatever wards you have put."

  The room fell into silence. Bke was calm, for ess was required when spouting pletely bullshit. However, the story sounded ving, for he had a strange name, had a strange power, had somehow passed ued and retty weird looking.

  Bke g the window, seeing his own refle. He had a white plexion, blue eyes with a bit yellow in the middle, and blonde hair that fell onto his forehead. Gng away from the window, Bke assessed the ged atmosphere in the room.

  "I have never heard of such a family, but you do have a peculiar power." Konan added, thoughtful.

  "Teleportation? It must have been aremely powerful relic." Yahiko nodded. "Assuming that your family was hiding on another ti, or even an isnd, it would no surprise we don't know about your family."

  Bke forced a smile. They were believing in his bullshit. Probably because, sidering all the strange aspects about Bke, this story actually made some sense. Bke took a deep breath. Now, this was a delicate moment.

  "I uand that none of you fully trust me yet, but my situation is pretty dire. I have no money, no food and o go. her am I good at fighting or ninjutsu. Even though this might sound selfish, I want to ask whether I could join you for a bit?"

  This caused a murmur through the room.

  "I know that I am not from this vilge and I have no ties with it, but I could be an asset heless. My summon is powerful in its own way. If you provide me with food and train me, I could grow stronger and help you in your cause…"

  Yahiko g Nagato and Konan. All of the shinobi were staring at the trio. Some of them had frowns on their faces, some were shrugging, a few were even urging to accept, saying that having this monster would scare the enemies away.

  Yahiko, Nagato and Konan whispered to each other, whilst Bke awaited.

  "We are a busy anisation and our funds aren't endless, Bke. We don't know whether we would have time to teach you, and, even if you have this summon, your inability to protect your own skin might be more of a liability."

  "It doesn't matter. My summon move indepely from me, and as soon as I learn the basics of chakra, I will be joining you on the missions. You won't have protect me. I only need food, some pce to sleep and training."

  Yahiko sidered again. "Your summon move indepely?"

  Bke nodded.

  Yahiko turned around to talk things over with Nagato and Konan. After nodding at each other, Yahiko remeoved the frown from his face for the first time. "We see that you are desperate, Bke, right? You remind us a bit of our own situation when we were children. Even though you are not from the Rain Vilge, we will help you, and, iurn, you will help us."

  Bke smiled, genuinely.

  "However, before that…" Yahiko looked over his panions, smiling. Nagato was not, still staring at Bke. Konan had a half smile, as she looked at Yahiko. "…we shall asses the prowess of your summon, shall we not? Is there a volunteer, who would like to battle this monster?"

  For a moment, there was silence.

  Nightmare huffed smoke out of its nostrils. A creepy smile f on its face.

  Bke felt the oion ing from his summon.

  Eagerness.

  Bke smiled too. He was excited himself to see Nightmare in a.

  Everyoook a step away from him.

  And, then, to everyone's surprise, Nagato took a step forward.

  "I volunteer."