Bke ied 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.

  Bke didn’t know how to feel about his oppo, but Nightmare was clearly more thaed about the situation.

  “Don’t kill him and don’t inflict permas wounds on him, Nightmare. This is just a spar, o push yourself too much.” Bke stated and Nightmare aowledged with a nod, though Bke 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 Bke suddenly thought of something.

  “Wait, Nightmare, you are a male, right?”

  The Minotaur stopped in its tracks. Then it grabbed the piece of clothing c its intimate area and removed it. Everyone who was looking had their eyes fall out of their sockets. Bke scratched the back of his head, grinning a bit awkwardly. “A male, then.”

  “He is pag.”

  One of the shinobi standing near Bke mumbled, and Bke could only nod.

  Onightmare 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 echhout the expanse. All the shinobi froze momentarily, including Nagato. Bke was the only one ued.

  Before Nagato came out of his stupor, Nightmare on him, pung 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 faightmare head on. Nagato was sent flying away effortlessly, colliding against the wall and shattering it. Dust rose into the air, c Nagato.

  Everyone gasped. Konan stood up, whilst Yahiko stared into the dust.

  “[Wind Element: Gale Palm!]”

  Suddenly, the smoke cleared, revealing bdes of wind flying at Nightmare, who, as slow as he was, simply raised his hands and took the atta. Despite having [Tough Skin], little cuts began appearing all htmare’s body. He roared again, without using the skill, grabbed his axe strapped to his bad swung it around, causing the wind to dissipate.

  The Minotaur looked around. Nagato was gone. Nightmare was getting irritated, wanting a prht, not some sort of hide and seek. Hands emerged from the grouh Nightmare, grabbing his legs. Nightmare looked down, seeing three Nagato’s staring at him.

  “[Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Teique]”

  Before Nightmare could do anything, he found himself buried within the ground, only his frightening head stig 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 underh 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 twitg and eyes bzing. He was angry, and he was out to destroy.

  Bke stared at the Minotaur, feeling that the creature erhaps getting a bit too excited.

  As Bke was about to intervene, Yahiko appeared iween Nightmare and Nagato.

  “Everyone has seen enough. Nightmare, right? You have proved your power, it is time to stop before this pce gets pletely destroyed. There is no need for blood.”

  Nightmare was clearly not having any of that, but Bke walked up o him.

  “Enough, Nightmare.”

  Only then did Nightmare nod, its flickering eyes slowly being simply red. The creature was uninjured, but it was bleeding from all of the minor cuts around his body. Bke put a hand on his shoulder.

  “Good job, Nightmare. You rest up a bit.”

  As he said that, Nightmare vanished, getting sucked inside of Bke.

  Yahiko approached Nagato, whispering into his ear. “So, how was it?”

  “Nightmare is powerful. Its roar is effective iing an opportunity. Its physical power is enviable, especially whes mad. It defense is pretty good, sidering that he simply took the wind ninjutsu head on. He…would be a great addition to the team.”

  Nagato g Bke.

  “But, Bke 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 Bke is able to hold more than summon at the same time, he 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 scratg 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 trai least until he gets the basics.”

  They rolled their eyes, when they saw Bke approag them.

  “I am sorry if my summon caused some unnecessary damage.” Bke gnced 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.” Bke shook everyone’s hand. “Wele to Akatsuki.”

  Bke smiled. People began to approach him, bumping on the shoulder or shaking his hand, saying pliments about Nightmare. Bke 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 ing to gratute him.

  Bke cleared his throat. “Also, I was w whether I could get my stuff back?”

  “Oh, talking about your stuff.” Yahiko fished around in his pocket, produg his iPhone and a pair of wired headphones. “What the hell is this?”

  Bke took the phone in his hand, suddenly feeling much more secure. He pressed on his s, seeing the time. 15:24. The battery was at 68%, but he had to save it, so he turhe brightness and everything as loossible. After cheg a few more things, with everyone gawking over the phone like it was some evil object, Bke pressed on Spotify.

  “It is a pho is a pretty popur teology ba my hometown, but it is pretty useless here. It take pictures and do other cool stuff, but the best thing is…” Bke pressed on a saved song in his pylist. 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.” Bke 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 .

  “Holy? No idea.”

  Bke beamed a smile, for he really didn’t know much about how it worked.

  “I am going to py it again. Don’t be afraid, just enjoy the music.”

  Bke pressed on the py button, sending explosive sounds out of it. The shinobi were still visibly disoriented, but as the music kept on pying, they rexed. It was a kind of music that they had never heard. They stood there, listening, some with closed eyes. And, as they were reag the end of the song, a loud grumble echoed within the room.

  Bke blushed a bit.

  “Sorry, I am starving.”

  Yahiko giggled slightly. “The’s go eat.”

  -

  After a few bowls of some vegetable soup, along with a few pieces of bread, Bke was satisfied enough to call it quits. He drank some water, ed himself in the on area, where he just had to spsh 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 Bke cared little about privacy right now.

  “Hop out and protect me if anyone is trying to attack me when I am sleeping.”

  Bke mumbled, direg the order fhtmare.

  Leaning backwards, Bke fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

  -

  When Bke opened his eyes, he almost had a heart attaagato was standio his bed, looking down on him with his Rinnegan eyes. Bke got so startled that he flew out of the bed like a bird, and was on his feet in a sed.

  “Damn, man, don’t scare me like that.”

  Nagated. “It is not my fault you got scared.”

  Bke wao 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 expin you some of the basic chakra characteristics. I…wao 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 ge in his expression.

  “Over 24 hours?”

  Bke 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 pce, where sun has not shown itself for whoever knows how long. Vitamin D defit for sure.

  “Okay, give me 20 minutes. I am going to ge and have some food. I will meet you in the gym downstairs?”

  Nagato sidered for an instant and nodded. “Don’t be te, 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 uand that it is prompt, but I believe we will he assistance of Nightmare today.”

  Bke nodded. “What kind of mission?”

  “Later.” Nagato looked around. “Eat fast and go down.”

  Fifteen mier, Bke was standing in the hall, his belly half-full.

  “sidering the wasteful way in which you are excluding chakra, I would guess you know nearly nothing about it.” Nagato stated, f Bke to not slightly. It was true, despite knowing some teiques, 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 expnation as well?”

  Nagato stopped, startled for some reason. “Your summon…you think it 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 g.” Bke shrugged. If Nightmare could learn at least one skill, or be able to walk on walls that would already give him a crazy advantage. Bke would be able to sleep even more fortably, knowing there is a minotaur ninja guarding him.

  “I see, let’s try.”

  A moment ter, Nightmare materialized o Bke. However, it had a huge scowl on its face as it stared at Nagato, whilst didn’t break the eye tact at all.

  “Hey, Nigthmare, calm down. He is not an enemy, but an ally.”

  Nightmare’s scowl didn’t disappear. Bke felt only oion within his summon. Coward.

  “Listen, Nagato would have beat you.” Bke stated, his voice assertive. The min his master, slightly angry. “I uand that you are angry. It might not have been fair, might have not been a fight you wanted, but it was a battle heless. It doesn’t matter how Nagato would have beaten you. In the end, you would have lost, fair or not fair.”

  Bke narrowed his eyes.

  “But now yiven an opportunity. Most of the warriors in this…pce 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 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 wao beat the man in his own game.

  ‘That was…inspiring.’ Nagato thought to himself, looking at Bke. 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 ical to see a peculiar human and a huge moandio each other, but Nagato refrained from enting. “Chakra is the bination of spiritual and physical forces within everyone’s body. Some people have so little chakra withiherefore, they are uo 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 cepts, but I am going to skip over all of that. First things first, we are going to spend the remainder of today’s training 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.”

  Bke narrowed his eyes. “So, how should we actually feel the chakra within us? Is there some special way to do that? Meditation?”

  Nagated. “There is no sistent 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 feel the your heart beating, slow and steady. Chakra is the same. Juts focus and try to find it, pulsating, asking for your trol.”

  “Sensei, you are not that bad at being a teacher, if that is truly your first time. That st part was quite motivating.” Bke smiled and Nightmare crossed his hands. Despite his frown, Bke felt excitement rushing within Nightmare’s body.

  Nagato smiled bad turned around. Bke saw him blush slightly, before he raised his hands. “You begin now, I will e ba around 30 mio see how it is going.”

  Bke 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 Bke’s surprise, Nightmare had started as soon as Nagato finished his expnation. Nightmare stood with his eyes wide open, his legs outstretched in opposite dires and his hands crossed. Bke took out his phone and promptly took a picture, ughed a bit and sat down.

  He felt good about this. They were going to feel chakra in no time.

  They didn’t. her Bke nhtmare mao 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.