The world around Midnight flash into a brilliant white light as he was enveloped in Kanzaki Genjutsu. The three day trip felt like only a few hours to Midnight as he Kanzaki and Jiriya went on an S-Ranked mission together in the Genjutsu. When Kanzaki finally snapped Midnight out of the Genjutsu they were back at Kanzaki's house in the Shadow Village. Both of Kanzaki's Tigers were sitting looking at Midnight wondering who the guest was, and the bear cub was on his hind feet with his front claws up on Midnight's knees, sniffing around.
Midnight rubbed his head a bit. Genjutsus always gave him a slight headache. Midnight just smiled at the bear that was on him petting him a little bit.
"See. Wasn’t bad was it? Don't think it was your fantasy, but it worked fine I think." Kanzaki was sitting on his bed and there was a pair of glasses on the small table next to it. Kanzaki picked up the glasses and handed on to Midnight. "This'll help get you back on the up and up. You were in the Genjutsu for about three days."
“I'll be fine." Midnight said before slipping a pill from one of the pouches on his belts and took it in his mouth.
"This last part of the training will be broken into four sections. First section will be hand to hand combat. No weapons, no jutsus. The second part will be melee combat. Again no jutsus, but if you can rout Chakra through your weapon, that's alright. Third will be jutsu combat where only jutsu will be used. And finally, a free for all anything goes match. You have any problem with that?"
"Not really. When are we going to start the first one?"
"As soon as you feel up to it. Be warned though, once this starts, there's no going back. And if you pass, you'll be recommended for Jounin and you'll be faced with a choice that will test your loyalty and reveal your true motives in life. Are you ready?"
Midnight just cracked his neck and got up, "I was born ready."
"Very well then, follow me." Kanzaki went downstairs and out the back to where there was a small clearing in the wooded area. Kanzaki wasn't surprised to see that his three Gennin, Alish, Buki and Nagiri had shown up. Word had gotten around fast that Kanzaki was bringing someone back to the village. "You three behave yourselves and don't interfere with this, or so help me, you'll be doing D missions until your 40." Kanzaki stood at one end of the clearing and motioned for Midnight to go to the other. "Whenever you're ready, you may begin."
Midnight walked over to the other side. With a quick spin on his heal he threw off his cloak and gauntlets with it. He then unhooked the belts tossing them over with his other stuff and took a fighting stance. He stood there his right foot flat on the ground and his left just on the ball of his foot. His hands were at his sides as if he was ready for offence or defense. Then with a strong sudden push with his right foot he had launched himself at Kanzaki his head looking up his hands at his sides ready to strike or block whichever Kanzaki decided to do.
Kanzaki spun around once and brought his left foot out in front of him perpendicular to his body. He put his left arm out and pointed the palm of the hand right back towards himself, while placing his right hand behind his back, balled into a fist, still waiting for Midnight's first attack.
Midnight slammed his hand onto the ground when he was about 4 foot away from Kanzaki using his momentum to swing his body around into a spinning kick with both legs in succession, the second kick being aimed lower incase Kanzaki ducked.
Kanzaki jumped off to the side, bringing his right hand from behind his back, he flipped over using his right hand landed on both feet and launched himself at Midnight, his right fist balled up and coming fast just above the ground.
Seeing he missed he slid his feet on the ground and used his hand to bring himself up to a standing position and flipped over Kanzaki's punch.
Kanzaki slid to a stop and spun around to face Midnight again. "Well you're fast if nothing else. But exactly how fast are you?" Kanzaki leaned forwards and seemed to vanish as he moved at a blinding speed to Midnight right side, becoming completely visible again as he stopped with his right fist drawn back a mere second before launching it directly at Midnight's face.
Midnight just suddenly dropped down to his side making the punch miss and kicked Kanzaki off his feet with a quick ground swipe with his feet. He hoped back up to his feet about 2 feet away. "Faster then you think." He said smiling remembering his training with Might Gai.
Buki and Nagiri looked to each other. They had never seen speed the likes of how fast Kanzaki and Midnight were traveling. Alish narrowed her eyes. She had been training for intense speed for a while now. ‘Is this what I’ll be capable of doing? They still probably aren’t even going as fast as they can.’
Kanzaki moved his left hand down to catch himself and used it to do a forward hand spring and landed on his feet. "That looks like a Gai move to me. He took time away from his precious little Lee to teach you?" Kanzaki back flipped and pressed his feet against a tree and pushed off towards Midnight once again, this time leading with this left fist.
Midnight dropped to his back kicking up just when Kanzaki would be right above his feet.
Kanzaki allowed the kick to connect and used the force to flip over Midnight and land in a crouching position. Kanzaki threw his left leg out and spun around, bringing his leg up to knee level.
Midnight just flattened out turning his head to the side letting the kick pass over head then flipping back up to his feet.
Kanzaki got to his feet during the final seconds of the spin and looked to Midnight. "You're good at dodging. But do you ever go on the offensive?"
"What can I say, defense is the best offence." Midnight said after turning around and shrugging a bit.
"You have it the wrong way my friend. Offensive is the best defense." Kanzaki vanished and appeared mid air right behind Midnight and brought his right foot around, attempting to connect with Midnight's right shoulder.
Midnight is kicked in the shoulder but not before bringing his arm up enough to lessen the blow sliding back about two feet. "See this is when I would normally use my chains."
"Well if you want to move on to Melee, that's fight with me. I've seen enough of your hand to hand."
"Ok." speeds off grabbing his gauntlets and in one quick swift motion sliding them on and whipping one chain out all the way out hoping to catch you off guard
Kanzaki raised his right arm, allowing the chain to connect with the folded shuriken he kept stabbed to his forearm. Once the chain bounced off, Kanzaki threw his hands into a few hand signs, Tiger, Bird, Boar, Rat, Sheep then held out his left hand and his sword seemed to just materialize out of nowhere. "Very fast on the attack. You're more aggressive with the chains."
Kanzaki watched as the chain wrapped around his forearm and grinned. He reached out with his left hand and grabbed the chain. In one giant jerking motion, pulled with both arm, bringing Midnight towards him. As soon as Kanzaki felt some slack on the chain, Kanzaki balled his right fist and learched forward, hoping to catch Midnight with his fist.
Midnight was suddenly jerked forward but used the motion to make a kind of running swinging motion around trying to wrap Kanzaki up knowing if he could that would be the end of him.
Kanzaki ducked as he saw Midnight shift motion and brought his hands together using the slack to make hand signs Tiger, Bird, Boar, Rat, Sheep. Kanzaki's sword appeared in his hands and black chakra flames extended from the hilt and wrapped around the chain so even if the chain did wrap around him, the chakra would against his skin instead of the actual chain.
At the sight of this, all three of the Gennin stood up, wide eyed. They had all heard of the abnormal sword style that their sensei used, but none of them had actually seen it.
Midnight wrapped the chain on his end around his arm putting his hand into a Dog, Ox, Rabbit combo making his hands glow a light blue as the chakra was being drained out of my chain and everything wrapped around it.
Kanzaki grinned. "You think you can keep up with me in the game of chakra?" Kanzaki pushed more chakra out of the blade, draining about half the chakra out of his blade just to move the chain away from him far enough to jump out. Kanzaki wrapped another loop of the chain around his forearm and held his sword tight in his left hand. At the same time, Kanzaki lifted his right arm into the air and swung with his sword directly at Midnight's gut.
Midnight pulled a little closer using the chain to catch the sword and wrap it around.
Kanzaki spun the sword around wrapping the chain around it several more times, making the free area of the chain even less. Kanzaki stepped forward and shoved the blade of the sword into the ground.
Midnight kept draining chakra as fast as he was able. "Your caught you might as well give up."
Kanzaki smiled. "You sure about that? You can't escape." Kanzaki pulled out four exploding tags and held them right in front of Midnights face.
“You'll be affected too.”
Kanzaki shrugged slightly "So then it looks like we're in a stalemate doesn't it?"
"It does but I won't give up until I win or you kill us both." Midnight smiles as he kept the flow of chakra from Kanzaki.
"You're willing to die for training? Very impressive." Kanzaki tossed the exploding tags into the air and used the same hand to pull out one of his Kunai. He spun it around on his finger once and thrust the tip right at Midnight's neck.
Midnight quickly hoped to the side and with a quick flick of the wrist after taking a step forward he leapt over Kanzaki trying to get the chain to wrap around his arm and pull it back over his head.
Kanzaki winced as his arm got pulled backwards over his head. He groaned slightly and looked around. "Well, I'm not willing to risk an injury over training, so I guess this round is yours."
Midnight smiled and started to unwrap it and said, "You’re not really trying your best if you don't give it your all."
"If I gave it my all, neither of us would be up to doing much for the next few days." Kanzaki stepped back one he was free and stretched his arms. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a pair of soldier pills. Kanzaki popped on into his mouth and offered the other to Midnight.
Midnight took it as soon as his chain was back into the gauntlet, "Though I should confess. I was holding back a little."
"I suspected as much. But that's always expected when training for the first time." Kanzaki pulled his sword out of the ground and set it off to the side. "So, two rounds left to go."
"So what’s next," Midnight said clicking his fingers a bit and smiling as if he thought he had it in the bag.
"My specialty, jutsu combat. No weapons, no hand to hand, unless the jutsu requires that you use your hand of course." Kanzaki grinned behind his mask, but it was evident to Midnight that he was smiling.
Alish and Buki casually leaned forward when they heard that Jutsu combat would be next, Nagiri however, was already on the ground for a closer look.
"Jutsu combat is kinda my weakness." He said smiling knowing he might not know 1000 jutsus like Kakashi or probably like Kanzaki but he had mastered what few he had.
"Everyone has a weakness. Knowing and compensating is part of being a ninja."
"Make sure you pay attention you might learn something."
Kanzaki smiled and nodded. "That goes double for you my friend." Kanzaki nodded and quickly made hand signs, Snake, Tiger, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger. "Grand Fireball Jutsu!" Kanzaki took a deep breath and held his right hand up by his mouth and blew out a huge ball of fire towards Midnight.
Midnight started forming signs too. Dog monkey rooster dragon rabbit, then holding the last sign with his left hand he whipped out the chain from his right gauntlet and started spinning it. "Blazing Typhoon Jutsu." Midnight’s chakra bleed into the wind sparking up a flaming whirlwind from his chain heading straight towards Kanzaki.
Kanzaki placed his middle and forefingers together into the shadow clone sign. Seven clones appeared in a circle around Midnight as the real Kanzaki jumped back, throwing his hands into the sign of the tiger and sending a massive surge of chakra into each of the clones.
Midnight put his first two fingers up on his right hand using them to focus the chakra for the jutsu as he started forming half seals with the other. In his mind he didn't want to show this jutsu but if he wanted to win he had to.
The clone right out in front of Midnight's Jutsus jumped headlong into it. The clone vanished in the normal puff of smoke, but a second after it vanished; the area was shaken by an explosion that erupted from the clone that had just been destroyed. Kanzaki let out a shrill whistle and the clone behind Midnight rushed in to him.
Midnight jumped up out the way turning his burning whirlwind at the clone below engulfing it in flames.
Kanzaki let out another whistle and the rest of the clones moved in on Midnight. Kanzaki made a long series of hang signs and places his hand an inch over the ground, waiting.
Midnight quickly put is hands into a monkey sign and with a quick push of his legs he seamed to jump off the air to stick to a tree. "You’re not getting me that easily."
"I was hoping you wouldn't fall for that one, but you forgot about something." Kanzaki nodded as the five remaining clones converged on the tree. Three aiming for Midnight, one aiming for the base of the tree and one aiming above his head.
Quickly putting chakra into his leg he did a swift kick cutting the tree just above his other foot sweeping the clones aiming for him and above him.
The four exploded on contact with the top of the tree hitting them, engulfing the area in smoke. The final clone hit the base of the tree and exploded; breaking it enough that the tree started to fall.
Quickly putting chakra into his leg he did a swift kick cutting the tree just above his other foot sweeping the clones aiming for him and above him.
The four exploded on contact with the top of the tree hitting them, engulfing the area in smoke. The final clone hit the base of the tree and exploded; breaking it enough that the tree started to fall.
Midnight just dropped to the ground using the smoke to hide his casting another jutsu.
Kanzaki quickly placed his hand on the ground and then jump up into a nearby tree. "Earth Style, Swamp of the Underworld." The ground below Kanzaki and all around the clearing quickly transformed into a dark red swamp area, capable of pulling anything that gets caught in it down into its depths.
Kanzaki quickly placed his hand on the ground and then jump up into a nearby tree. "Earth Style, Swamp of the Underworld." The ground below Kanzaki and all around the clearing quickly transformed into a dark red swamp area, capable of pulling anything that gets caught in it down into its depths.
Midnight felt his footing starting to slip down and quickly leaped up using his air jump jutsu again to leap clear out of the way of the swamp. "God damn."
Kanzaki started laughing. "Almost." He threw his hands into the sign of the Tiger and dispelled the jutsu.
Midnight landed. "I'm glad I made that jutsu. Well Kanzaki looks like I'm going to have to bring out my secret weapon." Then Midnight started to rapidly form seals just as fast as he could. This was the longest string he had. He hoped Kanzaki's curiosity would let him finish it.
"Sharingan." Kanzaki leapt down from the tree and started doing the same motions that Midnight was doing, behind for a second until he caught up in the hands signs, and then matched his pace.
Midnight ended with a ram sign focusing his chakra his body started to turn a slight shade of read as he knocked open his second life gate and with a flash of speed he was gone in a tree.
Kanzaki stopped on the final hand signs and looked around. He lowered his hands to his side and closed his eyes.
With a quick kick of off the limb Midnight was face to face with Kanzaki smiling. Suddenly he thrust out with his hand hard not touching Kanzaki but he was still hit with a very hard blow of chakra.
Kanzaki vanished, and the long that took his place was shattered to splinters. Kanzaki appeared standing on a tree limb and made four shadow clones.
Midnight bounced off the ground slashing through a clone with his claws though now they were more like blades of chakra sharp enough and strong enough to cut through anything and before Kanzaki could even register it he was gone again. "So how do you like my family’s technique? Hard to copy isn't it? How is Kanzaki the beast ninja of the shadow village going to fight something he can't keep up with?" Said Midnights voice echoing off everything.
"The real question you should be asking yourself is, how are you going to hit something you can't find?" Kanzaki put his right hand into the air and his left hand by his chest. Each hand made half the sign of the tiger. "Hidden Mist Jutsu." Kanzaki and the three remaining clones jumped from the tree and literally melted into the ground.
Midnight put his hand in front of his face closing his eyes and flashing them open, "True Eye." His eyes glowed a light blue as he looked around for any flash of chakra.
Kanzaki and the clones waited underground, not moving and not sure if they could be found.
With a quick leap Midnight send 2 swings of chakra through where you last were going back to where he was.
Kanzaki had the two clones jump out of the ground after the chakra surge and head right for Midnight, and then brought himself above the ground.
Midnight quickly charged the clones. He already was moving faster then them quickly slicing through all 3 before hoping back into a tree.
"I tire of this game." Kanzaki made three quick hand signs, Ox, Rabbit, Monkey. Kanzaki spread his legs and lowered his body slightly. He grabbed his right wrist with his left hand and gave a quick flick of the right wrist, igniting his right hand in bright blue sparking chakra. A blue circle ok charka appeared around him, spending bolts of blue chakra into the air.
Midnight saw the chakra molding and moving as quickly as before flashed behind Kanzaki putting his hands around but not touching his neck but he could feel the razor sharp chakra blades pulsating on his neck. "You lose."
Kanzaki made no movement except a smile. "You so sure about that?" Kanzaki let out a yell, forcing a massive wave a chakra out of his body, more than enough to deflect any other chakra that was near him back, along with the user. Kanzaki turned and darted directly at Midnight, just barely catching his side with the chakra. Kanzaki continued on and skidded to a stop, extinguishing his attack. "Never assume that you have someone beaten."
Suddenly midnight fell back turning back to normal. He burnt too much chakra with that jutsu. All Kanzaki heard was a thump most would think they had hit him and killed him or something.
Kanzaki smiled and chuckled, then fell to one knee. He had used most of his remaining chakra for that final push. After a few seconds, Kanzaki shook it off and stood, popping another soldier pill in his mouth before walking over and sticking one in Midnight's mouth. Kanzaki smiled and chuckled, then fell to one knee. He had used most of his remaining chakra for that final push. After a few seconds, Kanzaki shook it off and stood, popping another soldier pill in his mouth before walking over to Midnight. Kanzaki gave a whistle and his three Gennin dropped down from the roof and helped him carry Midnight back into the house.
Midnight slept for two days before slowly waking up. His body was still trying to recover from burning up all its chakra.
Kanzaki was out when Midnight finally woke up, but one of his Gennin, Ailish was there. "So you're finally awake, eh sleepy head?" She smiled and brought over a sandwich and a glass of water.
"How long was I out this time?" Midnight said before grabbing the sandwich and taking a bite.
"Just over two days. Kanzaki sensei said you'd be out for longer than that. He's out on a mission for the time being, but he's due back sometime in the afternoon. So take this time to look around the village if you wish, or just stay here."
"Heh," Midnight smiled, "Looks like its getting better. I have to stay here. I can't walk yet. But apparently shadow ninja aren’t as strong as I've heard." Midnight said before taking a drink.
Alish smiled. "Kanzaki sensei didn't want to kill you, or he could have. He didn't use any sword or transformation techniques. Besides, the shadows have plans for you; why else would you have been brought here?"
"Who wouldn't want a chance to study probably one of the strongest leaf ninja's there are?" Midnight said finishing the sandwich, "So what do they have planed for me."
Alish smiled and shook her head. "That, I can't tell you. But if you can't figure it out for yourself, them maybe you'd be better off staying in the light." She narrowed her eyes and nodded as she spoke the last few words.
"How long have you three been trained under Kanzaki."
Alish raised one eye brow and look up to the ceiling. "Nagiri and I
have been training with Kanzaki sensei for about 3 years now. Buki's been working with him since she was in the Academy."
"What kinds of stuff does he teach you?"
"Everything we need to know. He does a lot of one on one work with us. Each one of us has something different about us, which is why Kanzaki sensei took us on. Like me, I can't control chakra, so he trains me in Martial and weapons styles. Nagiri on the other hand, has an overwhelming amount of Chakra, more then most Chuunin have, so he learns Justus. And Buki has a knack for transformations."
"Hmmm." He said before taking a drink and lying back down. "Man I need to work on that jutsu more."
"What was that anyways? I've never seen anything like it before."
“It’s the wild beast jutsu. A combination of blinding speed with chakra blades. It was developed by my family and never taught outside it. Kinda like the Hyuuga's and their Byakugan. See my families never been the strongest fighters but we do have a lot of chakra so we just kinda combined that with a blazing speed and the instincts of an animal."
"And it's very effective too. Had that been an actual match, I'd have been in a tight spot." Kanzaki appeared with a puff of smoke sitting in a chair across the room. Ailish turned and bowed, "Glad to see you back safely sensei."
"Good thing it wasn't to the death I woulda loped your head off." Midnight said smiling bringing his hand to his gut.
"In that situation yes, but do you think I would have done exactly what I did if we were fighting to the death?" Kanzaki smiled and stood, walking over to Midnight. "You're feeling alright? Hope the Chidori didn't hurt you too much."
"Didn't even feel it. I just hurt really badly after I burn up all my chakra. But while I'm using that jutsu my whole body is covered by my chakra so unless you hit me full on it wouldn't have done anything to me."
"Well, had I known that, I would have hit you with it. Let me know whenever you're good enough to get up and move around. We've got a meeting with Lady Kage. Until then, just get some rest. Just send the falcon out whenever you're good to go, he'll find me wherever I am." Kanzaki motioned to Ailish, and they both left Midnight alone to rest.
Midnight laid back down hoping he would be better tomorrow
After making sure Ailish made it back to the student dorms, Kanzaki headed out into the woods for a peaceful night's sleep.
Soon the morning rolled around and Midnight woke up feeling stronger then ever. He hoped out of bed and walked out of the house to start his morning exercises.
A few minuets after Midnight woke, Kanzaki was nudged awake by his bear cub. After playing with the cub for a few minuets, Kanzaki headed back into the village to find Midnight.
Kanzaki found Midnight on the ground doing some fingertip pushups.
"Felling better I take it? Looks like you've fully recovered."
"Yep I've always been a quick healer." Midnight said hoping to his feet. "I've also become a lot stronger."
"Indeed you have. Which is why we're skipping over the final section of my tests and going right to Lady Kage. Whenever you're ready, we can go see her."
“I'm ready now," said Midnight slinging over his cloak.
Kanzaki nodded and quickly ran inside to crab his dark red cloak. Once that was done, Kanzaki headed out to the main building complex of the Shadow Village, with Midnight in tow.
Midnight followed Kanzaki a little slower then normal looking around at the shadow village as they went through it.
Normally, just about everyone on the street would have stopped to say "hello" or chat, but they moved out of the way when they saw the red cloak Kanzaki was wearing. Everyone in the village knew that the cloaks were only worn when something important was going on. After a few minuets of walking, they reached the building, and Kanzaki entered first, holding the door open for Midnight.
Midnight walked in slowly looking around the inside.
Kanzaki silently lead Midnight night up three flights of stairs to the top floor. There was only one hallway on the top floor with a single door at the end of the hall. Kanzaki headed down the hall and once again opened the door, holding it for Midnight.
Midnight walked in looking around the room.
The room inside was pitch black after Kanzaki closed the door. The room stayed like that for a few seconds before several floating blue flames ignited around the room. There was a long table that could sit seven people. Only the middle chair was occupied, by Lady Kage, though she was almost completely covered in shadows. "Lady Kage, I've brought Midnight before you, as requested." Kanzaki bowed and took a few steps back. "Have you told him what you've been up to the last few days Kanzaki?"
Midnight just listened to them chat glancing at each one talking.
Kanzaki shook his head. "I figuered it would be best for you to do such a thing. You know I've never been one for words." Lady Kage nodded and stood. "You're being given a choice here Midnight. As you may or may not know, most of our ninja are originally from other villages. And you've been selected and tested for entrance to the Shadows."
"Did I pass?" Midnight asked smiling fitting with his normal personality.
"If you didn't, you wouldn't be standing in the Shadow Chamber." Kanzaki spoke up and smiled. "You now have a choice. You can enter the Shadows or you can return to the light. Of course, if you stay in the light, we'll have to do a few modifications to your memory."
"Well Konoha has given me everything it has to give. So I think I will join."
The two Shadow ninja looked at each other and nodded. "You'll have to go though another series of training exercises the basics of the Shadows. If what Kanzaki says is true, it'll take you only a few weeks to go through the training." Lady Kage sat back down.
"Well I also haven’t showed Kanzaki my full strength."
"No, but this part doesn't involve strength. It's more like going through your academy again, the basics."
Midnight drops his head down. "I have to waist time on that again."
"If you consider it a waist, then we can just leave you to Konoha." Kanzaki crossed his arms and glared at Midnight's back.
"No no I'll go through the training. It’s just that when I was in the academy I got very bored."
"The basics are often boring, but that's why we do it at the beginning of the training." Lady Kage smiled and then left the room. "Come. I'll show you to the place where you'll be studying." Kanzaki turned and left the room.
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