Naruto: Summoning System

"That speech was definitely something." Yahiko stared into the abyss of a huge tube that stretched down, his voice echoing throughout the place. The disgusting smell had penetrated his clothing, and it was cold at night, so it was not an ideal location to stay. But that was a going to change, according to Blake. "Blake…"

"…is a fascinating person." Nagato appeared behind him, smiling slightly.

"He is, that's for sure. And mysterious." Yahiko's gaze remained on the abyss. "He integrated well with the Akatsuki, and he might have gained a reputation similar to ours. It's like…it feels like he had down known us for longer than we had."

"It's always like that with the right people, though." Nagato nodded. "He might be mysterious, but he has never attempted to harm us. I trust him."

"I trust him, too." Yahiko nodded too, switching his gaze and making eye contact with his friend. "He has so much information about things he shouldn't know. Strange devices, strange power and even stranger personality. There are so many things we don't know about him, yet, nevertheless, I trust him. It is weird, there are so many reasons to stay away from him, but it is so easy to…get absorbed by him. I regret the way I treated both him and Nightmare when they first came here."

"I get what you mean." Nagato scratched the back of his head. "He has that stranger quality. Recently, it even feels – not offense to you – like he is the leader of the Akatsuki. Or, not a leader, but rather a man who brings change."

"Leader…Blake would make a good leader." Yahiko put away the contemplation, smiling widely. "At least he doesn't aim to change our goals, for then we would have issues. I think…it was a good thing to bring Blake into the Akatsuki. I feel like things would have been harder without him."

"Maybe that is true." Nagato put a hand on Yahiko's shoulder, his face growing serious. "Is it about Hanzo?"

Yahiko shrugged, but then nodded, his eyebrows narrowing. "I am frightened for what is coming. I am afraid I am going to lose any of you, and I feel like there are so many hands at play that I won't know where the next attack will come from."

Nagato smiled bitterly, taking Yahiko into a one handed hug. "We aren't going to lose anyone, Yahiko. And even if there are many plays at hand, we have Blake the Strategist to figure that out for us. We are going to win this."

Yahiko took a deep breath, lingering in the embrace of his comrade before pushing himself away. His eyes were bloodshot, face determined. "You are right, Nagato. We are going to win. Perfectly, like many times before."

"Yes." Nagato broke into a real smile, both of them staring at each other for a few moments. Then Nagato looked sideways at the darkness of the tube, where Yahiko's eyes followed. "Shall we go and see whether our strategist came up with something?"

Konan joined the duo on their advance towards Blake's temporary room. As they entered, they were presented with the sight of a young white haired staring down at the map of the Rain Village and the surrounding countries. The man was so focused that he didn't even turn around when they entered.

Yet, despite them not making a sound, Blake knew they were there.

"I have prepared a tactic that might work."

The trio remained frozen, exchanging glances with each other.

Yahiko narrowed his eyes. 'How did he we are here?'

"Are you sure? It has even been a day."

"Yeah, I just need to know a few more things about your power, since the plan heavily relies on your individual strength." Blake stated and the trio didn't hide anything, as they spilled all of their knowns ninjutsu and other tricks, just so Blake would be able to make at least a bit better plan. Blake listened closely, before nodding. "Similarly, since my plan might involve my participation in the battle, I guess you should know all of my abilities as well to make proper formations."

"Whilst away…" Blake raised his right hand, no a speck of the remaining pain remaining in it. Slowly, he stretched it out towards the nearest wall. In a matter of a few seconds, an ice gun formed in his hand. It materialized fast and neatly. With the in case in Blake's chakra, he could push more of it and do it faster. The control remained the same.

Yahiko narrowed his eyes, Konan simply remained stoic whilst Nagato squinted, all of them assessing the new weapon, that they were apparently seeing for the first time. Nagato pointed at the gun. "Respectfully, this device is small and doesn't seem extremely sharp. I notice there are inner mechanics within it, is it supposed to propel those little ice shards that are inside?"

Konan noticed at Nagato's contemplation. "Is this what you have been working on since you stopped practising with me?"

Blake nodded. "I called this weapon a Glock and your observation was correct, Nagato. The inside mechanics utilize chakra to propel the bullets. Here, I will give you a demonstration." Concentrating, Blake added a silencer on the gun, aiming it at the nearest tube. Then he pressed on the trigger, firing the bullet, forcing a small hall to appear within the tube.

As a stream of liquid escaped from the hole, the trio blinked, staring at the hole.

"What the hell?" Yahiko blabbered.

"It was fast. Faster than a shuriken." Konan added.

Nagato was squinting his eyes. "Indeed. The damage of the bullet might not be the devastating, depending on where you hit the enemy, but it can definitely catch enemies by surprise, especially those who had never seen a weapon like this before. If you fired many of these by predicting my movement, I would have a hard time dodging."

"I can fire as many bullets as my chakra allows." Blake answered, making them freeze on the spot. After coming back, Blake had discovered that he doesn't need to switch mags. Instead, as soon as the bullets run out, he can form them again within the mag.

'His first ninjutsu…it involves such a complicated structure yet it works so well. He would be able to murder high class shinobi if he caught them by surprise. Incredible.' Yahiko thought to himself, yet his face remained delicate compared to clear disbelief in Nagato's and Konan's expressions.

"Good job." Konan pronounced like a proud sensei, as Blake mirrored her smile.

"Okay, so far, this is all I know how to do with my Ice Kekkei Genkai, and I guess I won't be able to discover any new techniques before the battle." Blake stated, his last words bringing a heaviness to the room. "We are going to start tomorrow. Come on, sit down, It is going to take a while."

The trio sat down, as they formed a square with the map in the middle of them. "Okay, first of all, I will begin with the role of my new summon, who goes by the name of Shai-Hulud. I am telling you that being is on a different level…"

-

The magnitude of the plan that they were conducting made them slightly dizzy. The names of incredible shinobi left their mouths with such ease: "Madara will probably do that! Danzo is not that dumb for sure! Hanzo the Snake!" Yet, as they fought with each other over Blake's plan, trying to make it better, they didn't feel scared. In fact, they were feeling pretty great.

They felt good, despite being wet and hungry and deep underground. All because they had each other and they believed in Blake, for he seemed much more confident than before. And, also, because they understood the creature that Blake had acquired was freaking terrifying. In a good way. Shai-Hulud, whose name they got from Blake, was perhaps the scariest creature someone had described for them.

Therefore, they were feeling confident despite going to a battle with monsters. Because they were going to have their own. One, or perhaps…Yahiko glanced at Nagato…two, or maybe even…Yahiko narrowed his at Blake…three?

Yahiko took a small sip from his cup, relishing the clean water, as he listened to their bickering over a certain part of the plan. It seemed even Blake wasn't getting too sure whether that was going to work. Yahiko smiled slightly. It was like a cinema, with Nagato stating scientific facts and details about chakra, with Konan shouting to voice her opinion, even though it didn't make that much sense. And Blake, sitting in the middle, deep in thought like he always seemed to be.

Blake raised a hand, his eyes coming back to the real world. "I respectfully reject your opinions."

"Why?" They both said at the same time.

"Cause your ideas are even more ass than mine."

This time, Yahiko observed, even Nagato couldn't hold in a bulging vein on his forehead. Konan simply raised her voice to the point, where Yahiko feared they might be discovered, and then she strangled Blake under her armpit. It was rare to see Konan act this openly…with anyone outside of their group. Actually, it was strange to see her like that at all since Jiraya left, but Yahiko appreciated the moment.

He wanted to smile, he wanted to laugh and talk with them, yet Yahiko kept the same expression, his eyes somewhere away. It was not a situation to join, but rather a moment to enjoy from the side, for it was rare to see his friends being like that. Yahiko glanced at Blake. It was always that you found your best friends in places where you would least expect, especially in Blake's case, where they first met with Blake when he was their prisoner.

Yahiko was so within the moment that he didn't see a book flying at his face, thrown by Blake. The corner of the book hit Yahiko in the middle of the forehead. Caught off guard, Yahiko flinched back and grabbed his forehead, frowning in pain. The room descended into silence, as both Nagato and Konan stared at Blake with huge eyes, who was looking at them with equal amazement.

Yahiko stood up, his eyes reopening with fury. "Motherfucker."

"Hey." Blake stood up, raising his hands in defeat. "I threw it at you for you to catch it. Who knew you were spacing out?" The words didn't sway Blake, as Yahiko rushed towards them. They brawled a bit on the ground, with Konan saying that they were children and with Nagato simply rooting for both sides.

Eventually, they parted, beaten up and finally calm. Yahiko was giving Blake a side-eye, whilst the white haired man was simply staring at the wall in defeat. Konan looked at them, a little smile appearing on her face. "Feels like the old times, Yahiko." Konan raised an eyebrow at Blake. "The old times plus one."

"I feel insulted, for some reason."

"You should be, come on, turn around, don't ruin my nostalgia." Konan mumbled, forcing Blake to smile slightly.

"This is extremely mean, Konan. I don't think hurting our comrade's morale before an important mission is the best thing to do." Nagato had his hands crossed, looking at Konan with a frown.

"This was sarcasm, you brick." Yahiko stood up and hit Nagato on the back of the head, shrugging afterwards when Nagato confronted him and the other two simply laughed, before Blake hit Yahiko on the back of the head.

"Don't hurt my friend, you abomination."

"Was it necessary to infuse your chakra into your hand?" Yahiko said, despite the pain in the back of his head. "Hit me one more time and you will have nothing to hit with."

"Uuuu, so scary." Konan budged in, looking at Yahiko. Their faces were so close that they got lost in the moment for an instant, their eyes connected. Once they realized what they were doing, the duo blushed and looked away simultaneously.

Blake look at them. It did feel good. They had finally opened up to him and Blake found himself desiring perfection in the mission tomorrow more and more. Blake nudged Nagato on the shoulder. "We are like third-weels. Or, wait. In this case, four-wheelers? But it doesn't make sense."

"At least we are wheels."

Blake looked at Nagato. The joke was definitely not funny, if it was intended as such, but the way Nagato said it just made it a spectacular one. Blake laughed a bit, hitting Nagato on the shoulder again.

"I don't understand why you are laughing."

The seriousness in Nagato's expression made Blake laughed even harder.

Eventually, Blake calmed down, with the conclusion that Nagato was definitely on spectrum, unable to understand neither jokes nor sarcasm. They joined Konan and Yahiko, continuing to talk and laugh. They talked and talked, until they began to talk about things that Blake didn't want to talk about. He didn't how the conversation went that way, but after Yahiko, Nagato and Konan said some thing about their past, Blake was naturally the next in line.

"I remember you mentioned your father once. It seems that, unlike us, you weren't an orphan." Konan said, remembering the times when she was alone, only two other kids her company. "Tell me more about your dad, unless you really don't want to. We would understand."

Blake stared at Konan like the time has stopped. Tell her more about her dad? Well, where could he even begin? No, rather, what did he remember about dad in the first place? He was so caught up in the craziness of his life that he pushed away the memory of his dad somewhere far away, and now it was slowly coming back, setting up on him.

Blake's eyes slightly trembled, as he remembered the room, remembered the smell. Yet, it was a different kind of pain now. Before, it felt like a stinging bee that was constantly stabbing his brain. Now, it was a calm sadness, which hurt, of course, though it was bearable.

Taking a deep breath, Blake raised his eyes. "My father was…everything to me. He was kind, intelligent and…emotionally strong. Since my mother was usually on a different continent due to work, I spent most of my childhood and teenage years with my dad. Since my father kept our clan's existence a secret, he adopted a normal job as a builder. I loved going with him to see some of the ongoing projects."

"It might sound funny, but I am jealous of my own teenage years, as I can't remember anything bad. However, that changed, once my mother sent a letter stating that she wasn't going to come back. Turns out that she had been cheating on my father for years, and simply stayed with us because of me. I think she left once she realized that me and her didn't have a strong emotional connection."

"I was sad for a while until it passed, yet it was not like that for my dad. He was left shattered. To support us, my dad had to work more hours, and we started to hang out less. It was a big mistake, for I didn't manage to stop the change happening within my dad. One day, I came back home and saw a river of blood in the toilet…my dad said it was an accident, that he was okay, that it was going to be fine, yet it wasn't."

"A month after the incident, I came back home to see his dead body. It was…I don't know. It was strange, suddenly being left alone. And it simply felt wrong. My dad was always a person who said that giving up was for the privileged and he always pushed himself beyond his limits, yet he killed himself, in his own apartment. And he knew that his kid was going to see his dead body."

Blake stopped for a second to recollect his thought. Konan managed to interjected one question. "Are you mad at him?"

"Mad? Yeah, for a while, I was mad like crazy. I thought my dad was being hypocritical. The fact that he always pushed me to do better and then he simply gave up – that did not sit well with me. I felt abandoned. Then, after a few weeks, the anger dissipated into regret. I started…hating myself, for I thought I was simply not enough for my dad that he decided to leave me alone."

Yahiko mumbled. "That sounds…awful."

"I have to admit it, it was not the best feeling in the world. Nevertheless, I survived, alone and sad, yet I am alive. I stopped blaming my dad or myself altogether, as I understood that some things are simply out of my control. Yes, my dad can be seen as both selfish and hypocritical, though no one, not even me, could understand what exactly were his emotions. He simply lost against the darkness within him – it doesn't mean he gave up, it just simply means that he wasn't strong enough in the first place."

Blake got out of his stupor. "I don't think I can blame him or myself for what happened. It simply…happened because such is life." Blake held onto that thought in silence for a few second, before shrugging. "Anyway, my life was very different from all of yours, and the challenges I lived through are incomparable to what you have lived through."

"Don't say that." Nagato said abruptly. He had listened to the entire story without moving, taking everything Blake said and putting it into some folder in his brain. "Yes, our lives were different, but don't shrug of your pain just because you think other people lived through greater one."

"Good words, Nagato." Yahiko put a hand over his shoulder, his smile offsetting the heavy mood within the base. "I am sorry for what happened to you, Blake, but I believe we have heard enough of sad stories for the day. My heart can't take all of that. It's pretty late, why don't we call it a day?"

Everyone stood up without much response, with Blake grunting slightly. They were tired and sleep was more than welcome. After a few goodbye, Blake was in bed, feeling the vibrations in the ground. He could feel the people walking above, he could feel his comrades standing in the room nearby, he could feel everyone.

Everything was a vibration. Blake, too, was just a mere tremble in the ground. Yet soon, he would rise, not as a whisper in the ground, but as a quake that would shake the very bones of this world.