Meeting the Team [P, Team 13]

Arcadius walked through the village gates with little more than a knapsack and his sword strapped to his back. The village hadn't changed much in the couple of years he had been gone, but he had changed drastically. He was stronger and much more mature than he had been when he left. He smiled at the thought of his training and progress, though to others he was just appearing happy to be home. He dropped his belongings off at his apartment, taking only his sword with him. He was to meet at training ground 13 to get together with his new team. He arrived at the forested field in only a few moments, moving at a leisurely pace through the village, luckily he lived close to all the training grounds.

Once he arrived he would walk over to a tree offering a good amount of shade in the area and he would lean against it. Waiting for the remainder of his team to arrive. It was nearing midday, so most teams in the area were in the main village getting lunch, so his team would have plenty of privacy and could probably do whatever in regards to testing eachothers abilities or simply talking. It was all up to their sensei in the end.

Today was the day he’d be meeting his new team. It saddened him that he was no longer with the same team, but the young man was happy to be back in active duty again. He’d had a lot to take in upon waking up, and he was still trying to accept everything that had happened, but he was ready to go back to being a Shinobi. To helping people.

Sighing, the young man smoothed his kimono as he made his way to the training grounds. His long silver hair was loose, but hidden by his hood, helping him to avoid being stared at on his short walk to the training grounds. He’d never enjoyed being stared at by strangers, even when they were just trying to thank him for helping their gazes made him rather uncomfortable. He didn’t want to feel that when he was already nervous enough. How would his team react to a 24 year old genin?

He was jolted from his thoughts by his arrival at the right training ground. Noting one of his new teammates was already there, the young man called out a quiet greeting. “Hello!” Said in a soft voice, a simple smile on his face.

It was hot again. Wasn't it always? Well it was just about time. In the shadows of a bamboo house a shaded figure stood solemnly at the edge of the doorway. Although his presence at the moment was obscure, as if he was faded between the edges of fantasy and reality and you couldn't be sure he was actually there, if you happened to notice he would seem ethereal and cold and forbidding. In a phrase as beautiful as death, your last worldly pleasure. The man akin to a fairy of death held one hand aloft and almost instantly in that hand formed a figure that seemed to be and was made out of shadows.

This figure was avian in nature and if one examined closely and knew their facts about birds they would discover it was a perfect imitation of a nightingale made from shadows. This bird tilted it's head up at him seemingly out of curiosity before soaring off across the few miles that separated the small bamboo house with Training ground 13. Once this bird arrived it would land on a tree nearby and focus acutely on the two genin standing there.

1...2....oh there's one missing. It'll be a pain to repeat myself let's wait. Unclear whether from the bird of shadows or from the man himself these thoughts sprang to life as the two seemed to be of one consciousness. Together they settled comfortably on their branch awaiting the arrival of his lost little sheep.

Now was the time to meet the people who from now on he will be going on missions with, risking his life for them and hopefully theirs for his, only time will tell. Either way, they were his comrades and all had a common goal; to protect and serve the people of this village.

On the way, he would get something to eat on the way because he was almost certain that he would not get the chance to eat again anytime soon. He had nothing on him at all; only his wits, his robes and his sheer will power. As he approached training ground 13, yes that was what the message said, he saw some figures up ahead, two to be exact. One leaned upon a tree and the other with the long hair...strange the sensei wasn't there yet so he was not too late.

As he approached, he raised his hand and waved to them both with a cheerful grin on his face.

"Hey, how are you guys?"

Arcadius saw his two teammates walk up and leaned off of the tree into a relaxed standing posture. He would wave his hand and simply offer a "yo!" He was eager to see what these two could do. Judging by their general feel, neither of them were the sensei, even though the first to arrive definitely seemed old enough to qualify for the position. He wouldn't really know what to say, not having much interaction with people over the last two years, "I wonder where our sensei is?" It was probably the question on each of their minds, but it was the most relevant subject to make into conversation at the moment, so he went with that.

The arrival of their third teammate had Asuka calling out another quiet greeting, smiling as he politely waved back. But the other boy’s question definitely was on his mind. Where was their sensei? Surely the person chosen to lead a squad with a Jinchuriki on it would be punctual? It was rather odd that all three students had arrived but their sensei was nowhere to be seen.

“I can only wonder... I just hope our sensei knows what they’re doing.” Asuka said, voicing his worries aloud as he fidgeted. What was he supposed to do, or say? Beyond removing his hood now that they were at the training grounds, he didn’t know. He may have been an adult physically, but mentally he was still the 14 year old boy who was put into that coma 10 years ago.

Ah this seems promising...well shall we begin? Somewhere in the shadowy recesses of a certain bamboo house the silent but deadly apparition haunting the place was suddenly gone with an odd gust of wind and his figure appeared silently in the tree where a certain shadow-made bird had been before. His eyes swiftly glanced down at the young men....ah....that is the "youthful" genin now under his care and he un-suppressed his chakra immediately casting the jutsu he'd prepared for them and 5 feet away on both sides of them three lifelike shadows on each side of them formed a total of 6 shadows appeared. Jikuan-Shadow Release: Shaddow Puppet Mimicry.

These two sets of shadow both had perfect replications of the looks of the three genin and the two shadow sets would appear at an S rank speed from the shadows on either side of the three. Luckily for the purpose of this test he'd borrow some special medicine from the Hoshikage as his chakra pool had been lacking lately due to backlash from the markings hidden under his bandages besides the left arm. Then across the field seemingly from nowhere in particular a voice that sounds like it's from the pits of Hell finally sounded out:

"Cade Arcadius, Asuka Uzamaki, Hakuja Bebi....The first test is a test of Taijutsu. Ninjutsu is forbidden, weapons above your rank are forbidden, Medical jutsu is allowed only to treat your comrades. These shadows won't have such restrictions and they're jutsu will pack a surprising punch. Good luck. You have three minutes."

As soon as he finished speaking he let his un-suppressed chakra spread across the whole field and the entire field was covered by shadow swiftly but this shadow did not bind and it did not seem to do any active damage to the genin but anyone with an S rank sensing ability would be able to figure out the shadows who were originally at 50% of their counterpart's strength were suddenly boosted by 50 % causing them to become equals.


With no further ado the Shadow mimic's behind the team backed away seemingly disinterested while the ones in front each started using a jutsu that the others would find very familiar as it would their normal go to first, non-special or bloodline, jutsu that they themselves would normally start with. Each mimicry would base this attack against their counterpart and the fight would begin.

Will they work together? Or perhaps individually....hmm maybe a mix and match. Shadow's cold eye's surveyed the field intensely he'd ensure there were no accidents. as he leaned in his place on the tree branch a tiny ray of sunlight toched his marble-like skin and almost imperceptibly it began to smoke just barely. Shadow registered the pain but disregarded it completely not even wincing a bit or registering it was there. "I should have about 2-3 hours with Lord Hoshikage's medicine." It wouldn't do to let my team see me in that state. Pushing the thoughts aside he brought his mind fully back to the field he'd still been keeping a close eye on. Hopefully his genin didn't believe in ghost's.

So it began and ever so exciting; to him at least. First, he felt a deep presence, a chakra signature that was greater than his own of course, appeared in the nearby tree. Without him having the time to fully register the presence fully, shadows eerily started to emerge, seemingly out of nowhere. Shadows; the ones who could use shadows like this no doubt be that of the Nara clan. So his sensei was of that clan which made things quite interesting since this would not be a cut and dry type of teacher.



By the time the voice sounded out, a purely unnatural voice pierced the silence of the training ground, Bebi's muscles started to tense up in anticipation of what was to come next. As if out of a nightmare, the shadows started to take shape; five feet from him which instinctively made him jump back to make the distance between himself and the shadows a total of ten feet now. Bebi's eyes squinted as the shadows took form. But what is this? Replicas of himself and his team mates? Just what was this sensei up to? Did he mean to start off so aggressively from the get go? Not a problem for Bebi as he took a defensive fighting stance.

This is it, this is for real.

Arcadius was in the middle of pondering his own question when the voice rang out across the clearing and he felt his sensei's presence. This presence was only around 1/9th of his own, but he could tell it was his sensei as it was higher than those of his team. Almost as soon as his sensei's chakra flooded the area, three shadowy mounds formed in front of his team, roughly ten feet away from them. These mounds rose higher and higher until they became perfect shadowy replicas of himself and his teammates. This wasn't going to be an easy fight, he could already tell. He wanted to give it time and to see what this jutsu was capable of doing, but he also didn't want to give his sensei the opportunity to attack them.

He didn't have enough time to enter sage mode, not safely anyways, so his only option is to rely on his tails. He could sense that this was a powerful jutsu, so he knew that he would need to be more powerful than he was now to even stand a chance here. "Be careful with these things, they have a powerful feeling to them." Was all he would say before he crouched down on all fours in a beastial stance and red chakra poured out all around him, bubbling up and forming a fox like cloak of bubbling, corrosive chakra with two swishing tails behind him. His features having became much more animalistic with his hairs standing on end, his eyes being outlined in black and his eyes becoming red with cat-like pupils. His hands now sported claws and he was ready for action, but he would allow his opponent to make the first move.

Chakra - 9,600/9,600

Current Stats:

Asuka didn’t like this. He didn’t want to fight at all. But this supposed sensei of theirs was forcing them to, and outnumbering them with replicas of themselves too. Nothing about this situation was something he enjoyed, though at least it was a test he could handle. He’d trained in Taijutsu a fair bit since awakening in order to gain his strength back, a fact he was glad for now. He could handle this.

Sending a cursory glance at his teammates, he slipped into a more defensive stance. He would not make the first move, but he would definitely be ready to support the others if they got into trouble. He kept his stance light, ready to dance out of the way or dart in to attack as necessary. But no, he wouldn’t use any Taijutsu first. He was going to watch and wait, see these replica’s weaknesses before he dared do anything too drastic. Still, he was fully prepared to use his limited Taijutsu skills at any moment.

Chakra- 50/50

Current Stats:

Shadow Asuka:

He rushed up to his counterpart stopping a foot from him and bowing before saying in a sweet voice, "I'm starting now! Please defend yourself!" Then he would carefully attempt to use Cherry Blossom Impact against the real Asuka controling his strength so that he wouldn't accidently hurt the other too bad and wouldn't break any bone's or anything. That would be painful! How could he be so cruel?

Jutsu Used/Chakra Expended:

Shadow Bebei:

"Bastard! I'll kill you!" With a rush forward towards his counterpart and attack as if he had a prejudice, as if he had been completely wronged and he would get even. He didn't use any jutsu but his natural speed and strength from the jutsu was impressive enough without it. He might seriously harm this fellow if he got a chance to put his hands on him!


Shadow Arcadius:

"Hehe," he stared at his counterpart with an amused expression stopping his previous attack and quickly changing tactics. "As expected of myself you have some nice tricks there but that's no fun why don't you try this instead!" A sword had appeared in the clones hands that was also made of shadows and a line of power was expended from it as this guy suddenly flicked his sword in the direction of the other two genin beside his counterpart forcing his counterpart to choose whether or not to fight him or save his team mates.

Jutsu Used/Chakra Expended:

(All stats for every shadow is 296)

It would seem that his shadow was more cunning and ruthless than he thought. Gritting his teeth as the mimic seemed to form a sword from nowhere and cast a jutsu on it, followed by targeting his teammates, it would seem that he had no choice but to access more of his chakra, this isn't what he wanted, he wanted to rely on his own strength, but he couldn't have his opponent hurting his friends! A third tail bubbled forth and Arcadius bolted forward with a low growl and far more speed than he had at first. He would simply tackle his shadow and try to get it away from his team with a hearty shove. This fight was between the two of them, not his team! If he managed to get the shadow away from his team, he would allow his third tail to fade away, if the shadow kept pursuing them however, he would keep the tail active to be able to defend them. "I won't let you hurt them!" His voice came out as a harsh growl more than his normal breathy voice.

Chakra- 9600/9600

Current Stats:

Bebi's lips curled slightly down as he anticipated the movements of his opponent. Darting forward like this and attacking head on was not something he would do and no doubt this was something he was going to let this copy of himself see firsthand the difference between real and fake.

As the clone came closer, he timed it perfectly, knowing exactly how long its neck was, how long its limbs were; Bebi atrempted to parry the clone by extending his arm, palm faced forward and used his right arm to push the clone to the side a bit. If successful, he would continue with a pivot around the clone while should be passing him and would use his left hand, wrapped his arm around its neck and struck it with a DDT, face flush into the ground then jumped away in preparation of its next move.