Chapter 20. Master Zed

I looked around to see men and women wearing training gear and practicing across the yard. What they were doing varied from throwing some type of blade to hand to hand combat. There was also a few fighting eachother with the same arm blades the ninja's that came to get me had. I walked around a little and the ninja just followed. I looked at the different types of training areas. One room was purely darkness and little did I know there was 11 or 12 ninjas in it when I looked. I kept wandering and was wondering if the ninja was waiting on me to be ready. "Do we need to be somewhere or am I just going to wander more" I asked.

"The master isn't ready to see you yet, as soon as he is I shall tell you" He responded. Very open shut I suppose. I kept looking around and found myself in the armoury. I looked at the types of armour and weapons and even gave a few of the weapons a try. They all felt a little to heavy for me, and wearing armour would only slow me down so I didn't bother with the suits of armour they had. I needed to be as fast as I could. I also learned the blades the ninja were throwing were called shuriken, they came in a few different sizes from the massive ones they used to very small hand held ones. I found the large ones again to heavy but the smaller ones were actually to light for me. I left the armoury and moved on into a large hall with a sealed door. I walked up to the seal but the ninja just grabbed my shoulder. I didn't want to make anyone here mad otherwise I would be stuck in a bad situation. That was up to the point when I moved over to another training ground. This one had ninja practicing in full armour and gear. I slowly started to notice I was being watched by one of the ninja. Eventually he even approached me. "Why are you here" he asked.

"You guess is as good as mine" I replied.

"If your lost I can show you out" He said with a hint of cockyness in his voice.

I just grinned "I can find it myself but I'm not interested in leaving just yet".

He drew a blade and started to move to attack me but the ninja behind me stopped him. "Hujo, this is our guest! How dare you attack him" the ninja spat.

"B-but I wasn't told there would be a guest today. I thought he was a enemy!" He said in his defence. They started to make a scene and everyone was watching while training, their multitasking was impressive. I sighed loudly and shook my head "Kid just go back to training" I said.

However the young ninja didn't take to this well "Kid?! You say he is a guest yet he insults one of the greatest ninja alive!?" He started to yell. He was clearly overestimating himself so in order to kill his pride and shut him up...

"Fine, how about this. We can spare and whoevers first to draw blood is the better man" I said with my hand on my forehead. The kid was giving me a headache and I honestly wasn't in the mood to deal with it.

At first the ninja behind me was going to say something but he was cut off by the kid "Fine with me, follow me" he said. We walked down a few halls before entering a large indoor arena. The arena had seats for spectators but they were all empty. The kid took his position at the other end of the arena and I took mine. The ninja that was with me walked into the middle of the area to oversee the event. "This is a simple dual, first to draw blood wins. No attacks to the head or neck and no thrown weapons" He said. I wasn't sure if that was a problem for me or the kid but regardless he kept going on "If one of you fall out of the ring you lose. If one of you are disarmed you lose. Any extra attacks after drawing blood with be seen as hostile and the one attacked wins" He said as he stepped out of the ring. I drew a sharp breath as I drew my sword, he readied his arm blades. Two blades versus one was bad but I wanted to give him false hope. We both stood there in silence for a moment waiting for the overseer to begin the match. After what seemed like forever he called out "Begin!".

I quickly dashed forwards at the ninja as he disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. For a moment I wasn't sure where he went before I saw him above me. My adrenaline kicked in harder then ever before as with my strongest force yet, I stopped mid dash I swung upwards knocking his blades away in one moment. With the momentum and his attempt failing he was open for an attack and just as I swung a second time he disappeared again. This time he was behind me a bit. I turned with a slash to meet his own and we clashed for a little bit, we traded slashs constantly hitting eachothers weapons. I was able to keep up with two weapons which meant when I drew my dagger I would have the advantage. After a little while he disappeared again this time appearing as I swung leaving me open on my right side, the side he was on. However I knew better then to leave myself open as I spun with the momentum of the swing and landed a kick to the ninjas arms. Since he was now open I took the opportunity to use my dagger. With my other hand I drew my dagger with a swing expecting a clean drawing attack. Just as it was about to hit the ninja he disappeared again. I was starting to get tired of this ninja trick. He appeared again behind me only this time at the other end of the ring. I could feel my breath getting heavy as well as see him feeling the same. However then I saw how far he was. I could easily use heartbeat when he rushes me. Low and behold as I predicted his tired nature made it hard for him to think as he rushed me. I sheathed my dagger and got in position to attack. Then in one moment the dirt and rocks kicked up as I dashed past him in one moment slashing him across the arm. Then as I ended my dash I sheathed my sword and walked out of the ring.

"Giving up" The ninja said out of breath. I laughed while shaking my head when I saw someone behind the young ninja. The man was wearing the same armour as the young ninja only his had red details on his. He also wore a short red cloak across his chest. "Looks like I won then" He said again before the ninja behind him patted the ninja on his shoulder. "It is you who has lost" He said in a reserved but dark voice. The ninja looked behind him "M-Master Zed!" He yelled before staring at him in confusion. Then Zed held his hand up showing blood on his hand the young ninja realized what he meant as he looked at his arm to see it was severely bleeding. He looked up to me in disbelief "When did you..." I cut him off "You keep reappearing somewhere else every time doesn't mean I don't have some skills like that as well" I said with cockyness in my voice to mock him earlyer. Zed spoke up to the ninja "You go get that wound dealt with in the mean time..." Zed finished while looking over at me. "Yes Master Zed" the young ninja said before running off. It wasn't much longer until me and Zed were alone in the room. "So we finally meet" He spoke up.

"I suppose I'll get to my points. What do you want" I said coldly.

"From what my ninja say they saw from your time near Noxus was most interesting. Sounding much like a being once feared by everyone on Ionia" He said.

"What do you mean" I asked.

"Your the host of a Living Shadow, correct?" He said.

I was in a little bit of surprise but I didn't show it, or the being inside of me didn't let me show it. "You know about the Living Shadow" I said.

"Yes, It is a being that was once the main enemy of a ninja clan known as The Kinkou Order. The living shadow was tipping the scales in Chaos and Darkness far to much. Once they Kinkou found these beings they swore to seal them away to protect the balance they so very cared about" Zed explained "They were sealed in a room with a scroll written by one of the first hosts of the Living shadows. It showed how non-hosts could use the powers of a Living shadow to fight their foes. That is what I have built this clan, my clan on".

"So what does this have to do with me" I asked.

"The remaining Kinkou members will do all they can to kill you, the last Living Shadow alive is inside you. I want to harness it's powers for my clan while strengthening your powers as we do" He explained. It was a bit much to take in, I had a being that had tipped some sort of scale that pissed off a Clan of ninjas to the point where they killed every last one. Well almost every last one. "Blade. I can not let you go back out there without taking this opportunity. I want you to join my Clan" Zed finished.

"I refuse to join you clan" I spoke as I turned away.

Zed was about to attack me from what I could see but not before I finished. "However, I will help your clan. But I do not want to be known as one of your clan members" I finished. Zed stood there for a moment thinking over what I had said. He was surely thinking about how letting me do what I want would help but the risk of me getting killed was still there. However I knew I could take care of myself, a few ninja assassins shouldn't be to hard.

"Very well" He said "That fine. I am known as Master Zed, but you may call me Zed".

"I'm Blade" I followed up and thought about what to finish with before finishing with a large grin "The living shadow".