=3rd Person POV=
In an underground battle arena, A young form of a child is seen sleek with sweat, dodging and weaving out of attacks. To his right side, a balding man with a scarred left eye stands silently with a stoic expression, readied to intervene at any moment. What is even more bizarre is the sight of two giant wolves, bum rushing a giant toad, only to miss as the toad always jump away at the last second, only to shoot out his tongue, aiming it at the young boy. Said young boy is our very protagonist, Ashira Nara.
=Ashira POV=
You're probably wondering how I'm in this STICKY situation. Well let me start at the beginning
~FLASHBACK NO JUTSU: 45 minutes ago~
"Yes Ashira, there is no safer time nor place for you to start this "ritual" you speak off. Unless, you are scared that is, which I understand. After all, you are only a child."
Seeing that infuriating smirk on his face goading me on, I take the bait hook line and sinker. Let it be known that mama didn't raise no cowards. "Ok you crippled old bastard, let me rest up a bit before doing this. But just to let you know, I'm haunting you for the rest of your very short life if I die."
With a satisfying smile donning his lips, He nods and moves away to give me space and time. Silently contemplating, I thought he does have a point. The old timer is clearly a battled hardened veteran, and a pretty strong shinobi to boot, considering how fast it took for him to dismantle both of my wolves with that sealess lightning jutsu of his.
Sighing in disappointment at my abysmal performance, I start thinking on what shikigami I could choose for this ritual of mine. The large ones are a no no, since I'm in a confined area, and really do not have enough firepower to take one down. That left the Toad, Nue, Rabbit, and maybe the Ox.
Nue is out from the get go since even underground, the ceiling of this place is too tall for my comfort, and its lightning is a hard counter to my Dogs. Rabbit could work, but I don't have any AOE attack to destroy most of its clones. The Ox on the other hand, could be brought down if I bait it to hit a wall somehow, but that's too risky considering one hit from it will most likely send me to pure land. So the Toad it is, I determined, before dropping on my back and using the soft body of Pepper as a pillow, I rest.
~FLASHBACK NO JUTSU ENDS~
It was going to be easy I thought. Just bum rushing it with two of my wolves I thought. I was so wrong, and this stalemate has lasted for 10 freaking minutes!!! The Toad, despite its bulky appearance, is surprisingly agile. Oh I have no doubt that my wolves are faster in the long run. But With extremely powerful short bursts, and sharp reflexes, the Toad has been able to disengage at will, and retaliate with its deceptively powerful tongue attack. Smart fucker been targeting me, forcing one of my wolf to always be nearby to defend against its attack. Thereby limiting its mobility.
This stalemate can no longer go on, as at this point, it will be a battle of attrition, one where I will most likely lose considering my slowly diminishing stamina. One lucky hit from its tongue has been able to knock the air out of me, and I'm not very keen on tanking a second one. Forcefully calming down my agitation, I start brainstorming before grinning evilly.
Ordering Pepper to leave my side, and joining Salt on the attack, I waited. Black and White blurs flashing toward a green shape, as the Toad moved by jumping over and behind my wolves, right toward me. A red blur flickers out, as a long slippery tongue shoots it way to me. Legs braced and arms spread, I take the hit right into my stomach gasping at the sudden impact. Both hands holding onto the slippery tongue, I send out chakra toward the surface of my palms, increasing my grip and start pulling. Surprised at not being able to retrieve its tongue, the Toad stilled for a single second. The very same second that it took for both of my wolves to sink their claws and fangs into its flesh. An anguished cry rang out, as the Toad's body melted away into liquid shadow. A new connection is formed, and I feel knowledge get sent right into my brain.
Bumping my fist in celebration, I start dancing alongside my wolves at my first successful taming ritual. Only to be interrupted by the old geezer "That is enough, Ashira, you did well enough for your second battle. The trick with chakra sticking was a good one. Though i do wonder why you didn't use that secret teleportation of yours in this battle"
Face scrunching in confusion, before realizing that, yes I did reveal some of my cards because I thought the dude was going to murder me. I tutt and explain "Yeah I was trying to hide that one, but my teleportation has some limitations. Range wise I can teleport to any shadows in a 10 meters radius. It's not really instant teleportation either, but I need time to fall into my shadow, time that the Toad's can take advantage of using that tongue attack of his."
Humming in agreement Hanabei questioned "And what have you learned from that toad of yours? I know each of your summons have their own techniques, does it have anything else beside that tongue of it?"
"The tongue thing is just his biological anatomy, he has a different ability to store things inside his stomach. It required a one time chakra amount to store things depending on its size tho. Oh and when dismissed, all the stored things will be thrown out from my shadow. On the chakra side of things, the Toad requires 1/4 the amount I need to summon my wolves, or 1/8th the current amount of my total chakra." I explained as this is kind of useless since I already have a shadow storage ability. This is just an extra without the downside of feeling all the weights when storing things. Mayhaps it will be useful someday when I learn how to use my Shikigami's technique.
"I see, and are there any other abilities you are hiding from us? It is prudent to always have a trump card, and I will not force you to disclose your powers. That being said, I am now your teacher. Meaning I need to know more about you to train you better." Questioned Hanabei with a knowing smile on his face. Tch, the geezer already guessed that I've been holding out on him on the information front.
"I do have a similar storage ability using my own shadow. But everything I put into my shadow, I need to bear the weight of. I don't have anything on me right now though. Other than that, there is no size limitation for my storage, so same with the Toad i guess." I grumble reluctantly, still salty that I have been ousted.
Raising his eye in interest, He nods then says "That could be useful, and it is wise that you didn't start weight training immediately. Stuffs like that could have stunted your growth. Very well, we will train here every monday, and thursday starting this week unless you are told otherwise. You may go."
Bowing my head, I dismiss all my wolves before I start leaving, trekking back home. Even though my body is bruised, and battered from all the asskicking i got, I still feel satisfied about my growing progress.
~10 months later~
=3rd Person POV=
The air thunders, as an explosion rings out, sending fire, dirt and debris into the open grassland. Frightened shrieking sounds are heard, as animals scramble to run away from the disaster. Hiding behind a large boulder in the distance, layed the visage of three humanoid silhouettes, observing disastrous phenomenon with interest. One of those figures is our lovely protagonist, Ashira Nara.
=Ashira POV=
Whistling to myself, I stare in wonder at the magnitude of destruction that I played a part in causing. Suddenly stilling myself, I shake my head and say "Yeah no dice, it's dead for sure, but the ritual fails, since I don't feel any new connection."
"Fascinating, so explosion tags are counted as outside interference? Is it because of the foreign chakra component contained in them?" Mused a tall muscular man with ashen mane, the shape of a pineapple. Atatsu Nara is the elder in charge of the Nara clan shinobi's supplies, and also the one who provided Ashira with his explosion tags.
Nodding his head in agreement, the third figure, Hanabei says "The rabbit didn't have that problem when we used natural gas to create the same explosion. The "ritual" most likely counted the foreign fire natured chakra used in the explosion tags as outside interference. Though how it detects such chakra is unknown for now."
Silence reigned as a contemplative mood fell on the trio, before being interrupted by Hanabei again "This is it for today. Ashira, you should start returning home now since the academy will open tomorrow."
Nodding reluctantly I agreed before running back to my house. It's been months since I've been training with the old geezer, and as much as I hate to admit, the guy is growing on me. Plus the progress that I have made in my taijutsu, learning the Nara's style, the Shadow fist. Which involved mostly defensive stance, and prefer parrying or using your opponent's strength against them over the more aggressive styles out there. Not to say that it's bad, since it perfectly fits with my Ten Shadows style of buying time for myself before having all my shikigami team on my enemy.
Shaking my head out of my musings. I arrive back at home, noticing only mother in the kitchen, I ask "Mom, where is dad? I saw him this morning."
"On a mission honey, He got called by the Hokage after you left, should be back in a week or two." replied my mother with a bit of sorrow in her tone.
Oh, that means he will miss my academy admission. Shaking my head, before helping my mother out in the kitchen. I spent the evening trying to act excited to cheer my mother up , before long, night arrived, and I was tucked into bed. Part sad, and part excited I fall into slumber at the thought of finally taking my first step to be a shinobi.
Note: I was gonna try and include the academy, but decided that the ritual mechanic needs to be flesh out a bit. Also second fight scene!!!! Yay, what yall thing? The toad is a bit tricky for Ashira, since it's pretty fast for him speed wise, and Ashira is good against slow, and hard hitting opponents by using his shikigami as tank and aggro. Don't worry tho, he knows that his weakness right now is himself, what with being the weakest link in the chain and all, so he will try to get stronger himself. Any thoughts, comments and criticism do feel free to share. I hope yall enjoyed this byeeee!!! Also Gib me stone i demand it!!!