Akuma breathed in a breathe of fresh air. He was for once, simply taking it easy with his training, letting his body get some recuperation in, to let his muscles regrow after the work out that put so much stress on them. His body was developing rather well, and he was quickly starting to regain some of his old power, but it was still taking much longer than he'd have liked. He needed to not only train his body back up, but retrain his body to utilize senjutsu. At the moment, it was too weak to sustain any Sage Mode, like he'd been able to previously, and using his clan's abilities would unhinge him and send him on a killing frenzy. As much as Akuma liked fighting, he wasn't a cold blooded killer, and actually didn't like losing complete control of himself, although he wasn't squeamish about killing. Still, in order to properly utilize his powers, he'd need to reacquaint his body to nature chakra.

He sat by the shore, gathering nature energy around him, opening his body to it all, and tried to concentrate on absorbing it into himself, little by little, bit by bit. The more he became used to it, the quicker he'd be able to fully utilize his powers. Otherwise he would be stuck simply relying on basic taijutsu and medical techniques, which wasn't too bad a thing, if he used them correctly, but then he would have no advantages that he could use to overpower an opponent should he need to. So this was a bit of a necessity for him to do, and one that would simply drag on for quite some time. It was one of those moments where he could feel truly at peace, as the Senjutsu training at this stage wasn't anything that would be very aggressive at all. It merely consisted of sitting and becoming one with the nature around the person. It was for that reason that he chose to do this near the shores of Kirigakure.

There was little more of a destructive force in nature than that of the oceans. Water could be both peaceful and a destructive force of untold power, just like Akuma himself. He felt more at home by the water, where he could relate to it, and it allowed him to take in the nature energy much quicker than anywhere else, he'd found. As he sat, becoming one with nature though, he was completely at peace, so much so that some of the wildlife creatures had come up to him and laid down. A bird perched on his shoulder, tweeting pleasantly. Some squirrels ran around him, chasing each other. It was quite a sight for anyone who may be watching, as wild animals tended to avoid human contact. However, that was a testament to the trust that animals had for one who could gather in nature energy. Anything could be destructive, and nature was perhaps more dangerous than anything else in the world, but when calmed in a stasis, it was as harmless as a goldfish.

WC: 513

For the moment, while he was meditating, Akuma decided it would be worth his time to simply image train, to keep his mind clear from outside intrusion. It was an effective tool that he'd used on many different occasions. Besides that, he could watch himself fighting someone, or simulate fights, and it had the same effect as an actual fight. As he particularly enjoyed fighting, it was a simple thing, for him to pretend a fight was happening, and to watch it with eager interest, becoming absorbed in the mock fight that would take place in his mind. For now, Akuma was simply focusing on the setting in which the fight would take place, against how many people, and how strong they would be. All of these things were incredibly important, as it allowed him to simulate how a fight would really go, and think up new ways to combat things.

Akuma decided that he'd stage the setting of the fight in a forested environment, and that it would have snow on the ground, rather heavy and thick snow that clumped together. It was about 4 inches in total, which would allow for easy tracking, and impeded movements of everyone somewhat, as well as alerting by sound cues from the crunch of someone walking on it. It would be ideal. He found that imagining some sort of nature effect while he was doing his senjutsu meditation helped speed the process along and grant him accelerated learning and mastery over the senjutsu chakra.

His next course of action was to set the contestants of the battle. That was simple enough. 10 opponents was a standard set, and would be fine to fight against. 1 of them would be the leader. He'd have 3 lieutenants under his command, and they'd each have 2 underlings of their own. Such a simple fight to plan, but of course it wouldn't be the easiest one to fight either. Although he wasn't pitting himself up against shinobi, fighting 10 opponents at once was always going to be a difficult task. The bandit groups he was used to facing had some semblance of strategy and command. They were well structured, and that made for some powerful opponents. But that was all the fun of image training.

WC: 379
TWC: 892

The great thing about his image training was that Akuma had free reign to control the world he was in. Because of that, he had full control of his Sage Mode, and as much chakra as he wanted. There was no worries about him losing control and hurting someone who didn't deserve it or who wasn't fighting him. In his own mind, the world he created was his and his alone. Although it was one of solitude and no challenges, Akuma did find it peaceful, because he was able lose himself in it so completely that he could with relative ease gather Nature Energy around his body and integrate it into himself.

So here he was, surrounded by the bandits in his mind. His image grinned as they all had some manner of weapons drawn, ranging from Kunai to Tanto blades. He himself held a kunai in his own off hand, but apart from that, he was relatively unarmed. What he lacked in visible power though, he made up for with his own abilities. The members of the Jugo clan were incredibly dangerous, even when not in a rampaging mode, as they could alter themselves in ways many wouldn't think possible, nor would be able to predict. That unpredictable nature was one that made them much more dangerous than most other shinobi.

The snow whipped through the air as a gust of wind blew through, the scene eerily silent, tension in the air. The second the first move was made, the battle would begin with earnest, and the pearly white snow would be stained red with the blood of the defeated. But who was it to be? Akuma had fought these battles plenty of times before, and sometimes he would lose them. It wasn't fun if he always won after all, but then again, he wasn't a big fan of losing either. After what seemed like an eternity, but was only in reality a few seconds, two of the henchmen charged forward, tired of waiting. Akuma had decided how the battle would go.

The first exchange of blows wasn't all that impressive. They all had kunai, and there were two of them versus himself. This was an extremely lopsided first encounter. The henchmen didn't stand a chance against him. Akuma parried a kunai strike with his own kunai, kicking out and catching the man in the gut, forcing him to drop to the ground momentarily in pain. Then it was one on one. It went much the same way and was just as quick. A kunai strike from the bandit, Akuma blocking it with his own. His other hand shot forward and grabbed the collar of that man, yanking him off his feet and slamming him into the ground behind himself.

That took care of two of them for now, only eight more to worry about. Although this wouldn't keep them down indefinitely. That wasn't how Akuma wanted it anyhow. It wouldn't be fun if he dropped his opponents all in one blow. For now, though, their damage was sufficient to keep them down.

WC: 514
TWC: 1406