Of Bone And Ice - Chapter 10

One year had gone by since my encounter with the Hyuga clan member. Our mission had been a success but with heavy loses. The higher-ups didn’t care because we had been able to retrieve the Byakugan. This was a huge achievement and one that had not gone unnoticed by the hidden leaf village.

In the last year that had past, I had fought in three more large scale battles and completed a total of 38 missions. 0 D-rank, 15 C-rank, 13 B-rank and 10 A-rank. I had survived everything they had thrown at me and become a member of the elite tracking unit. This unit was the equivalent to the leafs Anbu unit and I was currently its youngest member being 10 years old, making quite a name for myself.

Rumours of the 3rd Mizukages death had been just that. He had survived but suffered life-changing injuries. There were current votes on who the next Mizukage would be but nothing had been put in place, The third had become very private and nobody saw him he was like a true shadow.

We were still at war and neither village seemed willing to give up the fight anytime soon. Intel showed that the hidden stone was gathering a massive invasion force to march on the land of fire, the hidden grass still under their control.

There were rumours that we were planning on using our secret weapon but it was a need to know operation and I had yet to be told anything more.

The mist had taken huge losses in the war effort so far and more and more were lost after each battle. With my new rank, I had been allowed to return to see my mother Kachina in the Yuki village, many of its members had been lost in the war and so few remained now. Not that I had a strong connection to them or anything but it was very noticeable. If I remember correctly not long after this war there would be a smaller civil war in the land of water that would kill off a lot of clans and Kekkie Genkai users.

The next few weeks that went by were the most peaceful days I had spent in a long time. All of our forces had been told to return home and await further orders. Something seemed off but no one was entirely sure what it was.

I was currently staying in accommodation that was provided to all elite ninja in the centre of the hidden mist. The only missions that had not been put on hold were the ones to track down rogue ninja. Of course, spies and information units were also still being sent out but other than that the village was on lockdown.

Not long after news came that the yellow flash of the leaf who I knew as the soon to be 4th Hokage, had destroyed Kannabi Bridge and wiped out 1000 hidden stone ninja. Turns out that Kannabi Bridge was key for the line of supply for the hidden stones troops, now that it had been destroyed and 1000 men wiped out by a single man there were rumours that the Hokage and Tsuchikage would sign a peace treaty. I was pretty sure that where we were in the current timeline that Kakashi had gotten his Sharingan and Obito was thought to be dead.

Within the hour of hearing the news, my unit was summoned to the council room to be briefed on a top-secret mission. There was easily over 100 of us that had been called upon and I had a bad feeling. The Mizukage himself was present behind his dark cover sealing off any visibility of him and his personal guard were with him as always.

The room was silent as everyone wondered why we had been called. Everyone in the room was of Jounin level or Anbu and everyone could tell that something big was about to go down.

The silence was broken when the Mizukage himself spoke. “You may be wondering why I have summoned you all here, as I am sure you have heard. The hidden leaf and hidden stone are pursuing a peace agreement. This is the perfect time to strike the leaf. We will use the full might of our arsenal and unleash the tailed beast upon them!” The room stayed silent, it also helped that everyone in here was a professional and knew not to give any reaction. We were trained as soldiers to carry out orders not to question them.

The plan was laid out, we were to kidnap a girl from the hidden leaf village, our sealing team was then to seal the three tails into her allowing her to escape back to the hidden leaf where the beast would be unleashed and cause massive damage striking at the very heart of the hidden leaf.

We had little time to prepare and we were heading out this very night. It was all starting to fall into place, if I remembered correctly Kakashi would kill this girl I, E, Rin and then Obito would kill everyone there. This was not looking good for me at all. My strength and skill had come a long way but I didn’t know if I was ready to fight Obito with his Mangekyō Sharingan just yet.

I had to come up with a plan to survive, I had made it through so much and survived all the odds. If not for my Kekkie Genkai I would have died many times over. It truly was a gift I had been given in this new life. Along with my Shikotsumyaku abilities, I also possessed the ice release that combined water and wind release to create my ice style. This had set me well above the kerb already having access to such powerful abilities it almost seemed unfair.

The combination of jutsu I could now chain together was extremely powerful. Some had called me a prodigy and others feared me for my abilities, of course, my intelligence had been tested and was way above average. But what did I expect, after all, I did retain the knowledge of my old life and world, 25 years of knowledge and learning along with the 10 years I had spent in this world so far. To them, I was 10 years of age but mentally I was 35. Now that I was an Anbu member I did not need to keep my abilities or smarts a secret for in the bloody mist the only way to gain respect was to have power.

The key to my quick line of promotion through the ranks of the blood mist was thanks to the war. Due to the loss of so many warriors, the need for strong shinobi was increasing drastically. Along with my abilities and proven battle record I was put to the test more than I would like to remember. Unlike the leaf, the blood mist didn’t think twice about using children as weapons. This had led the officials and higher-ups to recognize my abilities and have no choice but to promote me allowing me to go on harder missions. It was unheard of that someone of my age could possess such skill and I think it scared a lot of people.

The time for the mission had come before I knew it, I donned my Anbu uniform and placed my tracker mask over my face. I had been issued two swords that were on my back, not that I needed them. Our units had been split into four units of 25 in total. Each unit having its own commander and responsibility. My units job was to kidnap the target and take her to the sealing location.

It all seemed to easy, everything had been planned out, Her location was pinned down to a T along with other information, it just seemed to easy and I was pretty sure I knew why. I was sure this was all of Madara Uchiha’s doing. The problem with spending so much time here was that your memory of events stated to get a little hazy now and then.

My suspicions were escalated when we snagged the target without resistance. We quickly completed our mission of getting her to the sealing squad who had already made the preparations to seal the three tails within her. We were told to stand guard and not let anybody interfere with the sealing ritual. My unit was stationed just outside, while another was inside and the last stationed around the border. Not many hours later the sealing had been a success and we were briefed of the plan to let her be rescued and give chase only pretending to chase them as to ensure the delivery of the package to the hidden leaf.

Events turned out as expected, Kakashi showed up and rescued Rin, we gave chase through the forest as we were inside the land of fire. This is where it could go very wrong, I knew for a fact what was going to happen next was not good at all.

All squads had arrived in a clearing on a rocky terrain overlooking the ocean, it was also raining which made the mood even worse. I watched from behind my mask as Kakashi pierced straight through Rin with his lightning blade. In th end, she had chosen to kill herself knowing what we had planned to do to unleash the three tails upon the hidden leaf. Now was my chance, it had to be now while everyone’s attention was focused on Kakashi and Rin. Using one hand behind my back I created an Ice mirror that was linked to another high up in the air its reflection hidden by the full moons radiant glow.

As I slipped into the Ice mirror leaving an ice clone as my replacement I heard the scream. It was Obito just as I knew he would, he had seen Kakashi kill Rin and it sent him into a wild frenzy.

My fellow mist ninja had no idea what they were in for. One of them threw a hand full of shuriken at him clearly underestimating him but they simply passed through his body and struck the tree behind him. Obito charged in like a madman, the power of his steps cracked the very ground beneath him.

Striking his first victim with his palm wood suddenly burst out turning the Anbu into a human porcupine from the inside out. Blood splattered all over but Obit simple snapped his arm away and turned to his next prey. Three mist Anbu jumped into the air swords drawn ready to impale Obito from above, but once again their attacks passed right through him and their swords pierced their comrade instead.

Obito didn’t waste any time and jumped into the air landing a perfect spin kick snapping each of their necks the strength of his kick causing them to hit the ground so hard that they imprinted into it.

The other mist ninja were so shocked at what was happening that they were starting to panic. “We need to at least retrieve the girl we can’t let the enemy get a hold of her corpse.” One of them shouted. “He wields strange jutsu!” Another one said in fear.

Two of them made a break heading for Rins still body, Obito did the same and charged through the mist Anbu in front of him, their attacks simply passing right through him, not one of them being able to touch him.

Obito launched a wood missile so hard at one of the mist ninjas that it took him off his feet and sent him crashing into the ground as wooden spikes skewered his body like a piece of meat.

Obito charged into the other mist ninja who was to busy looking at the horror that had become his teammate, his fist smashed into his face so hard that his head hit the ground at sound breaking levels shattering the rock beneath. Obito then kicked him up and grabbed him by the hair kneeing him in the face so hard that his mask shattered into pieces.

Obito pounded on his face, strike after strike the sound of flesh beating flesh until his blood soaked the ground. The other mist ninja stood silent to fearful to even flinch.

Obito slowly stood up and turned to face the remaining mist Anbu. They were scared, Obito took one step and suddenly every one of them wanted to flee but it was too late. Wood shot out of the side of his body so fast that an entire forest of trees swallowed and crushed every last one of them. They were helpless, like lambs to the slaughter. Their screams filled the night sky and their blood-soaked the earth below.

My ice clone had also been caught in the carnage, however, using my defensive abilities even the mighty power of the wooden grip was not enough to crush my body. I had seen enough now and decided it was time to release my clone and make my escape while Obito was focused on Rins body.

Using my crystal ice mirrors jutsu I could create them anywhere the eye could see and then I could slip between them as if I was walking through a door. It was certainly not the first time I had used this jutsu to make my escape from overwhelming odds, and I was sure it would not be the last.

My arrival back to the village was met with extreme speculation. After all, I was the lone survivor of 100 Anbu and Jounin level ninja. I was pretty much interrogated as to what happened and how I made it back, even the Mizukage was present but covered in his portable transport so you could not see him, along with all members of the council. Not only had we suffered a huge loss in manpower but we had thought to have lost one of our tailed beasts.

I gave the best information I could about what had happened without going into to much detail. at least three hours had passed since we had started my interrogation. I had told them that a masked man had shown up and killed everyone, our attacks passed right through him and no one could touch him, I stated that I was lucky to make it out with my life. I had confirmed that the girl had been killed and that the plan had been a failure.

Once I got back to my quarters I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. I had a bad feeling that the Mizukage could tell I wasn’t letting on to everything I knew but for some reason, he decided to drop the matter. It didn’t make sense but I was kind of glad for it.

Seeing Obito in action made me realize just how much of a difference certain jutsu or abilities made in this shinobi world. There were truly some monsters out there and I honestly wondered how much longer I could survive.

A month had now passed since that night and the war was coming to an end. The hidden stone had signed a peace treaty with the hidden leaf, this prompted all of the other nations to come to a cease-fire bringing the war to a steady close. Smaller skirmishes were still taking place among some of the great nations, however, the land of water was starting to develop its own internal problems.

There was question that the Mizukages leadership in the war was the cause of so much death among the ranks. The nobles and even the feudal lord were calling for the Mizukage to step down, it was chaos and civil war was on the horizon.

Troops and units were leaving the hidden mist and going to whoever paid them best. Assassination attempts were being made on the Mizukage and nobles alike.

I found myself in a difficult position, I had been raised in the land of water and was a fully-fledged mist ninja. There was nowhere else I could go without becoming a rogue ninja and I was sworn to serve the Mizukage as a hunter ninja.

Small scale skirmishes were being fought between lords and other powerful leaders in the land of water and it was not looking good. The few remaining clans and Kekkie Genkai users left from the war were being hired and sort for their power, however, it did not bold well with the civilians of the land of water as they became so feared for their abilities that anyone with a Kekkie Genkai was seen as a monster and killed.

I and others who served the Mizukage were safe enough inside the village but the same could not be said for those outside of its protection.

Even my own clan had fallen with so many of its warriors being killed or away on missions those who were left were defenceless. I was away on a mission when it happened and there was nothing I could do. Even my mother in this world had been killed.

six months went by before something large enough to bring the civil war to an end happened. The third Mizukage passed away and the fighting was put on hold to see who would be elected as the new Mizukage.

Only the most powerful shinobi were even considered to become the Mizukage and at the moment there was one that stood out among the rest. Yagura Karatachi. He was well known for his efforts in the war demonstrating his superior abilities and strength. It was the fact that he had become the first user of the three tails and learned to master its power in such a short amount of time that stood he above the rest. With his already impressive abilities and the power of the three tails at his side, he quickly brought the civil war to a holt and rallied many to his side.

He was crowned the Yondaime Mizukage which meant the 4th water shadow, or 4th Mizukage. Yagura had no tolerance for any form of treachery against the village and anyone who dared betray him was killed. This enforced the nickname that was given to our village as the bloody mist and seemed to boost our reputation.

He ruled with an iron fist doing what he thought best for the hidden mist and its people. He even ended the brutal academy tradition of having to compete in a bloody battle just to become a ninja. Instead, we adopted a more humane approach with a graduation exam consisting of no killing, once the new genin had passed out of the academy they were placed into teams under chunin or jounin much like the hidden leaf. The aim was to rebuild our numbers rather than have them kill each other like in the past.

Some argued that the quality of our military might would decrease but most were glad to see the barbaric ritual ended. Yagura had forced all of the nobles and lords into submission with his strength and power. No one dared challenge him and it seemed that a temporary peace filled the land.

Yagura seemed like the kind of man you wanted to follow, he was powerful, smart and he cared for his people. The first six months of his rule seemed to bring prosperity to the land of water and hidden mist. But that soon changed.

During the six months that had passed, I had been ȧssigned to the elite hunter ninja squad that fell directly below the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist who were second only to the Mizukage himself. Zabuza had also climbed the ranks and was placed in the same unit as me earning the title of the demon of the hidden mist. He too had survived everything that had been thrown at him from large scale conflicts in the war to suicide missions given to him.

What made it more impressive was that unlike me, he possessed no Kekkie Genkai. There was one other that I recognized who was a part of our unit. It was Kisame Hoshigaki. He was about 5 years older than me making him 16 and boy was his strength impressive, even without the famous Samehada he was still a dangerous opponent. My memory of when or even how he would get Samehada was too hazy to remember and meant I could only wait for things to play out as they were going to.

The current members of the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist were as follows. Fuguki Suikazan who possessed Samehada, Jinin Akebino who possessed Kabutowari the helmet splitter, Kushimaru Kuriarare who had the Nuibari, Raiga Kurosuki who was also known as the thunder of the hidden mist he possessed the thunder swords Kiba, Jūzō Biwa who I had met a few years ago while still in training. He possessed the Kubikiribōchō also known as the executioner’s blade and Zabuza’s future weapon. As for the last two members I had no information on them and had never even seen them before.

I took orders from Raiga Kurosuki directly and found him to be a bloodthirsty killer like most of the other swordsmen of the bloody mist. He wouldn’t think twice about killing someone at random but when he did he always showed sorrow. It was completely crazy.

The first time I and my unit accompanied him on a mission he killed one of the chunin just because he didn’t like the way he smelt. I had to fight every fibre in my body not to object but knew no good would come from it. Afterall he ranked below only the Mizukage and would only result in a battle to the death.

Still, he seemed to take a liking to me and my abilities and one day had summoned me to a training field alone, which I felt very uneasy about. Still, with all the missions I had been on my personnel development had been put on hold due to a lack of free time to train.

I arrived at the training field as instructed wearing my training gear and headband around my head. I was the first to arrive and walked over to the large stream that flowed through the particular grassy area. I picked up some of the water with my hands and looked at my reflection before taking a drink.

My hair had grown in the last year and I had even tied the right band in a ponty tail much like how I remember Kimimaro’s hair to be like. Afterall we were from the same bloodline and the only difference was that my hair was black.

Suddenly I felt a surge of electricity in the air and ducked only to see a blade pass a few millimetres above my head. I sprang backwards onto my hands pushing off them and flipping onto my feet ready for what was to come next.

It was Raiga Kurosuki and he was stood with one sword over his shoulder and the other in his hand beside his leg. “You did well to dodge that, you would be dead if you hadn’t.” He said a grin on his face.

I bit my tongue and didn’t reply. I was confident in the strength of my bones but the Kiba swords used the lightning style to amp their cutting power and they could cut through pretty much anything.

“You can relax kid, If I wanted to kill you, you would be dead already.” He said as he put away his Kiba blades. I only half relaxed as I was unsure whether or not he would attack again.

The Kunai struck me hard in the ċhėst causing me to slide back along the soft ground but not fall over. The kunai blade had pierced my skin and only the first layer of bone that I had created to protect myself, if not for the lightning enhancement the blade would have bounced right off of me.

Raiga whistled and seemed impressed. “Damn kid that’s some impressive defence right their. You were able to stop a lightning enhanced kunai from shredding right through you. Anyone else would be dead right now.”

I didn’t really understand where he was going with all of this, after all, he was pretty much the first person to take such an interest in my abilities. Most others usually left me to my own devices or were too afraid to ask.

“I understand this ability of yours is of the Kaguya clan. I have to say its the first time I am seeing it in person.” I nodded and pulled the kunai out of my ċhėst throwing it to the ground.

“So why are we here?” I asked speaking for the first time. Raiga smiled and crossed his arms. “I like to test all of my direct subordinates this way but I have to say you are the first to survive this far.”

I wasn’t even shocked to hear that, it was no hidden fact that the seven swordsmen pretty much did what they wanted. “Now I want you to show me what you are made of. And if I like what I see then who knows, maybe I will teach you a trick or two.”

I nodded in agreement as I thought about the severity of what this match would have in store. It could easily result in one of us dying and that would most likely be me.

“To give you a fighting chance I won’t use my Kiba blades. How does that sound?” He said jesting to the blades that were sheathed on his back. I nodded in agreement and took a fighting stance. This was a rare opportunity to test my true strength against a most likely superior opponent. One that did not happen often in the hidden mist without resulting in one’s death.

Raiga pulled out two Kunai one in each hand as he took a low stance, a sinister grin across his face his large lips making it even more sinister. I took my fighting stance and extended my arms out to my side palms open facing my opponent. I allowed bones to protrude from my skin all around my body I had come to allow two bones to protrude from my forehead like horns which is where the nickname devil of the mist had come from.

Raiga made the first move and charged in crossing his arms in an X shape over his face, he was fast and seemed to easily shift what direction he was travelling in making it hard to predict his movements.

He started to run in a circle around me and it was honestly starting to make me a little dizzy trying to keep track of him. Suddenly he launched forward at me pushing off his back leg and jumping in the air spinning rapidly. Lightning infused chakra became visible on his kunai and it looked like a tornado of lightning was head right for me.

I jumped high into the air avoiding the double slash attack he had aimed at me and flipped upside down firing my bone bullets out of my fingertips as I did. Raiga was able to deflect them and with the lightning enhancement around his kunai, they could take the impact where normally they would have broken.

He was on me the instant I touched the ground but I had already planned for this. Blocking each of his kunai with my bone blades he no longer had any protection and I allowed my rib cage to grow almost impaling him as it did.

I pressed forward not having much to worry about realizing that my bones were more than strong enough to engage with his lightning kunai. We exchanged blows but I was starting to gain the advantage in this taijutsu match. I had learnt to incorporate a lot of acrobatic movements into my frightening style. Along with my enhanced strength and charka control, these movements were no strain to perform at all.

The reason I had incorporated these movements into my fighting style was so that I could take advantage of my entire body being a weapon. Combining it with my Kekkie Genkai my agility and unlimited ways I could use my body as a weapon was extremely overwhelming to most. It was very similar to killer bees fighting style with his eight blades, however, I could use almost an unlimited amount of blades from anywhere on my body.

I forced Raiga on the defensive and pretty soon I could tell he was starting to grow frustrated. He jumped backwards and started weaving hand signs landing on the stream of water as he did. Suddenly a huge water dragon fired from the large stream and was headed right for me like a missile. The water dragon jutsu was a very powerful water style and only very skilled shinobi could use it.

Little did Raiga know my abilities gave me a huge control over the water element and he was about to find out why. Quickly weaving my own hand signs I created a huge ice mirror in front of me that absorbed the water dragon jutsu.

Raiga was extremely surprised but not as surprised when his own water dragon hit him in the back knocking him off of his feet and sending him crashing into the ground hard.

When I had first learned to use the crystal ice mirrors technique I had to travel from mirror to mirror, it allowed me to travel so fast between them that it seemed like I was teleporting. But with time I had discovered that I could link them allowing me to connect them like doors. This increased the speed I could use them and also the effectiveness. And with a bit of fine-tuning of the crystal ice mirrors jutsu, I could allow other objects to travel through the mirrors other than myself. Creating a second mirror behind Raiga I was able to send his water dragon through one mirror and out of the other using his attack against him.

He slowly got back up to his feet and the fact he was drenched made the feat even harder. “T…That attack… It was like the Mizukages but.” He stopped and unsheathed both of his Kiba blades from his back. “I guess I underestimated you kid. Your not normal.” He said enraged as he raised both of the swords into the air crossing the blades together.

blue sparks of electricity began to form and the air around him was charged with energy. “Lightning ball!” He shouted as he fired a large ball made of crackling electricity. I jumped out of the way and was able to avoid the attack but suddenly more of the same was fired at me in rapid succession.

As fast as I was I was still unable to avoid all of the attacks and one of them struck me in the back. I could feel the electricity surge through my body, it was so painful it felt like I was about to pass out. Turns out I had no way of countering lightning style at the moment as I had been lucky enough to never really encounter someone who used it in battle.

I dropped to the floor and was left gasping for air. Raiga walked over and pointed his blade at me. “Its over kid.” He said as he sheathed his swords. I got back up to my feet slowly but my legs where still a little numb and I fell back onto my behind.

Raiga laughed at me and crossed his arms over his ċhėst. “You know kid you came pretty close, I had to pull out all the stops to beat you and that’s saying something. It’s not every day that one of the seven swordsmen of the mist compliments you so you better accept it.”

I was finally able to stand once the feeling in my legs returned and I took his hand as he helped me up. “Now here’s a little reward for not dying against me,” Raiga said as he handed me a piece of paper.

It was a piece of charka paper, like the one we had been given in the academy to see what element affinity we could use. Of course, mine had been water and wind thanks to my Kekkie Genkai.

I gave him a questioning look and he laughed. “Now here’s a little tip. When you focus your chakra into the paper try and imagine the surge of electricity you felt from that attack in your hand. I put the pieces together and realised he was trying to test to see if I could use lightning style.

I did as he said and focused my chakra into the paper trying to remember the surge of electricity as I did. To my surprise, the paper wrinkled in my hand and Raiga gave me a large slap on the back.

“Well looks like you have an affinity for lightning style after all kid.” I was pretty impressed to be honest and the possibilities of its implications into my already existing arsenal were flooding my mind.

“Will you teach me to use it?” I asked. Raiga gave a small grin but then shuck his head. “Afraid not kid, you’re going to have to figure this one out by yourself. If you wish to get stronger then that is your current mission. I will give you one tip though when using a lightning style, you have to have intense focus and then will your charka to mould into lightning.”

With that said he turned his back and walked off into the ever-present mist of the bloody mist village, leaving me to my own devices. I looked at the palm of my hand and focused an intense amount of chakra into it doing as he had said I willed it to turn into lightning just like with the paper. A small crackle of electricity sparked around my hand and then quickly faded as fast as it had come.

I could certainly say that the next few weeks to come would be exciting, to say the least. Now that I had something new to focus on and become stronger.. All I had to do next was figure out what to use my power for in this shinobi world.