Of Bone And Ice - Chapter 24

“That’s the Kazekage!” Hatsu shouted, alerting the others around him.

In the distance about two-hundred meters or so stood the Fourth Kazekage. He wasn’t alone either, backed up with a squad of four Anbu.

“What in the blazes is the fourth Kazekage doing here!” Hatsu shouted, clearly on guard.

Fuyōna was also on edge. He could think of only one reason that the Kazekage would be here.

“The princess…” He said under his breath.

Sawano and Kaga had also join Fuyōna and Hatsu at the front.

“Captain, what do we do?” Kaga asked, trying not to seem panicked.

“Why have we stopped!” The princess shouted from further back, clearly outraged.

Fuyōna took a moment to think of a plan, but he was interrupted as the Kazekage spoke.

“I am here for the princess. give her to me, and you may live!” He shouted.

He was now only 50 meters away and getting closer by the second. Fuyōna didn’t have any choice and decided to step forwards to meet the Kazekage head-on.

He turned to Hatsu just before stepping forth.

“Hatsu, on my signal, get the princess out of here as fast as you can. They don’t want the others, Kaga, tell them to run back to the capital city for shelter. It is their only option.”

Hatsu nodded, knowing there was no way they could take the Kazekage head-on.

Fuyōna stepped forth and started walking to meet the Kazekage and his team on Anbu. He got twenty meters away before one of the Anbu shouted over.

“That’s close enough!”

Fuyōna stopped, giving a slight bow to the Kazekage before speaking.

“Lord Kazekage. My name is Fuyōna Yuki of the hidden mist. We are under the impression that our feudal lords have come to a peace arrangement.”

“This is your last chance! Hand over the princess or die!” The Kazekage shouted, clearly not in the mood to chat.

“I can’t do that…” Fuyōna said, placing his hand behind his back, giving Hatsu the signal.

“Then die!” The Kazekage roared as he suddenly raised his hands.

Fuyōna didn’t have time to react as a tremendous amount of gold dust sprang from the ground, wrapping its self around and encasing him, leaving him unable to move.

The Kazekage didn’t even give Fuyōna any last words as he clenched his hand, the gold dust tightening its grip around him, crushing his body in an instant.

Hatsu and the others watched in horror as the Kazekages gold dust crushed their captain. Hatsu only took a second before he turned around to bark orders.

“Everyone run! Run back to the capital!” He shouted, causing sudden panic to set in among the princess’s caravan.

“Ozawa get the princess out of here! Kaga, Sawano we have to hold them off as long as possible!” Hatsu shouted.

Kaga and Sawano both nodded while Ozawa grabbed the princess.

“Forgive me for this princess.” She said as she picked her up and dashed off with her over her shoulder as quickly as possible.

The princess had also watched what had happened to Fuyōna. Frozen and unable to speak as she was suddenly whipped up over Ozawas shoulder.

“Stop her!” The Kazekage snapped to his Anbu, waving his arm at them.

The Anbu team didn’t waste any time and quickly raced after Ozawa and the princess. Hatsu, Kaga and Sawano jumped to intercept them as quickly as they could, clashing blades with them mid-air. But one of the Anbu slipped right past them as they were unable to stop them.

“Blast it!” Hatsu shouted as he was unable to stop the hidden sand Anbu who was heading after Ozawa and the princess. He and the others had their hands full now as the sand Anbu were of the same skill as them.

The Kazekage stood with his arms crossed, watching the battle between his Anbu and the others unfold. He seemed confident in his men’s ability to handle themselves but decided he didn’t want to waste any more time.

He raised his arm and started to mold the gold dust that lifted from the sand, preparing it to attack at his command. The Kazekage felt a slight shift in the air and decided to trust his instincts, pulling the gold dust back to shield him.

Not a second later, five bone bullets hit the shield almost burrowing their way through before they dropped to the ground next to the Kazekage.

He looked in astonishment to whom his ȧssailant was. To his surprise, Fuyōna had pulled himself out of the sand where he had been tossed unharmed.

“You are supposed to be dead.” The kazekage said in bewilderment.

Fuyōna completely pulled himself out of the sand, dusting himself off as he did. He had been able to reinforce his entire body with an underlayer of bone that protected him from being crushed by the gold dust.

“I don’t know how you are still alive. But you won’t be for much longer.” The Kazekage said as he willed his gold dust to attack.

A barrage of gold dust ȧssaulted Fuyōna. Quickly he flipped and dodged out of the way, jumping and twirling as fast as he could to avoid its grasp.

Fuyōna wasn’t so slow either that he couldn’t counter-attack, firing off round after round of bone bullets this time enhanced with lightning style chakra, hoping to pierce the Kazekages defences.

The bone bullets were blocked by the Kazekage, whose gold dust defence seemed almost impenetrable. However, the lightning style enhanced bone bullets were enough to break through the dense gold dust, catching the Kazekage by surprise, forcing him to fight on the defensive.

The Kazekage realized quickly and was able to dodge the bone bullets before hastily slapping his hands onto the ground, causing a colossal wave of gold dust to rise suddenly. It was so thick that even with the lightning enhancement, the bone bullets could not penetrate it and Fuyōna stood by helplessly.

“Gold dust tsunami!” The Kazekage shouted as the wave travelled towards Fuyōna, giving him no means of escape.

The wave of gold dust heading for Fuyōna was massive. Too big to try and get around, leaving him with only one option. Fuyōna quickly made the hand signs and jumped back into an ice mirror he had created.

The Kazekage watched as his wave of gold dust crashed down trapping anything it made contact with, confident that he had buried Fuyōna under it.

“End of the.” He started to say before he was cut off.

Fuyōna dashed out of his ice mirror that had formed not far behind the Kazekage, attempting to slash his neck, going for the kill with a bone blade.

But the Kazekage flipped back out of the way, gold dust rushed at Fuyōna from both sides, giving him no means of escape, catching his left arm and right leg in its grasp. Fuyōna tried to pull free, but its grip was too great.

The Kazekage clenched his fist once again, intent on crushing Fuyōna’s arm and leg, leaving him helpless before he intended to finish him off.

Fuyōna had already prepared for this and encased his entire body in a membrane of bone, virtually rendering him indestructible. The gold dust tightened around Fuyōna’s arm and leg, and he decided it would be best to play along, screaming.

Quickly he made a few hand signs with his free hand, the Kazekage, however, noticed the hand signs and lept into action.

“Hand signs with just one hand!” He shouted as his gold dust created a full barricade around him, stopping the sudden ice spikes that attempted to impale him from above.

Fuyōna used the sudden confusion to pull free of the gold dust and flipped backward with superb skill to create some well-needed distance, leaving the Kazekage surprised as his gold dust crushed the ice spikes and circled around him.

“Are you some kind of monster?” The Kazekage asked, confused as to how Fuyōna had survived being crushed not once but twice.

Fuyōna was in a low stance and his senses were working overtime as he tried to come up with a plan of action.

“Let’s see how you handle this!” The Kazekage shouted, as gold dust suddenly burst into the air, creating hundreds of razor-sharp needles.

“Gold dust, scattered showers!”

Fuyōna reacted sharply, forming hand signs at a rapid rate.

“Ice style, dancing blades jutsu!” Fuyōna shouted as three large blades of ice formed around him.

The gold spikes rained hell down upon Fuyōna, his ice swords working overtime as they danced around his body, deflecting storm after storm of the never-ending attack.

The Kazekage was outraged that Fuyōna was able to counter his attack and he knew exactly what he was trying to do.

“Don’t think it will be that easy!” He shouted.

Gold dust smashed down into the ground as the Kazekage attempted to crush Fuyōna with it. Fuyōna was quickly able to dodge and flip avoiding the large quantities that tried to halt his movement, while his ice swords continued to deflect any and all projectiles that came his way.

Fuyōna was extremely agile, flipping and moving with expert skills to avoid the Kazekages attacks, slowly getting closer and closer.

“Digital shrapnel!” Fuyōna shouted, firing his bone bullets in an attempt to counter-attack.

The Kazekage jumped high into the air avoiding Fuyōna’s attack and landed on a pile of his gold dust that hovered in the air.

“You insolent brat!” The Kazekage shouted as he crossed his arms over his ċhėst.

To his surprise ice mirrors started to form all around him, Fuyōna reflection appearing in all of them.

“What is this?” The Kazekage said as he created several rings of gold dust around his body, each spinning violently.

“Ice style, cristal ice mirrors,” Fuyōna said, the words echoing around the dome.

The Kazekage stood atop his gold dust platform, hovering in the air. He had already noted that he was trapped inside this jutsu and with it being in the air, there was no escape.

“You were waiting for me to take to the air?” He said, impressed.

Fuyōna didn’t answer, keeping in the safety of his crystal ice mirrors as he watched the Kazekage, trying to anticipate his next move.

The kazekage had been right, Fuyōna had been waiting for him to take to the air. He already knew his fighting style would be similar to his son’s Garra. Fuyōna had determined that if he could trap him in the air away from the sand, that would be his best chance at defeating him.

-Meanwhile-

Hatsu, Kaga and Sawano were locked in fierce combat with the hidden sand Anbu. Each of them wore the demon masks of sands and each of them was strong within their own right.

Kaga had been pressed on the defensive by the sand Anbu he was fighting. They were in equal size and speed, making it an even match. The sand Anbu was using a black ninjato sword to fight, his skill with the weapon was impressive, to say the least.

Kaga ducked under one slash and parried another with his kunai before being forced to block another strike. The two locked blades face to face before Kaga hand-planted, spinning quickly delivering a heel kick. The sand Anbu was able to avoid the attack and the two took a moment to study the other before making another move.

Kaga reached his hand into his weapons pouch on his hip, pulling out a scroll. Using his thumb, he unclipped the seal and pulled it open, creating a poof of white smoke before a large sword appeared.

Taking the blade in his hand, Kaga lept into action slicing down at the sand Anbu’s head as hard as he could. The Anbu sidestepped the attack and the sudden exchange of blows began as sparks flew off the blades as they clashed.

Hatsu was also having his fair share of trouble in dealing with his opponent. If he wasn’t mistaken, it was the female Anbu who had escaped them the last time. Clearly, she had returned back to report her mission a failure, bringing more reinforcements along with the Kazekage himself.

She was quick, not wasting any time in attacking Hatsu with everything she had. Hatsu blocked her kick with his forearm, striking back with a punch that she slapped away before spinning, shooting with a cresent kick. Hatsu ducked under the kick, planting his own front kick into her ċhėst, sending her flying back and crashing into the sand.

“Now your mine!” Hatsu shouted as he quickly made a few hand signs.

“Fire style, fireball jutsu!” He said, letting the large ball of fire loose from his mouth.

The female Anbu performed a kip-up with great skill before flipping over the fireball that was headed right for her. She sailed through the air gracefully and threw a barrage of shuriken and kunai at Hatsu which he was able to deflect with his own kunai. Or so he thought.

The sand Anbu pulled her hands through the air; her fingers spread wide as if she was pulling on strings. Hatsu noticed too late that she was, in fact, pulling on chakra threads that were connected to the kunai and shuriken she had thrown at him. All of the projectiles suddenly launched at him from every angle, each sinking into his body riddling him full of razor-sharp edges.

Sawano was trapped in a test of strength with his opponent, who was a large man with bigger arms than Sawano. Both of them had their fingers interlocked, each trying to overpower the other.

“Give up little man!” The hidden sand Anbu said as he gained the advantage, pushing Sawano down to his knee.

“Never!” Sawano shouted through gritted teeth.

Pulling back Sawano planted his foot into his opponent’s body and rolled backward, flipping him over with a sacrifice throw that sent him flying into the air.

The sand Anbu flipped in the air and landed on his feet, tossing several kunai at Sawano as he did to distract him. Sawano ducked under the Kunai landing in a press-up position before jumping back to his feet. He noticed that the sand ninja was making hand signs and he didn’t like the look of them.

“Wind style, Vacuum bullets!” The Anbu shouted before taking a deep breath and then exhaling several small blasts of wind chakra.

They hit their mark, and Sawano was blasted back hitting the ground hard, his flak jacket being torn to shreds. He hit the ground hard looking at his body to try and ȧssess the damage.

“That’s gonna leave a bruise or two.” He said with a groan.

He quickly rolled to the side, his eyes almost popping out of his skull as the sand Anbu landed, plunging his sword into the sand where Sawano had just been.

The sand Anbu turned, quick for his size, slashing down, again and again, trying to cut Sawano in half. Sawano was doing his best to avoid and deflect the sand Anbu’s attack, dodging he rolled back before he blocked a downwards strike with his kunai.

The weight of the sand Anbu’s attack was heavy and forced Sawano’s hand into his shoulder as he tried with all his might to push the attack away.

“Time to die!” The sand Anbu said as wind style chakra suddenly enveloped his blade.

Sawano’s face bursting with the realization that he was in serious trouble.

The wind style chakra blade cut straight through Sawano and his Kunai with ease, Sawanos’s blood scattering on the hot sand beneath them as he fell to the ground devoid of life.

The Kazekage was trapped within Fuyōna’s crystal ice mirror’s jutsu, his rings of gold dust still spinning around him ready to defend from any incoming attacks.

Fuyōna didn’t want to waste any time talking and decided his best bet was to attack at full force. He zoomed from mirror to mirror at such speed he wasn’t even visible, each time firing a round of bone bullets, enhanced by lightning style chakra.

The Kazekage had compressed his gold dust so that it was hard enough to defend against the lightning enhanced bone bullets, each of them smashing into the gold dust with an explosive thud.

The Kazekage was doing well to defend against the onslaught of attacks coming from Fuyōna, who appeared to be almost teleporting from mirror to mirror.

But the Kazekage was soon forced into a full defensive posture and pulled his gold dust to cover his entire body in a sphere.

Fuyōna stopped attacking for the time being wondering what he was planning.

“If my lightning style won’t work, then maybe ice style!” Fuyōna shouted as he appeared on top of the gold dust sphere, stabbing a giant bone blade he had created from fusing multiple bones together until they took the shape of a sizeable twisted lance head.

The bone blade struck the gold dust piercing it about halfway through. Fuyōna wasn’t trying to break the defence. Instead, he had infused his ice release into his bone blade allowing it to freeze almost anything it struck.

The gold dust reacted on defence and spikes rose up trying to impale Fuyōna. However, before they could reach him, the gold dust froze as the ice began to surround the entire sphere.

Inside the gold dust sphere, the Kazekage was focusing all of his chakra to keep the defence up against Fuyōna’s lightning style. Suddenly he could feel a chill all around him as his gold dust started to freeze, the ice slowly making it’s way to his feet.

He became enraged that he was being put on his toes by Fuyōna and decided it was time to get serious.

“Don’t underestimate the Kazekage!” He shouted as dark circles appeared around his eyes.

A humongous amount of gold dust suddenly burst through Fuyōna’s crystal ice mirrors, shattering them under the weight. Fuyōna was quickly forced on the defensive as he tried to jump away but was swarmed on all sides, making escape next to impossible and the gold dust wrapped its self around Fuyōna, trapping him and squeezing tightly.

“You have been a thorn in my side long enough boy. This time you won’t escape.” The Kazekage said as he clapped his palms together.

“I’m going to bury you under this desert for eternity!” He shouted, letting his chakra explode.

The gold dust started pulling Fuyōna down into the sand at a steady pace. His entire body was trapped apart from his face, helpless to do anything other than watch as the Kazekage smirked in triumph.

Fuyōna’s problem wasn’t being crushed to death. Thanks to his bones being reinforced, he didn’t have to worry about that. His concern was now his air supply.

“This is your end.” The Kazekage said just before Fuyōna took a large breath, his face descending into the hot sand.

Fuyōna was starting to panic now. He continued to sink lower and lower into the sand as the gold dust pulled him down. The weight was starting to get more intense and if not for his Kekkie Genkai, he would have been crushed already.

“What do I do?” He thought to himself. Panic setting in now as he was running out of ideas.

“Calm yourself, Fuyōna.” Saiken’s voice suddenly said.

Fuyōna closed his eyes to the darkness of the underground entering his inner psychic, coming face to face with Saiken.

“Fuyōna, you must remain calm and try not to panic,” Saiken said.

Fuyōna waved his arms in the air, “How am I supposed to remain calm when I have been buried alive!” He shouted, still panicking.

He turned to Saiken with a desperate look on his face.

“We have to enter tailed beast state! Its the only way to free us from this pressure.” Fuyōna said, thinking about it hard.

Saiken shuck his large head.

“you know we can’t do that yet. We still need more practice.” The six tails said.

Fuyōna objected but was suddenly pulled out of his inner psychic as his air supply took a severe dive.

“I’m almost out of air… My lungs are burning… How…” He thought to himself as his world slowly turned even darker than it already was.

His memories started to flash over in his mind. Memories of his previous life in the real world, how he was shot and killed, being reborn into this world.

“I don’t want to die again…”

Fuyōna felt a sudden burst of life as he repeated the words, his conviction to live becoming stronger.

“I won’t die here…”

Fuyōna started to concentrate hard, allowing his chakra to spill out all around his body. He had to focus extremely hard, allowing every chakra point to dispel chakra at the same time, managing to form a small layer of ice around his entire body freezing the gold dust around him, giving him just enough room to make a few hand signs.

“I won’t let this be the end… Summoning jutsu!” Fuyōna shouted as he slapped his bleeding hand onto the small layer of ice.

The Kazekage stood with an ȧssertive, victorious posture. Having watched Fuyōna sink into the sand below trapping him under the weight of the desert, he was confident he was rid of him for good.

The Kazekage could feel the sand beneath his feet start to shift. The vibrations started to get stronger and stronger until the Kazekage felt the sand suddenly burst beneath him, forcing him to jump high into the air to avoid what followed.

“ARRRGGHHHHHHHH!!!!” A huge white Yeti roared as it burst from the sand, its breath freezing anything it touched.

The Yeti landed hard causing the sand beneath it to cascade before it settled back down, giving another mighty roar focusing its gaze on the Kazekage.

“What on earth is that thing!” The Kazekage said, not believing his eyes as he noticed Fuyōna stood on top of its head.

“Good job Fuyu!” Fuyōna said to the large Yeti.

“Looks like you’re in a tough spot with this one. I will do what I can to aid you!” Fuyu shouted as he lept in to attack.

The Kazekage took a breath before allowing his gold dust to explode all around him.

“You insolent brat! I thought I already told you. Don’t underestimate the Kazekage!” He shouted as gold dust erupted in such a humongous wave that it towered over Fuyu.

“Here we go!” Fuyu shouted as he roared, using his icy breath to freeze the gold dust before crashing his fist through it sending chunks of ice smashing into the ground.

Wave after wave of gold dust attacked as Fuyu continued to freeze and smash it. The Kazekage was flying in the air on his gold dust glider, using all of his focus to try and surround Fuyu with it, all while dodging in and out of the rain of icicles.

Fuyu jumped into the air spinning rapidly as he did shooting large icicles in every direction, freezing anything they came into contact with. Yet, more gold dust took its place as Fuyu continued to battle wave after wave again.

“It’s never ending!” Fuyu shouted as he smashed yet another frozen wave of gold dust with his massive fist.

“you need to distract him! Break his concentration so I can get close to him!” Fuyu shouted. Gold dust wrapped around his neck and his arm as it tried to pull him to the ground.

“I’m on it!” Fuyōna shouted as he started to form hand signs as fast as possible.

“Get to it then!” Fuyu shouted as he used his ice breath to freeze the gold dust wrapped around his arm, breaking it and then doing the same to the gold dust around his neck before tackling yet another wave.

The Kazekage was using all of his strength, gliding around in the air as he avoided huge chunks of frozen gold dust one after the other as he continued to attack with all of his might.

“I am the Yondaime Kazekage! The likes of you will not defeat me!” He roared, raising his hands up, drawing as much gold dust as he could gather.

The gold dust responded to the Kazekages command as it continued to rise and rise until it towered so high that it made Fuyu look small.

“This is it! You’re finished!” Th Kazekage shouted as he clasped his hands together before pulling them apart as if they were stuck together, moulding the gold dust with his chakra.

The massive tower of gold dust suddenly started to rain down hellfire, as huge missiles of re-inforced gold dust fired in a volley so vast that it blocked the sun out.

“Not good!” Fuyu shouted as he attempted to avoid as many gold dust missiles as he could, but there were just too many, and the unrelenting barrage quickly blasted him into the ground. At the last second, Fuyu grabbed Fuyōna and tossed him high above the storm of gold dust.

“I have done all I can… The rest is up to you Fuyōna…” Fuyu said before vanishing in a large poof of white smoke.

Fuyōna had finished his hand signs while still flying through the air. He formed an ice mirror and slipped into it, looking back just before he did.

“Thank you, Fuyu…” Fuyōna said, disappearing into the ice mirror.

Quickly he slipped out of another ice mirror and flew through the air with tremendous speed, headed right for the Kazekage.

“Eat this!!!” Fuyōna shouted as he let the bones in his arm form a massive lancehead, infusing it with lightning style chakra.

The Kazekage had been so busy attacking the massive Yeti with all of his might that he had failed to notice Fuyōna take his blind spot.

“When did he!” He said under his breath as he tried to bring gold dust around his body to form a defensive barrier.

At the absolute last second, the Kazekage was able to fire a spear of gold dust that hit Fuyōna in his stomach, causing him to alter his trajectory by just an inch. His bone lance scraping the Kazekages left arm, knocking him off his gold dust glider into the air.

Fuyōna and the Kazekage both fell through the air at high speed, Fuyōna had taken a fair bit of damage from the gold dust spear as it had managed to break through his bone defence and hit one of his vital organs.

The Kazekage had also taken damage from Fuyōna’s attack. His left arm had been cut, leaving a deep wound and thanks to the lightning style half of his body was currently paralyzed, causing him to free fall alongside Fuyōna.

Still, the Kazekage was able to break his fall with a blanket of gold dust before he hit the desert sand below. Fuyōna, on the other hand, had not been so lucky and hit the ground at full speed crashing hard into the sand below.

The Kazekage sat up slowly holding his left arm with his right hand, trying to stop the bleeding. His gold dust mountain had fallen crashing to the ground, harmlessly in the background.

He concentrated hard using a small amount to wrap around the gash on his arm, squeezing firmly stopping the bleeding like a tourniquet.

He winced before looking over to Fuyōna who was starting to pull himself out of the small crater he had created in the sand from his impact. His bones may have been harder than steel, but his insides were not, and the impact from the ground had done damage, not to mention the internal bleeding he was suffering from.

Fuyōna dragged himself out of the crater, coughing up blood onto the sand as he did. Looking over to the Kazekage who was examining him intently.

“Why don’t you give up? Why won’t you just die!” He said as he extended his right arm shakily, his body still a little numb from the lightning style.

Gold dust started to creep along the sand, making its way over to Fuyōna, slowly covering his body, wrapping him up once again, ready to crush him.

“Looks like you’re out of tricks this time.” The Kazekage said, forcing himself to stand shaking the effects of Fuyōna’s attack off with sheer will power.

Fuyōna had nothing left now. He was using all of his remaining chakra to try and stop the internal bleeding as well as keep his bones reinforced so that the gold dust didn’t crush him. Closing his eyes, he used the last of his energy to enter his inner psyche.

“I don’t think I have the strength left to keep fighting…” Fuyōna said, lying on his back in the soft snow that covered the ground in his inner world.

He was looking up into the sky, the glow of the moon bringing him some comfort.

“You think you can lend me a hand, Saiken?” He said, looking over to the six tails who was sat next to him.

“We are one Fuyōna. My powers are at your disposal.” The six tails said softly as he watched Fuyōna’s eyes start to close.

“Good… I think I’ll tag you in for this round…” Fuyōna said before falling unconscious.

Saiken nodded as he picked Fuyōna up with one of its tails, placing his body inside the centre of its stomach.

“Time for you to rest Fuyōna…. I will take it from here.”