Of Bone And Ice - Chapter 5

The word has spread like wildfire, the boy who had killed over one hundred students. It was rare to have just one person kill so many by themself, what had really shocked everyone was that the boy wasn’t even a student of the academy. The Mizukage himself had interrogated the boy. Zabuza Momochi was his name. It was all starting to fall into place now. The timeline was starting to make sense, if Zabuza was a little older than me, then that meant that I was only a year or two younger than Kakashi.

Not long after my breakdown the survivors and I had been gathered and handed our hidden mist headbands. I counted fifty-one students in total. It was no hidden fact that this year’s numbers had been low. All thanks to the arrival of Zabuza I had no doubt, at least not long after this they would be done with the barbaric graduation exam and change their ways. The head instructors and others had not just been watching to make sure no one tried to run away. They had been observing our strengths and our weaknesses.

Each student was placed in an area where their strengths had seemed strongest. The categories listed as followed. Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Kenjutsu. Most students were placed into just one other category, everyone was placed into Kenjutsu though, Kirigakaru was known for its famous swordsmen after all. Only ten students were placed into three or more categories me being one of them.

“Fuyona Yuki, Kenjutsu, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu.” The instructor called out. I was moved into the small section of students that had been placed into more than two categories. while the others were organized into their own sections. It turned out even though we had become Genin we still had three weeks left at the academy. They called it the advanced classes and they called them that for a reason.

We were given no time to rest, no time to celebrate our promotion we were straight back to training. The hidden mist had taken heavy losses during the war so far and the village needed more soldiers and fast. Smaller conflicts and skirmishes around the land of water and its neighbors were also taking place and the need for soldiers was increasing. We quickly fell into a routine just like we had in our basic training, as it was referred to. First was Kenjutsu practice, every student was in attendance and the silence was painful as we waited for our instructor. We were all gathered in a large hall, it was quite a strange one as it had a large stone walkway in a full square around the diameter of the training ground. The lower level was all water and it was at least waist height. The large doors opened crashing off the walls like they had been kicked. The students cleared the way as a large slender man walked past them to the front. He had a huge sword on his back which I recognized right away, He had no eyebrows, creases under his eyes and a cross-shaped scar on his right cheek. The most noticeable thing about him was the red grid-shaped marking covering his jaw. His gaze was heavy as he looked all of us up and down.

“Right you sorry shits, get yourself a training sword and follow me.”

The man jumped down and landed on the water standing on it using his chakra. Everyone quickly grabbed one of the training swords and jumped down into the water. I was right, it had been about waist height. None of us could stand on the water using our charka yet and we were all forced to withstand the chill of the cold.

“My name is Juzo Biwa. One of the seven swordsmen of the mist.”

Everyone broke out into whisper. It was well known that the seven swordsmen of the mist were extremely powerful ninja, in fact, their power and position in the village was second only to the Mizukage himself. Juzo scoffed at the fact none of us could walk on the water yet, his smile fading fast.

“The Mizukage has asked that I don’t kill any of you… But I don’t give a rats arse about whether you live or die. Now I want all of you to come at me. You can attack one at a time or all at once, it doesn’t matter. If you don’t keep your guard up you might die.”

No one moved for a few seconds. I was pretty sure if he really wanted to he could kill us all. My memory about him was fuzzy at best but the fact he had the executioners blade before Zabuza said it all. Suddenly one of the students flew through the air his sword raised for an attack. It was Zabuza. Juzo blocked his attack like it was nothing kicking him so hard in the ċhėst that he flew into five of the other students knocking them down into the water.

Everyone roared and charged in for an attack on Juzo, he was using the blunt edge of his giant blade to block and attack. Even though it wouldn’t cut you the weight of the blade its self could still kill if it hit in the right place. Juzo blocked and dodged every attack that came his way. His speed, strength, and skill were way beyond any of our own. This was the power of one of the seven. It was incredible.

I followed two others around to his left flank, moving in the water made life hard work but with the use of our chakra control, we could still move at a decent pace. The two boys charged in for the attack, one jumped high and the other went in low. It was a perfect team attack even if it was unplanned. Juzo instantly spun around blocking both attacks at once with his large blade. He punched the boy who was still falling through the air sending him flying backward, then using the blade he pulled himself off the ground spinning a powerful kick into the boy’s ribs breaking them on impact and sending him crashing into the wall.

“This is my chance.” I thought as I moved in to attack Juzo while he was still off his feet. Juzo pulled himself out of the way landing and spinning around for a counter-attack. I blocked the hit but the force took me off my feet and I was sent sprawling backward. I recovered quickly only to see Juzo holding his sword above me ready to attack again.

“Not a bad effort kid.” He said as he swung the blade down.

I lifted my sword up to block the strike, but his blade was too heavy and snapped mine in half striking me on the shoulder. Luckily for me, I was able to block the strike with a few bones that had sprung out of my shoulder, Juzo looked shocked and I quickly went on the counter-attack. Pulling one of the bones fully out of my shoulder like a short sword swinging it aiming for his stomach. Juzo quickly jumped back out of the way pulling his blade up onto his shoulder.

“So you’re a Kaguya…” He said his face still. His thoughts were interrupted as Zabuza suddenly sprang out of the water like a shark. His sword swung so close to Juzos head I thought he had sliced it off. Juzo watched as a small piece of hair fall from his head and into the water. He looked at Zabuza and then back to me, a smile coming to his face as he did.

“Looks like this year’s genin aren’t just cannon fodder!” he said pointing his sword at use.

I looked around quickly to see how many of the others were left. Including myself and Zabuza there were 10 of us left who could still fight. The others had been taken out of the water by some of the other instructors who must have been watching from the shadows.

“You don’t have time to be looking around kid!” Juzo shouted as he appeared in front of me.

“When did he?!” I was snapped out of my thoughts when his kick collided with my ċhėst, even with the shield of bone spikes that had protruded out to block his attack I had still been sent flying. Zabuza and two others attacked at the same time but Juzo made short work of them throwing them around like ragdolls. No one dared move or attack him and so he decided to go on the offensive.

“If no one wants to attack, then allow me!” He shouted running over to two of the others who were frozen in fear. Juzo used a front kick to the girl who slammed against the wall hard coughing up blood into the water. He then swung a sideswipe at the boy who despite blocking the attack was treated like a ragdoll as he swung through the air and bounced off of the water a few times before stopping. I could feel the pressure his aura was giving off. It felt dark and heavy as if it were weighing me down.

This was starting to get dangerous now, at first he had been toying with us and taking it easy, but now his bloodlust was showing and his attacks were stronger. Someone could easily die if this carried on much longer. Juzo charged through the other students like a raging bull a smile on his face as he did. He was running towards me now and I could tell he meant business.

I dodged the first swipe that was aimed at my head ducking under the slash, I thrust forward with my bone blade. He dodged my strike and backhanded my forearm causing me to drop my weapon, he spun the massive blade around with such grace and ease and the second attack went low for my knees. I jumped spinning in the air executing a buŧŧerfly kick but as soon as I landed another attack was already coming down at my head. Even if I reinforced my skull the weight of the blade would knock me out for sure.

I had to move, I had to do something. Suddenly Juzo stopped the attack and launched himself backward. It would seem that unconsciously I had frozen the water around me and large spikes of ice had shot up all around me. Juzo had sensed the danger and avoided the surprise attack.

“Ice!?” He said a little too loud. He pointed his blade at me his razor-sharp teeth on show. “What is your name kid?” He asked.

“Fuyona Yuki,” I said willing the ice to turn back to the water. Juzo laughed. “Yuki you say. My oh my, what a strange one you are.”

His words were cut off as Zabuza tried another sneak attack, Juzo grabbed his wrist spinning it around until Zabuza’s sword was at his own throat. Juzo held him in this position for a moment until he let go and pushed him away.

“Class is dismissed.” He said as he walked away placing his massive sword back on his back. I could feel the stares that the others were giving me. It was very uncommon to see someone with two kekkei Genkai’s. Hell in this village it was even rare to someone with just one. Not long after Kenjutsu, the students who were able were sent to their next class. We were being forced to specialize in one area all with the exception of a few of us. It made sense the more it thought about it. If they only had a small window of time to train ninja then it was best to focus on their strongest abilities and then mix match them when forming squads.

Our next class was Taijutsu. It was pretty much the same as our last Taijutsu class from the academy but focused on the use of weapons and aiming for the weakest areas of the body. The Taijutsu instructor was a small but built man He had his headband around his forehead and liked to twist one end of his large mustache. He was very strict when it came to our forms and technique, constantly saying the technique was more important than strength. It was true to an extent but in this world, there was some ninja that Taijutsu technique just wouldn’t cut it.

After the Taijutsu practice, all except the ten students who had not been picked to attend more than two classes were taken off to the classroom. The rest of us were escorted to our final lesson. Five of us including myself were taken to the Ninjutsu instructor and the others to the Genjutsu.

“Alright class I want each of you to focus your chakra into the paper I have just given you. This will allow me to see what nature affinity you possess and work from there!”

She seemed far too cheerful for a hidden mist jonin, but hey who was I to judge. Everyone poured their charka into the paper waiting to see what would happen. To no surprise of mine, Zabuza’s paper went all soggy like it was soaked. The girl’s paper slit in half indicating she was a wind style user. one of the other boys jumped as his set on fire and the others did the same as Zabuza’s.

My own paper went soggy and then ripped, of course, it was no surprise, after all, I had the ice release that used both water and wind combined. The instructor noticed each of our paper’s effects and nodded with a smile. She walked over to me and gasped.

“What do we have here?” She said as she took the wet paper from me. “It is very rare for a student to show two elements on their first paper test.”

I nodded and rubbed the back of my head. “I have a kekkei Genkai sensei,” I said a small smile on my lips. She didn’t seem surprised.

“Well, that would make sense.” She said as she walked back to the middle. Unlike most, she didn’t give any hint that she cared. “Now begins your lesson, I want you to focus your chakra and combine it with hand signs to manipulate the element you are affiliated with.” We all gave a nod and began.

This was a great chance for me to practice using my ice style, I had been so busy in the academy that I had never had the chance to use it. Unlike my Kaguya abilities which I could practice in secret without anybody knowing. We had been at it for hours now and so far none of the others, well other than Zabuza had made any progress. Zabuza had been able to form the water into a large ball and then drop it back to the ground. The sensei was very impressed and had said that not many shinobi could learn to use an element on their first day. The others had not been so lucky as none of them had even come close to showing any signs of their element.

I had managed to do quite a lot even experimenting with some Jutsu. I had first formed blades of ice like I had seen Shimo do when he battled Kachina. Next, I found that my abilities allowed me to control water with the use of my chakra once I applied hand signs to it the effort required was less and the end result was stronger. It didn’t go unnoticed that the others were jealous of me, but I didn’t let it bother me. It really was a curse to be born without a Kekkei Genkai in this world and I had been blessed with two.

After Ninjutsu practice we had been forced to practice our charka control for another two hours, we were made to focus the Chakra in our feet more than any other place in our body. Once that was over it was a late meal and then lights out. The sixteen others I had shared a room with were all gone now killed in the final exam. It was just me, I was the lone survivor but that didn’t matter and I wouldn’t have it any other way.. Over my three years in the academy of this village, I had quickly learned that in this world strength was everything, and if my resolve meant anything it was that I would be.