Of Bone And Ice - Chapter 51

A few more days passed by as Fuyōna became increasingly busy with meetings and paperwork. Something he didn’t plan to happen. However, with his new laws and plans to change the hidden mist, he would have a lot of work ahead of him.

Although Fuyōna had been busy with his duties as the Mizukage, he had still found time to spend with Kimimaro and Haku, making sure to fit some training in for the pair.

They had also told Fuyōna all about the training exercise that their new sensei had put them through. Of course, Fuyōna already knew all about it as he had sent a clone to watch the entire thing.

A few days ago…

Haku, Kimimaro and Koyuki had left the academy so that they could meet with their new sensei as instructed. Both Haku and Kimimaro had only just meet Koyuki today, knowing nothing else about her other than she was now on their team.

Their new sensei had instructed them to meet at one of the training fields so that he could meet them and see what they had.

“I wonder what our new sensei is like?” Koyuki said.

She was certainly not shy and said what was on her mind.

Haku also seemed filled with excitement.

“I wonder what kind of test he will have in store for us?” Haku said.

Kimimaro stayed quiet as he was a little more reserved, although he still had a smile on his face.

Not long passed, and the three of them soon found themselves at the training field. It was a simple place with a large open grassy plain, a few training posts scattered around, and as always in Kirigakure, covered in a faint mist.

“I think we’re early,” Koyuki said as she took a good look around, seeing no sign of their sensei.

Haku was also carefree as he too took a good look around.

“Well, I’m sure they won’t be long.” He said.

Kimimaro however, had a bad feeling as he scouted the area.

“Be on guard.” He said as he suddenly took a fighting stance.

Koyuki had a questing look on her face as he did, but Haku suddenly also took a fighting stance as he drew a handful of senbon needles.

“I feel it too.” He said taking a stance.

Suddenly three shadows appeared out of the mist, donned in all black clothing with their face covered by a bandana.

Kimimaro, Haku and Koyuki all noticed the shadows and got ready as they too took a fighting stance.

“What’s going on? Are they here for us?” Koyuki asked.

“I dont know, but be prepared to fight,” Haku said.

The three shinobi suddenly charged in towards the three genin as they each picked their opponents.

Kimimaro charged dead ahead and jumped into the air spinning in a circle as he fired two bone blades at the two other shinobi before he clashed with his chosen target.

Haku took full advantage of the opportunity Kimimaro had given him and without hesitation jumped into battle.

The shinobi on Haku’s side was able to avoid the bone blade Kimimaro had fired at him. However, he had been forced to alter his path and Haku took full advantage of this.

Throwing a volley of senbon needles, each with pinpoint accuracy heading towards a vita pressure point.

The enemy suddenly pulled out a sword and blocked the needles before looking for Haku.

“Where the hell did he go?” He said, before looking up.

Haku had jumped high into the air, using the cover of the senbon needles in an attempt to land a surprise attack.

“Now, ice style!” Haku started as he formed the hand signs.

The enemy shinobi looked on from the ground as he could see what Haku was doing.

“Not bad kid.” He thought before he started to form his own hand signs.

Kimimaro was currently looked in a battle with his opponent. Dancing around with such grace as bones sprouted from his body at all angles.

The enemy shinobi was using his sword with amazing skill as he continued to deflect each of Kimimaro’s attacks, maintaining his footing and preventing Kimimaro from pushing him back on the defensive.

“This guy is highly skilled.” Kimimaro thought as he flipped over his head with his back to the enemy.

Suddenly a huge amount of razor-sharp bone spikes shot out from Kimimaro’s back, crushing the shinobi before Kimimaro landed back onto his feet gracefully.

“A substitution,” Kimimaro said before he turned around and blocked a downwards slash from the enemy’s sword.

“Not bad kid. But let’s see how you handle this!” The enemy then said as he kicked Kimimaro back so he had room to form some hand signs.

Koyuki had watched how Haku and Kimimaro had leapt into action with hesitation. She had to say, she was impressed. But at the same time felt this was the perfect time to show them what she had to offer to the team.

Her opponent had appeared behind her and attempted to grab her in a chokehold. However, Koyuki quickly dropped to the ground and kicked her foot back, hitting the enemy’s knee.

“I dont think so! Fire style, fireball jutsu!” She shouted as she rolled and formed the hand signs, before launching the intense fire style jutsu at the shinobi.

He was certainly surprised as he jumped back quickly, using his sword to slash and deflect the fire before he flipped backwards and landed like a cat.

“I’m not done just yet!” Koyuki said, as she flipped up to her feet and took a handful of shuriken and threw them towards the enemy.

She wasn’t finished there though, as she started to form more hand signs.

“Wind style! Air bullets!” She shouted as she fired a hand full of wind style bullets.

She then quickly threw a load more shuriken, and the enemy shinobi watched as he jumped out of the way of the first round of shuriken.

“To easy kid,” He said as he flipped in the air.

To his surprise, the wind bullets she had fired hit the ground before the first round of shuriken, bursting and propelling the shuriken into the air where they collided with the second round of shuriken.

The second round of shuriken then deflected off the first and changed their direction, travelling even faster than before, right towards the enemy shinobi.

“What! How did she?” He thought as he was forced to deflect the projectiles with his swords before landing on the ground.

“How did she do that with such precision?” He thought before he turned around to see Koyuki above him with a kunai in each hand.

“Take this!” She shouted as she swiped down at the shinobi’s face.

Meanwhile, Haku was free-falling in the air as he formed hand signs at an impressive rate.

“Ice style!” He started.

“Not bad kid, but not fast enough! Water style! Water bullets!” The enemy shouted as he fired a rapid-fire shot of water bullets from his mouth.

Haku was forced to stop his jutsu and quickly react to the water bullets that were heading right towards him, intent on ripping him in half.

Haku was a quick thinker and able to stay calm in difficult situations. Instead of abandoning his jutsu, he simply changed a few hand signs and altered it to use a wind style that allowed him to move midair and avoid the water bullets.

“That kid just changed his jutsu last minute and avoided my attack…” The enemy thought as he watched what just happened.

“Time to finish this, please forgive me.” Haku’s voice suddenly said from behind the enemy shinobi as he appeared from nowhere, forming hand signs with just one hand.

“How did he!”

Haku gripped the enemies wrist with impressive force and suddenly it froze.

“What in the hell?” The shinobi shouted as he tried to pull free from Haku’s grip.

“It’s no use,” Haku said.

Suddenly two senbon needles hit the shinobi in his neck, each striking a perfect point that took all sense of movement away from him.

“This way you won’t feel any pain as you die,” Haku said as the ice suddenly started to spread up his arm, freezing everything that Haku touched.

Kimimaro flipped back from the kick his opponent had given him. Landing on the ground he slid back and looked up as his opponent was forming his hand signs, and from the look of them, it was going to be a large jutsu.

“I need to stop him,” Kimimaro said as he allowed the bones in his fingertips to push out a little.

“Take this!” He shouted as he fired a volley of bone bullets.

He didn’t stop there as he continued to jump and dance, launching barrage after barrage of bone bullets, in an attempt to stop the enemies hand signs.

However, Kimimaro’s efforts had been in vain as his opponent jumped out of the way and avoided each volley while still making his hand signs.

“It’s not enough!” Kimimaro said as he suddenly burst forwards at great speed in an attempt to get close to his opponent before he finished his hand signs.

“This kid is fast, but not fast enough.” He thought as he finished his hand sign.

“You’re done for!” Water style!” He started.

However, at the last second, the real Kimimaro burst from the ground stabbing a bone blade into the opponent’s throat stopping him from enacting the jutsu.

To Kimimaro’s, Haku’s, and Koyuki’s surprise, each of their opponents burst into a puff of white smoke as they all delivered the finishing blow at the same time.

Each of them looked around and looked to each other as they quickly regrouped, expecting a counterattack to come their way.

“Looks like they were shadow clones,” Kimimaro said, doing his best to scout the area.

“Haku can you find the real one?” He asked.

Haku shook his.

“I can’t sense anything.” He said, staying alert like the others.

“What the hell is going on here?” Koyuki said, relaxing a little.

“Alright you guys, that’s enough!” A voice in the distance said.

All three of them looked towards it, each ready to defend themselves. However, once they saw who walked out of the mist they seemed to release a little.

“Man, Lord Mizukage wasn’t kidding about you three.” The man said with a smile on his face.

It was Kaga. One of Fuyōna’s trusted teammates, and one of his generals in the battle against the fourth Mizukage. Kaga was a tall good looking man with long blond hair who wore the standard mist jonin attire.

“I’m sorry if I startled the three of you, but I thought you would fight a little harder if you thought your life was on the line,” Kaga said rubbing the back of his head.

Koyuki blushed a little as she got a good look at him, seeing how handsome he was. While Haku and Kimimaro both relaxed, realising that this had been a test.

“So you are our new sensei?” Haku said.

Kaga nodded.

“That’s right, as order by Lord Mizukage.” He said.

“I just wanted to see what each of you were made of. So I decided to send a couple of shadow clones after you. I’m pleased to tell you that you all passed with flying colours!” He then said giving them a thumbs up.

“Now how about you all tell me a little about yourselves?” He then said.

With that, the four of them all sat down against some of the training posts and Kaga proceeded to introduce himself properly.

“My name is Kaga. I’m a jonin and was asked by Lord fifth to take on you three forming this squad.” He said, introducing himself.

“Now how about each of you tell’s me a little about yourself, maybe even what you dream of doing.” He said.

Koyuki didn’t waste any time as she spoke up first.

“My name is Koyuki Karatachi! I’m ten years old and the only daughter of the Yondaime Mizukage. My dream is to become a powerful kunoichi and clear my father’s name.” She said, confident and bold.

Kaga nodded as he crossed his arms.

“An impressive goal, Koyuki.”

Haku went next, wearing a gentle smile on his face as always.

“My name is Haku Yuki. I am eight years old and my dream is to be useful to my master, making him proud of me.” He said softly.

Kaga nodded in understanding as he had already been briefed on Haku and Kimimaro by Fuyōna.

Kaga then looked to Kimimaro, who also had a peaceful look on his face.

“And what about you?” Kaga asked.

Kimimaro smiled.

“I too want to become a strong ninja and make my master proud of me. I will do anything to be useful towards his goals.” Kimimaro said.

Kaga nodded.

“Alright then… Pleased to meet all of you.” He said as he stood to his feet.

“Now, I want you all to get some rest. I will summon you for our first mission in a few days, alright?” Kaga said.

The three of them al nodded and Kaga bid them farewell as he suddenly vanished, leaving the three of them alone.

Kaga had then reported to Fuyōna who had been watching the whole thing from the shadows, keeping an eye on their progress.

“Lord Mizukage,” Kaga said as he bowed his head to Fuyōna.

Fuyōna nodded in response. He was leaning against a tree with his arms crossed and pushed off it to stand up straight.

“So?” He then asked.

Kaga smiled.

“you weren’t kidding. Those kids pack a punch.” Kaga said with a smile.

“Each of them passed my test without any issue, all of them were able to defeat one of my shadow clones,” Kaga said.

Fuyōna nodded.

“Very good.” He said seeming pleased with their abilities.

“Let them rest for a few days now. I’ll prepare a mission that will suit their abilities soon, come and see me then.” Fuyōna said.

Kaga nodded and bowed before Fuyōna disappeared.

Fuyōna was now sat in his office as he finished remembered the events that had happened. He was flicking through paperwork and files that mission slips had been put into.

Unlike before they had not been given a class system and only the Mizukage deemed how difficult the mission was, giving it to whoever he wanted.

Fuyōna had put a stop to that. Now each mission would be judged on its difficultly and given a rank from D to S, just like the hidden leaf. This way he could prevent genin from being used as cannon fodder in more difficult missions that they weren’t ready for, and ȧssign missions to people whose strength suited the task.

Thanks to him lowering the price of the Mist’s cost for missions, they had received a large influx of mission lately and the village had become busy in providing shinobi to deal with the sudden increase of work.

Fuyōna had found the perfect mission for his student’s and had deemed that it should be safe enough for them to complete without anything bad happening.

It was a C rank mission. One of the nobles of the land of hot water had reported bandits had been raiding his lands and had requested the hidden mist to deal with it, seeing at how low their costs had become.

The bandits had been reported to be no stronger than chunin level ninja and Fuyōna thought it would be a perfect test for them before he pushed them any further.

“Alright, team 11. Come in.” He then said, summoning them inside.

The doors to his office opened and Kaga walked in with Kimimaro, Haku and Koyuki. Haku and Kimimaro were also dressed in the new gear that Fuyōna had gotten them as a reward for passing out of the academy and becoming a genin, showing them how proud of them he was.

Haku wore the standard Kirigakure pinstriped outfit which stopped at his knees. Over this, he wore a green haori with white trimmings, and around his waist a brown sash with a fringed trail wrapped around his waist twice. He also wore light-brown platoon sandals with straps in the same colour as his kimono.

It was ironic that he now wore the same outfit he had worn in the anime and manga.

Kimimaro now worse a pair of black trousers and a long-sleeved black shirt. It was very similar to what Fuyōna used to wear when he was that age, just without the mist flak jacket. The idea was that he could easily remove the top and use his jutsu without the clothing getting in the way.

Both Kimimaro and Haku also wore their hidden mist headbands around their head with pride.

Koyuki wore a blue robe that was loose around her shoulders, she had a black sleeveless under-top, that also covered half of her neck. She additionally had a black corset wrapped around her waist which also displayed her forehead protector. She had black tights on and the standard black shinobi boots on along with black fingerless gloves that ran up to her bicep.

Each of them bowed as they stopped before Fuyōna. Greeting with respect. It was the first time Koyuki had met Fuyōna after what had happened with her father, although she had been told the story, leaving out a few details, of course.

“Alright, you three. Are you ready for your first mission?” He said as he interlocked his fingers, a smile appearing on his face.

The three of them nodded in confidence as they looked into Fuyōna’s eyes.

“Yes Lord Mizukage!” They each replied.

“Alright then,” Fuyōna said as he leaned back in his chair.

“I’m giving you a mission to head to the land of hot water and dispose of a group of bandits who have been raiding a noble’s lands. The bandits have been reported to be chunin level. Think you can handle it?” Fuyōna said, waiting to see how they each reacted.

Koyuki stepped forwards first.

“We can handle it no problem.” She said looking Fuyōna in the eye with fierce determination.

Kimimaro and Haku also stepped forwards both nodding in agreement.

“Alright then,” Fuyōna said as he tossed the scroll to Kaga.

“You’d best be off then.” He said, feeling like a proud father at seeing how far they had already come.

Ok going to end it there! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always thank you for the support!