Of Bone And Ice - Chapter 53

“Pregnant…” Fuyōna said, his face filled with surprise.

Suiren nodded as she held her hands close to her ċhėst.

“I know it’s a shock… I didn’t plan this either.” She said almost seeming sad.

Fuyōna quickly wrapped his arms around her as he held her in his embrace.

“Please don’t be sad Suiren. This isn’t a bad thing.” He said smiling at her.

“But Mei.” She said looking into his eyes.

“Mei is already pregnant with your child…” Suiren started.

Fuyōna wasn’t sure where she was going with this and just held her.

“I want you to be in both of these children’s lives. They should both grow up with their father.” She said with a determined look on her face.

“They will,” Fuyōna said with a smile.

“I’m not planning on going anywhere.” He said.

Suiren shook her head.

“I don’t mean that. I mean they should both grow up with their father in the same house.” She said.

Fuyōna nodded his head slowly trying to understand where she was going with this.

“T-That’s why I have decided. I’ve decided to invite Mei to live with us!” She said adamantly.

“Wait what?” Fuyōna said, now even more shocked.

“That’s right. I’ve asked Mei to come and live with us. That way you can have both of us and be a part of both your children’s lives.” She said looking a little embarrassed.

“Wait, have both of you? What are you saying?” He said.

“I’m saying that from this day onwards, both me and Mei will be here, for you… You are the Mizukage after all, and it would be only right that you have more than one lover…” She said going a little red in the face.

“Ehhh!” Fuyōna shouted in shock at Suirens words.

Meanwhile…

Morning came quickly for team Kaga as they were all up at the crack of dawn. It was drilled into them from their time at the academy and besides, Kaga had summoned them for breakfast.

He wanted the three of them to get an early start on the day, he also wanted to keep out of the way until the time of the mission.

The four of them sat and quality ate their breakfast. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it would give them plenty of energy to help start the day.

Once Van was up and about it wasn’t long until he summoned them to give word that he had put the plans into motion.

“I’ve made a quick change of plans.” He said as he sipped his tea.

“The cargo will be transported in one hour to the closest town. I will be relying on the four of you to escort it there safe and sound.” He said, seeming very cheerful.

“Of course,” Kaga said nodding his head.

“Yeah, leave it to us!” Koyuki then shouted as she punched the air.

Van couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm and placed his teacup back down.

“Excellent. I look forward to hearing your report once the cargo is transported safely and the bandits are dead.” He said, standing up once he had finished talking.

Kaga nodded to him and watched as he walked out of the room.

“Alright you three, prepare your gear. We move out soon.” He said, getting a nod from Haku, Kimimaro and Koyuki, who cheered.

“Alright! I can’t wait!” She said in excitement.

Kaga laughed.

“I wouldn’t get too excited if i were you. Most likely once the bandits see us, they will think twice about attacking.” Kaga said as he crossed his arms.

“Awe! I was looking forwards to kicking some buŧŧ!” Koyuki said as she punched her hand.

Haku simple smiled.

“Don’t worry Koyuki, I’m sure we will still have fun.” He said.

Kimimaro didn’t say anything as usual and remained quiet.

“Ok, dismissed,” Kaga said, allowing them to go and tend to their equipment.

The three of them did as Kaga instructed and left the room to go and prepare for the mission, while Kaga remained.

“Time will tell what lies in store for us.” He said as he pulled a scroll from his tool bag, checking it over as he had a small flashback.

“Zabuza? really my lord?” Kaga said as Fuyōna had just explained the real purpose of the mission to him.

“That’s right,” Fuyōna said as he leaned forwards on his desk.

“Our spies have picked up a trail and new intel has come in saying he could be somewhere in the land of hot water.”

Kaga nodded.

“If that is indeed true, I don’t think my squad is qualified to handle such a mission,” Kaga said.

“I understand that,” Fuyōna said as he picked a scroll up and placed it on the desk in front of Kaga.

“I can’t afford to send a tracker squad. If Zabuza gets even a slight whiff that they are tracking him, he will disappear.” Fuyōna said crossing his arms.

“I don’t like it, but I’m using your squad as bait,” Fuyōna said.

“But what about my squad? Would you really risk their lives?” Kaga asked.

“You are not to engage. If you come into contact with Zabuza I want you to activate that scroll. Is that understood?” Fuyōna said.

Kaga nodded, realising it was a reverse summoning scroll that would summon Fuyōna to its location.

“Very well Lord Mizukage, I understand.

Kaga’s flashback ended, and he put the scroll back into his weapons pouch.

Not long passed and Kaga regrouped with his students outside by the barn.

The cargo had been loaded onto two separate horses and carts. Exotic spices and salts were the cargo, meaning it was worth stealing.

Kaga had a chat with both drivers so he could find out any details he might need to know in case of an attack.

After that, he headed over to the others so that he could give them a quick brief before they set off.

“Alright listen up. Koyuki, I want you to ride in the first carriage.” He said, getting a nod from her.

“Kimimaro you will be walking on the right of the convoy, while Haku takes the left side.” He said.

“I’ll stay at the back so I can keep an eye on things.” He then said.

“Understood?”

“Yes sensei.” The three of them said.

“Good, let’s move out.” Kaga then said as he headed to the back to take his position.

With that all done the convoy headed off as the two drivers gave the horses a nudge, signalling them to start walking.

The others had taken their positions and now all that remained was to stay alert in case of an attack.

The driver that Koyuki sat next to looked her up and down, surprised at how young she was.

“Are you really a ninja?” He asked.

Koyuki smirked as she looked at him. He seemed to be a young man maybe twenty years old.

“I am, want me to kill you to prove it.” She said with a terrifying expression on her face.

The driver could feel her killer instinct and backed off.

“Ok… point proven.” He said as he quickly turned his eyes back to the road.

Kimimaro and Haku took the flanks, walking at a steady pace to match the slow-moving convoy.

Haku had his hands crossed behind his back as he looked around at the pretty flowers growing by the side of the road, humming a little tune in his head seeming to be in a world of his own.

Kaga paid close attention to his team of genin as he sat in the horse and cart at the back. He was sure that Haku and Kimimaro were already at chunin level and both possessed amazing abilities.

“Well of course they are gifted. Lord Mizukage wouldn’t just train any random kids he finds on the street…” Kaga thought.

And besides. They each possessed one of the same Kekkei Genkai that he did. And if Kaga knew Fuyōna, he would have already taught them things that other genin couldn’t even imagine yet.

More time passed and not a lot was going on. Koyuki couldn’t help but yawn as she quickly grew bored.

Kimimaro on the other hand never let his guard down, even though he seemed perfectly at ease as he walked with a blank expression. Kaga could tell that he was on guard.

A small hint of movement in the distance caught Kaga’s gaze, as he turned his head to look.

He scoped out the surrounding area in a matter of seconds, not seeing any other movement.

“Hmm…” He thought as he passed it off for an animal or something.

Haku had also noticed movement as a bush in the surrounding woods rattled ever so slightly.

Haku took a closer look, getting ready to reach for one of his senbon needles. Not a moment later, a small bunny jumped out of the bush staring at Haku for a moment.

“Aw, a bunny.” He said looking at the cute little animal.

He walked over to the rabbit to stroke it and quickly noticed the explosive tag that was wrapped around its underbelly.

Kaga noticed what was going on too late and tried to shout out.

“Haku look out!” He shouted.

The rabbit suddenly exploded, creating a black cloud of fire and smoke that swallowed Haku from sight.

“Attack!” A voice shouted, coming from the woods, signalling the start of an ambush.

“Oh shit, it’s the bandits!” The driver next to Koyuki shouted as he looked at her with fear in his eyes.

Koyuki had seen what happened to Haku and quickly jumped up to her feet.

“You bastards will pay for that!” She shouted.

There were seven bandits in total. Two rushed at Kimimaro, two towards Koyuki and another two towards Kaga. Quickly singling out the shinobi and targeting them first.

Only the leader remained as he stayed back, watching his men go to work from the distance.

Kimimaro quickly jumped into the air dodging a slash from one of the bandits. Kimimaro flipped in the air and pushed his foot off the man’s shoulder, using it as a turning point to gain momentum from, as he kicked the other bandit in the face, breaking his neck dropping him to the floor.

“Why you!” The other one shouted in rage as he raised his sword, swinging it down with all his might.

Kimimaro landed on the ground and spun around with lighting relaxes.

To the man’s surprise, his sword snapped in half as he felt it collide with something stronger than steel.

“What in the…” The man asked as he stared at Kimimaro who had cut his sword in half with a bone blade.

“Time to die,” Kimimaro said as he quickly dashed in, to faster the man to see.

Kimimaro stabbed his bone blade through the man’s heart faster than he could even blink. Coughing up blood he fell to his knees as Kimimaro had his back to him, only turning around when he dropped to the ground.

Koyuki quickly jumped into the air, pulling the driver of the cart off with her to avoid a shower of shuriken.

“Arggh!” The man screamed like a little girl and hid behind the cart as Koyuki dropped him.

Koyuki pulled out a kunai and blocked a couple of slashes from her first opponent before becoming locked in a clash with him.

The other quickly ran around her and was about to attack her from the side, when two senbon needles struck him in the neck, dropping him to the ground where he skidded to a halt.

“What in the hell?” The other bandit said as he broke off the ȧssault between him and Koyuki.

“Not so fast!” She shouted as she started making hand signs.

“Fire style, fireball jutsu!” She said in her head before taking a large breath of air and breathing it back out as fire.

The bandit jumped high into the air doing his best to avoid the flames as he rejoined with his leader.

Kaga had easily taken out both of the bandits that tried to launch their sorry excuse for an attack on him.

Quickly immobilising them with his superior hand to hand combat, killing them both before they even knew what hit them.

Kaga was also pleased to see Haku hanging from a tree back from his feet as he petted the rabbit in his arms.

“The kid is fast.” He thought as he looked towards the leader.

The bandit leader noticed the headbands they were wearing and bit his lip.

“Darn it, we are no match for Kiri shinobi.” He said under his breath.

“Retreat.” He then said to his only surviving teammate.

“We will leave these to him.” He said as he and the other bandit disappeared.

Haku dropped back to the ground and put the rabbit on the ground, watching it run away safely back into the trees.

Koyuki crossed her arms as he walked over to her.

“You didn’t have to help me. I had a plan.” She said.

Haku simple smiled at her and then looked to Kaga who appeared next to them.

“Good work, both of you.” He said.

Kimimaro also joined them and Kaga gave him a nod.

“You too Kimimaro, sharp as a pin, aren’t you.” He said with a smile.

“So thats five dead, with two retreating.” Kaga then said as he looked at the bodies.

“Actually sensei,” Haku said.

“I didn’t kill this one.” He said pointing to the man with two needles in his neck.

Kaga looked at the man surprised and checked his pulse.

“Wow, he really is alive. I could have sworn he was dead a moment ago.” Kava thought as he pulled the senbon out, causing the man to gasp for air.

“Good work Haku.” He said quickly grabbing the man by the throat, setting a new fear into his eyes.

“You had better tell me everything you know,” Kaga said as he squeezed on the man’s windpipe.

The man gasped for air as Kaga squeezed harder, tapping his hands off the ground in pain.

“O-Ok!” He managed to get out as he struggled to breathe.

Kaga looked to the others.

“Go and check on the cargo and drivers. I’ll question this one.” He said, telling them, not asking.

The three of them nodded and went off to do as they were instructed.

“Now, lets you and me have a little talk.”

——————

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