Of Bone And Ice - Chapter 7

I was collected by a hard-looking man who didn’t look impressed when he saw me. “Follow me, kid.” He said as he walked away. I followed him out of the hall and out of the academy, it was the first time in three years I had been outside of the academy’s grounds. While we were in training none of us had been allowed to leave and go into the village, it had been very strict but now I couldn’t help but feel free. The first place we went to was to the equipment barracks. This was where ninja reported to for new weapons and clothing, they had everything from basic kunai and shuriken to explosive tags and scrolls. It was a pretty impressive collection. The man who I was with handed a piece of paper to the woman behind the desk and she nodded, not a moment later returning with a pile of clothing and weapons. “Alright kid this is your new equipment, put it on and we’ll be on our way.”

I nodded and took the equipment off of the desk and went to get changed. I had been given an undershirt of mesh armour along with a black long sleeve top and the standard grey hidden mist flak jacket. Complete with a pair of black combat trousers, two weapon holders one for my leg and one for my hip and some standard footwear, as well as the signature pinstriped material for bracers and greaves which merged into my sandals. As for my weapons, I was given a good amount of kunai and shuriken, five explosive kunai and two scrolls that had more weapons sealed in them.

It was a lot of gear and I took my time putting it on using the mirror that was provided. It was the first time I had seen my reflection since before I had joined the academy. I took a long hard look at myself noticing the Kaguya markings on my forehead just like Kimimaro had, had. My hair was a jet black just like Kachina’s had been, it had gotten somewhat long now and spiked more towards the right with bangs hanging over either side of my headband that was around my head. My eyes were blue just like Kachina’s were but my skin had a slight tan to it. I guessed I got that from my father who I didn’t know anything about other than the fact he must have been a member of the Kaguya clan. I was snapped out of my thoughts when my supervisor shouted through the changing cubical.

“Hurry it up would ya, we don’t have all day.” He said letting out a sigh.

I walked out dressed and ready to go. He actually gave a slight smile, “Now you look like a blood mist nin.” We walked out of the equipment barracks onto the main road, the air was moist and filled with mist like usual.

“Right listen up kid, we have a full days journey ahead of us to the border. There we will meet up with three battalions and cross the sea to the land of hot water. Once there we will act as reinforcements in the battle against the hidden leaf.”

I nodded as I took in all of the information, if it was against the hidden leaf then I knew this was going to be a tough battle, probably one we wouldn’t win. “Alright, I understand.”

“Good because we leave now,” The man said before he suddenly turned and started running. I did the same and followed him. We exited through the village gates and began to traverse through the trees jumping from one to the other. We had been made to practice this during our time in the academy as part of our chakra control lessons, it was vital that we could move around quickly and use the terrain to our advantage. The man didn’t say another word for the whole trip and so I too decided to be silent.

We didn’t stop to rest but luckily for me I had decent chakra levels and was able to keep up the physical exertion for long enough until we arrived at our destination. There was a large camp set up with lots more shinobi waiting to disembark on the three ships in the harbour. The camp was set in an alcove of two large cliffs and it provided a good tactical standpoint for travelling out to sea. The others noticed our arrival and came over to greet us.

“Well look who’s back! And I see you’ve brought fresh meet Nobu.” one of the men said looking at me with a smile.

The man with me who had just been called Nobu gestured to me, “This here is Fuyona Yuki, fresh out of the academy and only one of his class to be given to us this year.”

The others who heard the name glard a little before one of them broke the silence. “You must have really pissed someone off to be sent to us kid. You know genin don’t last long on the front lines” He said with a laugh from the others.

Nobu turned to me as they left talking amongst themselves. “Make yourself at home kid. And get some rest, we leave in a few hours.” With that, he walked away and left me by myself. I decided to get some food from the small food tent, it was a help yourself stand with a large pot of stew that had been left with bowls next to it. I got myself a bowl and sat down to eat on a rock, Most of the others were in groups chatting away, some were checking their weapons and others fast asleep on the ground. It was completely different than the academy had been.

“Fucking Kaguya! Watch where you’re going scum!” One of the men shouted. The word Kaguya peeking my attention. I looked at the three men in robes closer and was shocked to see they were all from the Kaguya clan. Their black hair was tied back and the zigzag cranial pattern in the centre of their head was visible. They also had the red markings on their foreheads and eyes, it was so obvious they were Kaguya I don’t know how I had missed it.

“say that again and I’ll kill all of you.” One of the Kaguya said with a large devilish smile on his face. You could feel the blood ŀust in the air as the pressure around both groups got heavier. The group of mist ninja slowly reached for their weapons, causing the Kaguya to smile devilishly.

Suddenly Nobu stood in the middle of them, quickly getting all of their attention.

“What the hell is going on here!” He shouted looking at the six men. Who all stood to attention. “N-Nothing sir.” Of them said quickly. Nobu turned to face the three Kaguya, “Care to let me in on what’s happening here?” He asked.

The Kaguya simply smiled and turned his back. “Nothing, just having a friendly chat, reminding your men of their place.” He said as the three of them walked away, murder still strong in their eyes. Nobu turned back to the others and slapped one of them on the head. “Are you fuċkɨnġ crazy? What the hell are you doing picking a fight with the Kaguya? Not a second longer and you all would have been killed!” The others tried to defend their action but Nobu wasn’t having it as he told them to get lost and stay out of the way.

All three of the Kaguya had a large build and a killer feel about them, the one in the middle who I guess was the leader of the small group turned, catching my eyes with his own as they walked away, his half-cut eyebrows lowering as he noticed the red markings on my forehead. I decided this was a good time to slip through the small crowd and disappear from his view. The attention of those crazy bastards was the last thing I needed right now.

Pretty soon we had boarded the ships and set sail across the misty sea. The ships were nothing impressive and were more built for stealth than anything else, each ship carried about 80 shinobi, there was quite the lack of space and we were all forced to squash in together, luckily for me I had boarded a different boat to the one the Kaguya had gotten on, after all, being in a tight space with them was not a good idea.

on the journey we were all filled in on the mission at hand, it turned out that the hidden mist had turned the land of hot water into a small base. The land of hot water was located on the west side of the land of fires borders and made it a perfect place to serve as a footing. Our mission was simple, provide reinforcements to the front lines who were currently battling with the hidden leaf forces along the border. Apparently, the hidden leaf’s forces had been spread thin as they were also being attacked by the hidden stone village who were using the land of grass as a base of operations and attacking from there. We were also warned of the hidden cloud as they had recently engaged us in battle, but they had retreated and fallen back to the land of Frost that was on their border.

Rumour spread that the third Mizukage himself was leading the battle against Konoha but none of the others could confirm it was true. The trip across the sea lastest a full day and I had even been sick a couple of times from the seasickness that came with the inexperience of sailing. We seemed to arrive safely on the shore and met no threats. Nobu took to the front as it turned out he was the commanding officer of this unit.

“Alright, let’s move out!” He shouted. Everyone roared and started running, following after him. I too joined the herd of shinobi and started running. I was by far the youngest person there, some of the others looked 16 and above but none were near my age. There was a good mix of both men and women too, not that it mattered. We were taught not to underestimate our opponents based on their age or gender.

Our large group split into three just like we had with boarding the boats and quickly started jumping through the large trees. The scenery was pretty much all forest as far as the eye could see, but I had guessed we would soon arrive at something less pleasant to the eye.

Not long had past and we arrived at our destination, the forest had ended as we came to a large piece of flat land that had been turned into a base. There were tents and defensive trenches built around the makeshift camp. It was filled with hidden mist shinobi some of which looked worse for wear. This was the first time I had seen a true battlefield with my own eyes. It was like a scene from an old-world war I tape, trenches had been dug as a defensive setting, weapons were scattered across the flat top that I guessed was no man’s land father out. The ground was scorched and the earth had been blackened by fire and explosions. The dead bodies of mist and leaf shinobi still scattered across the battlefield, leaving a fresh reminder of what awaited many of us who had arrived.

Nobu meet with the other commanding officers who briefed him of the situation. Meanwhile, the troops around me spread out into small groups and began to chat amongst themselves. The units of soldiers that were already here looked tired and fresh from battle with most being covered in dirt or blood.

Suddenly I felt a heavy pressure come from behind me and although every fiber in my body told me not to, I slowly turned around. It was the Kaguya men from before, all three of them staring at me with their wild eyes. I quickly tried to walk away but my path was blocked by the three of them as they quickly stopped me.

The leader spoke first, giving me a strange look.

“No need to be rude little one. We only want to ask you some questions.” He said with a large smile on his battle-hardened face. I turned to look at him and nodded. “What do you want from me?”

He crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side. “I couldn’t help notice the markings on your forehead, only members of the Kaguya have such markings and I’ve never seen you before… Who are you?” I could tell I wasn’t leaving until they were satisfied with my answer so I decided I had no choice.

“My name is Fuyona Yuki,” I said without fear or hesitation in my voice, looking into his eyes. The large brute looked at me intriguingly. He uncrossed his arms and was about to speak when suddenly a voice shouted.

“AMBUSH!”

The sounds of explosions got everyone’s attention as bodies went flying through the air. Swarms of hidden leaf shinobi suddenly appeared out of the forest as they were trying to end the surprise attack fast. In a way, it felt like I had just been saved from whatever the Kaguya was about to do. Our commanders gave the order for us to counter-attack and the waves of hidden mist and hidden leaf shinobi clashed in an all-out battle to the death.

It was a mess of blood and blades, fire and water, men and woman, even children littered the battlefield as the battle raged on. It was hard to tell who was friend or foe in the chaos of battle. The commanders had ordered as many shinobi who were able to use the hidden mist jutsu while the hidden leaf’s forces countered with a combined fire style.

I was unlucky and had been caught in the middle of battle, my senses were at their maximum and my body seemed to move on its own. taking advantage of my Kekkei Genkai abilities, I had already sprouted bone spikes around my body and killed anyone who dared attack me. I flipped and danced through the air blocking and attacking in a whirlwind of unstoppable wrath. My bones were harder than steel and easily cut through any protection that the hidden leaf shinobi were wearing. I had pressed so far forwards slashing and chopping men down that soon I realized I was all alone, deep in the enemy ranks. I could have sworn there were at least ten others with me not a moment ago, but now

my odds were not looking good, as I was surrounded on all sides by leaf shinobi.

“What the hell is this kid!?” One of them shouted, looking at my bones in horror.

“Let’s kill him quickly! He’s already taken out to many of us!” Another one said.

I decided it was time to make my escape and my window of opportunity was closing fast. Quickly I formed the hand signs and a dome of ice-covered me blocking a hand full of kunai as it did.

“It’s ice!” One of them shouted.

“Let’s use a combined fire style!” Said another. I knew my ice was fire resistant but against a combined fire style I doubted it would hold so well. Luckily for me, I had already planned for this while training in the Ninjutsu classes back at the academy. Making the hand signs as fast as I could, an ice mirror formed in front of me. Quickly I stepped into the crystal mirror of ice just at the leaf shinobi unleashed their fire style. I had figured this jutsu out by remembering Haku using it in the anime and had decided to practice it. Another mirror had formed well above the battlefield in the sky and that’s where I slipped out. It worked kind of like a zipline, allowing me to travel at a much greater speed to another mirror.

From this height, I could see the entire battlefield and which side my allies were on. As I started free falling I created another ice mirror falling right into it, with another ice mirror appeared near the back of the trench, that I slipped out of it a little too fast, and rolled along the ground recovering onto my hands and knees.

“Well, well, you’re still alive.” He said almost seeming impressed. “If you have time to sit and rest, then you had better get your arse back in the fight!” He suddenly screamed.

I nodded and got up to my feet heading back into the battle. The hidden leaf had used a combined earth style to create a large wall that they were attacking from and using as a defensive advantage. The hidden mist jutsu had all but faded now as a large number of fire styles had changed the temperature of the air. Most of the mist ninja were taking cover in the trench while a small handful was on the frontlines engaged in battle.

To no surprise of mine, the three Kaguya were at the front, striking down all who stood before them. It didn’t look as if any one of them possed the Kekkei Genkai of their clan, but they were still fierce warriors without it.

One of the men who had mocked me when I first arrived at the camp with Nobu was taking cover in the trench when he spotted me. “Hey, kid you have a Kekkie Genkai don’t you!? Get your arse out there and be useful!” The others around him started chipping in and I was pretty much pushed onto the battlefield.

The hidden mist village really was a fuċkėd up place, I turned back looking at him with disgust. “Go on kid, we will cover you.” He said raising a kunai.

Suddenly the trench started moving, as an enemy earth style caused the earth to crush all those trapped inside the trench.

The screams of the men and women could be heard as their bodies were crushed, haunting Fuyōna’s mind.

Of course, the man that had pushed him out had survived and he quickly ran away toward the back to take cover like a coward.

There was only one thing left for it, I had to charge dead ahead and try not to die. I had already done it once and I swore I wouldn’t do it again.. This world had granted me power and I was going to use it all to come out of this war alive.