Of Bone And Ice - Chapter 8

I had been forced to the front lines by the others who were too cowardly to do it themselves. Only a small number of hidden mist were battling at the front, while the rest provided support from cover.

Kunai and other weapons were flying through the air, ninjutsu was being used all over the place as fire and water clashed with an intense heat. The hidden leaf was using the cover of their earth style walls to fire projectiles from, their attacks seemed more coordinated than ours did, their warriors battling together and not just for themselves.

I didn’t have time to stop moving as we were outnumbered at least five to one. My lungs were burning and my eyes stung from the blood dripping over them, I had lost count of how many of them I had killed, but no matter how many fell, more kept coming.

Our odds were looking even worse now as it seemed Konoha reinforcements had arrived from the forest.

I was speeding through the hidden leaf ranks slashing out with every part of my body, my bones covered me and provided a huge advantage for offensive and defensive abilities.

The piles of dead shinobi started to amass around me as they charged atme one after the other, it mattered not how many as they all fell victim to my power, none of them being able to touch me.

“Expansion jutsu!” I heard come from behind me.

Turning to look I was suddenly slapped by a giant hand that sent me flying through the air, I managed to flip backwards and slid along the ground recovering. However, I lost sight of whoever had used the jutsu on me and more hidden leaf shinobi attacked from all sides.

“Fire style, fireball jutsu!” Two of them shouted using the same jutsu together.

I was able to counter as I created an ice mirror to block the flames, quickly I slipped into it and to their surprise appeared behind them in another mirror I had created. I slashed both of their throats before they had a chance to counter, moving so fast I landed on my toes in a tight squat position.

“Charge men!” A voice shouted from behind me. Waves of hidden mist pushing past me as I slowly stood up and wiped the blood from my face.

I watched as the three Kaguya charged past me, but not before they gave me an alarming look, seeing my bones slowly returned into my body.

Somehow we were holding the line, despite the advanced numbers of the leaf shinobi.

“We could really win this if we keep this up.” I thought as I watched the battle unfold.

However, waves of hidden mist shinobi were suddenly smashed into the air by a massive black staff that seemed to stretch across the battlefield, smashing anyone and everyone unlucky enough to find themselves in it’s path.

A whistle suddenly sounded in the background.

“RETREAT!” The voice from the back shouted.

It was Nobu, he blew the whistle again and again, shouting for everyone to fall back. I watched as my fellow hidden mist, who not five seconds ago had charged into battle, ready to die. Now they were running with their tails between their legs.

The staff shrunk back down and I could see a man standing at the front of the hidden leaf forces. He instantly weighed up the I tore battlefield, taking command of the situation with ease.

He wore a black jumpsuit with mesh segments over the lower portions of his limbs. The most noticeable thing had to be the armoured hood with a bandanna like forehead protector, that was tied with two long straps.

It was him… He was the Third Hokage, the God of shinobi. My anxiety was confirmed as the shinobi around me started screaming as they ran for their lives.

“It’s the Hokage! Run for your lives!” One of them shouted.

“He will kill us all!” Another voice said as they ran as fast as they could back into the forest.

The rest was a blur as all I could see was moving bodies that rushed to take cover, running for their lives. Massive shuriken suddenly cut through the lines of ninja that were still trying to get away, It was the Hokage’s jutsu. He had thrown one and then it suddenly turned into twenty, flying in all directions.

“ATTACK!” their leader shouted, starting the hellfire of battle again, letting the leaf troops slaughter the mist.

The hidden mist ninja had been so focused on getting away that they had failed to notice the enemy attack until the last moment. Some tried to fight back, but there were too many enemies and they didn’t stand a chance alone.

A few were able to slip past the onslaught, myself included. I had managed to kill three of them before slipping past the left flank and away into the forest, unseen. I didn’t look back as I heard the screams, I didn’t slow my pace and I didn’t care. All that mattered was that I made it off that hell alive.

After a short time, I had made it back to the shoreline, but to my terror, the hidden leaf had already sabotaged the ships, taking control of the coast. Having no choice, I slowly slipped back into the treeline and darted off. I had to find a safe place to hide. Knowing that they would probably send out small teams to hunt for any survivors, and I didn’t fancy being taken prisoner.

The screams and sound of battle had slowed before finally stopping, and I ȧssumed it was over. I stopped, squatting down on a thick branch I had landed on to rest. Looking down I could see three hidden mist ninja hidden behind a tree, I guessed they had seen the same as me and were trying to come up with a plan to escape.

I jumped down and walked over to them slowly giving them a surprise by accident.

“God it’s you! We could have killed you then brat, be a little smarter next time will ya!” The man said as he lowered his kunai.

It was the man who had pushed me out of the trench saying he would cover me. “Of course he would survive.” I thought to myself.

He was with another man who was injured and a woman, she was tending to the gash on his leg but it wasn’t looking good.

“How the hell did you survive kid?” The man asked me as he sat down leaning back against the large tree.

I shrugged. “Have you seen the ships?” I asked.

He nodded with a grim expression on his face. “Ant nothing left to do than find our own way back now.”

I looked over to the other two as the injured man let out a small groan.

“Will he make it?” I asked looking back to the other one.

“Hell if I know kid, stop asking me some many god damn questions!”

I looked away and was about to sit down when the bushes moved to the right of us, catching everyone by surprise. I was about to attack but I stopped when I saw who it was.

It was the man from the Kaguya clan who had tried to ask me questions that time, he was alone and I guessed the other two were KIA. His face was still the same as before, but had blood on it, making him seem even more threatening.

The others relaxed a little, but not much as they realized it wasn’t an enemy.

“I swear if anyone else pops out of a bush I’ll!”

“So you survived? I am not surprised. You have a gift…” He said his voice deep.

I watched him carefully, “Um… Thanks.” I said not sure what else to say, as he walked over to the injured man, who let out another groan.

The woman was trying to use what I ȧssumed was medical ninjutsu on him, but it didn’t seem to be helping. The Kaguya looked at him and suddenly sliced the man’s throat, causing the woman to scream in shock.

“What the fuċk!” She shouted as she raised a kunai to him.

The Kaguya man’s face didn’t change as he gave her a severe glance. “He was going to die anyway.” He said as he walked back over to me, not being bothered in the slightest.

My guard was up now, was he going to try and attack me? Or just chat? I had no idea.

“Yuki was it?” He asked as he stood looking over me with his massive frame shadowing my own.

“Who are you?” I asked looking up to meet his gaze.

He smiled before answering, “My name is Tachi Kaguya.”

As I looked closer at the man I realized he didn’t have a mark on him. He moved his large hand so I could see it, allowing a bone to protrude from his skin. He held it there for a moment before allowing it to slide back into his skin, not saying a word.

I couldn’t help but give a surprised look and he smiled again.

“I was the only member of the Kaguya with the Shikotsumyaku ability. Until I heard rumours of a young boy in the academy, who possed the same ability. Not only do you possess our clans most powerful Kekkei Genkai, but you also possess the Ice release of the Yuki clan. It is unheard of. Tell me, boy, what was your mother’s name?” He said, looking at Fuyōna with wide eyes.

His face was a little twisted as he spoke and I could tell he had a screw or two loose.

“Her name is Kachina Yuki,” I said not even blinking as looked into his eyes.

Tachi turned around and started laughing, his laugh grew louder before he stopped, placing a hand over his face as he looked off into the distance.

“Ten finger drilling bullets!” He shouted as he threw both arms out, crossing them over one another. Ten bullet-shaped bones shot out of each of his fingertips and ripped a three-man squad of hidden leaf shinobi to shreds with ease.

Tachi Must have easily been over thirty years old giving him a long time to master his abilities. I bet he knew how to do things I had not even been able to think of.

The other hidden mist ninja quickly jumped up at the sudden attack, standing in a guard position.

“Shit they found us!” The man said as he scouted the surrounding area.

“Hidden mist jutsu!” The woman shouted as she made the hand signs, allowing mist to sudden whip up all around us, and dart up into the trees.

I looked at Tachi and he looked back at me, “After you kid.” He said waving a hand.

I didn’t hesitate, after all, taking my chances with him was probably better than with a small army of hidden leaf.

We jumped through the trees for a good hour at least, trying to cover as much distance as we could. If there were still teams of Konoha shinobi looking for us, then it was probably best not stopping at all.

However, I was starting to feel the effects of the previous battle, having used a lot of chakra had caused my small body to become exhausted. I was starting to lag behind and the others could tell.

“Come on kid keep the pace up!” The man shouted as he stopped on a thick branch, looking at me.

I stopped on a branch, trying to catch my breath. I felt as if I was about to pass out and took a knee, trying to catch my breath.

“We need to stop and rest.” The woman said taking pity on me. “He’s just a kid.” She also added.

Tachi stayed silent but the look he gave the man said it all.

“F-Fine, we will make camp down there for now, but only until he is ready to move out again.”

I looked down and could see a small clearing with a stream running through it, jumping down I plunged my head into the water, drinking enough water to fill a bathtub. I sat on my knees and washed the blood off of my face, looking at my reflection, as I did. It was a sad fact that killing was such a small thing in this world, I had never killed anyone before I was reborn here, and now I had killed too many to even bother counting.

The others were also resting up now, apart from Tachi who just sat with his legs crossed on a large stone, never taking his eyes off of me. It made me wonder if he was the only member of his clan with the Kekkei Genkai.

Did that mean it was a dormant gene only awakening to an extremely small few, or did it have to be passed on by those who had the Kekkei Genkai already?

“Could he be my…” I thought as I looked at him. “Questions for later.” I thought as I lay on my back looking up at the sky.

The sun was starting to set now and the final streams of sunlight broke through the tree leaves. It had been one hell of a day and I couldn’t seem to fight the exhaustion any longer, letting my body give way to sleep.

“Wake up! Wake up god damn it!” The voice said as its owner shook my body.

I had been in such a deep sleep that I had failed to notice the ambush of hidden leaf shinobi attacking from all sides. There was at least fifteen of them, and looking over to the left I could see Tachi fighting with five of them, and the woman in our group was on the ground screaming as her arm had been cut off.

“We have to get.” His words were cut off as two Kunai hit him in the head, causing blood to splash on my face as his body hit the ground hard.

That was it, I was up and I was alert. Rolling backwards onto my feet I created a dome of Ice around me for protection, from inside I could see the enemy ninja moving and some even attacked my defence.

“This isn’t good!” I said as I quickly formed a few hand signs, causing the Ice around me to shatter, skewering anyone who was too close to it.

Even with my abilities, I couldn’t see through the back of my head and two Kunai hit me in the back, they didn’t do any damage as I had already put up my defences, allowing a small layer of bone to grow under my skin, acting as body armour.

There was six of them around me in a circle, all except for one was wearing the standard Konoha flak jacket, the last one had the Anbu grey jacket on and his face was covered by a mask.

“I had to watch out for him.” I thought.

“Watch out! This kid is a monster.” One of the leaf shinobi said.

“I watched him kill dozens of our men in the battle, he’s no ordinary ninja.” He also added.

Meanwhile, Tachi was battling it out with five other Anbu members. His skills were incredible as his abilities made him next to untouchable. They had already clocked on to his abilities and decided to get some distance and attack with ninjutsu.

Tachi also took to long-range tactics and fired round after round of bone bullets at the Anbu. Not sure what they were, one of them tried to block the attack with his sword, but to his horror, the bone bullets snapped clean through the steel and ripped five holes through hos body.

The others watched what happened and quickly realized they couldn’t block the attack, dodging them instead.

“Sir there are only two left, this one and the kid who is surrounded.” One of them said.

The others didn’t even look at him as he spoke through his mask.

“They both die, Lord Danzos orders.” He then said after a moment.

“Now!” One of the Anbu shouted and he started making hand signs.

Two of the other Anbu quickly dashed behind Tachi and started making their own hand signs. The two from the front unleashed a massive fire style jutsu and the two from back let lose a wind style.

They were combining wind and fire to create an even more powerful effect, one that Tachi was caught in and from where I was standing, it looked like it was all over.

I, on the other hand, had my own problems. If these guys saw any more of my jutsu they would come up with a way to counter it. Luckily, nobody had made a move yet and the tension was starting to grow.

If I wanted to make it out of this alive I had to come up with something and fast. Then it hit me, I wasn’t sure if it would work but I was running out of options.

“Hidden jutsu, Ice clones!” I said in my head, making the hand signs.

Two clones of me formed from Ice and took a fighting stance, jumping into combat as I quickly made an Ice mirror and slipped into it.

“Don’t let him escape into that jutsu!” The Anbu member of the six of them shouted.

My clones were easily struck down by the leaf units, but that had been all part of my plan. As soon as they made contact with the enemy, I made a hand sign with one hand and boom.

Both clones exploded, shattering and shooting ice spikes all over. Two of the six were dealt fatal blows as the ice hit them, but the others had managed to recover. The distraction, however, had allowed me to form the other crystal ice mirrors all around the other members, baffling them as they took a back to back formation holding their weapons up ready.

“What the hell is this kid?!” One of them shouted. “He’s one of those Ice demons!” One of the others said, the fear in his voice showing.

I interrupted them as I spoke. “Hidden Jutsu, crystal Ice mirrors. This is the end for you.”

I had practised this jutsu and was amazed at how strong it truly was. When Haki had used this in the anime/manga, I quickly realized how much he was holding back against Naruto and Saskue.

“Which one is the real one!” One of the ninjas said panicking as he looked at all the mirrors which had my full reflection in them.

I killed him first, with blinding speed, I shot out of the mirror I was in and darted across to another. As I was midway through the air, I lanched the bone bullets from my fingertips and his body became riddled with holes. The others froze in fear at the sight of their comrade’s body, one of them quickly turning around and making a run for it.

“No, wait!” The Anbu member shouted, but it was too late.

I dashed faster than the eye could see and shoved one of my bone blades down through his shoulder and into his heart, letting his body drop to the floor before I slipped back into the mirror. Now there was only two of them left and I could tell they didn’t like their chances.

The massive fire and wind styles had combined, mixing together and burning everything around it to a crisp.

“Did we get him?” One of the Anbu asked. Nobody said anything for a moment, not until they saw Tachi’s body.

Somehow he had survived the attack, his body looked demonic as all of his flesh and clothes had been burnt away. His entire body was an outer layer of bone, like an exoskeleton. The sight of it was truly haunting to the hidden leaf shinobi.

“What in the hell is he? That jutsu should have melted even his bones!” One of them shouted in disbelief.

Tachi, despite looking like an immortal monster had still been wounded. He had covered his entire body in solid bone, even his mouth and eyes to make sure they hadn’t been melted by the intense heat. All of his skin had been stripped off and the pain he felt must have been excruciating.

Despite that, he gave out a howling battle cry, as the bone that covered his eyes and mouth disappeared before he charged at the leaf Anbu.

He managed to take one of them off guard and sliced right through his sword, cutting deep into his ċhėst, dealing a fatal blow. The other one next to him slashed at the back of Tachi’s neck with his sword, but hos bone armour was thick, snapped the blade as it made contact with the solid bone.

Tachi quickly countered with spiked bones that fired out of his body from all over, one of them hitting the Anbu in the shoulder.

“water style, raging waves jutsu!” one of the Anbu shouted as he fired a massive jet of water at Tachi.

The force of the water was enough push him back, keeping him routed against a tree trunk he had stricken against. The other quickly made some hand signs and extended his hand with his fingers open.

“Lightening style!” He shouted as a blade of electricity shot out, hitting the water.

Tachi was unable to move and was hit by the combined water and lightning styles, zapping him and leaving him badly hurt. His bones may have been harder than steel but they were not resistant to electricity.

Tachi dropped to his knees breathing heavily now. The battle had taken it’s tole on him and he was seriously wounded. The two Anbu jumped over, one helping his injured comrade up and the other drawing his sword on Tachi.

“Any last words, monster?” He said as he infused his blade with lightening style chakra to increase its cutting power.

Meanwhile, the two leaf shinobi were back to back as they faced the crystal ice mirrors, both had their weapons drawn and both were trying to find a way out.

I was trying to keep them in the middle while also keeping an eye on what was going on around me. Tachi was down and I could tell he wasn’t far from being killed. There was nothing I could do. I had to kill these two and make a break for it, that was my only chance of survival.

Quickly I zoomed from mirror to mirror firing, out bone bullets from my fingertips as I did. They did well to dodge at first but soon the normal leaf shinobi, who I had guessed from his skill was a jonin started to lose speed. I hit him with one of my bone bullets and the continuous fire soon finished him off with ease.

I appeared behind the Anbu member and clashed blades with him, knowing he wouldn’t fall victim to my bone bullets as easily as the others. My bone blade was easily stronger than his steel one, but despite that, it was able to hold against it.

He was stronger than me physical and his skill was clearly greater than mine too. He pushed me back on the defensive and our blades locked in a battle of strength.

I had to use all of my focus and chakra control to match what I was ȧssuming was just his normal strength. The Anbu pulled hos blade back and swug it down at me with serious force, that I was only just able to stop and deflect.

This time I quickly pulled back, using a round of bone bullets as a distraction to make hand signs with one hand. I couldn’t see his face behind his mask as he dodged the bone bullets, but I could tell he was surprised.

The moisture in the air quickly froze, turning into ice spikes that shot up all around him. The Anbu quickly used a chakra jump and avoided the attack, flipping in the air as he did, he threw four shuriken.

I was able to deflect them with my bone blade and quickly make a run back for one of my ice mirrors, knowing that was my only chance tk win. Unfortunately, that was the downfall of this technique. Once you left the safety of the ice mirrors, the only way back to it was to physically slip back into one by touching it again.

He must have realized because he swiftly blocked my escape and knocked me back with a big sidekick. Even with my ribs shooting out to block the strike it still hurt.

The power difference between us was too great and now my chances of winning were looking slime and he knew it.

“I hope you are ready to die for what you have done kid!” He shouted, pointing his sword at me.

He defiantly had the upper hand, that was until I noticed him standing in a small puddle of water on the ground. I don’t know how it had got there, but boy was I happy it had. This was my chance, if I could pull this off I would win.

I knew he was too fast and could dodge my bone bullet technique so I pulled an explosive tag and wrapped it around a kunai without him seeing. Firing five bone bullets at him, just as I predicted he lunged forwards as he dodged them, trying to close the distance between us.

“Now!” I shouted as I threw the explosive Kunai at the ground.

He noticed it and quickly jumped backwards to avoid the explosive.

“Just a little more!” I shouted as I ran through the dust that the explosive had created, flipping into the air and smashing a tornado kick into his arms, causing him to take another step back.

“Now! Ice pillar!” I shouted as I flipped back, slapped both hands on the ground.

The water around his feet suddenly froze and shot up, erecting a pillar of ice that froze his entire body, killing him. I fell to the ground trying to catch my breath, I had used almost all of my chakra now I didn’t know if I would be able to escape.

“The Kaguya clan lives on!” Tachi shouted at the top of his lungs, causing me to turn around and watched, as the leaf Anbu cut his head off with the lightning enhanced sword, cutting through his neck.

It was a clean-cut, and with the added cutting power from the lightning style, it was able to get through his bone exoskeleton. Tachi’s head dropped to the ground and his body slowly followed.

This was really looking bad now, not only was I the only one left, but they had found a way to bypass my kekkei Genkai with a lightning style. I noticed that the three of them looked surprised as they approached slowly. Noticing their comrade had been frozen in ice and the others who were dead.

“He managed to kill the others by himself, he’s just a kid.” One of then said.

“Be on your guard, he may be a kid but he is powerful.” The what I guessed leader of the group said.

I also took a stand and weighed my options. If I made a break for it they would just cut me down with ease. I could try and slip into one of my ice mirrors but I doubt I would make that either, In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they.

My thoughts were cut off as the crystal Ice mirrors started to shatter and fall. My chakra was running dangerously low now and I couldn’t even maintain the jutsu.

“I guess that option is out of the window.” I said under my breath.

“Give it up kid, there is nowhere to go.” The Anbu said.

I was like a cornered rat, but like most cornered rats, I would go out fighting and screaming of I had to. I drew a large bone that protruded out of the top of my shoulder and then did the same from the other side. Holding a blade in each hand as I took a low primal position.

Bones started to sprout from my entire body as I was preparing myself to at least take one of them with me, if I was going to die again, I wouldn’t go out quietly again.

“Watch out, he has the same jutsu the other one did. Proceed with caution.” The leader said.

“They must be from the same clan.” The other said. as he allowed his lightning style to flow through his blade.

This was it, if even one leaf fell from the trees one of us would charge and we all knew it.

“Watch out!” The Anbu leader shouted as a storm of shuriken and kunai suddenly littered our small battlefield.

The Anbu was able to deflect the onslaught but retreated to get a better view of the situation.

Three hidden mist shinobi landed in front of me. “Looks like it’s your lucky day kid.” One of them said not turning to face me.

I didn’t recognize any of them, but that didn’t matter, I was just glad they had shown up when they did.

“Damn, reinforcements! Retreat!” The Anbu leader said as he threw a smoke bomb down at the ground.

The other Anbu quickly grabbed the injured one and they all escaped through the tree line, leaving the battle as a failure. The mist shinobi didn’t give chase and instead turned to face me. The man in the middle took a look around at the aftermath of our skirmish and whistled.

“Damn kid, did you do all this?” He asked seeming quite impressed. I no longer had the energy to speak and now that the threat had diminished my body felt like lead. I fell to one knee as I tried to catch myself before falling.

face first onto the ground. The mist ninja looked at each other and nodded.

“Come on kid, let’s get you back to the checkpoint.”