Of Bone And Ice - Chapter 9

I was pretty much carried back by the three mist ninja that came to my rescue. They said we were retreating to a small base camp located on the edge of the land of hot water and land of Frost.

Luckily for me, they had been patrolling the area when they happened upon our squad and saved my life, from the hidden leaf Anbu.

Once we arrived at the base camp I had to give a full report of the battle to the commanding officer, after that, I was allowed to rest and given food, water and some new clothing since mine were full of holes.

Word was spreading like wildfire of the huge battle between the hidden stone and hidden mist against the hidden cloud. Rumour was that the Third Raikage was dead, after battling for three days and three nights against a large combined force. The news that our Mizukage had also fallen in the battle reaching the ears of the men.

“Apparently the Raikage took out ten thousand troops over three days before he died!” One of the mist ninjas said. Others chipped in and chatted amongst themselves, panic over the Mizukage’s death was starting to spread, and our commanding officers were trying to keep the rumours to a minimum, not being sure of what had really happened themselves.

Two days had past and I had fully recovered from my previous battle.

Word had spread that I was the lone survivor in the battle against the hidden leaf, even surviving against the third Hokage. I was summoned to my commanding officer’s tent and told that I was being ȧssigned to a new unit and given new orders.

I entered the tent walking over to where the commanders were gathered around a large table with a map laid out over it. They were discussing strategy and recording enemy information to send back to HQ.

I bowed and greeted the jounin waiting for his permission to move. He acknowledged me and told me to raise my head.

“Fuyona Yuki, correct?” He stated more than asked.

I nodded not saying a word. “Word from HQ has arrived telling me what to do with you kid, seems you are being promoted to the rank of Chunin. Congratulations on that, not many Genin make it through their first battle.” He said as he looked over the report.

“You’re being ȧssigned to a new unit to gather intel on the hidden leaf. You will be working as part of a ten-man cell. Your meeting coordinates are within this scroll, you are to be there for midday. Dismissed.”

It was a lot of information to take in at once, I had been given a new mission, been promoted, and been told I was heading back into enemy territory all at once.

The training at the academy had taught us not to ask questions, only to obey. Not really having a choice I bowed and took my leave, restocking my equipment and headed to the coordinates located on the scroll.

Seems I was heading back into the land of Hot water and meeting my new team just before the border to the land of fire.

It seemed that I was the last to arrive and the others were waiting on me. They noticed my presence and stared me down as I approached. As I got closer, who I guessed was the leader stepped forward and greeted me.

“So you’re the last runt they are sending me, eh? Whatever, fall in kid.” He said with a gruff voice.

“Aō, you’re not much older than him, he’s your responsibility.” He said looking at him.

I turned to look at him, he looked no older than 16, he had short spiky blue hair and grey eyes. He didn’t say anything, so I turned my attention back to our squad leader.

“Alright, you sorry lot, listen up. I’m Sama Yohachi, your squad leader for this mission.” The man spoke.

He had a large frame and rough features, he was bold and had a strong black beard. Like the others, his headband was around his head and he wore the standard mist battle attire. I was by far the youngest in the squad, next being Ao, whose name I had heard before, but couldn’t place. There were three women and the rest were a mix of boys and men.

“Our mission is to gather intel on the supply lines supporting the hidden leaf. Intel shows that they are supplying their forces with food and equipment through these supply lines. We are to locate them and destroy them. This should prevent their front line forces from obtaining necessary supplies, giving us and our allies the advantage.”

It was a straightforward mission, simple sabotage. I thought.

“Intel also shows that these supply lines are guarded by an escort. The abilities of which are unknown. So be ready for anything. We move out in ten minutes, prep your equipment for battle, dismissed.”

Ao came over and lent against the tree next to me with his arms crossed over his ċhėst while I did.

“So I hear you’re a member of the Yuki clan?” He asked.

I nodded without looking at him as I placed my kunai back into my weapon holder.

“How old are you kid?” He asked.

I turned to look at him and had to think about his question for a few seconds. If I remembered correctly I had turned 9 a day ago, so that made me.

“Nine, I’m Nine years old,” I said.

Ao chuckled to himself, “Well kid let’s hope you make it to ten.” He said before he walked off to tend to his own equipment.

From everything I had experienced so far, the hidden mist ninja was nothing like the hidden leaf ninja in the anime and manga. They were cold and ruthless killing machines. The hidden leaf seemed warm and welcoming but the mist was nothing like that. It was a cold village with only one purpose, to raise and train killers that would obey commands no matter what.

I was quickly snapped out of my thoughts by Sama as he spoke to everyone.

“Alright you lot, let’s move out!” He shouted as he jumped up into the trees, leading us on our mission.

We all quickly followed suit and followed in an arrow formation, with one at our centre back like a funny looking diamond. It was a basic formation we used when moving through enemy territory and it was taught to us even in the academy.

We had been travelling for well over half a day before we stopped to rest and set up our first checkpoint. Luckily we had managed not to run into any enemy scouts, allowing us to travel smoothly through the land of fire. We were given time to rest and eat, even though our meal was just our basic ration bars. They didn’t taste of anything but gave you everything you needed to keep your energy levels up.

we couldn’t cook anything as a fire would give away our position, it was late now and the moon was a sliver in the sky, not giving much light. We took turns on guard duty while the others slept doing an hour each with me going first, as after which I drifted off looking at the stars and for a moment forgot all about what had happened to me.

Next thing I knew It was time to get up and I was woke by a rather hard kick to the bottom of my foot, I had been woken up like that many times back in the academy and I could never get used to it.

We were up in a military-like fashion and had soon eliminated all trace that we were ever there. We had covered a lot of distance and were now in the northwest of the land of fire. further north was the land of waterfalls and further north-west was the land of grass. The land of Grass had become a battleground between the Hidden Stone and the Hidden Leaf, who had become the main focus of the war, as the two countries battled its lit more than all of the others.

We were closing in on our objective, and according to our intel, the supply line was due to make a delivery to the troops on the front lines today. Meaning we would set up an ambush to destroy the supplies and kill any resistance met.

It was basic guerrilla warfare. Once the plan had been laid out we took our positions and it became a simple waiting game. I had been placed with Ao, while the others were also placed in units of two, tactically split up to cover a full 360-degree diameter around the path.

It was a perfect ambush tactic that allowed us to strike hard and fast from every angle to gain a total advantage over our enemy.

We must have waited for about two hours before the supply line came into view. Three large wagons were being pulled by horses and the wagons were each filled with supplies. Each wagon had two people on them and four shinobi surrounding them on either side.

Twelve enemies in total and only ten of us.

As the caravan got closer to the ambush zone Ao have me a nudge and stated that one of the shinobi on the port side of the first wagon was a Hyuga.

I knew that meant he possed the Byakugan, and I could tell Ao was on edge about it. After all, they were a very well known clan in the hidden Leaf village, being praised for their powerful kekkei Genkai and eyesight.

From what I could remember, if he decided to activate his eyes then our ambush would be pointless. However, I also knew If I acted without orders from Sama there would be consequences.

Not a moment later the first strike came, a storm of shuriken and kunai was unleashed from the tree lines coming from every angle.

“Now!” Ao said as he dashed towards the Hyuga member with his blade drawn, going for the kill.

The wagon drivers and a few of the less suspecting or less skilled leaf ninja had been killed from the initial onslaught. Now only six remained, and they quickly went on the defensive.

“It’s an ambush, counter defences now!” One of the leaf ninjas shouted, but it was too late.

Sama made quick work of him and led the ȧssault with the others following. Ao had become locked in battle with the Hyuga member, and he was being pushed on the defensive.

Ao was starting to get desperate and could not match his opponent’s superior Taijutsu, over-committing the thrust from his blade. The Hyuga span and struck him with his fingers, causing Ao to scream out in pain before the Hyuga struck again and again in a blinding fury.

I had seen this before, knowing this was the 64 palms technique, used to completely shut down an opponents chakra network.

However, I had my own problems. Sliding underneath one of the leaf ninjas I slit his Achilles, causing the man to fall

to the ground, screaming before I silenced him with a killing blow.

Two of the others tried to attack me from either side, rushing in with their kunai. But, I had already predicted this and unleashed a full bone defence, impaling them before they had time to react. I ended up with a few stares from my teammates, but the battle quickly took attention away from me and back to the enemy.

Two of our female teammates rushed to Ao’s aid trying to attack the Hyuga from both sides. He was too fast and with his Byakugan activated, could see them coming from a mile away.

He jumped backwards and suddenly spun so fast that he smashed both of the girls through the air, crashing into the ground hard.

A storm of shuriken flew through the air right at him, but again his quickly span so fast that he deflected all of them without breaking a sweat.

However, one of the shuriken that he had deflected struck Ao in his right eye, knocking him to the ground screaming in pain.

“Arghh!”

Suddenly, Sama and another guy from our team rushed him. Sama threw a jumping spinning heel kick to the Hyugas head, who easily blocked the attack, he then ducked under the slash that was aimed at the back of his head. Spinning on his heels as he smashed a massive double palm strike into the guy with the swords ċhėst, breaking his rib cage and sending him flying through the air.

Sama engaged in an exchange of blows with the Hyuga but was quickly outclassed and put on the defensive, with the Hyuga simply being too strong for him to handle.

Ao was being tended to by the only other females, while he was still conscious. She seemed to know medical ninjutsu and was tending to his eye and entire body, trying to help as his chakra points had been shut down.

Two of the others were busy setting the supplies on fire as ordered by Sama before the ambush, which left me, Sama and another guy whose name I didn’t know vs the Hyuga.

“Air palm!” The Hyuga shouted as he struck his palm into the air, creating a massive shock wave to strike me with.

I was propelled into the air, smashing into a tree only being unscathed thanks to my bone defence cushioning the blow.

Sama and the other guy were fighting a losing battle and the Hyuga quickly finished the other guy off with a quick ten strike burst, hitting down his centre line taking him out.

Sama was taking the time of his teammates downfall to start weaving hand signs, it would seem that he still had one final trick up his sleeve. The Hyuga clocked onto what he was doing and was too fast, quickly going on the offensive. Sama was pressed and lost his focus, suddenly being forced to try and dodge and block the incoming attacks.

The supply wagons had been set ablaze now and the two other members of our unit quickly jumped in to help save Sama. I too was ready for another shot at him, having gotten back to my feet, entering the battle.

“Rotation!” The Hyuga suddenly shouted before he started spinning rapidly, letting his chakra cover his entire body like a weapon.

Both of our teammates were struck down from the Hyugas rotation attack, sending them smashing into the ground hard. Sama having already seen the attack before was able to dodge it at the last second, jumping back out of the way.

He was breathing heavily now, but so was the Hyuga, having used a lot of his charka to fend so many of us off.

This was my chance, jumping in I threw a spin kick, aimed at the Hyuga’s head, which he blocked. As I landed with my back to him I allowed the bones to shoot from my back, trying to take him off guard.

It was a success with one of my bone spikes piercing his shoulder, getting him to cry out in pain. Sama jumped over my head ready to deliver the final blow but the Hyuga bit through the pain and shot off one last air palm, landing a direct hit on Sama.

I quickly shifted the bones to return into my body dropped down low with a spinning kick to his ankle, knocking him to the ground.

I didn’t want to waste any time and went right for the killing blow, however, to my surprise, he struck me with a surprise jab to my shoulder, using his fingers.

My arm went limp and he quickly smashed his foot into the side of my head, taking me off guard and sending me crashing like a ragdoll. If not for my reinforced bones that kick would have broken my tiny neck.

I stood to my feet slowly, still not able to move my right arm. He was also standing now and breathing heavily from his wound.

The veins that surrounded his eyes faded and it appeared he could no longer hold his Byakugan, due to his low levels of chakra.

“This fight isn’t over…” He said, trying to raise his guard.

Suddenly, Ao appeared behind him and slashed down hard with his blade, the Hyuga was too slow to react without his Byakugan and Ao landed a killing blow to his face, slashing right down his left eye. Sweet justice, an eye for an eye.

The Hyuga dropped to the ground dead with Ao standing over him as he flicked the blood off his blade.

“You ok kid?” He asked after a short pause.

If anything my injuries were the least of our worries, and I was surprised at how fast he was able to recover from his wounds. Our whole team had been taken down, apart from our medic, myself and Ao. The smoke from the burning supplies would surely draw attention soon and we had to retreat quickly before reinforcements arrived.

I walked over to Ao and looked down at the Hyuga.

“He was strong,” I said acknowledging his strength.

Ao agreed as he pulled off the Hyugas headband.

“Well, well. It seems this one was from the main family.” He said with a devilish smile.

I looked at him confused at first until my memory clicked. He was right, there was no curse seal on this guys forehead, meaning he was of the main family of the Hyuga clan.

“That means his Byakugan is ours for the taking. What’s the saying, an eye for an eye?” Ao said smirking.

He knelt down, slowly reaching his fingers towards the Hyuga’s eye, plucking the remaining eyeball from the dead man’s skull with care, before he turned to our medical ninja.

“Hey, can you transplant this eye?” He shouted at her.

The girl seemed shocked at first but then nodded.

“Y-yes I can.” She replied.

“Good then come and do it.” He said harshly, “Check to see who is dead. If they are then we must destroy their body. Can you manage that kid?” He then said looking at me.

It was standard procedure among shinobi, we did it to prevent our enemies from learning or stealing information from the remains of our fallen comrades.

I got to work, quickly ȧssessing who was alive or dead, while Ao was having his eye tended to by our medic. The Hyuga had been so precise in his strikes that he was able to hit vital organs and go for kill shots even though he was outnumbered aw md exhausted, a truly amazing show of skill.

They were all dead. All apart from Sama, who only clung to life by a thread. He didn’t have much time left as he had unfortunately been impaled on a tree branch, ripping his insides to shreds.

I ran over to see if I could help, but he just laughed at me.

“Don’t worry kid, it’s too late for me… Make sure you destroy my body and report the mission a success.” He said, keeping a smile on his face regardless of the situation.

I nodded and waited with him as he took his final breath before I removed his large body and dragged it over to the others. Once there I set the bodies on fire, not staying to watch.

The medic had finished implanting Ao’s new Byakugan eye, finally, I had made the connection to who he was at this point. I remembered he was with the 5th Mizukage at the five Kaga summit and played an important role in the future of this world.

“Alright, then this mission is a success, it’s time to report back to camp,” Ao said turning to face us.

Half of his face was covered in bandages from the medic, after she had finished his eye transplant.. We both nodded and we followed his lead back through the land of fire, heading back to base to give our report.