Naruto: Of bone and ice

The first two weeks of advanced training flew by, our kenjutsu instructor had changed to another jonin ninja. Most of the students were happy with this, to be honest, classes were now spent learning forms and drills. We sparred constantly, but had to use dulled swords to minimize fatalities. Some of the students started to stand on water using their chakra, I learned too, it was a very handy ability after all, in the land of water. Taijutsu was still the same, but the instructor had us fight in teams. This proved to be a new challenge, as you had to compensate for your teammate's abilities. We were divided into squads of three and forced to fight until one team could no longer stand, we were not allowed to kill each other, but other than that there were no rules. I was placed in a squad with another boy and a girl. Their names were Kaito and Izumi. Kaito was older than me, 11 years old and quite large for his age, he had short but wild spiky black hair and his teeth were filed down like most mist ninja. Izumi was also the same age, she entered the academy at 8, she was about the same height as me. Her hair was long but she pulled it back into a neat ponytail, her teeth were also filed down and she had a crazy look in her eyes. Both of them were only chosen for the taijutsu class, meaning that was their strongest attribute.

The team we encountered consisted of Zabuza and two other boys whose names I didn't get to know, they were only placed in the Taijutsu class while me and Zabuza were placed in the others as well.

- Begin!" - shouted the sensei.

Zabuza's team charged in and before I could come up with a plan, my teammates were already gone. Zabuza started by throwing two Kunai at Kaito, who deflected them with good reflexes. Izumi and one of the guys from the other team locked in a Kunai clash and began competing for power. Kaito and Zabuza also began exchanging blows, which meant that my opponent was in.

I quickly turned around, dodging two shuriken that flew past my face. "You," I said, a smile appearing on my face. The boy was of average height for his age, and he wore the standard black training clothes we still wore at the academy, but he had tied a bandage around his arm. He pulled out several more shuriken, holding one between each of his fingers.

He threw them with great precision, aiming for vital points all over my body. I lunged straight down the center of him, blocking the shuriken with the bones coming out of each of my forearms. I quickly closed the distance and caught him off guard, flipping the older boy over, landing behind him and kicking him in the back of the knee. The force of my blow sent the boy falling hard to the ground, knocking his breath out of him. I quickly rolled over and kicked him in the chest with my heel, finishing him off and putting him out of the fight.

Meanwhile, Kaito and Zabuza were locked in a brutal fight. Kaito was much stronger than Zabuza and seemed to prefer concentrating his chakra into his fists when he attacked. Zabuza was faster than the larger boy and he used his speed to his advantage, he dodged two punches that were strong enough to take his head off and dropped to one knee as he fired at Kaito's left leg. Using the kunai in his hand, he sliced ​​the back of Kaito's leg and quickly turned around to take his back for the finishing blow.

Just as the kunai was about to hit Kaito in the back, I launched my own projectile. It was the distal phalanges, otherwise known as the fingertip bones. I fired it with the tip of my index finger, just like Kimimaro did in the anime. The bone projectile hit Zabuza in the kunai at the last second, ripping it out of his hand and saving Kaito's life. Zabuza quickly backed up and created some distance as I ran up to Kaito. His leg was bleeding profusely and he couldn't stand, as far as I could tell, he was out of the fight.

Izumi wasn't doing too well against her opponent either, landing hard on her back after taking a spinning heel kick to the face. She struggled to get up, but the boy sat on her chest and held a kunai to her throat. "Give up," he said, looking her in the eye. She had no choice, so she raised her hand in surrender.

The boy joined Zabuza and they began to circle us like predators. Kaito tried to stand up but his leg went limp from blood loss and he fell to one knee. "You're out of this fight Kaito," I said, turning my back to him. I couldn't afford to tear my eyes away from the others and I didn't know if I could protect Kaito. The older boy nodded and raised his hand in defeat, taking himself out of the fight, it was now a two-on-one fight and my chances looked slim. Ninjutsu wasn't allowed in taijutsu matches, which meant no ice style. Luckily for me, I could use my Shikotsumyaku abilities for taijutsu and not break the rules. I twirled the Kunai in my hand and quickly grabbed it as I got into a fighting stance.

"Come on," I said, taunting them with my free hand. The two charged at me, both of them moving in a zig-zag pattern to throw me off. Zabuza struck first and I blocked his kunai strike with my own kunai, the sound of metal on metal ringing in my ears, the force pushing me back and I backed up to create more space. Suddenly another boy appeared to my right, slashing in multiple directions, I quickly ducked and dodged, avoiding two attacks before blocking a large right hand. I grabbed his wrist and slammed my elbow into his ribs, breaking them, quickly throwing his arm over my shoulder I flipped him over and slammed him hard into the ground, knocking him down. Before I could even turn around, Zabuza grabbed my back, stabbing his Kunai into it, he didn't stop there, he jumped into the air, spun around and kicked my head hard with his heel, knocking me to the ground. The rest of the class was silent, watching what was happening and waiting for the result.

To Zabuza's surprise, I stood up unscathed by his blow. I managed to stop the Kunai with the layer of bone under my skin where he tried to pierce it, I also reinforced my skull, and the force of his blow only knocked me down. Still, his speed and ability were astounding, especially considering he hadn't even been fully trained at the Academy. Still, I wasn't going to lose here.

"Now it's my turn?" I said, taking a fighting stance. I crossed one leg over the other and spread my arms out to the sides. Bone spikes started to come out all over my body, and I must have looked like a porcupine. Zabuza took a low fighting stance, and his expression looked shocked.

"That's enough!" The instructor shouted, appearing in our midst. He gave me a hard look. "That's enough for today, you two, the fight is over."

I let the bones return to my body and turned around. The other students all looked at me with surprise, they were whispering among themselves, and I swore I heard someone call me a monster.

I supposed that made sense. The Kaguya clan had their own settlement away from the village, and they never sent students to the academy. Especially since some instructors had said that it was rare to see something like this when talking about my abilities. Luckily, since I was born into the Yuki clan, the Kaguyas had no rights over me, even though I had their Kekkei Genkai. That was how each clan and family operated here, falling into the social order. The main clans and families were the founding families of the Hidden Mist, they had their own clan members trained outside the academy and were exempt from the final test, the clans that lived outside the Hidden Mist had to make offerings to the Mist Village and were only useful in times of war. Last on the list were the families that were forced to live in the Hidden Mist for protection, mostly members of fallen clans. They were the ones that made up the bulk of the Mist's hidden military force, but were also seen as poor and mere cannon fodder.

If I remember correctly, shortly after this war, there will be several small civil wars in which most of the clans outside the Hidden Mist will be wiped out. Including the Yuki clan and the Kaguya clan. I wondered if I would be included in the equation and if my life would be in danger. I shook the thought away and headed to my next lesson, Ninjutsu.

Over the past two weeks, we had all been taught the Hidden Mist Jutsu and how to operate within it. Of course, it made sense, since we lived in a village hidden in the mist. Along with the Hidden Mist Jutsu, we were also taught the more advanced Substitution Jutsu, which would certainly come in handy for future battles. We continued to learn and practice jutsu involving our elements. It was a shame that my Kekkei Genkai abilities couldn't be taught to anyone other than those with the same abilities. But I could still come up with a few new tricks, as well as recreate some of the moves I'd seen in anime.

Zabuza and the others were given one basic jutsu to work on their element, they were shown the jutsu first and then taught the hand signs. Zabuza, as expected, picked up his water style pretty quickly, while the others were slower. We weren't allowed to practice our ninjutsu on each other, only allowed to use it on training dummies. Our training field was one of the academy's outdoor training fields. Learning the Concealing Mist Jutsu was very interesting, it allowed us to use our chakra to turn the moisture in the air into mist that would spread across the area. The mist was thick and would hinder our enemies. Our sensei said that if you focus your chakra into the mist, you can detect anyone the mist comes into contact with, you can even sense the surrounding area, it takes some practice but pretty soon we can all move around in the mist pretty freely. Zabuza seemed to take it almost naturally, and I remembered that he was famous for his art of silent killing, in which he often used the Concealing Mist Jutsu.

Soon enough, our three weeks were up, and all of the students found themselves in the Great Announcement Hall. Normally, the Mizukage would conduct the ceremony, but he was currently outside the village on a top secret S-rank mission. Instead, the academy's head instructor and two of the Mizukage's advisors gave a speech.

Much was said about how we had all proven our strength as hidden mist shinobi and that we deserved to be here. I didn't really pay much attention to it as I was busy trying to figure out what was going to happen next.

"We will now announce your new position and assignments. Listen carefully, I will not repeat myself!" The instructor said. He began reading names from a large piece of paper and assigning them to positions or squads in the village. The first and most common position was that of gate guard and village patrol. This was given to those who had scored the lowest. Next came assignments to squads or regiments, this position was given to those who were considered ready to fight outside the village, which was considered a great honor. Of the 51 students who passed the final exam, only 47 were able to complete the 3-week training. Of the 47 students, 7 were assigned to gate guard and the rest to squads.

Members of each of the units or regiments were present to gather those assigned to them, all of them looking battle hardened and wearing standard issue stealth clothing. My name was called and the room went silent, everyone seemed eager to see where I would be placed.

"Fuyun Yuki. Assigned to the Frontline Infantry Unit." Among the other students, this was considered a death sentence. The Frontline Infantry Unit was, as the name suggested, a frontline unit. They were always at the forefront of any major battle at the front, and usually acted as cannon fodder. I expected nothing less, after all, I had not one but two Kekkei Genkai, I was even sure that most of my clan members would be in the same unit as well.

"Zabuza Momochi, assigned to the Vanguard Swordsman Squad." The Vanguard Swordsman Squad was the most suitable position to be assigned to, as the members of the squad were usually the ones who would become the future members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and in Zabuza's case, that was true.

I didn't pay much attention to where the others were placed, but I knew that none of them were placed on the front lines with me. That was either a testament to my abilities or a death sentence.