Reborn in the Mist

Yagura was a beast.

I twirled around the pathetic attack, the bone user’s arm overextends as I slip into his guard and deliver an uplifting uppercut to his stomach and then strike him down with my Bo-staff. The sound of bone crunching against my staff and the sight of blood spill as he coughs from crushed ribs fills me with unimagined glee.

A flurry of bone parts threatens to pierce me from the right but a glass pane of ice rises up to shield me. I glance behind me where Owl mask fends off a man with protruding bones and hiss as he nearly has her pinned down with his extended rib cage boxing her in.

Without thinking about it my fingers flip through hand-signs and chakra answers my will, “Water Release: Water Bullet!”

Pursing my lips, a high pressured wave of water emits out at our opponents, cutting through the ground as I struggle to control the pressure for a second before I set it right upon my target.

His disfigured body of bone suffers a direct impact but to my annoyance my pressured stream doesn’t cut him in half, more bone seems to construct underneath his skin, hardening him against my attack. I fuel my jutsu with more chakra, intent on seeing the man’s blood soak. His protruding bone ribcage snaps off, pieces flying off randomly as they lose against the pressure of my jutsu.

Tossed through the Hozuki clan grounds like a ragdoll the man struggles to get on his feet again in the time my jutsu elapses. A large part of me wanted nothing but to chase after him and ensure he bleeds for attacking us but I have other concerns, namely myself and allies.

Around me is a mess of water and bone. Rina’s house was cut in half despite our best efforts, a mountain of bone shattered through the right half with the left half only protected by Fuguki’s jutsu. Where there would be an opening to invade the home through windows and breaches, there’s a large collection of orange hair and ice instead.

I ran over to Owl mask and crouched beside her as she groaned. Of all of us she expended the most chakra and ironically had the least. Without her jutsu though, I doubt we could have protected the Third’s family as well as we have.

“Lay down.” I ordered, forcing her shoulders back on the bloodstained waters around us.

“Kill him.” She gritted out.

The man in question doesn’t look like he’s capable of causing any more trouble than he has, though he has caused trouble. Eyes narrowed at him as he pulls onto his feet, I flip through familiar hand-signs and the water around me surges at him.

He screams and bursts with chakra but unlike the frightening creature of bone anatomy he transformed into, he only manages two bone swords. But it doesn’t matter. The water splashes into his face unheeded, drowning him with force as my will forms a [Water Prison] to trap and control him.

I’d used this jutsu earlier in the fight as well but to greater efficiency. The first [Water Prison] was a small ball no larger than a football and coloured dark crimson. With the pressure within the [Water Prison] I can crush whoever is trapped inside until all that’s left of them is the size of a football.

Yagura is a beast.

I snatched some supplies from Owl masks pouch and quickly got to staunching her many lacerations and stab wounds. I hadn’t come out unscathed either. My left arm is almost split in two from the litany of bone spears and other projectiles, not to mention I’ve been stabbed twice when the enemy got passed my ranged attacks.

Still, Yagura managed to prove superior against them even at close combat quarters. The insane amount of bloodlust that surged in me with each close encounter fuelled a passion for battle I never realized Yagura had.

I split some of Owl masks bandages around my stomach, thanks to Isobu’s chakra the injury on my left arm is already sewing up itself.

I’ve been underestimating myself, or rather Yagura. When I sensed the enemy through the mist and leaped out onto the now partially destroyed rooftops to face them, I was crossing my fingers in the hope that I didn’t die. I didn’t think I had a chance against actual enemy combatants until I faced them.

And it was glorious. The striking pain of being sliced and stabbed, the pressure of keeping distance and preventing the porcupine-like enemy from getting the advantage, the magnitude of their jutsu to destroy half of an Ice Warded home even with Fuguki inside.

The thrill had me licking my lips, excited to cut down more. All this time I’ve judged Fuguki, the clans and even the Sandaime in silence, thinking them all as bloodlusted beasts and I a paragon of fairness but here I am, my heart racing for more blood to spill.

Yagura is a beast. You’d have to be to be so strong in a place like this. Having had a taste of my very first kills I find little remorse in my heart for my actions; the line between Yagura and I continues to blur.

“Kill them.” Owl mask groans, slapping my hand away as she pulls herself up. Even with her mask on I could feel a heated glare fix on the last man I’ve kept as prisoner.

I shook my head and ordered the [Water Prison] closer to me, “No, we need one alive at least.” I said, studying the partially drowning man.

[Water Prison] is a very versatile jutsu, with it I can ensure he drowns or that he doesn’t, I can knock him out or crush him to the size of a football, but most importantly I can keep him exactly like this for as long as my chakra will allow.

Floating inside the ball of water is a man of the Kaguya clan. If their Bone manipulating techniques weren’t obvious enough the zigzag pattern splitting their hair and the red dots on their head gave them away.

“Why?” Owl mask gritted, terribly low on chakra judging by her heavy gasps.

“Exactly that,” I tell her, “The Kaguya clan attack so blatantly, not even bothering to hide their faces. We must know why.”

Owl mask lifts her mask and chewed on a pill, “We already know why. To kill Sandaime-sama’s family, to finish off his lineage!”

Whatever she took seemed to increase her chakra and she stood stronger for it, strong enough to be bothersome. “You think they killed Sandaime-sama too?” I scoffed and sat down with my legs crossed, “No, they’re insufficient for such. Recall Ao, we should interrogate this one with him present.”

“You have no power ordering me around.” She hissed through the pain of her wounds, stepping closer to me and the [Water Prison] her chakra summoning a frosty kunai from the water all over.

“No, and you can certainly do as you please right now without breaking any rules. But if I become Mizukage…I won’t forget this.”

That halts her in place and I feel her intense glare sublime into something of fear and a tad bit of respect as she allows her ice kunai to collapse back to water, “Very well then, I’ll recall Ao.”

I gave a grateful nod and looked around the mess we’ve made of the compound and sighed. Suddenly three ANBU fell from the rooftops to Owl mask, all crouching in subservience.

“Sir!”

“Report.” She groaned out.

“Sir! Funato, Yuki, Hoshigaki and Karatachi clan compounds have suffered similar attacks.”

“What?” I nearly exclaimed. It’s one thing for the Hozuki to be attacked but all five clans set upon by the Kaguya? “What of my uncle? Where is he?”

The ANBU spared me a look before glancing back at Owl mask who nodded. “Aoto-dono is safe. He and other Karatachi members fended off the attack with ease…but there have been casualties amongst all clans save for the Hozuki.”

“How did this happen? How did they even get past our security? This…this is too suspicious.”

Owl mask nods along with my deductions and turned her gaze to the Kaguya I have imprisoned, “I agree. It’s too coordinated for a clan of their kind, they don’t seem to know anything else apart from combat.” She ordered her operatives, “Send message to Ao, he shouldn’t be far off the path towards Konoha now. We need him here.”

“Sir!”

With that one ANBU disappears in a cloud of mist. Owl mask turned to the others and started giving out organizational orders but all my focus was entirely on my grinning prisoner.