Chapter 1 - Bone Identity
Chapter 1 - Bone Identity
The Land of water was a miserable place, one half of the year tropical storms ravage the lands and seasonal floods tear through the undergrowth. On those rare days where the rains wouldn't leave you drenched, The cloying humidity would leave you soaked instead. The other half of the year was arguably worse, where a maze of mist would leave you blind and trapped in a quagmire.
Given that I was made to live in a cage, practically out in the open, my intimate relationship with the weather probably formed a bias against the region. This was a far cry from the 21st century comforts that I was used to, six years in my new reality had not changed that in the slightest.
A swift kick rattled the cage and shook me from my inner monologue. "Sleep time's over monster."
"My name is Kimimaro."
"Feh" she hawked a fat wad of spit at my feet, "a monster is a monster, it doesn't need any names! Now get out. You should count yourself lucky for this luxury, every meal down your throat and every minute spent training you is a waste."
I stared at her for a moment, there was that distinct zigzag hairline and the short dotty eyebrows indicative of our clan. But, her eyes were a little too wide and hyper-focused; the kind of expression that most would politely call batshit insane.
"Trying to beat me to death everyday is training?" The bloody mist had an odd way of nurturing their shinobi, the Kaguya clan exemplified the needlessly barbaric approach most of all.
"No one's gonna complain if you die. So, as long as you're alive we might as well get some use out of a monster like you." My eyes fell on the, frankly, flimsy little cage she had me in. Even with my basic control of the Shikotsumyaku, I'd slice her head off before she'd be able to do anything. And she made it just so tempting to follow through on that line of thought.
Yet, needs must. The shinobi world is a maze that leads to supreme power; and I have a map.
"What do you want from me anyway? There's no food, and you're not my trainer."
"You're going to prove your worth. That mad Kage Yagura's time is officially over! The glorious Kaguya clan will massacre that accursed fiend and all his little followers. And we will once more take our place as the rulers of the Hidden Mist." Her eyes were on the verge of popping out of her skull during her zealotry.
"You say that like we have a choice in the fight. There isn't another bloodline clan left besides us."
Her manic grin instantly fell; she ripped the cage door off the hinge and plunged her hand inside to grab me. "That's enough out of you! I'm not missing out on the slaughter any more than I've already had to because of you."
Her hand would touch nothing, in a burst of speed I appeared at the entrance of the cave. "What are you waiting for? Let's go."
The world was burning around me; and by world I specifically mean the Kaguya estate, because the entire kamikaze Kaguya squad barely made it out of the compound before we were ambushed by an army of Kiri hunter-nin.
The Kaguya clan - including all women and children - totaled nearly forty insane screamers. Kiri doubled down on that number. The children and the elderly went down first, and went down fast; the chuunin class fodder Yagura sent proved far too lethal for them. That's not to say it was a bloodless massacre on Kiri's side.
The older Kaguyas were having a fair go at it, it wasn't a massive ninjutsu battle by any means, but the taijutsu and bukijutsu on display was brutal to the extreme.
The Kaguya clearly weren't suited to being a clan of shinobi. Where the hunter nin preferred quick, efficient killshots, my clan went all in. Our naturally powerful bodies and much larger chakra pools allowed for a far more showy fighting style. If you're suiton jutsu wasn't taking out five shinobi and your own house with it - you weren't fighting like a Kaguya.
Not that I could really emulate just yet. I was six for Kage's sake. I had no jutsu, no weapons, no reach, no nothing. What I did have however was the Shikotsumyaku.
A pair of chuunin broke away from the rest of my flailing clansmen. Probably a prudent decision on their part, considering the bisected chuunin at my tiny little feet. "Dance of the Yucca." Thin, razor sharp plates of bone formed from my shins, the outside of my forearms, and from the first knuckles of each hand.
The first one brandished his sword and sped towards me. He struck from overhead with full force, I swung my fist in kind. The edge of the steel met the bone plate of my knuckles, and to his surprise the sword shattered on contact.
Capitalizing on the opportunity, I leapt and swung my bone enhanced leg at their head. The chuunin grabbed it and screamed as the sharp edge cut deep into their hand. Twisting my torso, my forearm aimed once more at his head. Now aware of the inherent danger direct contact with my body posed, the chuunin blocked it with the broken sword's hilt. Their superior strength held true, but I wasn't done. I clasped the hilt within the crook of my arm, my elbow lined up square with their face, "Dance of the Wisteria." Four sharp, arrowhead shaped bone projectiles shot out and sunk deep into the chuunin's head. Death was instant.
"Suiton - Mizurappa!" The other shinobi used the shunshin to appear beside the corpse and I. I used the dead one to shield myself from the strong blast of water.
My meat shield dampened the initial impact of the jutsu, but the force sent us careening into the swamp behind.
I was ploughed through a tree before crashing with splash into a shallow pool of bog water. My utter lack of any real chakra control ensured I would find no purchase on the surface of the puddle, and instead found myself knee deep in it.
Visibility under the canopy wasn't great, and the thick chakra laced mist billowing in didn't improve the situation. The hidden mist jutsu.
"Fresh from your mother's breast and already slaughtering to your heart's content. You bloodline freaks are a stain on this land." Their voice echoed through the clearing. "Any last words, little beast?" Was suddenly whispered into my ear, while a kunai was jabbed into my jugular.
Too bad the steel found bone rather than blood. "Yeah. Dance of the Larch." Jagged pikes of bone bloomed, ripping through my flesh and impaling the hunter-nin. With a final gurgle the figure went limp.
I let the bones snap off my body, the still skewered shinobi fell back as I too collapsed into the puddle beneath me. All the Shikotsumyaku techniques were very chakra intensive, and my complete lack of any chakra control or training meant I had to spend far, far more than was really necessary to pull off the techniques. But it just went to show just how much potential the Kaguya bloodline and body has.
With his death, the hidden mist jutsu fell, letting the surroundings become visible once more. I gazed past the foliage and saw the pyre that once used to be the Kaguya clan compound. It was quite a distance away now, clearly the suiton jutsu I had been hit with launched me farther away than I thought.
This was the perfect chance to make my escape.
I scavenged what I could from the shinobi I'd killed; a few scrolls, bandages, anything I could carry really. I replaced my own shirt with the haori from the first ninja I'd killed of the pair. It was completely drenched and reached my knees, but it certainly beat holes and blood.
I made my way deeper into the marshlands. This battle proved that I am severely deficient, and am in desperate need of formal instruction. Naruto and that entire generation had likely been born recently or were about to arrive imminently; that left me with a mere thirteen years till canon kicked off. Time necessary to ascend to the Kage level at the very least.
And only an S-rank ninja could really make another. No average flunky would do. Good thing I knew just where to find one of my very own.
Dance of the -
Yucca: are succulents with razor-like stiff, stemless leaves.
Wisteria: have seed pods that launch their seeds when they explode.
Larch: have leaves characterized by their sharp needle-like leaves.