Side Story: Ice and Samurai - Complete

[InsaneAsylum]

“You know, I didn’t know they delivered scrolls by bird anymore!”

“What’s it say?”

“Hmmm… it says it’s top secret! And it’s addressed to you!”

“Wait, really? Give it here then!”

Aiko took another bite of fish and snatched the scroll from her father’s hands, and began unrolling it. Suddenly coming to a stop when an important phrase came into view.

CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION RESERVED FOR AIKO UCHIHA

Aiko felt the glare of another pair of eyes gazing over her shoulder. It seemed her nosey father couldn’t mind his own business.

“I’m gonna open this in my room…”

Aiko hurried to her room from the kitchen, excitement building. She shut the door behind her and fully unrolled the scroll. Her eyebrows furrowed. The scroll didn’t say anything! There was just a summoning circle in middle of the scroll.

Before Aiko could realize what was about to happen, smoke began billowing from the the circle, and Aiko dropped it to the ground, reaching for her katana that lay on her bed.

*Poof*

Suddenly, right before Aiko’s eyes, was a member of the ANBU Black-Ops! Aiko gasped, but quickly stood up straight and did a quick fix to her disheveled hair.

“Ah, looks like the scroll found the proper recipient. I’m not entirely sure why they decided to give you a mission like this, but I just do as I’m told, ya know?.” The ninja sounded like he didn’t want to be there.

“I’m getting a mission?” Aiko asked woth excitement and nervousness.

“That’s right kid. I’ll explain real quick. We suspect that a village in the Land of Frost may be giving weapons and supplies to the Hidden Mist. They’ve been friendly with the Land of Water for a long time now, but they never overtly supported them. We need you to investigate this village and find out whether or not this is true, ya know?

“Won’t it be a bad idea to send a Leaf ninja in there? Wouldn’t they hide all the evidence as soon as I arrive? I’m not very stealthy you know.”

“Good question kid. That’s why you, and our associate from the Land of Hot Water will go in together. You’ll be posing as his apprentice. He’s a samurai, so he knows what he’s doing. That village requested the aid of some samurai not long ago, so you too are taking up their offer. Besides, you and your katana can pass for a samurai, can’t you?

“Ok… what will the Leaf do after I report back, assuming they are in fact supplying the Mist?”

“That’s not what you worry about kid. Leave that to the higher ups.

“Of course… alright. Just tell me all of it again…”

——————————

It didn’t sound right. A mission to a little village that was giving weapons to the Mist couldn’t be supplying them with that many weapons, could they? Why couldn’t they send in someone who was sneaky enough to do this on their own without all this samurai foolishness?

Whatever the case was Aiko was finished packing and already heading towards the main gate. Not many people were out and about at this time, producing a quiet and peaceful atmosphere for the young ninja as she walked. She made it to the gate, and slid a map out of her pocket. It’d be a long journey, and she’d have to hurry if she wanted to make it to her destination at the stated time. With a quick movement, Aiko dashed up into the trees, leaping from branch to branch.

She hadn’t told her father the details of the mission. Only that she was going on a long mission. The idiot got all happy and giddy and packed her a nice meal. The meal, she appreciated. The big hugs and the repeated fatherly advice that applied to literally everything, she didn't appreciate. Hopefully she’d have a nice story to tell when she returned.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

It had been about eleven hours since Aiko had left the Hidden Leaf, and she was moving at a quick but comfortable pace through the trees. Occasionally she paused to admire a beautiful pond, or an abnormally large tree that towered above the rest. When you were alone in nature it was easier to spot the hidden beauties. She took one long rest to eat and let her legs recover, but after that, she hurried on.

The journey was a bit lonelier that she had thought it would be, but being alone with her thoughts was enjoyable. She thought about how she had improved since her days at the academy, and how she was finally skilled enough to be assigned on what was nearly a solo mission. It was so exciting! Back at the academy, Aiko never could’ve imagined what being a ninja was actually like. She was certain she’d never unlock her sharingan either! It was too bad the rest of her clan couldn’t see it, but Aiko would make sure she’d live up to their name from now on, starting with this mission.

“Missions are actually pretty boring without those two idiots with me,” she muttered to herself as she dashed across the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Hot Water. She was ahead of schedule so far. But, as she was leaping from branch to branch, Aiko couldn’t help but feel like she was being watched. She ignored the feeling, and continued on.

The feeling was still there after another five minutes, so Aiko stopped atop a tree branch, and pretended to take a long drink from her water canteen. As she did so, a kunai came flying at Aiko from behind. An explosive was wrapped around the handle, ready to blow up the seemingly unsuspecting chuunin. However, Aiko was ready! She turned, red eyes blazing, and dropped the canteen as she nimbly ducked under the kunai aimed at her neck.

However, that wasn’t all. A rogue ninja had jumped after the kunai, holding one in each hand as they flew forward at an alarming speed. Aiko formed a hand sign, and the rogue ninja’s kunai sunk into a big chunk of ice. They cursed, and looked around for Aiko, before looking up at the last moment in time to bring both their kunai up to block the powerful downwards strike Aiko delivered as she dropped down.

As their blades met, Aiko delivered a hard kick to the rogue ninja’s gut sending him tumbling off the branch. Aiko hopped backwards onto another branch, sheathed her katana, and formed another hand sign. Two water clones formed behind Aiko, and they leapt down at the rogue ninja, who had found his footing on a lower branch.

The rogue ninja spun, and kicked a wave of wind chakra at the two water clones, cutting them in half in mid air. Aiko could barely hold onto the branch, before she saw the rogue ninja once again dashing straight up with their kunai poised to strike. Aiko placed her hand on the tree branch she stood on, letting ice chakra form an icy patch on the branch.

At the last second, before the ninja’s kunai struck her, Aiko evaded by hopping to a nearby branch. The rogue ninja nimbly stopped themselves on the branch Aiko had been on previously, preparing to throw their kunai before they felt something cold grab their right foot. He looked down, finding his foot encased in ice! He looked back at Aiko, only to find her smirking.

From behind, out of the ninja’s view, an ice sword had formed. The blade slew forward, and straight into the rogue’s back.

The ninja coughed up a mess of blood, and suddenly two lit explosive tags appear on his hands. “Damn you… leaf…” the rogue sputtered before dropping limp onto the branch. Then the two explosive tags exploded, forcing Aiko to retreat behind a tree trunk. To avoid the flying wood splinters.

When the blast ceased, Aiko swung around the trunk, only to find a bloody splatter where the rogue ninja had been. She cursed quietly and sighed, just in time to hear a ruffle in the trees above her. Another ninja had been there. With her sharingan, she could see they were retreating with amazing speed. Aiko knew she couldn’t catch them, so she didn’t try to.

“Who the hell could they have been?” Aiko asked herself, taking one last look at the bloody mess. She continued on, wary that her arrival had been anticipated by someone. She’d have to find this samurai soon, before someone came along she couldn’t handle.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

The sun was beating down hard, as Aiko entered the village she was supposed to meet the samurai in. She didn’t have any information about him, except for his name, Shinja. Deciding that the best way to find the man, was to simply ask around the village.

There was an old man sitting in a rocking chair in front of his home, chewing on something. His eyes were barely opened, but she could tell he was fully awake. So she approached him, hoping for a good natured old man instead of a mean one.

“Afternoon!” Aiko said with false enthusiasm.

“Whaddya want kid? Can’t ya see I’m sunbathing here?” The old man didn’t sound cheerful in the slightest. Perhaps he didn’t like ninja.

“Oh, uhm, I just wanted to know if a samurai was in the village somewhere. He’s my friend,” Aiko lied about the last bit.

“There are plenty of samurai around here! They all hang out drinking at Boos’s Tavern. When he was still alive those samurai never caused any trouble! Now his daughter runs the place and the samurai think they can do whatever they want! Gosh diddly danged samurai wanna-be fools!” The man ranted, as Aiko slowly backed away, thanking him for the help.

She turned and picked up her pace deeper into the village, looking for a sign that said ‘Boos’, however that was spelled. But besides an occasional vendor’s stand, she didn’t see any signs until she finally caught sight of a a man with a katana at his hip, nonchalantly strolling through the streets. He had two other men behind him, both with a katana at their hips as well. Just by looking at him, Aiko could tell he wasn’t Shinja. He seemed to have a destination in mind as he walked, as he didn’t gaze around like a tourist at all. It may not be a bad idea to tail him and see if he was heading to ‘Boos’s Tavern”.

Aiko pretended to browse a vendor’s goods, as they man and his two grunts passed by and turned a corner. Then, she set off after them, peeking from behind the side of a building as they walked. She let them gain some distance before she started following them, pretending to observe different things in the village.

She only had to follow the men for a few minutes before they came upon a large burly man leaning beside the door to a large and old looking building. There was no sign or anything else indicating what the building’s purpose was. The large man stared the three men down as they entered the building. After they entered, Aiko hurried forwards, hoping to be allowed inside without an issue.

The man stepped in front of the doorway before she could enter. It made sense now, he was a bouncer, and this was the bar the samurai hung out at.

“Look kid, you’re not coming in here. Adults only, you understand?”

Aiko remembered that she wasn’t wearing her headband. “I need to talk to someone in there!’

“Yea, I don’t care. Wait until they come out.”

Aio knew she wouldn’t get in without causing trouble, so she dragged her feet away, and turned a corner before spinning on her heel and peeking back around the corner. The building was two stories tall, and had two windows on the second floor on the front side. Hopefully that meant that there would be windows on the other side as well. It was time put her ninja skills to work.

----------

Aiko pulled herself onto the windowpane, it was barely large enough for her to rest a knee on it. She tried to pull the window up, and it moved about a centimeter before refusing to move any further. It was locked! Aiko cursed silently, before looking at the area behind her. No one was in view, and hoped no one was within earshot, besides the man on the other side of the bar. Aiko uncapped her canteen, and let water spill out. She gathered it into a ball before it could fall to the ground. The water the, slid beneath the window, before freezing, which in turn forced the window up, breaking the lock. The sound wasn’t as loud as she had predicted, but it still might draw attention.

Aiko slid the window the rest of the way open and stepped into an empty bedroom. Closing the window behind her, took a look at the room. It wasn’t a very eye catching arrangement. Brown sheets, gray blankets, a few pictures of the family that lived there, everything was bland was boring. A few objects did stand out, a small little pink figurine of a dance sat on a dresser, and a woman’s clothes lay spread out on the bed. The clothes looked like they’d almost fit Aiko. Was this really a woman’s room? Besides the figurine, there were no personal items laying about.

Loud laughing from below shook Aiko out of her head, and she hurried to the bedroom door, slowly opening it. She found herself in an empty hallway, that led to a dead end on one side and a stairway on the other. Aiko headed for the stairs, and adjusted her katana. A loud clang and a woman’s squeal made Aiko flinch. She paused on the stairwell, giving herself a view through the guardrails into the bar. The man she had followed earlier was standing a young woman with his katana drawn.

“This is the first and the last time I let a bitch disrespect me!”

There were only about five other men in the bar. All of them had a katana on their hip, and they made no move to help the woman.

“I-I didn’t mean to! I was tr-tripped! I’ll get you another drink, Ganjo! P-plea-”

A chair clanged to the floor in the corner of the bar. A man Aiko hadn’t noticed rose to his feet. A straw hat prevented Aiko from seeing his face. A katana and a wakizashi were at his hip.

“How about this, I take care of this man for you, and you give me free drinks whenever I want?” The man asked, loud enough for the whole bar to hear.

The woman was silent for a moment, “Wha- what?”

“Shut up!” Ganjo screeched, standing over her raised his blade into their air, preparing to bring it down.

The bar went silent.

“F-free drinks forever!” The woman yelled, as the blade came down upon her.

The straw hat samurai moved with amazing speed, but his katana moved faster. Ganjo’s eyes went wide, as he looked down at his sword arm, only to find that there wasn’t anything there. With a squeal, Ganjo fell back onto his butt, and started screaming. “K-kill that samurai! Damn you Shinja, you bastard you said you wouldn’t interfere with us anymore!”

Aiko gasped.

All the other armed men in the bar rose to their feet, and a few charged Shinja. He brought his blade back, ready to strike, but suddenly, his katana was trusting straight through the torso of one of Ganjo’s grunts. This made the other grunts charging hesitate, giving Shinja an extra second to withdraw his blade.

“Are you sure you all want to die today?” he asked, a sincere coldness in his voice.

Ganjo spoke up again, pulling himself up and leaning on a table. “Go get the police force! One of you, now!” He commanded, breathing heavily. Shinja only responded with a shrug.

One of the grunts hurried out the door, just before the large man came into the bar.

“What the hell is going on in here?” he asked with authority. Ganjo immediately spoke up. “T-this samurai started attacking us and-”

“Shut up Ganjo, we all know you’re full of shit.”

“Whatever, just kill that damn samurai!” Ganjo sounded desperate, but his eyes seemed to lock onto something.


Three grunts charged Shinja at once, and with what appeared to only be one slash, he cut all three down at once, and sheathed his katana. Meanwhile, Ganjo had snuck over to the liquor counter, where he smacked all the bottles to the ground. Shinja moved to stop him, but was forced to block a strike by another grunt. With alcohol spilled all over the floor, Ganjo lit a match he had hidden in his pocket, and tossed it down onto the alcohol. Flames crawled along the floor, quickly setting the wooden walls and floor alight as well.

Aiko decided it was to move, and she leaped down the stairs, and sprinted to the woman, who had crawled to a far wall. “Come on, let’s get out of here!” She said to her, helping the woman to her feet.

The fire was spreading fast, and Shinja was busy fighting with Ganjo’s grunts. Smoke was already starting to fill the room. Aiko led the woman out the front door. The burly man had disappeared hopefully to get help.

“T-thank you! Wait, who’re you?” the woman asked.

Aiko didn’t answer, as she rushed back towards the door, only for the doorway to collapse in front of her. Flames flared through the doorway, forcing Aiko backwards. She quickly uncapped her water canteen, and began gathering water again, this time swirling it around, forming a loose coil. Coil grew for another ten second or so, before Aiko shot it forward through the doorway. The front line of the flames was put out, but the fire had grown exponentially in such a short time. Aiko grunted, and shot the water forward at a greater speed, as it flowed faster and faster out of her canteen. After another few minutes of Aiko’s watery assault, the flames were nearly done for, but the ground floor of the building had been nearly destroyed.

“Get out the way! Rescue team coming through!” a man’s voice shouted. Aiko lurched to the side, as a multitude of men hurried up to the building. They rushed inside, ignoring the smoke. One stayed behind and turned to Aiko.

“You there, you’re the one who was shootin’ all that water?”

Aiko nodded.

“Good, thanks for the help then. However, you’re under arrest!” the man yelled, as two men threw a net over Aiko.

Aiko shot the man a confused look, as the net covered her. “What? Why?”

“Someone says they saw you breaking in through the top window! You dirty thieving ninja!” the man didn’t sound merciful in the slightest, but Aiko decided that it would be best not to fight it, since she still needed to talk to Shinja.

Before Aiko could respond, she saw two of the rescuemen carrying Shinja out of the building. He was unconscious, and covered in soot. The men held his two swords. Aiko noted that Shinja was the only one they brought out of the building.

The man that had been speaking to Aiko grinned before saying. “Now, let’s get you somewhere nice and comfortable while we figure out what we’re going to do with you, ninja. You and this samurai won’t be getting off easy!”

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Heat burned down on the back of Aiko’s neck, as she kneeled hunched over in the dirt. A hot pebble was jamming into her knee, but she couldn’t move enough to shift it out of the way. She glanced to her left at the dark brown hair of the rogue samurai Shinja, as he was in the same position as she. His hair hung over his face, covering it, but they both knew what to do.

Above each of them stood, a man with a katana raised above their heads, poised to strike on command. Aiko could feel the burning glares of numerous pairs of eyes on her. Did they not think it odd for a girl so young to be publicly executed?

A raspy male voice spoke up a distance in front of the two. “Shinja Hakamura, how do you feel, knowing that you will finally face the consequences of your actions? You won’t be able to bully your way into this

Shinja chuckled.

“And you, unnamed ninja. You refused to tell us your name and what village you’re affiliatedx with. Now you’ll die because of your silence.”

Aiko sighed.

“Now, any last words?”

Shinja spoke. “Sorry about your boy Ganjo and all, but I can see where he got his sliminess.”

The man with the raspy voice slowly shook his head, then laughed for a moment. His face regained its composure. “Kill them.” The two men standing above Aiko and Shinja slowly raised their blades above their heads. The setting sun reflected off the blades.

The blades descended, followed by the sound steel against ice. Everyone gasped, watching as the girl who had just been tied up, stand with an ice sword in her hand, blocking the blade aiming to behead Shinja.

Shinja leaped up out of his kneeling position, the ropes binding his hand cutting on Aiko’s sword. With his hands free he turned and punched the man clashing with Aiko square in the nose. Aiko turned a seung her ice sword horizontally across the other man’s chest, sending him sprawling back onto the dirt.

Shinja adeptly disarmed the man he just punched, snatching the katana from his confused hands. Without a second thought, Shinja spun and sliced in one swift motion, sending the man’s head dropping into the dirt.

Aiko cursed. “Did you really have to kill him?” She asked accusingly. More men had drawn their swords, and were surrounding the two.

“I’ll kill you two once we’re done here kid,” Shinja stated, before dashing forward and cutting down one of the grunts.

“Kill those two damnit! Kill them!” The raspy voice yelled. Shinja was cutting a path right towards him, and he didn’t like it one bit. The raspy voice man turned to try and run, but was too late. He looked down at his chest and saw the blade of a katana jutting out from his chest. Shinja withdrew his blade, and watched as the asshole dropped down dead, a dark red pool forming around the corpse.

Aiko shook her head in disgust, and parried a few half-hearted strikes from a grunt. Most had given up now that their boss and source of income had died. The rest were running away. The spectators had long since fled in order to escape Shinja and the ‘rogue kunoichi’s’ wrath.

With the grunts out of the way, Shinja turned to face Aiko. Aiko gripped her ice sword tightly.

“Now it’s your turn.”

“Why do you feel the need to kill me?”

Shinja didn’t answer, as he lunged forward with a strike from the left, that suddenly became a strike from the right st the last moment. Aiko barely managed to get her blade there in time, losing her balance from the blow. Hopefully her sharingan could help with this guy.

Shinja striked again while Aiko was stumbled from his prior blow. He raised his sword upwards, but the upwards motion became a stabbing thrust. Aiko was ready, and knocked the blade to the side, only to find another katana pointed directly at her throat.

“Not too bad Leaf-nin. They told me the ninja they sent wouldn’t die right away if I attacked them,” Shinja said, lowering the wakizashi he had stealthily obtained in his other hand.

“W-what?”

“I already killed two other ninja saying they needed me for a mission. They claimed to be from the leaf, but were just some hired rogues of course.”

“They could’ve told me this before they sent me here to get killed, dammit! I hate those ANBU guys!”

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Samurai were cool. But no samurai was as cool as Shinja. The rogue samurai told AIko the story of his life on their way to the Land of Frost. Aiko didn’t quite believe every word, but he didn’t sound like he was making stuff up.

According to Shinja, he was born in an average family in the Land of Iron. His parents never expected much of him, and neither did he. He eventually became a Samurai, but wasn’t satisfied with fitting in with all of the faceless soldiers. He heard stories about ninja from other lands, and on some occasions, got to fight them. The smart ones knew to avoid agitating the samurai. Aiko knew that part. He then began reading about some of the ninjas’ abilities. Ninjutsu was interesting, but was beyond his capabilities. Genjutsu on the other hand, blew his mind. The sheer fact that he could toy with the senses of another living being was too good to pass up. With a basic genjutsu instruction manual, Shinja trained in secret to hone his genjutsu capabilities. It was no small task, forcing Shinja to devote enormous amounts of time to his training before he was even able to slightly mess with an opponent’s eyesight. But his training did pay off, after about nine years. He had long lost his position as a samurai for skipping out on his duties. The public shunned him for it too. Fortunately, Shinja was more than happy to leave. He had long wanted to explore the surrounding lands, and the Land of Iron’s solitude loving policies made that difficult to do for anyone. One night, he left without a trace, beginning his life as a blade for hire.

Aiko was impressed he was able to teach himself genjutsu without ever actually being taught anything about it. She suspected he may have had a teacher from outside the Land of Iron or something.

Aiko forced her imagination screech to a halt, as she and Shinja approached the village. Aiko had tucked her headband into her pocket. They entered the village, catching the stares of the villagefolk. Shinja grumbled about bringing warmer clothes, but Aiko was enjoying the cold wind that blew through. There was a thing layer of snow on the ground, but it was snowing lightly at the moment.

A young man approached the two in a hurry. He wore warm but rather elegant clothing. He had on a pair of black-rimmed glasses. “Welcome to the village! By the looks of it, you two seem to be the samurai we called for,’ the man spoke, looking them over carefully, as if analyzing them. He was only inches away from Aiko as he did so.

Shinja spoke. “That depends. Who are you, and when do we get paid?”

The man nodded slowly, before slowly snapping his head to look up at Shinja, and then down at Aiko. “My name is Dorin, and I run the important things around here. You’ll get paid after the problem’s taken care of, of course! But now, let me show you the main place we’ve been having issues!” Dorin took off at a brisk walk, not looking back to see if the samurai were following him.

Shinja scoffed. “I hate these kinds of folks. Think they know everything and shit.”

Aiko nodded, but didn’t make a comment. She just hurried after Dorin. Shinja followed a moment later.

After a quick walk past the outskirts of the village, the group came upon a giant old warehouse. It looked old, and wasn’t well taken care of by the looks of it.

Dorin came to a sudden halt, and turned stiffly. “This here is the warehouse we like to store food and other supplies in. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s held up over the years.”

Aiko and Shinja nodded in unison, both barely paying attention.

“BUT, it is off limits to everyone! Including you two! No peeking, you understand?!”

Aiko rolled her eyes. “Yea, yea, whatever. We’ll just stand outside and watch for bandits, if they ever show up.”

Dorin looked offended. “They will show up! They always do! That’s when you get to butcher them all!”

Just as Dorin finished his sentence, his hands up in the air to show the true worth of his statement, the kunai cam flying in from the nearby snow covered treeline. Aiko quickly lunged forward, drawing her katana and slashing all three out of the air with a single strike. One of the kunai hit the ground and in a cloud of smoke, transformed into a rogue ninja! The ninja stabbed upwards with a kunai, and Aiko deftly spun around the strike, hooking the rogue’s stabbing arm with one of her own with her back pressed against his. With the katana in her other hand, she spun it in her hand, and drove the blade backwards through the rogue’s back. She quickly with drew the blade, letting the ninja drop down dead.

Shinja hadn’t even drawn his sword, but he was looking at where the kunai had come from. Four more rogue ninja had appeared. They looked furious, having just watched their friend get killed so easily.

Aiko sheathed her katana, and moved to make a hand sign, but before she could, Shinja dashed forwards at the group. The rogue ninja didn’t falter. Two of them formed a series of hand signs, and in unison, a flurry of small balls of fire flew towards Shinja. Shinja grunted, and dodge to he slide, deflecting some of the balls of fire with his swords. The two rogues continued pelting Shinja, turning and aiming their flurry at the samurai.

Aiko meanwhile, formed a single handed hand sign. An ice sword came flying at one of the rogue’s pelting Shinja. Before it could land, however, one of idle rogue drew their weapon, a naginata, and swatted the ice sword out of their air with a well timed swipe. The other idle rogue, reached behind their back, and when their hands appeared again, two blades jutted out over their hands.

Aiko cursed, and activated her sharingan, just as the katar wielding rogue body flickered forward, stabbing at Aiko. Aiko’s hand sign changed just in time to let the katar stab into a block of ice instead of flesh. From above, Aiko formed a quick handsign series, and two water clones appeared. Aiko and her clones dropped down towards the rogue, ice swords materializing in their hand. The rogue was ready, side stepping one of the clone’s blades and shanking them, kicking the other out the air, and blocking Aiko’s powerful downward slash. The force of the slash forced the rogue down to a knee.

Aiko let go of the ice sword as she landed, and an ice sword formed in each of her hands, and she thrust them fowards into the rogue’s chest.

Out of the corner of her eye Aiko could saw the flash of metal coming towards her face. Aiko narrowly rolled away from the stab of the naginata, but she wasn’t out of the woods yet. The naginata wielding rogue continued approaching Aiko, delivering a thrust each time they were in range. Aiko tried to form a handsign, but the thrust were aimed at her hands each time they came together.

One strike managed to graze her side, and she made a large leap backwards, giving herself a moment to perform a jutsu. She made a handsign she hadn’t made in a while.

Hidden in Mist Jutsu

A thick mist quickly covered the area, giving Shinja cover as well to help him escape the barrage of flames.

The rogue halted their charge at Aiko, as she disappeared into the mist. They held their naginata at a ready position.

In the mist, Aiko could see everyone’s chakraclearly with her sharingan. She made sure not to put too much chakra into the mist. Her dad made sure she would remember. All three of the water clones charged towards the rogue recklessly, And the rogue was ready, slicing them up with ease. But what they weren’t ready for, was the barrage of ice swords that followed, impaling the rogue all over their body before they dropped down dead.

Aiko let out a deep breath, and let the mist dissipate. She let her sharingan fade away, as she turned to see Shinja wiping off his blade as he stood over two corpses.

Aiko then looked over at Dorin, who was cowering against the side of the warehouse. When he stopped hearing fighting, he peeked under his arm, finding that the samurai had done their job! He quickly rose to his feet and regained his composure. “G-great work! You took care of those damned bandits already! W-well I guess we can head back to the village and we can take care of your payments. You’ll have to stay the night as well! My grandmother will surely let you stay at her home!”

Aiko looked back down at the rogue’s corpses, then back at Shinja. They both knew that it wasn’t over yet. They still had to confirm that the weapons were actually in that warehouse too.

“Sounds good to me, I could use a good rest...”

 

[InsaneAsylum]

A distant explosion shook Aiko out of her bed. Panic overtook her, as she scrambled to her feet and ran to the nearest window. Her nose grazed the glass as she peered out into the snow covered village.

“No no no! Not again!”

Horrible and bloody memories filled her brain as she flung open the window and squinted at the warm orange glow smoke rising on the other side of the village. That was where the warehouse where the illegal weapons were stored!

Aiko grabbed her katana, and sprinted out the door of Dorin’s Grandma’s home. As she ran through the village, other townsfolk had begun standing outside their doors, or peeking out their windows to see what all the commotion was about. A few were even sprinting towards the warehouse as well!

It didn’t make sense. The bandits supposedly didn’t have the firepower for something like this, yet here they were blowing stuff up. Why would they suddenly be so aggressive in their efforts? Aiko’s mind raced, trying to find an answer. As she sprinted towards the warehouse, she found at least half of it already in flames. Two young men held back an older man who was reaching out to the doomed building. The man yelled, “They’ve got my wife and daughter in there dammit let me go! Why! Why are you stopping me?”

“You’re gonna get die if you go you old fool!” One of the younger men said.

Aiko winced, and hurried past them. “I’ll save them!” She yelled back over her shoulder before turning back to the burning warehouse. It was cold out, but the heat intensified exponentially as she neared the warehouse. Even the snow was melting to the flames.

She slid to halt, as the sight of Shinja swiftly cutting down a bandit, and engaging another outside the warehouse’s side door, his katana and the bandit’s tanto clashing together.

“Shinja! What’s going on?”

“It’s about time you got here kid! I’ll handle this guy and keep the village safe. You head in there and see what’s going on! Don’t do nothin stupid ya hear?”

“Got it!”

Confident Shinja could handle himself, but less confident in herself, Aiko slid past Shinja and the bandit, and shouldered her way through the door, and stumbled into the warehouse. The smoke stung her eyes and burnt her nose. She could feel her skin burn simply by standing there. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she headed farther inside.

There were tons of crates of varying sizes within the warehouse, and they were stacked up high. Most were wood, and were going to be on fire if they weren’t already. She could see a metal walkway up near the ceiling of the warehouse, and a few bandits were hustling down it towards the other end of the building. Using the smoke as cover, Aiko ran up the nearest wall and hopped onto the metal walkway up above all the flames. From here, she could see a large group of the bandits carrying out crates through a large hole blown in the side of the warehouse. Before Aiko could move towards the operation, where the hostages were surely being held, she was interrupted by the leader of the raiding party.

Ice Release: Swallow Snow Storm

Shards of ice in the shape of small birds rained down on the racing Uchiha.

Aiko sprung backwards, narrowly avoiding the rain of ice. She dropped to a low crouch and brought her hands together, ready to perform a jutsu, but hesitated.

“I-ice?”

“What’s the matter, kid? Is it really so surprising?” A kunoichi called, landing on the walkway. A deep cut marred the Mist headband around her neck. She wove a few hand seals, “Mmm, guess it would be for a Leaf brat.” Water began pooling beneath Aiko.

Water Release: Great Geyser

Aiko felt the water just in time to look down and form a single hand sign before a geyser of water blasted upwards. Just before she was sent flying, Aiko formed a single hand sign, replacing herself with a block of ice.

Aiko’s new positioning left the water geyser in between her and the kunoichi, so she quickly went on the offensive. Three ice swords flew through the geyser, and straight at the rogue ninja. A reflective sheet of ice formed in front of the rogue, the blades crashing into it. With a body flicker, she moved outside. Since when did the Leaf have the ability to use Ice Release?

The geyser dissipated, and Aiko found that the rogue ice ninja had disappeared. She obviously hadn't been hit, as theice swords lay clean on the metal walkway. Suddenly, it sunk in that she had been attacked by an ice jutsu not even a minute ago. Was she a part of the Yuki clan? Aiko wanted to ask her tons of questions, but knew that now wasn’t the time, especially the woman being a rogue ninja from the Mist. Why was she with the Mist in the first place?

Aiko activated her sharingan, so she wasn’t blinded by the smoke. She turned in a quick circle, finding that the rogue ninja had gone outside, by the more concentrated chakra she saw through the wall. Despite wanting to save the hostages inside the warehouse, Aiko knew she couldn’t do so with bandits and what appeared to be a talented ninja all around. Aiko looked up, seeing that the geyser had blown a hole in the warehouse roof. Aiko put her hands together, and a water clone formed next to Aiko.

Aiko’s water clone leaped through the hole and onto the roof, and scanned for the rogue ninja. Aiko herself stood clung to the edge of the hole, waiting for her clone to make a move before she acted. No longer in the thick cloud of smoke, the rogue’s pale blue could be seen against the firelight. The snow at her feet blackened as she finished weaving hand seals, gathering and swirling around her before a black dragon shot towards the clone on the roof.

Ice Release: Black Dragon Blizzard

Aiko nearly lost her grip, as her water clone leaped to the side to avoid the black dragon, letting it fly past and over the hole Aiko clung to. The water clone leapt off the roof, and sprinted straight at the rogue ninja.

Her arm and fist encased in ice, the rogue lunged for the charging clone. The dragon, meanwhile, looped back and dove at the warehouse itself. It was hard to finish robbing the place if everything turned to ash, after all.

Aiko had pulled herself up onto the roof just in time to see the black ice dragon smash its way into the warehouse. Aiko leapt off of roof to the warehouse, not wanting to be caught up if the roof collapsed. She landed softly on the snow, just as her water clone got smacked back into a glob of water. Weaving a few quick hand signs, three water clones appeared surrounding Aiko, and they all split off sprinting towards their enemy. An ice sword formed in the clones’ hands, and Aiko herself stayed put and uncapped her water canteen, letting the water spill out onto the ground.

The kunoichi’s lips twisted in a disgusted sneer. Sharingan and ice release? “You’re one of his freaks, aren’t you?” She made a familiar hand sign, the air temperature dropping despite the smoldering building next to them. Ice mirrors started to form around the real Aiko.

Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals

Aiko froze, the dreaded ice mirrors staring right back at her. Her father had said that using this jutsu would guarantee she’d kill her opponent. But somehow, by some absurd chance of fate, they were being used again her.

“F-freak?” Aiko muttered quietly. She could feel her legs weakening, and then she fell to one knee. The water pooling beneath her splashing up and landing on her cheek. Aiko gazed down at the growing puddle, and an idea popped into her head. She’d have to wait for the right moment though… she’d have to survive long enough.

Meanwhile, the water clones dashed into strike. One on the rogue kunoichi’s right, another on the left, and the last one leapt up to strike from above. She smirked, dashing into the mirror in front of her as her reflection spread to all the other mirrors. “So you know this jutsu then?”

Aiko didn’t respond for a moment, but when she did, she didn’t answer the question. “Who are you? I-I didn’t think anyone else of the Yuki clan still lived…” She looked up, gazing at one of the mirror’s reflection.

“Mizuki Hironaka,” the kunoichi drew a kunai, letting it twirl on her finger. “There are a few of us still. Would be more if Lord Reiji wasn’t hellbent on finishing what his predecessor started.”

“I see,” Aiko said, rising up to her feet. She gripped her katana, and shifted her stance. “I’ll be sure to tell my dad that all of us aren’t dead when I take you down then.” Aiko tried her best to sound confident, like Mai, but uncertainty plagued her voice. The only thing that truly showed her resolve was the emergence of a second tomoe in her eyes.

“Will you, now?” Mizuki tightened her grip on the kunai, “Then let’s see what you can do, half breed.” She started moving from one mirror to the next in a series of slashes.

As soon as she moved, Aiko slashed as fast she could only to find a cut open on her arm, which was swiftly followed by more and more. She was faster than Aiko had expected, but she surely she could predict her movements with the sharingan, Aiko hoped.

After a several more slashes, Aiko’s blade managed to connect with the kunai, deflecting a single strike.

“Oh?” Mizuki paused, noting the chip taken out of her blade. “Those pretty little eyes starting to adjust?”

Aiko sent an ice shuriken flying at one of the mirrors, but it curved and missed by a mile. “Next time it won’t be the kunai I get.” There was almost enough water at her feet at this point. She just needed a little bit more time and a brief distraction.

Mizuki didn’t reply, opting to pull seven more kunai from her pouch. Instead of slashing with every pass, she threw one of the blades, the final kunai held in hand to stab Aiko.

Aiko managed to deflect the first kunai throw, the next one sunk into her left forearm, and her katana dropped onto the ground. She let out a cry of pain. The next hit the shoulder on that same side, and four jammed into her back She managed to stay on her feet, but let out a painful grunt. One more hit her right thigh, but before Mizuki’s final strike could find its mark, Aiko brought her right arm up in time to let the kunai sink deep into her arm. With her now immobile left hand hanging down loosely, Aiko for a one handed hand sign, and all the water pooled down below the two quickly began snaking its way up Mizuki’s leg, freezing to ice as it struggled to climb upwards.

“So you have some bite after all,” Mizuki let go of the kunai. “You wanna save the other Yuki members? Find Grandma Anda, and stay far away from Yoake. Daisuke would be the end of you.”

Confused and in pain, Aiko tried to respond, but only found her vision clouding, before going black altogether. The Uchiha face planted in the snow, her last ditch attempt at a jutsu dropping back to the ground in a puff of frost. Mizuki sighed, letting her mirrors dissolve into snow. Scrawling something on a sheet of paper, she tucked it in one of Aiko’s pouches before slinging her over her shoulder.

“Hurry the hell up and get all this loaded!” She barked to a pair of Kyoudai members, “We don’t have all night.” Mizuki moved over to a small cluster of villagers huddled in the snow, ignoring how they flinched away. She unceremoniously dropped the unconscious shinobi and bandages in front of them before leaving without another word.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Lazily, Aiko’s eyes fluttered open. She didn’t lurch out of bed, ready to spring back into action, nor did she demand to know what happened. She just stared at the ceiling, with her ice blue eyes. They were a bit more dull than before.

She heard footsteps approaching. Two sets of them.

“Right on schedule. I told you she’d be fine,” an voice spoke. The voice was feminine, and raspy. It was the old woman who’s hme she stayed at.

“Pfft. You act like I’d actually care if she made it or not,” Aiko recognized Shinja’s voice.

“Oh don’t listen to him. He did more work keeping you alive than I did afterall. It’s a good thing I dabble in medical ninjutsu, and your friend Shinja is practically a surgeon.”

Aiko turned her head to look at the both of them. “Yea... thanks for the help...”

——————————

The journey home was the hardest part, in Aiko’s opinion. Her wounds still hurt the entire way home. She had been out for a few days too, so her muscles were incredibly stiff.

Shinja decided to escort her back to the Land of Fire, where he’d then leave her to finish the rest of her journey on her own. If any of those bandits tried anything again, she’d have a harder time, he had said.

Aiko shrugged in response, because by the time they had reached the Land of Fire, not a single bandit had shown up. Shinja waved her goodbye, and as a parting gift, gave her a broad smile. “You fought hard, for a ninja. I don’t know what happened to you, but don’t let it get to you, ok?”

Aiko hadn’t seen Shinja smile before, so she defided that he must have truly meant his words. Unfortunately, it had already gotten to her.

——————————

When Aiko walked theough the village gate, she was ambushed by a familiar body.

“AIKO ARE YOU OK WHAT HAPPENED WHY ARE YOU SO TIRED AND BANGED UP WHO DID THIS ILL KILL THEM DO WANT ME TO MAKE YOU SOME FISH?”

Aiko sighed, and wrapped her arms around her father. She hadn’t even thought about how he’d feel seeing her like this. He probably cared about her more than she cared about herself.

“Yea, some fish would be nice.”