Family Meeting

Kuro silently watched the boy as he began to due his exercises. Some would call this stalking, but the Genin preferred to use the word observing. To most, his reasons wouldn’t be justified as why he would be sitting near the edge of the mountain, watching the young boy doing laps, but this boy had been in his dreams. He haunted his memory alongside the pale woman who always lay dead in the cold snow. He always appeared alongside the woman, crying 'mommy, mommy' as she refused to wake up.  What Kuro wanted to know was why this boy was showing up in his subconscious and his significance to himself. He wouldn’t leave the mountain peak until he did.

The boy’s signature color was black, much like Kuro’s own. It seemed to be one thing they already shared in common. His jet-black hair covered the top of the boy’s head with a color iris that he could not see from where he currently stood. The Genin’s bow furrowed to his deep thoughts of what the conclusion of this confrontation would be. Though, his mind failed to sum up any possible outcomes. It seemed only time would tell as the boy had now finished running his laps and now rested upon a lone boulder that spotted the mountain top.

His walk towards to boy was slow but precise. His facial expression was empty of any signs of emotion. Only his eyes portrayed the tone of seriousness that ran through his body. His once kind and innocent nature was fleeing from him, and was being replaced by undesired frustration. Over the coarse of the year, he had gathered little to no information on his family or his origins for that matter. All he knew was that his rare elemental affinity was connected to those of the Yuki clan. After much research and investigating, he had come up empty handed. The only trial he had left was this mysterious boy, and finding out why he was popping up in his dreams.

Kuro was now 15 meters from the boy, approaching him slowly from his three o’ clock. It seemed as though he had not yet noticed Kuro approaching him. His black cloak kept his body hidden from the wintry breezes that blew the dancing snow. The iced water particles came up to his knees, beginning to intrude through the fabric of his pants. The icy touch of the warming snow felt comforting on his skin. It always felt like home.

With a swift movement, Kuro reached into his pouch with his left hand and pulled out a single kunai. He let his arm leave the comfort of his warm cloak so he could launch his kunai at the resting boy. If he was as skilled as the Genin hoped, he would have no problem dodging it. It wasn’t mean to be a lethal attack, more like an attention grabber.

“ Hello. Valrouge, Kurogane, pleased to meet you.”

Kurogane’s mind began to fill with regret. It was so rude to just throw the kunai at a boy who was least expecting it. It was against everything he knew about being polite. But this wasn’t a time for manners, Kuro was looking for answers, and if he had learned anything from Tosatsu, it would be that you can’t solve anything with complete kindness. He was shit for a sensei, but his methods of teaching had started to serve Kuro quite well.

He waited for the boy to face him before he continues to speak. He wanted to look the boy in the eyes with his devil red hues. From his current position, Kuro could see the two blades on the kids back. It seemed like he was trained in weaponry as well. a slight smile crept on his face before it vanished as quick as it came. Underneath his cloak, he held onto the tip of his katana’s sheath. He wouldn’t expect the boy to play clean since Kuro was the one to initiate a sneak attack, so he was prepared for any sudden attack the boy had planned, if any.

“Lets just cut the chit chat, we both know your here to train right? Well I could use some training myself.”

Kuro awaited the boy’s response, not daring to remove his red orbs off him. Another one of Tosa’s lessons had been to never let the enemy out of your site, no matter the battle situation. The moment you underestimate your opponent will be one of your last. By the end of this battle, Kuro hoped to find out the reason why this boy was appearing in his dreams. At least, that was what he desperately hoped.

Fight Begins

The kunai missed the boy’s head by a mere few inches, causing the weapon to bounce of the boulder and into the thick snow. Kuro was not one to judge the boy on his skill, but he was fairly unimpressed by his inability to properly dodge the weapon when it hadn’t been used as an attack in the first place. Something that had been primarily used to seek the boy’s attention had almost turned to his death sentence. The Genin let his hand go back under his dark cloak, continuing to hide the rest of his body from the unknown boy. He watched his every move as the young’un picked up the previously thrown kunai and held it tight.

The boy’s remark on having heard Kuro’s name before intrigued him. After his year in Kumo, he hadn’t really made a name for himself in the village. Hell, he still barely had any friends. Between Sanzen and his team, there wasn’t really anybody else that he knew. It was a mystery as to how this boy had any clue to who he was, but it was definitely intriguing. As they were now, they both had some small idea as to who each other was.  As to the boy’s question, it was rather irrelevant and wasn’t worth answering. Kuro was the only other person on the mountain peak and therefor, could be the only person to have thrown the kunai at him. The innocence of the question sparked a quick thought in the Genin. It was a simple inquiry that he would have asked himself once upon a time. The boy was starting to bare some resemblance to him.

Just what I expect.

Kuro thought to himself as the boy launched himself for an attack. He removed his blades from his back, tossing them into the air as if to show off. Kuro was not really impressed but rather unmoved. He only found it to be a possible opening that he decided not to take advantage of. Without removing his cloak, Kuro raised his left arm and grabbed onto the hilt of his katana, sliding it out of its sheath and placing it vertically in front of him to absorb the impact of the opposing blades. The clashing metals ringed in his ears as his opponent’s swords skidded across his katana. The genin looked into the darkness of the boy’s eyes before the impact of the blow sent him sliding back a few inches, his katana still placed defensively in front of him. He took a fraction of a second to look at the sky, and the snow that was gracefully falling from the heavens. With the current environment, it seemed like he would have the advantage during this battle.

Keeping his right arm still hidden, Kuro charged at the young boy. His knees bent and his blade swung at an angle towards his right shoulder. if the blow landed, it would cut from his right shoulder to his left hip. While it may be a deadly attack, it was quite an obvious one and possibly easily avoidable, but the Genin still wanted to test the waters with this boy and see what he was capable off. So far, he wasn’t impressed.

I Wanna Build A Snowman

Their blades clashed once more, launching both of the young shinobi to skid back through the snow leaving a distance of five meters in between them. There would have to be some sort of strategy change unless they planned on exchanging blades for the rest of the day. As if the opposing ninja had read his mind, Kurogane observed as the boy pierced his swords into the snow-covered ground. The Genin was no fool. Being a blade wielder himself, he knew that freeing your hands in such a manner only meant an incoming attack through the use of a jutsu.

Kuro proceeded to do the following. He wouldn’t be going on the offensive, but the defensive. His first instinct was to try and stop his opponent from forming his hand signs. Reaching into his equipment pouch, and pulled out an explosive note and a kunai. Attaching the note to the projectile, Kuro launched it at his opponent but it had been too late. The heavy mist scattered throughout the battlefield leaving Kuro fairly impaired to his surroundings. Even though, Kuro could still fairly calculate how long it took for the projectile to reach his opponent and formed the tiger seal to detonate the tag.

Kuro grabbed his katana and leaped back increasing the distance between the two shinobi by about fifteen meters. The sound of the explosion echoed throughout the mountaintop, startling a few birds and sending them chirping to find another peaceful location. Not being able to see through the mist, the Genin was unsure if his attack connected or not, so it would be wide for him to follow suit with his defensive parameter. Kuro formed a few hand signs and watched as he was encased in a dome of black tinted ice. Moments later, senbon like projectiles crashed into his defensive dome, melting into water moments later.

Tsk, that was close.

He took a moment’s breather and began to form another pair of hand signs with his right hand, while holding his katana in the other. Kuro had to be careful to not over exert himself in chakra usage such as the last time he fought Sanzen. He had to be wise with the amount he used and he was currently using up too much. For the time being, it’d be necessary since he was at a disadvantage due to the heavy mist.

It was hard to see, but Kuro could see the snowman forming about two meters away from his snow dome at about the one o’clock position. Another one formed on the opposite side at his eleven o’clock. The amount of chakra he has used in the last minute had left Kuro short on breath. He took a few moments to compose himself and waited for his opponent’s next attack. If the opposing boy carelessly got near his dome, he would be met with iced senbon from his snowy friends.

KUROGANE

The events that occurred left cracks going down his ice dome from the attack. He saw the boy’s face momentarily before he jumped back and faded back into the mist. A smirk crossed is face as the boy had fallen into Kuro’s trap. The Snowmen activated sending iced senbon launching through all directions. A few of them dug deep into his iced dome, sending small pieces of ice to drop onto the snow-covered floor. He had him, or some Kuro thought.

The mist had been short-lived as it now began to clear, revealing the boy injured to the three senbon that pierced into his body. His trap has been successful, but that no longer mattered. The Genin now finally connected the dots to this boy and his connection to his frequent nightmares. Kuro’s opponent was a Yuki ninja just as he was. The constant time he had spent searching had finally led him to something. Kurogane had spent days dreaming of this day, thinking about what he would say or ask, but nothing could escape his lips.

The dome around Kuro began to melt, dripping into the frozen particles that covered the ground. The snowmen followed the same fate, as they fell under their own weight, becoming lost into the knee-deep snow they were now in. Constant flashbacks made their way through Kuro’s memory until he no longer know what to make of the current situation.

“It was nice to meet you”

The battle was practically over. Kuro proceeded to walk to his left and make his way down the mountain, drowning in his thoughts. The memory of the boy using the Hyoton technique would be drilled in his brain for the next few days until he figured out how to proceed with this newfound information.