Of Bone and Blood

Chapter I

– Kirigakure no Sato –

It was a relatively quiet day in the village hidden in the mist, considering that outside of it's country, the rest of the world was experiencing hell on earth.

The 3rd Shinobi World War.

Other villages and countries have been locked in conflict for nigh on two years now, and it didn't appear to be letting up anytime soon. Only something drastic would change the views of the village leaders.

Yagura, Yondaime Mizukage, has only been in office for a year and a half and already he wished he hadn't taken the oath and accepted the position. It wasn't the war per say that was taking it's toll on him, at least not yet anyway, it was his own village. There had been a number of internal problems since he put on the hat.

Chigiri no Sato(Village of the Bloody Mist).

It was a name they had been called as of late by other villages and shinobi, and even by his own. He didn't know what his predecessor had been thinking during that time and why he didn't bother to try and change it. Perhaps he sought to give the village an intimidation factor, to deter others from messing with them.

He had been trying to change that motif of theirs since he began but it was an uphill battle. Once someone had a perception of you, it was very hard to try and change it. Anyone who knew him knows he loves his village and would do anything to see it prosper once more, just as it did in the days of old under their first leader.

Whatever it was, it paled in comparison to the reasoning of allowing such a barbaric ritual to take place in their academy system. It was an ass backwards philosophy, especially for a village of shinobi, all you did was have kids kill one another until only one stood standing. It was a waste of military assets, why groom the one who made it through, when the possibility of others being just as good or competent helped you more. It just made no sense.

Safe to say for future generations, he had put a stop to it.

Unfortunately, he had not been able to help a batch of students as he had taken office just a bit after the ritual had been done. It was a massacre, the only one remaining was a single boy, one who was not even a student yet, Momochi Zabuza.

The boy had been absolutely ruthless and spared none, it had been ruthlessness that he decided to take advantage of, he placed the boy in a special program. The program itself would test him to see if he had what it took to take up one of his villages legendary blades and become a part of the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist.

By doing this, it solved two things. One, it gave direction to that bloodthirsty nature of his towards something constructive. The other reason, it was getting him out of the village and out of contact with the general populace. He didn't need needless killings perpetrated by the boy if he couldn't control his urges, he didn't want to have to put down such an asset. Especially with a war going on.

Yagura sighed and rubbed his temples, he had been thinking too much about all of this and his head began to throb. He needed a break, him working while tired could lead to potential mistakes and those were more things he did not need right now.

He got up from his seat and began to stretch his sore limbs.

'Perhaps a walk in the cool morning mist will revitalize me.'

With an idea of how he was going to spend his break, Yagura left.

xxx

Breathing in the cool air was just what he had needed, it had cleared his thoughts while relaxing his body. Once his break had been done, he had decided to take a stroll around his village, check up on his people and see how they were faring.