Your Body Is a Template Chapter 16: Burning Fury, Cold Mountain

As the water continued to fall, I watched the shinobi go through various hand seals, raising my weapon and unleashing multiple wind scars further up the mountain after they had each finished their jutsu.

Each wind scar carved through the water dispersing it and forcing it to go around the blast of wind. The sole remaining worker and I moved further along the wall, evading the downpour. The wind scars reached the part of the mountain they were overlooking and blew the rock and water high into the air with the sound of a cinder block getting dragged across concrete, followed by the boom of a cannon. I think a few parts of their bodies were mixed in if the flashes of lightning reflected off of small dots of red were any sign.

Turning to the worker who looked utterly horrified of the situation he had found himself in. “Go and let the other crews know what is happening. I will handle them.” Had I been of sound mind, I would likely try to flee. But after witnessing the deaths of people I had come to care for in the brief time I had come to know them, I wanted retribution.

After a moment longer than I would have liked, my words finally sunk in as he turned around and began to flee since the water coming from the path was now just a small stream. 

Turning back up almost too late, I dodged to the side when a hail of shuriken and kunai hit the rock wall, sending up flashes of sparks as the shinobi, or what’s left of them, since they were down a few members, continued throwing them at me or shooting water jutsu.

Sending several wind blades at them, they stopped, now forced to evade the blades. Unlike their attacks, mine cut off chunks of rock further above them that managed to hit a few in the back, stunning them just enough for me to sever limbs or outright kill them.

Side-stepping a screaming woman who was missing her legs, trailing blood behind her like a hose at a pool party. She hit the edge of the path headfirst, then fell silent before going further down the mountain. My eyes narrowed when the rage ate away at my heart, feeling like I could breathe fire and melt steel with it.

My blade was readied for another attack. My instincts and mind's eye screamed at me, and I listened by pulling another blade out, intercepting a sword strike from a ronin skating along the slippery wall before they retreated fast enough, saving their head from a retaliatory strike from the chi coating the second blade.

Two more ronin come in trying to pincer me, but instead of attacking, I merely evade their strikes with the shinobi fire their water jutsu of crescent-shaped blades. Unlike before, it cut through the side of the mountain towards me. Staying on the defensive and conserving my energy and moving as efficiently as possible while sporting a few cuts from the swords that got far closer than I would have liked.

The kunai I don’t fear nearly as much when one tagged my shoulder, and with the ki boosting my body, it gave me some extra defense, so the weapon just bounced harmlessly off of me. I wasn’t stupid enough to just tank an attack like that, especially if I ran out of steam, and then I would be vulnerable.

Glancing back down and seeing more ronin coming down the path, they closed in from behind while the shinobi further up the mountain kept their distance, forcing me to engage them at range. The problem is anytime I try to use a wind blade or scar, the ronin immediately come in to attack but retreat when I try to retaliate, only to abort the counter when a water bullet gets too close for my liking.

I could feel the noose closing around my neck, yet the ronin never got too close, just like the shinobi. 

That’s when it hits me. 

They are distracting me. But for what?

Glancing around at those closest as they glared or smiled at the sight of me bleeding from the few swords that managed to get past my guard before looking past them further up the mountain, seeing Zabuza go through hand seals like a machine gun chewing through bullets.

Narrowing my eyes as I prepared a wind scar, I stopped as three ronin slid up the mountain. One was blocked with more force put into the blow, making them fly back down the mountain. Dodging the other two with a kunai being batted aside only for me to struggle to bring my sword back into position.

A quick glance down at the guard of the blade showed droplets of water held in the air along a faint line. Looking back up at the shinobi holding a barely visible wire in his hands yanking at my blade. 

My sword doesn’t budge as they pull and pull with another pair of ronin coming up, thrusting their swords in an X shape aimed at my back. Ducking out of the way and moving around their telegraphed strikes, pulling the shinobi with me, my sword dances around the pair but never cuts them to their confusion.

That confusion is short-lived when their arms and legs are restricted, the wire being pulled taught with ki channeled into it. I moved past them knowing the ki-enhanced wire wasn’t going to hold them for long. Yanking on the wire with a great heave, their struggles ceased before cutting the wire with my other sword, freeing my blade.

The ninja who thought it was a good idea to try and beat someone who uses ki in a contest of strength was yelling wide-eyed, getting pulled down the mountain to the pair of ronin who looked from me to the man crashing into them, making the three fall to the path down below in a mess of limbs that the other ronin merely stepped out of the way of.

The three argue and yell, even kicking and punching the shinobi, but the rest pay them no mind as more kunai or shuriken with wire are thrown at me. The ones avoided embedding themselves down below me while I tried to avoid a water bullet to find my leg pushing against a wire digging into it. Using this much ki for this long was getting taxing.

Taking both swords and cutting through a few of them but stopping after a few when the ronin around me try yet again to skewer me. To my shock, instead of continuing to stall as they have been, they all start backing off and quickly retreating.

It’s too late…

Looking back up only to see Zabuza reach the last hand sign. Water rose up behind him, and my eyes widened, recognizing the jutsu.

It was the same one Kakashi used on him in their first clash. 

The orb of water rose up and spun before it descended down the mountain, looking like a waterfall hellbent on crushing and drowning me. Noting that the vortex is far too wide and I wouldn’t be fast enough to evade it even with ki, I put away the normal sword and held my broken blade aloft as it grew into the massive construct. With its size growing, I felt my physical strength wane and grow far weaker.

I held it like it was a baseball bat, ignoring the strain my body was under, and swung it forward with all the strength I could muster. The wind scar, unlike all the others before it, was a massive force of nature as it carved into the side of the mountain, turning the rock to dust before meeting the vortex head-on.

I had hoped it would cut through it, taking away some of its power so I could flee to the side. It didn’t. It managed to slow it down, but that was all it managed.

The instant the strongest wind scar I had created to date met the vortex of water, the roles had been reversed.

What all the other attacks had done against it prior is now happening to me. It was dispersed like a gust of wind being thrown in the way of a speeding bullet train. The wind trailed over the surface, carving out trenches of water and mist, but it wasn’t enough. The trenches carved into it were only surface deep, and whatever was taken out was filled back immediately after the wind faded.

Trying to think of anything to get out of this and the realization that I can’t settle on my shoulders. The fire in my heart looking up at where Zabuza should be never faded away, but I had no means to handle something like this. 

Accepting my death with what dignity I can, as my sword was held at the ready, sending wave after wave of wind scars at the oncoming tidal wave. None of them did a thing, each shrugged off.

My hair was whipped about by the storm as my body was ice cold from the rain drenching me, but I had never felt hotter from the anger that burned hotter than any flame could hope to match. I would go so far as to say that I hated Zabuza and the Land of Waves for killing all those people who had done them no wrong.

As I stared ahead, never looking away from my encroaching end, a miracle happened.

One moment the vortex of several tons of water was nearly upon me, and the next thing I knew, a blue armored figure leapt near me. It grabbed me and pulled me close to their side as I raised my blade initially but stopped upon seeing the frowning form of Gaman inside of it with Lord Yasu clinging to his back.

What?

The blue armor I recognized. Gaman was still garbed in his traditional robe with a few armored plates along it, while I had a massive arm wrapped around me, keeping me close to its side as the construct shifted around me. Just as the water impacted us, it made Gaman slide back, digging trenches in the mountainside, but his armor remained unbroken.

More and more the water rushed past us with sever agonizing tense seconds going by. Gaman formed a blade in the figure's hands and brought it down, breaching the rushing waters' surface with how long the blade was before bringing it down, parting the tide like Moses did the Red Sea. 

Not only parting the jutsu but also even managing to shave a massive chunk of the mountain's side with it. The rock crumbled and groaned before plummeting down and over us, taking out the path behind us and causing an avalanche further down the mountain that sounded like a god throwing a tantrum upon the world.

A consolation that came from the unnatural disaster unfolding around us was that several shinobi and ronin were crushed under the numerous rocks and chunks of mountain.

With that single swing the curtain was lifted and I saw Zabuza and the rest of the Land of Waves forces watching us in both awe and horror. 

“G-Gaman! I thought you and Lord Yasu had died with the others.” I managed to stammer out processing what I just witnessed.

“As if that would be enough to kill me!” He said with a smile and chuckled before turning serious. "Kojirou, I cannot stay here. I need to get Lord Yasu to safety.” 

“What are you talking about? With what you are doing right now we can kill them all now!” I pointed my sword in our enemies direction. “We can avenge and bring justice to all of those workers and Lord  Yasu's guards' deaths right now.” 

Gaman gives me a sympathetic look before shaking his head. “Me using my family's technique costs a lot of ki, not just to form it but to maintain it as well. Maybe we do kill them, but it puts my Lord and your employer in harm's way. I understand the wish to avenge those you have spent time with and fought beside.”

“Am I supposed to run away and just let them walk away after they did what they did?!” The more I spoke the angrier I got looking up at those monsters in the form of people. 

“If you desire vengeance so much Kojirou, then put it to use for us. I have done what I could for you Kojirou, now I must take Lord Yasu with me. But I will not leave you to handle them on your own completely. See that mountain over there?” 

Looking at the nearby mountain I nod at him. “That is where I will take Lord Yasu and our reinforcements from what I last heard are nearly past it and on their way here now.” 

As he explained this, several more ronin came down the path further up the mountain with bloodthirsty cries, raising their blades no better than a horde of barbarians. One of whom I recognized as the one from the bridge. Four of them charged at us skating along the mountain, breaking the sound barrier like it was nothing more than a child’s toy. 

The armored form raised its sword mimicking Gaman with his own blade. The figure towered over the men coming at us and moving deceptively fast for its size. You would think that something as big as this thing that looked like a giant samurai in armor would be slow but in reality it was anything but that.

Two ronin moved from the path to the rock wall or what's left of it, and I caught a glimpse of an odd white stone similar to the bridges where patches of the mountain had been shaved off. Drawing nearer to us, the blade of the giant lashed out with such speed I could only see afterimages. The ronin had not expected it to be that fast, as one was cut from head to his groin and the other shoulder to hip, and this all was a blur to me. 

Lord Yasu I noted was passed out, and I assume Gaman is keeping him attached to him with his ki, similar to wall walking for a shinobi, as the other two ronin tried to retreat but were cut down swiftly.

The others looked hesitant before the buzzcut guy raised his sword and several of the others mimicked him as they threw globs of water that rushed down to us bursting open and cracking the air like cannons. Gaman instead of standing and letting the attacks land opted to move.

Just like the sword strikes his movements were fast. In one moment we were standing there about to be bombarded and the next he had closed the gap evading the attacks and cutting down many of the ronin in one fell swoop with the leader of the group being among a handful who had escaped with their lives by the skin of their teeth.

Gaman grimaced at the survivors. “I have grown rusty with my age.”

He can’t be serious. If this is him when he has gotten soft then I couldn’t even imagine what he could do if he was in his prime.

“So you truly are Gaman the Hurricane.” The buzzcut guy said with a grimace as he looked at Gaman with fear in his eyes. With me it was hesitation but he didn’t fear me.

“Well of course. Is there any other?” He said with a malicious smile as a wave of killing intent came rushing from Gaman that sent a shiver down my spine. Even Yasu shivered while unconscious.

The forces from the Land of Waves shook like leaves in the wind and subconsciously backed away like a bunch of hyenas faced with a lion about to maul them. 

The sound of something flying through the air had me turn in time to see a massive sword flying right at us only for the armored form to backhand it with its arm. Zabuza caught it now standing a fair distance behind us.

Several shinobi grew near, both above and below. “So you worthless spies managed to crawl out of the pit like the rats you are. Took you long enough.”

Many of them growled and glared at Gaman but made no move to engage us. “Kojirou, deal with the rats while I handle the real warriors!” 

I don’t even get a chance to say anything as he moved past the group of ronin as many of their number were cut down, falling to the ground uncomprehending of what just happened. What’s left of them looked between him and me before giving chase to Gaman. 

Not wasting the opportunity and letting loose a wind scar several mist shinobi were eviscerated bodies turned to minced meat. Raising the massive blade it intercepted Zabuza's strike making me grit my teeth with the force of his strike and the blade lock pushing me back.

Redoubling my efforts to stop it made us remain like this staring into the others eyes.

“The rest of you don’t interfere, this one is mine.” He said in a low tone but the shinobi around us looked ready to attack and kill me. They hesitated before lowering their weapons and hands. 

Looking at him I saw how he looked much different from the time he clashed with Kakashi when he was first revealed. He looked younger. He looked like he was barely out of his teenage years, looking around maybe eighteen.

Ignoring the revelation I am in the past before the series first started and coldly responding to Zabuza's arrogance seeing the number two headband whip about tied to his right shoulder.

“I couldn’t agree more, that way I can embarrass you before ending your life. How many innocent people did you kill when you ambushed us both times?” I hissed between my teeth, eyes narrowed into slits. 

Zabuza looked at me like I grew a second head before a chuckle escaped him turning into a guffaw. Even the mist shinobi around us laughed at me like I just said the funniest joke.

“I don’t care! They were in the way of our target and you. Who cares if a bunch of nobodies died on this day.”

My lips turned into a thin line before Zabuza's laughter stopped abruptly. I let his blade push me further back ducking under the strike and aimed for his throat. He brought his blade around to block it just in time. Despite his sword's size and the weight of it he moved far faster with it than most would expect.

With me being drained of so much ki what I had left in the tank wasn’t enough to overcome him. Not that I believed I could even if I was rested and ready for a fight. He wasn’t weak, every movement had a predatory grace and agility that made all the other shinobi pale in comparison.

He was by no means a master swordsman but he was good enough to hold his own. Of course, his strength and speed along with his weapons size and reach helped.

The sound of metal clashing against metal as each of our strikes formed sparks, with the sound of thunder rang like a gong. Zabuza managed to push me back every time I met his sword head on even with ki. He was having to push some effort into it if the minor strain and tensing of his arms and legs was any indication.

Opting to redirect the blows instead of meeting them head on gave me more success flipping the table. Zabuza glared and growled at me before a small smile formed on his face and his eyes crinkled in amusement.

What is he-

Taking one hand off of his sword he goes through a series of hand signs before aiming his finger at me. Trying to pull back and away but he hooked his sword around my blade construct preventing me from getting away. Thinking fast my blade shrank down, freeing me and earning a cut along my cheek when nothing was obstructing his sword. The wet sensation of blood trailed down mixing with the rain. 

“So much for your vengeance- whoa!” He was cocky at first before bringing his sword up to block the barrage of wind blades sent his way. They sparked and bounced off of the sword turned shield before shooting my chakra blade as he moved his neck out of the way at the last second. 
 
A small cut formed around the collar of his flak jacket that he idly touches with his free hand and brings it back to see red. He gives me a dirty look but it’s quickly wiped from his face when I rushed him with an overhanded attack. To my surprise instead of just blocking he showed more skill than he had a moment ago by reposting the strike and going for my head moving far faster.

He was baiting me in.

Leaning back and sliding under the slash that would have chopped my head off instead severed several strands of my hair. I tried to meet him his speed but he had improved drastically and my arms and body felt the vibrations running through them each time our swords met.

Taking his hand off his weapon we circled one another and I began to get overwhelmed while a few hand seals were done. The stirring of water greeted my ears when he raised his sword for an overhead slash, I sidestepped it and countered behind me, cutting down the half formed water clone, not wanting to deal with two of them when he had been holding back

I know what he is doing. He is gauging how capable I am and getting a feel for how I fight so he can then counter me and go for the kill. Combined with his current strategy of trying to get me to use up all my ki. Jokes on him, while the amount of chakra is effected by how much ki and chi I have it doesn’t take as much to make it and I have more available to work with.

Feeling a fire under my skin in my arms as they groaned in protest. I gritted my teeth with each strike ringing out with cracks that snapped at the air sending rain flying away from us before accepting that this is not going to work and I need to do something soon for if this goes on any longer he will kill me. 

After yet another moment our blades bounced off of one another I let myself slide back from the attack before turning around and running back up the mountain with Zabuza in hot pursuit of me.

“So much for samurai having honor.” I heard his voice as if he was right beside me but mind's eye with the sound of the rain behind me told me he was several meters behind me. 

“Using one’s environment to their advantage is far from being dishonorable.” I calmly said before evading several shuriken before channeling chakra into my legs. The muscles were loose and coiled as I leaped higher up the mountain while circulating the chakra in my body dislodging the genjutsu.

Zabuza's voice was filled with mockery as he chuckled. “Then how are you any different from me? You're using chakra, otherwise that genjutsu would have done nothing.”

My grip tightened on my sword and I turned my head just enough to see he was closing the distance. “The difference is I don’t kill people who have done me no wrong. People who were just doing their jobs without sabotaging or attacking another nation. People who had families.”

The more I go on the angrier I got. I can still hear the screams of terror from those workers and guards before they were submerged in the tide that took them. The look of fear and panic in their eyes.

“You call yourself a samurai or a ronin yet are so bothered by a bunch of weak nobodies dying. They were in the way, nothing more and nothing less.”

As he spoke he goes through a lot of hand seals but Zabuza's hands may as well be incomprehensible to me with how fast he was going through them. I turned for a second, sending a wind blade at him that he just side stepped before finishing his jutsu. The water took form behind him turning into a large serpent like creature with glowing spots that acted as eyes with a mouth forming on it.

It shifted and turned like a snake before launching right at me. A giant sword took form once again and with a swing a wind scar with surprisingly less power goes down the mountain. We rushed past the white stone that had carvings on it revealed beneath the mountain showing a figure wielding a sword atop a great tower with lightning going into their sword from the heavens.

As the wind scar met the water dragon they both collided before exploding out sending a powerful wave of water and wind before Zabuza's sword came from above almost bisecting me had I not blocked it before my chakra blade broke apart from the force but slowed it just enough for me to dive to the side.

How the fuck did he manage to get ahead of me? I looked towards where he last was and see a specter of him running towards me.

Taking each large wide sweeping strike and getting batted around like a pitbull playing with a kitten far too roughly. I was never one to speak lowly of myself when it came down to how good I have gotten but let it never be said that I am not honest with myself. 

As things stand he outclassed me. 

The worst part is he may be holding back still. While clashing with him the sound of the rain not hitting the mountain behind me but something else had me sidestepping another massive blade breaking apart the rock and carving into it before two swords forced me to dance and skirt around them.

“You had a water clone waiting further up the mountain.” Despite it being a statement it was more of a question as to why.

He had no way of knowing I would survive that jutsu he had done and if it wasn’t for Gaman stepping in I would have died to it. So why leave a water clone up there?

“So much for you wanting to avenge all of those people.” He said smugly his eyes became half lidded and smiled at me showing his pointed teeth.

Anger rose up inside me. I pulled out another sword with both glowing with chakra around them trying to hold the two of them off. Despite having greater skill, it wasn’t vastly superior to Zabuza and with his water clone the battle was mostly me trying to not get sliced to ribbons while fending them both off.

Despite my desire to make him pay my body was weak, stamina running out and I had no other tricks up my sleeve to get out of this besides maybe a few last minute desperate ones. Huffing out lungfuls of air trying to redirect the force of the clone's sword only for it to adjust mid thrust it got a grunt out of me before it sent me tumbling up the mountain and almost further back down it but I managed to stick to the side in time.

The real Zabuza had surprisingly stopped using jutsu the further up the mountain we got. I would muse on why but all of my thoughts are currently searching for a way out of this and finding none. I would laugh at the fact that Gaman helped me yet I am still going to die anyway.

Or I would if it wasn’t for the fact I am fighting to stay alive now. Before Zabuza was weary of me each time I went right for his throat desperately trying to keep me from taking him with me. 

To think this is a Zabuza that is younger than he was when he battled Kakashi. Appearances are not always accurate to go off of but he looks far younger than his first appearance in the series. I would guess maybe ten years or close to it?

The clone swings the sword down on me as I sidestepped it and countered with a cut meant to take its arm off only for the clone to my surprise, grab the blade and I instinctively try and pull it back. It isn’t budging.

I stared wide eyed seeing the clone grin at me like a shark smelling blood in the water as the real Zabuza brought his sword down on my other blade shattering the chakra like glass.

Letting go of the sword that was just shattered and focusing on my broken blade as the construct shifted as the end of it extended out to the clone and Zabuza's surprise and pierced the clone's chest before it fell down the mountain as nothing more than water lost amidst the storm.

The sword I had let go of as some of my chakra still clinged to it banged against the mountain twirling down it. The sparks that it created when hitting the mountain show its presence briefly lighting the darkness.

But to my surprise a flash of light and where the sword was at was struck by a branching fork of lighting. Molten rock is sent flying and my head snapped towards the sight mind racing. Looking back and seeing Zabuza backing off his blade at the ready but he made no attempt to attack me and instead backed away.

Remembering the words of the worker when he was talking to Gaman from before and the realization hits me. Mind's eye tells me all that I need to know taking my massive blade of chakra as lightning snaked its way through the clouds above illuminating the darkness as Zabuza watched on amused.

“Catch!” I yell out tossing the sword with the chakra blade spinning through the air. His look of amusement soon turned to horror.