Massacre and Awakening

That night was one that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

At around two in the morning, a strangled shout that cut-off as quickly as it sounded pierced through the chilly night air, rousing me, and the rest of the village the Yuki clan occupied from our slumber. Soon after, the warning sounded, signaling that an enemy was attacking the village.

Shinobi in varying states of clothing jumped out of their houses, kunai and shuriken held at the ready. Some wore only boxers, having simply grabbed the closest weapon and leapt outside, their eyes full of fear and confusion.

Sounds of combat rang through the air, desperate shouts and cries for mercy rising above the clashing of steel. Only the cold dark sky remained impassive, unchanged by the atrocious actions of the humans residing below it.

My mother and father jumped out of bed, looking at each other unsure of what to do.

Mom's eyes suddenly hardened.

"Tatsuya. Bring Kaito to away. Anywhere. To Konoha. Just somewhere safe. I'll stay behind and block them here."

"Miyuki no I... Crash!"

An enemy ninja shattered a window and jumped into our house, cutting off my father's protest.

He raised a kunai aggressively.

Shiiing!

A number of black senbon suddenly appeared on his body, piercing all his vitals. My mother calmly lowered her extended hand, not flinching at the sight of the corpse collapsing in front of her.

I stared at the stunned face on the floor in front of me. He didn't seem to know how he had died, only a flash of confusion, pain and fear flitting through his eyes before they lost their light. His pale skin and slightly opened mouth seemed to be silently blaming, accusing me in resentment.

It was sickening.

"Get him out of here Tatsuya! Now!"

This time my father didn't object. Mom was a more powerful shinobi, but dad was faster. He had a chance at escaping. He stepped over to my mother, silently kissing her and squeezing her body to his chest with tears trickling down his cheeks, knowing this was the last time he would get to feel the warmth and suppleness of her body.

He turned away without hesitating. He grabbed me and hoisted me up over a shoulder. Mom opened the door.

"Mom! NOOO! You can come with us! Don't!"

My cried were useless.

She leapt out into the chaotic jumble without even looking back, a graceful and elegant incarnation of death as she shot out senbon after senbon. Her beautiful twirling form, covered in splashes of blood and flakes of snow as she began forming hand seals for an ice style jutsu was the last I ever saw of her. It was an image I never would forget.

Quickly, her form disappeared in the midst of a multitude of enemy ninja.

Dad carried me on his shoulder, angrily telling me to shut up if I didn't want Mom's sacrifice to be in vain, and slipped off into the forest behind our village even as wet tears dripped onto the side of my face.

Four enemy ninja saw us and chased after our fleeing forms, one throwing a shuriken towards Dad's back.

"Dad!"

He had felt it. Throwing himself to the side, he managed to dodge the kunai. But the ninja set off after us in pursuit.

Snow-covered trees blurred by my dazed eyes as my father raced through the forest with me on one shoulder. The enemy ninja splayed out and followed us, two directly behind and one slightly to either side.

I hated them. Hated them like nothing I had ever hated before. Their blank masks. Their occasional chuckles and signals. I hated this world for taking away my mother. My clan. My village. And I swore that Obito that bastard better pray that I don't survive this, for if I do I will surely slaughter him in the most gruesome fashion one day.

Being carried by father to run away from the battle, leaving my mother and clan behind to die... I felt equal parts rage and helplessness. None of us deserved for this to happen. At that moment, I was struck by how truly unfair and brutal this world was. How naive I had been. Why didn't I try harder? If I had convinced mom to leave the day before, maybe she would still be alive right now.

The sound of a kunai piercing through the air startled me from my thoughts. My dad again dodged the kunai, but the enemy nin just laughed and they began to throw kunai after kunai at us.

Dad barely dodged the deadly projectiles. Although he was fast, his agility was significantly hampered as he carried me. It seemed as though the fact that I was a tiny toddler would lessen the burden, but it was exactly this fact that meant that he had to be more careful not to put to much strain on my fragile body.

The enemy ninja were slowly but surely catching up. I could clearly see this from the vantage point of Dad's shoulder. A sense of helplessness overwhelmed my rage. Maybe, if I wasn't so useless, my family could have escaped.

Then it happened.

A patch of ice concealed in the shadows of a tree. Dad's foot landed on it after dodging a shuriken, and he skidded to the side slightly. Two of the pursuers capitalized on this chance to throw a storm of senbon and shuriken towards us.

Dad's hands blurred through the familiar body replacement jutsu seals. I felt a sudden pull, and then watched stunned as the throwing weapons pierced through a fake Dad that appeared in our previous position and poofed into a log after being hit.

I didn't have time to marvel at the technique, however, as this slight delay was enough for the other two ninja to appear on either side of us, boxing us in with no path of escape. Dad cursed, and set me down beside him as he raised a kunai in a defensive position.

One of the ninja suddenly performed a series of hand seals and took in a deep breath.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!"

A torrent of flames in the rough shape of a ball spewed towards us.

Dad calmly responded with his own ninjutsu.

"Water style: Water Colliding Wave!"

An enormous wall of water rushed forward and snuffed out the fireball, continuing on towards the enemy nin. Dad was clearly more powerful than him. A gleam of hope appeared in my heart.

Shiiink! A kunai whistled through the air towards Dad from behind, who spun to the side to dodge. A line of blood appeared on the side of his leg as he grimaced in pain - he hadn't been able to dodge it completely.

"Let me warn you now. I might not be able to defeat you, but I can take you down with me!" Dad shouted.

"Heh... Is that so?" One of the enemy ninja chuckled creepily.

My vision was suddenly filled with the sight of a kunai hurtling towards my chest. Dad jumped in front of me, pulling out another kunai from a pouch to deflect the one flying towards me. A shuriken suddenly appeared in Dad's back with a thunk, making him sway forwards a step as a red circle of blood appeared around it.

They were attacking me! These scum were attacking me to force dad into a position where he had to defend against one attacker so the others could launch attacks from behind!

"Kiyo! Give me chakra! I have to fight!" I called out to her mentally.

"Kaito... I'm sorry... I can't. Your body can't handle a sudden surge in chakra. The lowest amount I can directly transfer to you would kill you before you could even start fighting. Otherwise I can only leak chakra into the atmosphere, which will help the enemy as much as you."

'NO! This can't be happening! Why am I so useless?'

"Kiyo, do it anyway! Maybe Dad at least can survive!"

"No! Not yet!" Dad suddenly screamed as he performed another series of hand seals, interrupting my mental conversations with Kiyo.

"Water style: thousand flying needles of death!"

Thousands of tiny water needles, shaped like senbon, flew towards one of the enemy nin, who hurriedly tried to dodge behind a tree. From his scream, I knew some had still hit him in the shoulder.

But the other three didn't stay still during this time, quickly throwing a hail of shuriken towards me and my father.

A series of clangs rang out as Dad turned his back to the shuriken shooting towards him and deflected the ones aimed at me, ignoring his own body to defend mine. Four shuriken lodges into Dad's back, easily piercing through his night shirt with heart-wrenching thunks.

"DAD! NO!"

Helplessness and an overwhelming sadness shone in his teary eyes as he collapsed to his knees with his arms around me, blood leaking from the corner of his lips.

"No! No no no! Dad! You can't... You can't die... DAD!"

My only response was a bleak smile.

The enemy ninja laughed and closed in on us. One licked his blade in excitement. They confidently sauntered over, eager to go in for the kill.

Something inside me suddenly snapped, red overtaking my vision. 'These bastards! How dare they?!'

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Enemy nin POV

Excitement bubbled up within me.

'This was thrill of hunting! The best moment! When your prey lay helpless in front of you, despair and fear filling their eyes!'

My lips stretched into a smile beneath my mask.

I slowly walked closer to the half-dead man and the little boy he was weakly trying to shelter. They were both beautiful. Beautiful to the point I had to stop and admire them for a moment. Even with scarlet blood staining his body, they somehow gave off a feeling of aloofness, like a white lotus hidden in a valley, pure and untouched by the world around it.

I wanted to kill them even more now.

The boy had his head lowered, his long black hair covering his eyes. I stood in front of him, waiting for him to look up. I wanted to see his despairing eyes before I ended his pathetic life.

His head suddenly snapped up, revealing eyes shaded a scarlet red due to the popping of numerous blood vessels. They gave off a demonic air, startling me to the point I took a step back. A horrifying chakra suddenly swept out from his body, radiating icy coldness.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

His hoarse scream was the last thing I heard as shards of ice shot out from the boy and filled my vision. I felt hundreds of ice shards piercing into my body, pain coursing through me... and then nothing.

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Kaito POV

I could feel what was happening around me. The sharp, deadly coldness and the screams of the terrified enemy shinobi... It was like the bursting of a dam, chakra radiating out from me as I naturally formed ice shards thanks to my Kekkei Genkai.

Sharp spikes of ice shot out around me, piercing into the bodies of the enemies around me. They had completely lowered their defenses - they were going in for the kill against a little kid and an old man. They didn't stand a chance in front of my sudden eruption of power.

Just like that, it was over. My body swayed and collapsed against my father, both of breathing weakly, the shallow gulps of air unable to meet the demands of out bodies.

"Kai...to..."

Blackness overtook me, one last thought flitting through my mind as my consciousness faded.

'Is this the curse of the Yuki clan? Like Haku, I must lose my parents and awaken my Kekkei Genkai? I... I don't want this...'