*She's been through so much, yet she hasn't broken. She's so much stronger than me.*
Touye also realized her own behavior the previous night had been abnormal. The old her would never have slaughtered forty or fifty bandits for a bit of bounty, let alone when they were defenseless. And while the normal her was merciless toward enemies, she would never torture them. Yet last night, all of that had happened.
The girl guessed that the numerous life-and-death situations she had experienced had done more than just motivate her. Unseen, they had left deep scars on her heart. The pressure from these events had pushed her to the brink of collapse. The brutality she had shown while torturing the Kusagakure ninja made her skin crawl just thinking about it now. Then came the disbelief. Had she really done those things?
But after that violent outburst, most of the pressure in her heart had been released. While she couldn't say it was all gone, what remained was no longer enough to influence her thoughts and actions.
Moreover, the girl looked at the child before her, a trace of warmth in her eyes.
*It seems... I've found a reason and motivation to live...*
***
"I want to learn how to get stronger!" Jun said, looking at the girl seriously.
"Huh?" The girl was confused.
"I said, I. Want. To get. Stronger!" the girl repeated, her eyes wide.
"Ahaha... That's a good thing..." the girl replied, scratching her head.
The girl nodded in satisfaction.
In truth, the girl had been hesitating about whether to let Jun learn ninjutsu. She didn't want her to step into the cruel world of ninja, but she also wanted her to have the means to protect herself. The two conflicting desires had left her in a difficult position.
Now that the girl herself had asked to learn, it put her mind at ease. The girl respected her choices, and even if she didn't want her to become a ninja, she would agree to her request.
But then another problem arose. "But I have Wind and Water affinities," she said. "Ice Release is a combination of the two. I don't know any fire-style ninjutsu..."
"It's okay," Jun said confidently. "I've already memorized all of my clan's fire-style jutsu. I just haven't had any systematic training or experience. I can learn on my own. I just need you to guide me if I go down the wrong path!"
"That's not a problem," the girl said, scratching her head. "Although I usually use Ice Release, I know a little bit of Wind and Water Release. Water Release doesn't synergize well with Fire Release, but if you use Wind Release correctly, it can greatly enhance the power of your fire jutsu. Once you get stronger, we can practice some combination ninjutsu."
"Okay!" The girl nodded happily and took the older girl's hand. "Let's go train now!"
"Eh? Right now?" The girl let herself be pulled along, smiling helplessly at the excited child.
*Well... I've been getting stronger very quickly recently, already at the Chunin level. My foundations are a bit shaky. This is a good opportunity to stabilize them. Maybe I can even try to break through to the next level of my bloodline...*
***
Morning. The girl awoke from a deep sleep to the rhythmic sound of fists striking wood. She rubbed her eyes, slowly got dressed, and crawled out of the tent. In the clearing ahead, the older girl was drenched in sweat, relentlessly striking a wooden post.
It felt like their first meeting was only yesterday.
But a year had passed. For the past year, the two girls had been training diligently, occasionally going out on missions to earn money and buy necessary supplies.
As for their strength, their progress had been incredibly fast. And Jun's talent had been a huge blow to the older girl's ego. When they first met, she was just a clueless little girl, but in just one year, she had become a Genin and was already on the verge of a breakthrough, just one step away from becoming a Chunin. What was more infuriating was that in a pure taijutsu match, the older girl was no longer a match for Jun.
Jun was now carrying over 50 kg of weight, and she was only six years old! Her six-year-old body could bear the weight of nearly an adult and still move freely. This frustrated the older girl to no end. She had been training for several years without ever slacking on her taijutsu, and the weights she carried had only just reached 70 kg.
Moreover, the Akayo Clan's fire-style ninjutsu was truly unique. Even though Jun was only at a Genin level, the Great Fireball she produced was far larger and more powerful than those of any Chunin the older girl had ever encountered.
What exasperated her, however, was that the little girl tended to get hot-headed in battle, abandoning ninjutsu in favor of charging in for close-quarters combat. This had gotten her into a lot of trouble, and despite the older girl's help, she still had plenty of scars to show for it.
It was worth mentioning that the girl had even developed her own fighting style. She would coat her body in a large amount of volatile fire-attribute chakra. When she attacked or was attacked, it would cause a massive explosion, dealing huge damage to the enemy. Thanks to her Akayo bloodline, this fighting style did minimal damage to herself. Given her monstrous physical constitution, such minor damage was practically negligible.
***
It sounded simple, but this method was only usable by those with a Kekkai Genkai. If an ordinary person were to try it, their own hand would explode long before their punch did any real damage to the enemy.
The girl had tried Chun's method and found that it did, in fact, work. But it wasn't particularly useful for her. While Fire Release chakra could cause immense damage this way, Ice Release chakra only produced a minor freezing effect. It might work against weaker opponents, but against an enemy of comparable strength, risking her weakness in close combat for a negligible freezing effect was simply not worth it. After all, her hand-to-hand skills were...
Ahem...
However, the ability was excellent for defense. By covering her body in a thin layer of ice armor—so thin it was invisible to the naked eye—she gained a formidable defense, thanks to the vast amount of chakra reinforcing it.
Touye hadn't been idle this past year. Spurred on by Chun's progress, she had redoubled her own training. But she understood the importance of a solid foundation, so she'd focused on strengthening her fundamentals. Her overall power hadn't leaped forward, but her chakra reserves had grown considerably. The greatest improvement, however, was in her Ice Release bloodline. With her Kekkai Genkai newly upgraded, she could now freely use a secret technique from her family's ninjutsu scrolls: the Mirror Reversal Jutsu.
She had actually used this jutsu once before, during her first confrontation with Zabuza, but it had been a fluke. She had never managed to successfully replicate it in practice afterward.
The Mirror Reversal Jutsu involved condensing chakra into ice mirrors in the environment. By using these mirrors as platforms, she could launch herself from them at incredible speeds, rivaling even the Body Flicker Technique when mastered. Best of all, the chakra consumption was minimal. As long as she could create the ice mirrors fast enough, she could use it almost indefinitely.
The reason Zabuza had seen through it back then was simply because he had anticipated her intent. Otherwise, even if she wasn't his match, she would have definitely left a mark on him.
"Phew..."
Touye slowly walked over from the training post to where Chun was. "Finally done with morning practice..."
Seeing the girl was already up, she smiled. "You're awake? There's breakfast over there. Go wash up first, then come eat."
The girl obediently splashed some water on her face from a kettle before coming to Touye's side, her eyes fixed expectantly on the large pot hanging over the fire. "Sister, what are we eating today?"
Touye playfully tapped the girl's nose. "You little glutton... Today's breakfast is tomato miso soup and salmon onigiri."
Perhaps because she had gone hungry so often in the past, the girl still got excited at every meal, even though she no longer had to worry about food.
"Mm, just a little longer," Touye said, taking out a spoon to stir the soup. She tasted it and nodded in satisfaction.
"Alright, it's ready!"
Under the girl's eager gaze, Touye ladled a full bowl and handed it to her. The girl accepted it with a happy smile.
As Touye watched her eat, a sudden chill ran down her spine. The smile vanished from her face. *There's killing intent!*
She lunged forward, grabbing the girl around the waist and hoisting her onto her shoulder. Pushing off the ground with all her might, she leaped away.
In mid-air, Touye caught a glimpse of several kunai flying from the opposite direction, aimed at the spot where they had just been. She could faintly see something attached to them...
Her heart tightened. She shifted the girl from her shoulder into her arms. The moment she landed, she tucked into a roll, just as a massive explosion erupted where the kunai had struck.