Chapter 1

Kotetsu ran cautiously toward the coast, never falling to keep an eye out for attacks. Abumi Shizune my be a woman, but she was one of the last to take the bloody graduation exam. As far as she cared, everyday one had to prove they were worth surviving the day. 5 years behind enemy lines will do that to a person.

Schreeeeck!! A kunai knife whizzed by Kotetsu head so close to his ear he had to stop died in his tracks. The knife planted itself in the ground, a small piece on paper wrapped around the eyelet almost completely burned out.

"oh, no," Kotetsu thought to himself. But before he could reacted, the paper bomb exploded in am explosion that didn't seem to fit its size. The odd colored smoke showing the poison the paper bomb had been soaked in. Just like Abumi, her recipes for paper bombs seem to have to no end. Maybe someday she'll share one or two.

Abumi jumped down from the tree branch she had been hiding on to just outside the blast area, still in the transparency jitsu she loved so much. The swirling gas and smoke made her amazonian frame look like she was made out of liquid metal. Beautiful.

"Still alive, or do I need a new student finally," she said with a slight grin.

The smoke cleared to reveal only a piece of driftwood. A look of surprised crossed her reflective face.

"Where..."

Before she could complete that thought, shape lurked at her from behind. Abumi spun on her heel and slashed with a knife at the shape and it fell to ground in a splash. With the speed only a Jonin like her could would have, she side stepped the thrust of Jotetsus' halberd from behind.

"Not bad. A double substitution jitsu, but you still lose," stated Abumi with a flash of her slitted orange eyes. Jotetsu curiously looked around to see what she meant. After all, he was behind her. There it was, a kunai knife, the tip of it just under the skin of his thigh. Abumi held it in an ice pick grip, clearly she had stab behind her. He hadn't felt a thing, must of had a numbing agent on it.

"See you when you wake up."

"I hate day's like this," Jotetsu thought to himself as the world got fuzzier and fuzzier. Abumi only does thing sort of thing when she needs to vent after hearing bad news. It was better than a broken bone, or the body cast he was in for week when her boyfriend broke up with her. Still, it made for interesting training. Never know whats next.

As the world around Jotetsu began to look more and more like a dim golden aura with white runes, he looked up groggily at his sensei, now fully visible. And just before he passed out, he saw the reason for her sour mood.

On the right side of her fair skinned, and otherwise perfect face, was a tiny red zit.

"Women..."

Introduction

"Bother, nooo!!!!"

The innocence of the day was blasted away as a young boy watch in horror as his bother fell on his back. The cruel, viscous slash clearly visible across the fallen Jonin. Kotetsu narrow blue eyes grew huge as his bothers' halberd clattered to the ground a few feet from him. "How could this have happened."

The graceful build of the figure standing over the bloody wreck at his feet was completely enclosed in shadow by the evening sun at his back. All, that is, for wicked smile on his face. The boy could feel the eyes of his newly crowned arch-enemy boring through him.

Blood boiling, hate searing his flesh, the boy vaulted toward this man with a speed he didn't know he had. But the closer he got, the farther his enemy became. Faster he ran, faster and faster, but it was no use. "No, I won't let him get away!"

"Noooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!"

Kotetsu Gekkou woke with a start. Cold sweat beaded off his short broad-shouldered build. He ran his hand though his very short, curly red hair. Another troubled night. Pulling himself out of bed, Kotetsu began his day. Another day in the village hidden in the Mist.

Kotetsu slipped into his dignified green outfit with its weird collar. Just before stepping outside, he stopped and turned. He bowed his head to the halberd mounted on his wall. His bothers large halberd was shaped like a talon with a sawtooth back side. Its ivory handle shaped like a angel. The symbols of all it's wielders were inlaid in its polished blade. Magnificent...Someday bother, I will wield this blade just as you did, and our father before you.

With his morning ritual complete, Kotetsu pick up his training halberd and made his way to the coast. As he recalled, today he would learn a new jitsu today. That is, if he had any way to complete the jitsu at the end of day. His village wasn't nicknamed "The Village of Bloddy Mist" for nothing.