Fragtastic

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 28

When Ryuu woke, it wasn't to the familiar muted grey light filtering through their apartment window, but to the sharp, insistent ache radiating from every fiber of his small body.

It felt less like muscle soreness and more like the deep, cellular exhaustion that followed profound chakra depletion. Moving his limbs felt like dragging lead weights through thick mud. The spar with Genma yesterday... no, the demonstration... had pushed him far beyond his sustainable limits.

He blinke...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 27

The walk from the Hokage's office back to Training Ground Seven felt like a condemned man’s final mile.

Ryuu’s carefully constructed facade had been pierced, his most dangerous secret laid bare. Now, he was being asked to willingly display the very power Kasumi had drilled into him to suppress, under the watchful eyes of Konoha’s highest authorities. The irony was a bitter taste in his mouth.

Genma led him to the center of the dusty clearing, the afternoon sun beginning its...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 26

The summons arrived the following morning, delivered by the same quiet Chunin aide who had managed their initial settling-in. It was formal, polite, and utterly non-negotiable.

[Kasumi Yuki and Ryuu Yuki are requested to present themselves at the Hokage's office at their earliest convenience.]

The air in their small apartment, already thick with the unspoken tension from Genma's assessment, solidified into a near-palpable dread. Ryuu watched Kasumi read the summons, her knuckles w...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 25

The air in Training Ground Seven crackled, the usual village hum fading as Ryuu faced Genma Shiranui. This wasn't an Academy spar, it was an initiation, a Jonin's piercing assessment of a new, unknown tool. Ryuu knew he couldn't win through conventional means. His goal was to demonstrate potential, a mind that could adapt, a will that wouldn't shatter.

Genma, senbon dancing between his lips, flowed forward with deceptive languor, his presence instantly dominating the dusty circle. Ryuu ...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 24

The freshly issued Konoha forehead protector felt cool and unfamiliar against Ryuu's bandaged brow.

He adjusted it slightly, the polished metal glinting in the weak morning light filtering through his apartment window.

A Genin of Konohagakure. The laminated ID card Kasumi had given him alongside the protector felt surprisingly heavy in his small hand.

Ryuu Yuki. Genin. ID Number... it was official.

It was odd. He felt oddly nostalgic, remembering how he had felt when...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 23

Ryuu stared down at the crisp sheet of paper, the scent of ink sharp in the tense air of the Academy examination hall.

Today wasn't just another assessment, it was the Genin Graduation Exam, and he, along with two others from Class 1-B, was taking it a full year ahead of schedule. He had turned ten not long ago, placing him firmly outside the normal graduation age of eleven or twelve.

Beside him, though separated by the regulation distance between desks, sat the other two early c...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 22

Snow. Thick, silent flakes drifted down from a heavy grey sky, blanketing Konoha in a pristine layer of white. From his perch atop the Fourth Hokage’s stone head, Ryuu watched the village transform.

Rooftops donned soft white caps, familiar training grounds became smooth, untouched fields, and the bustling streets below seemed hushed, muffled by the snowfall.

He liked the snow. He’d discovered this unexpected affinity during his first Konoha winter. While other children bundl...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 21

Ryuu walked past the iconic tree with the simple swing each morning, glanced at the imposing kanji for "Fire" above the main entrance, and navigated the bustling corridors filled with older students who already moved with a confidence he currently lacked.

Their classroom, 1-B, was large and airy, the high ceilings supposedly fostering 'expansive education' as the village doctrine claimed. From his preferred seat near the back, Ryuu had a clear view of the massive blackboard, the instruc...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 20

Rain.

It fell in relentless, grey sheets, turning the rugged landscape near the border of the Land of Fire and Kusagakure into a sodden, miserable tapestry of mud and dripping foliage. For three days, the ANBU squad designated 'Karasu' (Crow), led by Hound (Kakashi Hatake), had moved through this unforgiving terrain with the silent efficiency demanded by their masks and their mission.

Accompanying them, a stark contrast in his more conspicuous travelling cloak but moving with an...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 19

After the meeting with the elders, Minato called Jiraiya to his office to discuss the matter at hand.

Jiraiya paced the office like a caged tiger, his usual boisterous energy replaced by grim fury and disbelief. Minato had just finished relaying the horrifying, almost unbelievable sequence of events – the masked man, the Sharingan, the phasing ability, the extraction, the Kyuubi's rampage, Kushina barely surviving, Naruto becoming the Yang Jinchuriki, Kushina holding the Yin, and the ...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 18

Two years.

Two years since the sky bled crimson with the Kyuubi’s rage, since the roar of the beast shook the foundations of Konoha, since the night that stole lives and irrevocably altered the course of others.

For Kakashi Hatake, standing before the polished black granite of the Memorial Stone, those two years felt like both an eternity and a single, unending moment.

He was sixteen now, taller, leaner, the youthful edges hardening into the sharp lines of a seasoned shin...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 17

The relentless Konoha summer sun beat down on Training Ground Three, making the air shimmer above the packed earth. Dust kicked up by clumsy footwork and errant kunai throws hung suspended in the humid air.

Two years. Two years since Ryuu had first stepped through the Konoha gates, a terrified, bewildered child hiding an adult mind. Now, at six years old, he was slightly taller, leaner, the initial awkwardness of his small body replaced by a wiry resilience forged through relentless con...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 16

The brutal intensity of the first day, designed perhaps by Chiyo Tamura to shock the naive aspirations out of her new charges, mercifully eased into a more structured, if still demanding, routine.

The rhythm of the Academy settled upon Ryuu.

Early mornings involving basic physical conditioning under the crisp autumn sky, theoretical lessons in stuffy classrooms covering Konoha's history and rudimentary shinobi ethics, practical afternoon sessions focusing on the absolute fundament...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 15

The year following the Kyuubi attack passed with the slow, grinding pace of recovery and adaptation. Konoha, scarred but not broken, gradually stitched itself back together under Minato Namikaze’s capable leadership.

Finally, the day Kasumi had promised, and Ryuu had anticipated with a mixture of eagerness and apprehension, arrived: the Academy entrance ceremony.

The morning air held the crisp promise of autumn. Kasumi dressed Ryuu meticulously, not in the heavy layers needed f...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 14

Ryuu sat huddled in the small, unfamiliar apartment, the silence broken only by the distant sounds of a village grappling with catastrophe.

Even from this relatively untouched sector, the echoes of the previous night's terror were palpable – the occasional frantic shout, the rumble of heavy carts moving debris, the hushed, worried tones of neighbors speaking outside.

He had remained awake most of the night, his senses straining, trying to decipher the muffled chaos, his mind r...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 13

The pulsating, fleshy prison of the Toad Mouth Bind tightened around Obito, its chakra-suppressing walls attempting to quell his power.

He felt the sticky, constricting pressure, an indignity far beneath the inheritor of Madara Uchiha's will. A flicker of surprise registered – the Fourth Hokage hadn't gone for a killing blow, hadn't even used his signature Rasengan.

Instead, this binding technique, crude yet effective, coupled with the unexpected interference of that Yuki woma...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 12

The few days following their arrival in Konoha passed in a blur of guarded settling-in. An aide of the Hokage, a quiet, efficient Chunin, escorted Kasumi and Ryuu to modest but clean lodgings – a small apartment in a sector housing various newcomers and lower-ranked shinobi families.

It was leagues better than their hut in Shiosai or the damp shelters of their journey, but the feeling of being watched remained. Ryuu occasionally spotted the subtle signs – a figure lingering slightl...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 11

The cramped space below deck on the 'Sea Serpent' became their world for the next several days. It was a suffocating, claustrophobic existence, thick with the cloying sweetness of the 'spices' (likely illicit herbs or drugs, Ryuu suspected) stored in rough burlap sacks alongside the smell of brine, mildew, fish oil, and unwashed bodies. 

The constant, rolling motion of the small vessel on the open sea was a new form of misery, inducing a low-grade nausea that never quite faded. Lig...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 10

Their journey continued south, leaving the treacherous marshlands behind as the terrain slowly climbed again, transitioning into rolling hills covered in wind-swept grasses and sparse, resilient pines. 

The air grew clearer, carrying the distinct, sharp tang of the nearby sea more strongly with each passing day. The constant, low roar of waves breaking against unseen shores became the new backdrop to their existence.

Kasumi's tension increased proportionally to their proximit...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 9

The first week of their flight was a blur of unrelenting hardship, etched into Ryuu's memory not as distinct days, but as a continuous cycle of aching muscles, gnawing hunger, damp chill, and suffocating vigilance. 

Kasumi pushed them relentlessly, moving primarily during the twilight hours of dawn and dusk, utilizing the deep shadows and shifting mists for cover. Daytime was spent hidden, resting fitfully in hastily secured shelters – dense thickets, shallow caves, hollows benea...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 8

The decision, once made in the cold, wind-whipped darkness of the rock cleft, settled between them with the weight of finality. 

Konoha. 

A name whispered like a desperate prayer, a destination impossibly distant, fraught with unknown perils, yet marginally less terrifying than the immediate, known dangers they were fleeing. There was no turning back. Shiosai, with its familiar rhythms and hidden fears, was now firmly behind them, likely already erasing their brief exist...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 7

The roar outside wasn't the measured anger of soldiers or the calculated threat of shinobi, it was the ragged, high-pitched sound of collective panic, a primal scream against the encroaching darkness represented by Kiri's brutal display. It was the sound of fear needing a victim, and Ryuu knew, with chilling certainty, who they had chosen.

"Move, Ryuu!" Kasumi's voice was sharp, cutting through his frozen observation. She yanked him towards the back of the room, her movements economical...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 6

Ryuu felt a surge of pure, unadulterated terror wash over him, colder than any ice he might accidentally summon. This wasn't a random Chunin patrol. This was one of Kiri's elite, infamous for their brutality and skill. 

Why was he here, in a forgotten village like Shiosai?

Kasumi's intake of breath was sharp, audible even over the pounding in Ryuu's ears. She knew who this was, or at least recognized the significance of the sword, the uniform, the sheer oppressive presence.&n...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 5

The invisible line had been crossed. The accidental bloom of ice on the floorboards, quickly dissipated but impossible to unsee, hung between Ryuu and Kasumi like a tangible chill.

Kasumi didn't speak of it, didn't acknowledge the Yuki blood simmering beneath her son's pale skin, but her actions screamed the truth louder than any words. The walls of their carefully constructed isolation seemed to press inwards, the fragile peace replaced by a constant, thrumming anxiety.

Kasumi's ...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 4

The silence that followed Kasumi's accidental display of Ice Release stretched taut between them, thick and cold as the frost she'd summoned. Ryuu sat rigidly at the low table, his small hands clenched in his lap, his mind racing. 

He didn't dare move, didn't dare speak, simply watched as Kasumi finished packing the fish with jerky, almost violent efficiency. Her usual grace was replaced by a brittle tension, her movements sharp, economical to the point of severity.

When she ...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 3

The rhythm of Shiosai was dictated by the tide and the weather. Mornings began before dawn, with the gruff calls of fishermen preparing their boats, the creak of oars, and the slap of waves against the stony shore. 

Days were spent hauling nets, mending gear, gutting fish, or tending the meagre garden patches clinging to the rocky soil. Evenings brought the smell of woodsmoke, the low murmur of conversation drifting from doorways, and often, the mournful howl of the wind sweeping i...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 2

The days following the fever bled into one another, marked by the rhythm of Kasumi's quiet movements and the bitter tang of medicine. Ryuu's strength returned like sap rising slowly in a winter tree – almost imperceptibly, yet undeniably there. 

The bone-deep exhaustion receded, replaced by the restless energy of a mind trapped in a body lagging frustratingly behind.

He could walk now, albeit with the unsteady gait of a toddler discovering gravity anew. His small hands coul...

Naruto: Veil of Frozen Bones Chapter 1

Darkness. Not the comfortable, familiar dark of closed eyes, but a heavy, pressing blackness that seemed to soak into the skin. Sound was muffled, indistinct, like listening through layers of thick cotton. There was a dull ache thrumming behind his eyes, a residual echo of… something fierce. Fire? Pain? He couldn't grasp the memory, only the phantom heat it left behind.

Slowly, painstakingly, he tried to peel open his eyelids. They felt impossibly heavy, glued together with grit and e...

A Song Through Time - Chapter 54

Phillip Rothsgomery, known as the Tyrant, was born into the prestigious Rothsgomery family of the Thelwedean Empire as the second son of Emperor Leon Rothsgomery. However, his birth was marred by the fact that his mother was a servant, which meant that he was considered a mixed-blood within the imperial family.

From an early age, Phillip faced discrimination and prejudice due to his lineage. He was treated as an outsider, a reminder of a shameful secret ...

A Song Through Time - Chapter 53

The Treasury of Emperor Phillip was located in the far north of the Empire.

William was confident that things wouldn't go smoothly, so he made some preparations before going on the expedition, which is why he was so late by so many hours.

The Emperor would never let such a precious thing get stolen without a reason. It was clear that something was problematic with the Treasury.

He first traveled back to his home to t...