Tap, tap, tap…
"I'll give you my Sharingan. No matter what the villagers say, you're an outstanding jōnin."
"This is my gift… Rin, use your medical ninjutsu to transplant my Sharingan into Kakashi's left eye."
"I'm going to die… but I'll become your eyes—help you see the future ahead."
Wearing his ANBU fox mask, Kakashi Hatake was carrying out his first mission as an ANBU squad captain.Yet his mind was haunted by that final moment — the moment when Obito sacrificed his life for him.
"A defector from Kirigakure's Yuki Clan? With Ice Release, huh… maybe they'll become an ally of the village."
Recalling the mission instructions given to him personally by the Third Hokage, Kakashi subconsciously quickened his pace, and the three ANBU behind him followed suit.
None of them spoke during the journey — only the sound of footsteps and wind accompanied their movement through the forest.
"We should be close to the rendezvous point…"
Just as Kakashi silently calculated the route, a startled shout came from one of his men.
"Captain! Look — up there!"
Kakashi followed the direction of his subordinate's trembling finger, raising his gaze — and instantly froze. A bead of cold sweat slid down his temple.
There, hanging motionless in the air a kilometer ahead, was a massive sphere of ice, easily more than ten meters in diameter!
"Equip."
Inside the carriage, Yuki Ya whispered the command.The next moment, he felt something awaken deep inside his body — an instinctive understanding of a new power.
A stream of frigid air poured out from beneath his feet like flowing mercury, coating the carpet in a layer of thin frost.Even the edges of the carriage froze, sprouting sharp, crystalline ice spikes.
"…This is…?" Yuki Ya stared in disbelief. "Could it be that I've awakened Ice Release?"
"No… not quite."
He focused inward, sensing the energy coursing through him, then shook his head.
"It's more than just Ice Release. There's another kind of cold power — similar, yet… different. 'The Ice Queen' Esdeath… could this be the ability granted by her card?"
"White Ice Spikes… Ice Meteor?"
He recalled the abilities listed on the card, then slowly spread his small hands.
"Hmph. So you won't come out willingly?"
Outside, the Kirigakure assassination squad had surrounded the carriage completely. The leader, exuding killing intent, narrowed his eyes when Yuki Ya didn't emerge.
"Pathetic… so this is Yuki Jizō's grandson? Hiding like a frightened child. No matter — the Mizukage only asked for a corpse anyway. Let's end this."
A cruel grin spread across his face.Killing had long since become second nature to him — no different from crushing an ant.In his five years as part of the Hunter-Nin division, he had already taken over a thousand lives.
Old men, women, civilians, children — all the same.In his eyes, they were nothing but names on a list.
He gave a sharp hand signal.A dozen kunai laced with explosive tags whistled toward the carriage, trailing fire. The cruel grin on his lips deepened, as though he could already see the beautiful burst of flames that would follow.
"Die! Maybe in your next life, you won't be born into the Bloody Mist!"
BOOM! BOOM!
The explosions shook the air, clouds of fireball-sized blasts tearing the ground apart. Smoke and flames engulfed the area, turning the forest into a swirling fog of dust and debris.
Then—
Crack.
A faint sound broke through the roar — light as a whisper, yet to the sharp-eared assassins, it was as loud as thunder.
Crack… crack… crack!
The faint sound grew into a chilling rhythm.Before their stunned eyes, a layer of gleaming blue-white ice began spreading outward, completely encasing the carriage in an instant.
A gust of biting cold washed over them, forcing several of the assassins to shiver. The blazing fireballs outside froze midair before touching the ice barrier.
"So cold!"
"What the hell—!?"
"Ice! It's… it's ice!"
"Ice? Don't tell me—"
"Ice Release! It's the Yuki Clan's bloodline limit!"
From within the translucent ice shell, a small figure slowly emerged, moving through the frozen layer as easily as swimming through water.
Ice Manipulation.Hyōton — Ice Release.
A kekkei genkai once famed alongside the Wood Release of the legendary Senju Hashirama during the Warring States Era — yet no Yuki clansman had ever reached that same legendary mastery.
Perhaps, the assassins thought in dread, they were about to witness the birth of someone who could.
"Everything in this world… eventually withers and fades. Only that which is frozen… endures forever."
A calm, resonant voice filled the air.Yuki Ya's eyes had turned a brilliant, glacial blue — the effect of equipping Esdeath's character card.
They shimmered like the ocean — deep, boundless, and cold enough to swallow everything within.
"The line between hunter and prey can change in an instant… that unpredictability — that's what makes fate so intoxicating."
"Thank you for witnessing my rebirth. As gratitude for your performance, allow me to show you my strongest gift — and grant you the perfect finale."
At this moment, Yuki Ya's chakra surged with terrifying intensity.With Esdeath's power amplifying him severalfold, he had broken through the limits of an ordinary academy student — his strength now rivaling an elite chūnin.
Combined with the Ice Release and Esdeath's techniques, his power had multiplied dozens of times over!
"Ice Release — Ice Meteor!"
He raised one hand, fingers locking into a precise seal before his chest.The Ice Meteor was originally a skill from the Esdeath card — it didn't require hand seals. But when Yuki Ya acquired it, his Ice Release merged with the ability perfectly.
Chakra flooded from his body like a torrent.Within seconds, a colossal sphere of ice began forming in the air above him — swelling larger and larger until it was more than ten meters wide.
A crushing aura descended upon the forest, heavy enough to make it hard to breathe.
It was a meteor made of pure ice.
"T-that's impossible…"
"A monster…!"
"How—how can a six-year-old create a technique of that level!? Is he the reincarnation of the Sage of Six Paths?!"
The Mist ANBU could barely think straight.The overwhelming cold and pressure radiating from that frozen star felt like the end of the world.
This was no ordinary jutsu — it was a forbidden technique, an S-rank ultimate art.
"Fall."
The chakra flow stopped. The massive ice sphere — the Ice Meteor — solidified completely, casting its shadow across the land.
That day, a meteor of ice fell from the heavens—
—and the world trembled.