—... Brat, do you have any idea who you're talking to?— the Taki-Nin questioned with a sneer. He considered kicking the child and sending him far away, but then something started spinning in his head.
They were in the middle of nowhere, far from any civilization, in a forest full of all kinds of dangerous animals. This brat walks around like it's nothing, and he came from the direction his shinobi partner had gone.
The gears turned in his mind, and the disdain of being interrupted turned into caution.
It was because of that caution that he managed to react to the child's sudden burst of speed. It wasn't Shunshin, but he was definitely using chakra to move faster.
The boy threw a kunai in his direction, but the throw was quite clumsy and lacked strength, so the Taki-Nin blocked it with his own kunai and jumped towards the child.
To his surprise, the child also jumped, extending his hands as if trying to grab onto him. With a snort, he lifted his leg and slammed a kick directly into the brat's abdomen.
However, the moment his limb made contact with the child, a frigid aura exploded in the area.
The Taki-Nin felt the accumulation of chakra, one that surpassed even himself. His pupils contracted, reflecting the hand seal the boy managed to form, despite the leg that had just crashed into his stomach.
The air cooled, the temperature dropped wildly, his flesh felt cold, then burning, and then nothing. Everything happened in that brief instant of contact.
When the impact launched Takeshi into the air, with saliva escaping his mouth along with the air in his lungs, bloody chunks of the man's shin accompanied him as well.
Shock immobilized the Taki-Nin, his eyes wide open, staring at the hole in his leg and the frozen pieces of flesh and bone flying through the air.
A feeling of dread assaulted him. Soon after, the pain came.
—AAAAACK!!— he bellowed in agony, collapsing onto the ground.
At that moment, the other three Taki-Nin appeared.
The leader swung his Sasumata, charging directly at Takeshi. He didn't need explanations to know that he was the threat.
The weapon fell with the weight of a mountain, attempting to crush the child with a single, brutal blow, but Takeshi pulsed chakra to his limbs and jumped aside, still clutching his sore stomach.
Although young, although inexperienced, Takeshi had many advantages with which to overcome the disparity in size, body mass, and experience.
The youth retreated, his hands joined again, the seal helping him to better concentrate the energy that responded so easily to his commands.
He didn't obtain a miraculous System, nor the guidance of an unmatched master. However, he possessed very good chakra reserves and an almost absurd control.
And recently, he had realized he possessed something more.
At his request, the chakra in his body stirred, its movement constant, but its vibration reducing.
The effect was immediate.
His surroundings began to cool, his energy altering the environment, forcing it to stop its movement at a level imperceptible to anyone, except perhaps a Hyūga.
Takeshi had always found the movement of chakra within him easy. Without Kimiko knowing it, he had been practicing constantly since he turned four.
Simple things, those he remembered from the anime. But then he discovered that it was difficult for him to get tired.
He could play for hours without his stamina being affected. He considered that either the mere act of moving chakra didn't exhaust him, or his reserves were abnormally large. He had no way to corroborate the latter.
When Kimiko started teaching him the fundamentals for Ice Release, he made his second discovery: His affinity with that Kekkei Genkai was dominant. Very dominant.
And after experimenting in every way he could think of, he finally made his third and most important discovery: He didn't just possess Hyōton. His ability was slightly different.
Takeshi could not only produce ice. He could cool and freeze.
When the Sasumata fell on him again, Takeshi exploded his chakra outwards, without unleashing any particular technique.
The sudden drop in temperature affected the air and matter itself, freezing the weapon and the hand that wielded it as well.
Just like the previous one, the face of this Taki-Nin showed surprise and shortly after, pain.
When the weapon impacted the ground and the energy of the blow was redirected to its user, the shinobi's fingers cracked and detached.
Takeshi gave him no chance, jumping onto him and unleashing another cold wave, almost completely freezing the larger man and immobilizing him in place.
With a swift motion, Takeshi took a kunai from the man's pouch and plunged it into the owner's throat.
The act, driven more by adrenaline than anything else, almost made him vomit. It was the first time he had killed another human being.
But the situation didn't give him time to think too much. There were still two other shinobi left.
******************************
Kimiko had been twisting in place, her ears catching the sound of battle and her skin bristling at the icy touch of Takeshi's chakra.
She was impressed, wondering when her son had learned to unleash so much power. She had barely taught him the fundamentals of her Kekkei Genkai, as well as basic chakra control, although she suspected his talent was far superior to what he showed her.
Although she couldn't see, the fact that she felt the cold even here made her think that Takeshi had unleashed a large amount of ice.
Worry made her chest feel like it was about to burst, while pride filled her with warmth.
Knowing that Takeshi came to save her, her, a mediocre mother who was about to abandon him, made her eyes well up.
Something within the girl began to change. Emotions repressed for years began to stir again, adding to her already exhausted mind and body.
The years of wandering the streets like beggars, having to venture into holes and bad neighborhoods to spend the nights, the constant flight to uninhabited terrain, always running from her Clan and her village.
The lack of food, the dirty and battered clothes, the instability with which she raised Takeshi, her own struggles, her pain, her bitterness, the disappointment in herself as a kunoichi, as a member of the Yuki Clan, as a mother.
All that and much more hit Kimiko without any mercy.
But before her mind completely broke, she felt light footsteps approaching her, a heavy breath and ragged gasps.
She became so self-absorbed that she didn't realize the battle was over and that the temperature had dropped even lower than before.
She didn't move, waiting for the outcome. A part of her expected the rough and harsh touch of an unknown man. She expected to see the corpse of her sole reason for living lying on the ground.
Kimiko expected to completely break.
—Everything is okay— came the gentle, soft yet firm and mature voice of Takeshi.
His hands removed the blindfold from her eyes and Kimiko saw the child's face, dirty and sweaty, but with a reassuring smile, one that made her feel safe, protected.
That day, something inside Kimiko broke. Something that even she wasn't sure if it was for better or for worse.
********************************
A/N: No, it's not okay, but screw it, long live incest!