Chapter 193: The Dust Settles
And just as Kazahana Dotō finished inventorying his subordinate ninjas and led them out of the royal palace, a small flying insect at the palace gate buzzed and flew away.
...
"The fish has taken the bait," among Team Eight, who were setting traps with Shikamaru's squad, Aburame Shino suddenly looked up and said to the others.
"Speaking of which, do we really need to set up so many traps?" Inuzuka Kiba, while laboriously chiseling open the frozen earth on the ground and burying a trigger-type electromagnetic interference trap, looked up, wiped the sweat beads that had already frozen into ice crystals on his temples, and said, "The enemy at most consists of a few Jounin with some special techniques, and some Chuunin and Genin. Teacher Shisui doesn't even need to act. Naruto and his team can handle the Jounin, and the few of us can take care of the rest, isn't that enough?"
"Woof!" Akamaru, perched on Inuzuka Kiba's shoulder, also barked, echoing his master's words.
"Very necessary," Shikamaru said while cooperating with Choji to set up a new trap. "These traps are not set to kill the opponent, but to protect the civilians attracted by our plan."
"The plan we set will attract many unarmed civilians to Rainbow Glacier. If we directly engage the enemy without any regard, under the ninjutsu of Sasuke and the others, it would be lucky if even twenty percent of these civilians survive. In that case, it would be detrimental to our subsequent cooperation between Konoha and the Land of Snow."
"Besides, hasn't Teacher Shisui already said? For this battle against the opponent, he won't intervene unless it's a critical moment. If we want to qualify for the Chunin Exams, we have to rely on ourselves to deal with these enemies."
"That's true, but this kind of work is really boring," Inuzuka Kiba complained.
"That may be true, but Kiba, we are a reconnaissance squad. Besides obtaining intelligence, setting traps is also something we need to do."
"This should be about right," Ino said, burying a string of exploding tags in a weak spot of an ice layer, then sighed with relief. "Now, all that's left is for Sasuke and Neji to lure the enemy over."
"Hinata, go see how Naruto's side is preparing. The battle later will still need him to lead the charge," Shikamaru, after glancing at the map, called out to Hinata not far away.
"Yes!" Hinata nodded. After gently rubbing her small hands, which were a bit red from the cold, she leaped continuously for a while and then jumped to the top of an ice cliff. Naruto had already been ambushing there for a long time.
At this moment, Naruto was wrapped in a warm robe, sitting cross-legged on the top of the cliff. The cold wind occasionally blew through his golden hair, which shone brilliantly under the sunlight. This scene made Hinata's small face blush slightly.
"Naruto-kun..." Hinata said softly.
"Ah? It's Hinata," Naruto, upon seeing the visitor, immediately showed a radiant smile. "Is there something?"
"Um... Shikamaru asked me to come over and ask you how your preparations are going?" Although for others, Naruto's slightly clear, foolish smile didn't quite match his earlier profound demeanor, for Hinata, this was the Naruto she liked. So, Hinata's face turned even redder.
"Rest assured! According to the plan, later, after Her Highness the Princess leads the civilians through, it will be my turn to go down, intercept the enemy, and incidentally activate the traps you all set up targeting electronic circuits," Naruto waved his hand, indicating he understood. Then, seeing Hinata's increasingly red face, Naruto couldn't help but become curious. "Why is your face so red? Are you cold? Here, wear this jacket."
As Naruto spoke, he took off the jacket he was wearing and draped it over Hinata. The lingering scent of Naruto on the jacket instantly overloaded Hinata's brain, and steam began to continuously rise from the top of her head.
Hinata's reaction startled Naruto quite a bit: "Are you alright? If you're not feeling well, just hide a bit better during the operation later."
"No... I'm fine. Um, Naruto-kun, I'll head back first," Hinata, forcibly suppressing the urge to faint, said goodbye to Naruto and then returned to her assigned position.
...
Before long, from the perspective of the hidden group, they saw Kazahana Koyuki leading several hundred people, advancing towards them with great fanfare.
"Sasuke, there are nearly fifty chakra fluctuations behind us," just then, Neji, disguised as Kazahana Koyuki's attendant, used his Byakugan's 360-degree vision to check behind them, then said to Sasuke beside him in a low voice.
"Shikamaru, how are your preparations over there?" Sasuke then used the radio to contact the hidden Shikamaru. After receiving a confirmed reply, he turned to Kazahana Koyuki, who had already swapped identities with him earlier. "Well then, Your Highness, the next part is up to you. You shouldn't have any problems, right?"
Kazahana Koyuki glanced guiltily at the Land of Snow commoners following her towards Rainbow Glacier. After hesitating for a moment, she finally took a deep breath. "Leave it to me."
"Very good. We can guarantee that no one will interfere with you while you open the treasure, and we will leave your uncle permanently at Rainbow Glacier. However, how far you can go after this will depend entirely on yourself. Whether you become a true queen beloved by her subjects, or a puppet with nothing left after losing outside assistance, all of it will depend on your own performance." Sasuke chuckled lightly and placed his hand on the hilt of Ziden. Neji also, at this moment, released the safety seals on the ninja tools on his body.
The very next second after Kazahana Koyuki led the crowd past the designated spot, a deafening sound echoed throughout the entire snowfield.
Everyone present turned to look and saw a blonde youth holding a giant Rasengan several meters in diameter descending from the sky. The huge Rasengan slammed heavily onto the ground. However, the massive explosion everyone expected did not occur. The moment the giant chakra sphere made contact with the snowfield ground, it dissipated without a trace.
"Missed?" Kazahana Koyuki, further back, stared blankly at the retreating figure of Naruto, who had landed on the snowfield in a superhero landing pose, and asked dazedly.
"Don't be hasty. Let the chakra fly for a bit," Sasuke chuckled lightly, then, along with Neji, rushed out from the crowd from the left and right.
In no time, a cataclysmic commotion spread across this snowfield. The previously buried traps, having absorbed the chakra from Naruto's Odama Rasengan, officially began to operate. Every location where an enemy might be hiding, as calculated by Shikamaru, exploded violently. One after another, ninjas clad in strange armor were forced out from the snowfield. A few weaker ones directly perished under the traps.
Cold wind blew past colorful ice prisms. Inuzuka Kiba's Akamaru restlessly pawed at the snow on the ground.
Nara Shikamaru's shadow snaked along the ice surface. In Hyuga Hinata's Byakugan vision, fifty blue-glowing chakra reactions, after being forced out, simply stopped hiding and rapidly approached the interior of Rainbow Glacier.
Aburame Shino's sunglasses glinted coldly, a swarm of insects pouring out from his collar: "Their armor is very special, but..."
He looked at Shikamaru, "Enough for my parasitic destruction insects to find a gap."
Shikamaru bit his finger and drew the last formula on the ground. The burnt smell of exploding tags mixed with the unique biting cold of ice crystals: "After three minutes, when Choji triggers the first avalanche, Ino, the two of us must control that guy in the middle!"
The roar of machinery operating sounded across the wilderness. Kazahana Dotō, under the cover of a squad of Snow Ninja, charged directly towards the large contingent ahead. Terrifying chakra fluctuations surged from his armor. The footsteps of fifty Snow Ninja echoed with a metallic quality in the ice valley.
"Choji! Do it! Ino, get ready!" Shikamaru's shadow suddenly stabbed into the ice layer.
Akimichi Choji stuffed the chips he had opened while waiting for the enemy into his mouth all at once, then activated his clan's Super Expansion Jutsu. His expanded body slammed heavily onto the ice surface. Cracks spread like a spiderweb, and a ten-thousand-ton icicle hanging above the glacier fell with a crash.
The Snow Ninja, who were in the process of forming hand seals, suddenly found their chakra armor emitting shrill alarms. Looking up, they saw solid and heavy icicles plummeting straight towards their heads.
"Lightning Release: Chidori!" Sasuke, treading on lightning, arrived amidst the Snow Ninjas' formation. Ziden in his hand plunged into the glacier. Purple lightning snakes shot out along the ice cracks. The Snow Ninja, just about to dodge the icicles, suddenly convulsed, sparks flying from their armor joints.
Yamanaka Ino's blonde hair billowed in the snowstorm. Mind Transfer Jutsu targeted Kazahana Dotō, while a string of elongated shadows also reached Kazahana Dotō's feet.
In the chaos, Shino's insect swarm had already covered half the Snow Ninja, the sound of their carapaces rubbing together setting teeth on edge.
The Snow Ninja, their scalps tingling from Sasuke's Lightning Release ninjutsu, now also had to face the continuously blaring error warnings from their chakra armor.
Kazahana Dotō's roar shook down ice shards: "Konoha ninjas! Do you wish to wage war against our Land of Snow?"
However, the next second, he suddenly found his body was no longer under his control, and his spirit had entered a strange black space. Before him, a young blonde girl brushed her hair behind her ear, then made a throat-slitting gesture at him.
Kazahana Dotō, after regaining his senses, suddenly realized his body was completely immobile. A long string of shadows connected him to a youth not far away.
"Eight Trigrams Sealing Acupoints!"
Just then, Neji descended from the sky. Hinata also arrived behind Kazahana Dotō. Various sealing jutsus on the armguards on their wrists, which were fitted with small sealing scrolls, flashed consecutively. Steel needles appeared in their hands one by one, continuously stabbing them into the gaps of Kazahana Dotō's chakra armor, completely severing the opponent's chakra circulation pathways. At this moment, Sasuke, having given the Snow Ninja a round of electrotherapy ninjutsu, calmly walked before Kazahana Dotō, gently wiped his Ziden, then sneered, "War with Konoha? Are you qualified?"
The Snow Ninja brought by Kazahana Dotō suffered heavy losses under the falling icicles and Sasuke's lightning ninjutsu. The remaining survivors, who had managed to stay alive, hadn't even had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief before two crimson whirlwinds swept towards them.
Kiba and Akamaru's combination ninjutsu, Fang Wolf Fang, tore through the formation of these remaining Snow Ninja in an instant. Naruto's army of shadow clones also joined the battlefield at this time. In no time, they completed the reaping of the remaining Snow Ninja.
At this point, Kazahana Dotō, already completely immobile, looked at the few youths before him wearing Konoha forehead protectors. After gritting his teeth, he decided to make one final effort.
"What conditions did Kazahana Koyuki offer your Konoha? I am willing to give you double!"
"Is that so?" Sasuke, with great interest, slowly walked before Kazahana Dotō, chuckled lightly, and said, "That truly is an offer hard to refuse. However, I refuse."
"Why?" Kazahana Dotō asked in disbelief.
"Actually, if you could have been even a slightly more competent Daimyo, Konoha would have directly cooperated with you, instead of going through the trouble of helping Kazahana Koyuki," Sasuke said after shaking his head.
Sasuke, after receiving the mission from Uchiha Douhuan, had carefully pondered Uchiha Douhuan's objectives.
The geographical location of the Land of Snow was actually not as crucial as that of the Land of Rice Paddies or the Land of Hot Water. Firstly, the Land of Snow did not border the Land of Fire, and its entire national economic development was not particularly good due to weather conditions. If it were merely as an ordinary ally, the value it could bring to the Land of Fire was very limited.
Once the two countries formally allied, in many cases, their Land of Fire might even have to bleed money to support the Land of Snow's development.
However, if Konoha were to go to war with the Land of Earth in the future, the Land of Snow's geographical location could become a burden that completely tied down the Land of Earth, allowing their Konoha to gain the initiative in the war.
And the prerequisite for achieving such an effect was that the citizens of the Land of Snow truly recognized the Land of Fire as an ally and were willing to sincerely advance and retreat together with the Land of Fire in times of war.
Therefore, when choosing between Kazahana Dotō and Kazahana Koyuki, Sasuke chose Kazahana Koyuki without a second thought. Although Kazahana Koyuki had significant problems as a head of state, there was one thing: this woman truly loved the country she was born in. Therefore, when facing Konoha's economic aid in the future, she probably wouldn't do things like lining her own pockets.
As for Kazahana Dotō, Sasuke had never held any hope for such vermin, especially after learning about his actions in the Land of Snow these past few years. Sasuke suddenly recalled a negative teaching example named 'Kaiser' from a world without chakra that Uchiha Douhuan had 'fabricated' when teaching him and Neji.
Sasuke looked Kazahana Dotō up and down. Probably, the aid supplies Konoha just delivered to the Land of Snow this morning would appear in this fellow's private treasury by the afternoon.
If the people of the Land of Snow received no benefits, then on what grounds should they stand on the same battle line as the Land of Fire?
"Well?" Neji looked at Sasuke, raised an eyebrow, and then asked.
"Do it. Give him a decent death. He's a Daimyo, after all," Sasuke said.
(End of Chapter)
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