Chapter 204: Encounter With Snow Ninjas, News Of Uzumaki Menma
The pungent blood scent mixed with the icy aura of snow foam permeated the Aga Snow Forest clearing that had just experienced slaughter.
On the snowfield, several bandits’ corpses were frozen in distorted poses, silently recounting the brutality of the battle.
The cold wind howled through the treetops, whipping up fine snow powder, attempting to bury these cruel traces.
Natsuhi withdrew her kunai, blood droplets falling from the blade tip and splattering small red spots on the snow.
Her sharp gaze quickly swept over the battlefield, confirming no further threats, then she immediately turned and leaped to Oyakushiro Chino’s side, who was leaning against a tree trunk with a face pale as paper.
“Chino!” Natsuhi’s voice carried a barely perceptible urgency as she crouched down, gently yet swiftly checking the gruesome wound on Chino’s left leg.
The bone-deep gash had rolled edges, blood still slowly seeping out, staining the torn pants leg and the snow beneath her.
The intense pain and the massive psychological shock from killing for the first time made the nine-year-old girl’s body tremble uncontrollably, her Blood Dragon Eyes that had just glowed with eerie red light now returned to their original black, but the lingering shock and bewilderment deep in her eyes had not dissipated.
“Natsu… Teacher Natsuhi…” Chino’s voice was as faint as a mosquito’s, laced with a sob and lingering fear.
“Don’t speak, endure it.” Natsuhi gently soothed her as she quickly retrieved clean bandages and hemostatic powder from her ninja tool pouch, deftly performing emergency treatment.
The powder sprinkled on the wound brought a stinging pain, Chino drawing in a sharp breath and biting her lower lip hard.
Heavy footsteps approached as Shita Junhito and Murahashi Hazuki gathered around.
The previous arrogance and disdain on Shita Junhito’s face had vanished without a trace; his brows furrowed tightly as he looked at the shocking wound on Chino’s leg, then glanced at the bandit corpse nearby with its chest pierced and horrific death pose, his eyes filled with complex emotions.
The impression of that Blood Dragon was deeply etched in his mind.
This ninja clan girl, whom he had contemptuously called “little bean ding” and “greenhouse flower,” had unleashed such cruel and powerful strength at the brink of life and death.
“Hey… you… are you okay?” Shita Junhito’s voice was somewhat dry, carrying unprecedented seriousness and a trace of barely perceptible respect.
He awkwardly shifted his gaze away, seemingly unaccustomed to this caring posture.
“Mm… still… okay…” Chino sniffled, trying hard to squeeze out a smile that looked worse than crying.
Murahashi Hazuki crouched on Chino’s other side, carefully helping Natsuhi support Chino’s leg: “Chino-chan, that was… amazing just now! Was that the Blood Dragon Eye? It was just like legendary ninjutsu!”
Her gaze fell on the Star Ninja headband on Chino’s forehead, her delicate face full of worry and admiration.
Natsuhi finished bandaging quickly and carefully checked Chino’s pupils and mental state, confirming it was only chakra depletion and overstimulation with no severe backlash, then slightly relaxed.
“Well done, Chino.” She patted Chino’s shoulder affirmatively.
“Now, we need to clean the battlefield, gather intelligence, and confirm if there are other remnants.”
“Hazuki, stay alert. Junhito, you search these bandits’ bodies for anything valuable.”
“Understood!” Murahashi Hazuki immediately stood up, hands forming sensing hand seals, vigilantly scanning the dark forest shrouded in wind and snow.
Shita Junhito nodded, his face still looking unwell, but his actions were without hesitation.
He endured the discomfort from the blood scent and walked toward the corpses, beginning a careful search.
Kicking away a rusty cleaver, he pulled out several crumpled map fragments with crude routes from one bandit’s bosom; from another bandit’s waist, he untied a bulging, stained money bag that jingled inside; when he tried to search the bandit killed by Chino’s blood spear, his gaze met the terrifying piercing wound and congealed dark red viscous blood, his stomach churning.
He took a deep breath of icy air, forcibly suppressing the nausea, and continued searching.
“Teacher! Someone’s approaching!”
Just as Shita Junhito pulled a small scroll wrapped in oilcloth from a bandit’s inner pocket, the ever-vigilant Murahashi Hazuki suddenly issued a warning.
Natsuhi abruptly looked up, her gaze piercing toward a steep mountain peak in the distance, covered in thick ice and snow, standing like a giant beast’s fang!
“Woo-ao——！！！”
Almost at the same instant Natsuhi looked up, a long, wild, and piercing wolf howl suddenly came from the snow peak’s summit!
The howl echoed through the vast, cold snow forest, carrying an arrogant, condescending aura and icy warning!
The four squad members’ hairs stood on end instantly!
Shita Junhito and Murahashi Hazuki immediately dropped what they were holding, flashing to Natsuhi and Chino’s side at top speed, forming a back-to-back defensive formation, weapons aimed squarely at the direction of the howl!
Chino also struggled to stand, gently pressed back by Natsuhi’s hand on her shoulder.
The wind and snow seemed to intensify at this moment. On the snowy mountain peak’s midsection, several protruding black giant rocks silently stood four figures!
They looked down from above like snowfield eagles eyeing prey, their cold gazes piercing the wind and snow, firmly locking onto the Natsuhi Squad below.
The leader was a tall female ninja.
She had striking twin-tailed short hair like burning amethyst, slightly swaying in the cold wind.
She wore a uniquely styled, sleek combat suit with key areas covered in armor plates gleaming with dark blue metal luster.
These were not traditional metal armor; the plates flowed with faint chakra light, clearly a chakra armor fused with ninjutsu technology!
Her arms crossed, delicate chin slightly raised, face showing undisguised arrogance and scrutiny.
The three ninjas behind her wore similar chakra armor, slightly
They stood like cold sculptures, silently guarding the purple-haired woman ahead, their bodies emitting chakra fluctuations more powerful than those of the bandits.
Without any warning, four figures fell lightly from the hundred-meter-high giant rock like weightless snowflakes!
Their movements were swift and elegant, the Chakra Armor seemingly greatly reducing the influence of gravity, and when their boots landed on a relatively flat giant snow rock below, it only stirred up a few puffs of fine snow dust.
The purple-haired woman stepped forward, standing at the edge of the snow rock, her cold gaze sweeping over the messy battlefield below and the alert four people, finally landing on the leading Natsuhi.
Her voice was crisp, yet carried a chill that soaked into the bones, clearly piercing through the wind and snow:
“Snow Ninja Jonin Hiyuki Fubuki.” She announced her name with a contemptuous tone: “By the command of Lord Fukazake Nutou, pursuing this group of scum roaming the border. It seems you got ahead of us and cleaned up the trash for us?”
Her gaze swept over those corpses, finally landing on Chiyo who was protected behind Natsuhi by her, especially when she saw the bloodstains on Chiyo’s legs and her pale little face, a barely perceptible unusual light flashed in her purple eyes.
Natsuhi stepped forward one step, completely blocking the three children behind her, the kunai gripped reversely in her right hand held horizontally in front of her body, chakra quietly circulating through her body, poised and ready to strike.
Her voice was steady, carrying doubt: “Jonin Hiyuki Fubuki. This group of bandits attacked the northern towns of my Land of Stars and has already been lawfully eliminated by my Hoshigakure squad. This is the territory of the Land of Stars. Are your country’s ninjas trying to provoke war by crossing the border without permission?”
Red-brown long hair fluttered in the cold wind, eyes sharp as a hawk, Natsuhi and Hiyuki Fubuki locked eyes.
Hiyuki Fubuki’s lips curved into a cold, sharp arc, as if she had heard something amusing: “Land of Stars? Hah, nothing more than upstarts who annexed the Land of Demons. This band of bandits has repeatedly crossed into my Land of Snow’s territory to plunder, committing countless bloody crimes. Their heads must be brought back to the Land of Snow by me, to serve as a warning to others!”
She extended a hand wearing Chakra Armor gloves, pointing at the corpse on the ground, her tone carrying an irrefutable commanding voice: “Now, hand over the corpse. For the sake of your hard work, I can let you leave.”
“Dream on!” Shita Junhito couldn’t help but shout in anger, veins bulging at his temple: “This is what we risked our lives to take down! Why should we give it to you!”
“That’s right! This is the Land of Stars!” Murahashi Hazuki also mustered her courage and shouted.
Chiyo leaned against Teacher Natsuhi’s back, her small hands tightly gripping the hem of Teacher Natsuhi’s clothes, her body trembling slightly from tension and weakness, but those big black eyes were fixed firmly on the arrogant purple-haired woman on the snow rock.
Natsuhi’s gaze completely turned cold: “Jonin Hiyuki Fubuki, we cannot fulfill your request. Please leave the Land of Stars border immediately. Otherwise, you will be regarded as an invasion!”
“Invasion?” Hiyuki Fubuki seemed to have heard the biggest joke, letting out a short and cold chuckle.
“Just with you all?”
Cold light surged in her eyes, her crossed arms suddenly spread open, and her hands instantly formed hand seals in front of her chest at a dizzyingly fast speed!
A chakra fluctuation far stronger, purer, and extremely cold than the previous bandit suddenly erupted!
“Ice Release: Swallow Snowstorm!”
With her cold shout, the surrounding temperature seemed to drop another ten degrees in an instant!
The moisture in the air was frantically extracted and condensed by the violent Ice Release Chakra!
Countless hexagonal ice crystals flashing with deadly cold light, their edges sharp as knives, materialized out of thin air, densely packed, instantly forming a rapidly rotating ice crystal storm in front of her that sliced through the air with a shrill screech!
This storm covered a vast range, encompassing most of the forest clearing, carrying the chill that froze souls and the might that shattered everything, as it fiercely swept toward the Natsuhi Squad below!
The blizzard was swept up by this Ice Crystal storm, creating a terrifying momentum!
“Get back!” Teacher Natsuhi shouted sharply, advancing instead of retreating!
She fiercely pushed Chiyo toward Shita Junhito behind her, while she herself boldly stepped forward to meet that terrifying ice crystal storm!
Hands formed hand seals!
“Peacock Myōhō!”
Buzz——!
A strange humming sound rang out from Teacher Natsuhi’s body!
The majestic, gorgeously deep purple Chakra surged out like a volcanic eruption!
This chakra did not diffuse disorderly, but under her exquisite manipulation, it instantly condensed and took shape!
A lifelike Eastern giant dragon entirely composed of condensed purple chakra proudly took form!
The dragon’s body was slender and robust, covered in dense purple scale phantoms, with eyes bright and spirited, full of liveliness and majesty!
The purple chakra giant dragon let out a silent roar, its massive body nimbly twisting, carrying an unstoppable momentum as it brazenly crashed into the oncoming ice crystal storm!
Hehehehehe——!!!
The piercing sounds of cutting and melting instantly echoed through the Aga Snow Forest!
The purple chakra dragon body violently collided, rubbed, and annihilated with countless sharp ice crystals!
The Ice Crystal storm madly tore and cut at Purple Dragon’s body, bursting forth massive clouds of purple light shards and ice crystal fragments, like a brief yet deadly fireworks display of purple and ice blue blooming in the wind and snow!
Purple Dragon’s massive body struggled to advance in the storm, each swing of its tail and each claw strike generating massive Chakra shockwaves that shattered and evaporated swathes of Ice Crystals!
However, that Ice Crystal storm seemed endless, the Chakra Armor on Hiyuki Fubuki’s body flickered with a ghostly light, clearly continuously amplifying her Ninjutsu power!
Stalemate!
The intense chakra collision made the entire clearing tremble slightly, with the snow being swept into the air by the violent airflow!
“Attack!” Hiyuki Fubuki issued the cold command while maintaining the Ice Crystal storm.
The three Snow Ninja behind her, like cheetahs receiving a command, instantly swooped down from the snow rock!
The Chakra Armor on their bodies glowed faintly, greatly enhancing their speed and power, treading snow without a trace, moving swiftly like the wind!
The three formed a triangular formation, clearly targeting and bypassing the terrifying battle zone of Teacher Natsuhi and Jonin Hiyuki Fubuki, charging straight at Chiyo who was protected in the middle by Shita Junhito and Murahashi Hazuki!
“Protect Chiyo!” Shita Junhito roared, his burly frame blocking in front of Chiyo like a rock, hands rapidly forming hand seals: “Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!”
Rumble!
A thick earthen wall instantly rose from the ground, blocking the path of the charging Snow Ninja.
However, the Snow Ninja’s speed far exceeded his expectations!
The leading Snow Ninja, in the instant the earth wall rose, fiercely kicked off the ground. Chakra Armor flashed with light, and his body leaped into the air with inconceivable flexibility, easily clearing the earth wall!
The person was in mid-air, hands already forming hand seals like a butterfly flitting through flowers: “Ice Release · Ice Rock Dome!”
Three thick, sharp Ice Spikes condensed out of thin air, carrying a shrill sound of air breaking, shooting toward Shita Junhito like spears of ice!
Shita Junhito’s pupils contracted, roaring as he swung his kunai to meet the incoming ice spike!
His Earth Style defense and Taijutsu are solid, but far inferior in speed and agility to the Snow Ninja enhanced by Chakra Armor!
Puff puff!
The first ice spike was shattered by his kunai, the second was deflected, but the third ice spike slyly grazed the outside of his left arm!
The cold blade easily tore through his vest and flesh, sending up a trail of blood!
“Junhito!” Murahashi Hazuki exclaimed in alarm. She immediately waved her hands repeatedly, kunai and shuriken shooting toward the leaping Snow Ninja like a rainstorm, trying to disrupt his landing.
Several shuriken instantly turned into more than a dozen rays of cold light, sealing off the landing spot of that Snow Ninja.
That Snow Ninja flexibly twisted his body in mid-air, the Chakra Armor flickering with a faint glow once again, forcibly making an illogical lateral shift in the air, dodging most of the shuriken. Only one kunai grazed past his shoulder armor, sparking a trail of sparks.
He landed steadily, his eyes cold, and formed hand seals again.
At the same time, the other two Snow Ninja also flanked the Earth Flow Wall from both the left and right sides, charging right up close!
One person held a short blade covered in ice, stabbing straight at Murahashi Hazuki’s side!
The other person pressed both hands to the ground: “Ice Release: Ice Prison Technique!”
The coldness chakra instantly spread, attempting to freeze the immobile Chiyo directly in place!
“Get lost!” Shita Junhito endured the sharp pain in his left arm, his eyes bloodshot, like an enraged rhinoceros, charging recklessly at the Snow Ninja attacking Hazuki!
He gave up on defense, completely fighting by trading wounds for wounds!
The heavy shoulder slammed fiercely into the opponent’s knife-holding arm, causing them to stagger, and the ice blade aimed at Hazuki also veered off course.
But the opponent reacted extremely quickly, countering with an elbow that viciously smashed into Shita Junhito’s side waist!
The power boost from the Chakra Armor made this strike incredibly heavy. Shita Junhito grunted, a trace of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as he staggered back.
Murahashi Hazuki barely dodged the ice blade, but she was grazed by the cold air at the edge of the ice prison technique cast by another Snow Ninja, her movements immediately stiffened, her foot slipped, and she fell to the ground.
And that Snow Ninja who tried to freeze Chiyo pressed both hands to the ground, cold chill rising like a venomous snake coiling toward Chiyo’s feet!
Chiyo looked on in terror at the frost rapidly spreading upward, the bone-chilling coldness making her injured left leg almost lose sensation!
“Chiyo!” Natsuhi caught sight of the children’s peril from the corner of her eye, her heart filled with great urgency!
The purple chakra giant dragon she manipulated let out an angry roar, forcefully enduring the strangling of the ice crystal storm, suddenly flicking its tail, as the massive dragon tail fiercely swept toward Hiyuki Fubuki, attempting to force the opponent to retreat for rescue.
“Hmph! You can barely save yourself!” Hiyuki Fubuki sneered coldly, her hands changing hand seals, the ice crystal storm suddenly contracting and condensing into a huge, thick rotating ice shield, blocking in front of her!
Rumble!
The Purple Dragon’s giant tail smashed fiercely onto the ice shield, the ice shield shattered, and the Purple Dragon’s body also dimmed somewhat, ultimately failing to break through.
Right at this critical moment of life and death!
Chiyo, whose body was stiff from the invasion of cold air and whose knees were about to be climbed by frost, had the deep fear and despair in her eyes ignite like dry firewood thrown into a spark, instantly transforming into the most primal, reckless fury!
“Ah——!!!”
A screech carrying a sobbing tone and extreme anger burst from her throat!
That pair of eyes, which had only just faded from scarlet, were once again swallowed by a viscous, blood-like crimson!
Blood Dragon Eye!
This time, deep within those scarlet-wrapped black pupils, the “one” character mark flashed with even more violent light!
Blood flowed out from both eyes, and an eye power far colder and more ferocious than before, filled with the aura of death, surged out like an uncontrollable flood.
The Snow Ninja closest to her, who was performing the Ice Prison Technique, was the first to bear the brunt!
He only felt an irresistible mental power filled with chaos and destruction instantly overwhelm his consciousness defense line!
His mind was like falling into a sea of blood, drowned and suffocated by the viscous blood!
His body’s movements completely froze, his hand-sealing hands stalled in mid-air, and his eyes instantly became vacant and dazed, as if he were a marionette whose soul had been extracted!
“Dojutsu·Blood Binding Puppet!” Chiyo’s tender voice was now filled with a chilling killing intent that made one’s hair stand on end!
Under the manipulation of her Blood Dragon Eye eye power, the body of that Snow Ninja under mental control turned around fiercely like a puppet on strings, in an extremely stiff and eerie posture!
The blood and remaining chakra in his body were forcibly extracted, ignited, and compressed by the power of the Blood Dragon Eye!
His whole body was like a bomb with a lit fuse, charging fiercely toward them under the horrified gazes of the other two Snow Ninja!
“What?!” The other two Snow Ninja fearfully tried to retreat or block.
But everything was too late!
Boom——!!!
A deafening terrifying explosion resounded in the Aga Snow Forest!
That controlled Snow Ninja’s body was instantly burst open by his own rampaging Chakra, transforming into a massive scarlet fireball mixed with shredded flesh, broken bones, and violent energy!
The scorching hot blast and terrifying shockwave spread wildly in all directions like a tsunami!
Puff! Puff!
The two nearest Snow Ninjas were struck as if hit by a heavy hammer, screaming as they were violently flung away!
One of them had his Chakra Armor emit a piercing wail, with the chest plate deeply caved in, blood gushing wildly from under the mask, and he passed out in mid-air!
The other, though his armor blocked most of the impact, was still shaken to the point where his internal organs churned, blood spilling from his mouth and nose, crashing heavily into the snow more than ten meters away, struggling but unable to get up!
This sudden, extremely bloody and cruel turn of events plunged the entire battlefield into a brief silence!
Even Teacher Natsuhi and Hiyuki Fubuki, who were fiercely clashing, were staggered by the terrifying explosion shockwave, temporarily separating and each retreating several steps to steady themselves.
Hiyuki Fubuki looked at the slowly dissipating crimson blood mist, then at her two subordinates lying in the distant snow with unknown life or death, and finally, her proud gaze locked in surprise on the small figure in the center of the field.
That girl had pupils red as blood, her body enveloped in a chilling aura that made souls tremble, like a young demon crawling out from the blood pond of hell!
What made her pupils contract sharply was that with Chiyo’s full eruption of Blood Dragon Eye power, the bandit corpses scattered across the battlefield, as well as the freshly exploded Snow Ninja corpses, had their still-unfrozen warm blood flowing out, as if summoned by some evil ritual!
They surged out like living things, ignoring gravity, from the snow, from the broken corpse wounds, turning into viscous crimson streams that rapidly converged and condensed in the air!
In the blink of an eye, a ferocious Blood Dragon three meters thick and seven or eight meters long formed above Chiyo’s head!
It was entirely made of viscous blood emitting a thick bloody stench, its form even more wild and evil than the Chakra purple dragon condensed by Natsuhi!
“Roar—!” The Blood Dragon roared, its terrifying pressure making the air tremble, its hollow blood-colored eye sockets locking dead on the distant Hiyuki Fubuki!
The roar from the abyss exploded in Hiyuki Fubuki’s mind!
That massive Blood Dragon, condensed from the blood of countless dead, carried a nauseating bloody wind and boundless aura of death, charging at her like a blood-colored giant arrow loosed from a bow!
Everywhere it passed, the air seemed dyed dark red!
Hiyuki Fubuki’s face changed drastically!
She could feel the terrifying power contained in this Blood Dragon, not just physical impact, but also evil Eye Power that eroded spirit and soul!
Her Chakra Armor instantly burst with dazzling deep blue light, her hands rapidly forming hand seals: “Ice Release: Multiple Ice Walls!”
Boom boom boom boom!
One by one, massive ice walls half a meter thick and crystal clear layered instantly in front of her! This was her strongest defensive Ninjutsu!
However—
Boom! Crack! Boom! Crack!
The Blood Dragon crashed into the first ice wall like a battering ram, shattering it with overwhelming force!
The hard ice wall shattered like fragile glass!
Followed by the second, third… unstoppable!
The viscous blood contained terrifying impact and corrosiveness, the shattered ice walls quickly turning red and melting!
When the Blood Dragon smashed through the fifth ice wall, though its size had shrunk by nearly half and its speed slowed, its momentum was still terrifying!
A flash of horror finally appeared in Hiyuki Fubuki’s eyes!
She made a snap decision, no longer resisting head-on, her Chakra Armor flashing brightly, her body floating backward rapidly like a weightless feather!
At the same time, her hands formed hand seals again: “Ice Release: Ice Clone!”
Two ice clones identical to her instantly appeared at her sides, charging proactively at the Blood Dragon still carrying momentum!
Puff! Puff!
The two ice clones were instantly swallowed, smashed, and melted by the Blood Dragon! But they successfully bought Hiyuki Fubuki precious time to escape!
The Blood Dragon finally crashed heavily into the massive snow rock where Hiyuki Fubuki had stood, emitting a dull roar!
The hard rock was corroded into a huge crater, viscous blood flowing down like a waterfall, dyeing the rock a shocking crimson!
Hiyuki Fubuki landed on another rock dozens of meters away, her breathing somewhat disordered, the light of her Chakra Armor dimmed considerably.
She looked at the terrifying corrosion marks left by the Blood Dragon, then glanced at the little girl in the field who was swaying unsteadily, her blood pupils flickering uncertainly, clearly at her limit.
As well as the powerful-aura Star Country Jonin beside her whose eyes were locked on her, and those two Genin who were injured but still standing stubbornly…
She gritted her teeth, her face filled with reluctance and a hint of dread.
A Jonin not weaker than her, a child with such eerie and terrifying Bloodline Limit, plus two desperate Genin.
Her side had instantly lost one person, of the other two, one was unconscious, the other struggling to rise, clearly having lost most of his combat power.
Continuing to fight would not go well for her, and she might even fall here!
“Withdraw!” Hiyuki Fubuki squeezed out an icy word through clenched teeth.
She turned without hesitation, her Chakra Armor lighting up again, her figure turning into a streak of deep blue light, speeding toward the snow mountain without looking back!
The Snow Ninja who could still move felt greatly relieved, enduring his pain, hoisted his unconscious companion over his shoulder, and followed Hiyuki Fubuki in hasty retreat, quickly vanishing into the vast blizzard.
Until those three figures representing the Snow Ninjas completely disappeared from sight, the taut string suddenly loosened.
Thud!
The blood-red in Chiyo’s eyes receded like the tide, her body going soft as she collapsed directly onto the cold snow, fully unconscious.
Forcing two eruptions of Blood Dragon Eye, especially the last manipulation of that massive Blood Dragon, had long exceeded her body’s limits.
“Chiyo!” Natsuhi rushed over immediately and picked her up.
Shita Junhito clutched his bleeding left arm and aching side waist, leaning against a tree trunk gasping heavily, looking at the unconscious Chiyo with extremely complex eyes—relief at surviving the ordeal, trepidation at that terrifying power, but more than that, a completely shattered cognition and heartfelt recognition.
“This little brat…” he muttered to himself, ultimately turning into a wry smile.
Murahashi Hazuki struggled to her feet, ignoring her own abrasions, rushed to Shita Junhito’s side, and pulled bandages and medicine from her Ninja Tool Pouch: “Junhito! Quick, let me bandage you!”
Natsuhi quickly checked Chiyo’s condition, confirming it was just double exhaustion of Chakra and mental power causing unconsciousness, no immediate life threat, and only then slightly relaxed.
She carefully handed Chiyo to Murahashi Hazuki for temporary care, then went to Shita Junhito’s side to treat the deep ice spike gash on his arm.
“Natsu… Teacher Natsuhi,” Shita Junhito endured the stinging pain of the antiseptic powder, asking in a somewhat hoarse voice: “Who were those people just now? That armor… was so powerful.”
While skillfully bandaging, Natsuhi explained gravely in a heavy tone: “Those were ninjas from the Land of Snow. The leader was Jonin Hiyuki Fubuki. After the Land of Demons merged into our Land of Stars, our northern border directly adjoins the Land of Snow.”
“The Land of Snow is in extreme cold, with few ninjas but formidable individual strength. They excel in Ice Release Ninjutsu and rely heavily on that special Chakra Armor, which greatly amplifies Ninjutsu power and the ninja’s own qualities… It seems our new neighbor is not exactly friendly toward us.”
Shita Junhito and Murahashi Hazuki exchanged a glance, both seeing the complexity and heaviness in each other’s eyes.
They had just dealt with the bandits, only to provoke the even more troublesome Snow Ninjas.
The difficulty of this B-rank mission was way over the limit.
Natsuhi deftly finished bandaging Shita Junhito’s wound, checked Murahashi Hazuki’s condition, confirmed they were all superficial injuries, then stood up and looked at the messy battlefield.
She took a deep breath: “Clean up the battlefield. Seal all corpses, including that Snow Ninja’s remains, into Storage Scrolls and take them. Leave no traces here. Move fast, this place isn’t safe to linger!”
The three endured their pain and fatigue, mustered their spirits, and quickly got to work.
Natsuhi personally handled the bloodiest parts, sealing remains and important items—like fragments of the Snow Ninja’s shattered Chakra Armor, maps, money bags, and small scrolls from the bandits—into different Storage Scrolls, categorized.
Shita Junhito and Murahashi Hazuki handled clearing the obvious battle traces.
After all this, Natsuhi carried the unconscious Chiyo on her back, leading the two injured Genin in a difficult but resolute withdrawal toward the Star Capital.
————————
Star Capital, deep in the military zone, inside Lord Shura’s exclusive office.
The air was filled with faint sandalwood scent.
Menma was still in his signature Black Robe, his face covered by the White Three-Eyed Fox Mask, quietly sitting behind the wide desk, leaning against the windowsill, with some files and a map piled on the desk.
From here, the entire Star Capital could be seen at a glance.
Natsuhi stood opposite, respectfully reporting the full details of the Aga Snow Forest mission.
Her voice was steady and clear, from purging the bandit remnants, to Chiyo awakening Blood Dragon Eye in crisis to kill enemies, to encountering Land of Snow Jonin Hiyuki Fubuki, the clash between sides, and Chiyo’s second eruption manipulating the Blood Dragon to repel the strong foe.
Every detail was exhaustive, without any embellishment.
“This subordinate judges that the Land of Snow’s action this time, under the guise of pursuing bandits, was actually probing our Land of Stars’ northern border defenses, and possibly even intended to provoke and create friction. Hiyuki Fubuki’s attitude was arrogant, her Chakra Armor’s amplification effects on Ninjutsu and Taijutsu were very significant, and her Ice Release Ninjutsu was powerful and pure. If not for Chiyo’s Blood Dragon Eye eruption at the critical moment, the consequences would have been unimaginable.” Natsuhi concluded.
Menma listened quietly, his fingers unconsciously tapping lightly on the smooth desk surface.
The mask concealed his expression, only his deep eyes flickering slightly behind the mask’s eye holes.
“Chakra Armor…” Menma’s low voice sounded in the room, with a hint of playfulness and curiosity: “To amplify an ordinary Jonin’s Ice Release to that extent… the Land of Snow’s technology is interesting.”
A thought quietly surfaced in his mind.
“This subordinate has fully cleaned the battlefield, all corpses and possible intelligence items sealed and brought back.” Natsuhi added.
Menma nodded slightly: “Well done. How are Chiyo and the other two children?”
“Chiyo has severe Chakra and mental power exhaustion, is receiving treatment in the Medical Department, no major issues for now, but needs rest. Shita Junhito and Murahashi Hazuki have some external injuries, already treated, and are resting. The mission was dangerous but greatly tempered the team, especially Chiyo… her Bloodline Limit potential is astonishing.”
“Potential needs guidance and control, not unrestrained exhaustion.” Menma’s voice showed no emotion.
“This mission was highly perilous; I’ll have the military upgrade the rating, results in a week.”
“Yes! Thank you, Lord!” Natsuhi was somewhat pleased; battling foreign ninjas would at least bump it to an A-rank mission, and with the enemy led by a Jonin and them killing one, considering the mission’s sudden changes, a mid-tier rating with 500,000 reward was likely.
“Go now, let them rest well. This encounter with Snow Ninjas is classified as secret.” Menma rested his cheek on his fist.
“Yes!” Natsuhi bowed and withdrew.
Just as Natsuhi left the office and Menma pondered the Land of Snow plot characters from the theater version, the office door was lightly knocked.
“Come in.” Menma refocused and looked toward the door.
The door opened, and Uzumaki Kushina walked in.
She first respectfully bowed to Menma behind the desk: “Lord Shura.”
“Kushina, something?” Menma asked.
Uzumaki Kushina stepped forward, presenting with both hands an extremely ancient leather scroll, its edges somewhat frayed.
The scroll’s material was neither paper nor cloth, exuding an aura of aged precipitation.
“Lord, the ruins of ‘Uzumaki Clan Namen-do’ you previously ordered investigated have been found.”
She gently unrolled the scroll, pointing to a somewhat blurry map drawn in archaic style, and several lines of fine Uzumaki Clan secret script beside it.
“Based on several damaged classics from the core seal area of Uzu Village ruins, we’ve confirmed that the old site of Namen-do is located within the Land of Fire, outskirts of Konohagakure… deep in the Naka River Forest downstream!” Her slender finger precisely pointed to a marked spot in the Naka River Forest on the map.
“Naka River… Forest…” The brows under the White Three-Eyed Fox Mask slightly raised.
Minato Namikaze, that cheap father’s soul, was still sealed in the Shinigami’s stomach, right?
Speaking of which, the Shinigami should be a native god of this planet; besides the Shinigami, there were evil gods and which ones?
A deep gleam flashed in his eyes, curiosity and thirst for knowledge stirring toward these so-called native deities.
