Chapter 473: Filming in Progress
The following morning, at dawn, the large ship slowly docked along the shore.
"Cool~! Is this the Land of Snow? As expected... it's freezing." The director's voice was violently trembling.
Ryo squatted in front of Tsukika, wrapping her tightly in all the layers Kushina had prepared, making her look exactly like a chubby little bear cub...
"Great Ancestor, there's no need to wear this much, it's suffocating!" Tsukika puffed her cheeks.
Ryo chuckled: "Don't catch a cold. You're playing the princess as a child; wearing thick clothing helps manifest the royal family's... luxury?"
Faced with this deadpan nonsense, Tsukika pouted with a face full of displeasure...
"Alright, let's disembark!" Ryo pinched her cheek, stood straight, and turned to look at the blanket of ice and snow stretching out before them.
A moment later, the production crew members filed off the ship in sequence. Ryo led Tsukika from behind, while the four members of Team 7 jumped straight down.
The instant his feet hit the snow, Naruto recalled the 'Treading Snow Without Leaving Traces' technique Ryo had taught him during the New Year. He couldn't resist showing off in front of Sasuke... even though his footprints remained heavily embedded.
Sasuke experimented for a few moments and found that the depth of his footprints was roughly identical to Naruto's, so he immediately began practicing with focus...
"Treading Snow Without Leaving Traces, huh." Kakashi channeled his chakra, pacing a few steps across the snow without leaving a single trace behind!
"Eh? Kakashi-sensei, you're amazing! Neither Papa nor Mama could manage that..."
Kakashi scratched his head: "That was the snow in the Land of Whirlpools, which is relatively fluffy. The snow here in the Land of Snow is much more densely packed."
"Is that so?"
Sakura quickly walked past them, leaving a row of shallow footprints: "It doesn't seem that hard..."
Naruto's eyes went wide; her footprints were significantly shallower than his: "How is that possible? Sakura... is pretty plump, isn't she?"
Sakura's face instantly turned completely pitch black: "...What did you just say, Naruto?!"
"Ah, no, it's nothing! Save me~!"
Having just stepped onto the snow himself, Ryo heard the commotion and shook his head with a laugh: "That rascal."
Ryo wasn't particularly surprised that Kakashi could master treading snow without leaving traces. Everyone had different areas of focus; his family's blade techniques demanded an exceptionally high level of chakra control, so it was perfectly natural for him to outperform Kushina in this regard—even Tsunade could achieve it effortlessly... It had very little to do with the packed condition of the snow.
As for Minato, Ryo suspected he simply hadn't dared to successfully execute 'Treading Snow Without Leaving Traces' in front of Kushina. His performance back then had perfectly mirrored hers...
Once on land, the eccentric director immediately began barking orders at the crew to set up for filming. The first sequence featured Tsukika's role—the segment where a young Princess Koyuki is escorted out of the Land of Snow by Kakashi.
However, Ryo was highly dissatisfied with the director's very first requirement...
"Dye her hair? My little Tsukika grew her red hair fair and square by virtue of her own talent! Why on earth should she dye it?!"
"Great Ancestor, Princess Koyuki has black hair; it wouldn't be proper if we don't dye it," the director tried to reason with good intent.
Ryo pursed his lips. Seeing that Tsukika was also packed with reluctance, he issued another rejection: "Dyeing her hair is out of the question. Why don't you have Koyuki dye her hair red instead?!"
The director: "..."
"How about this," Ryo immediately opened a massive brain-hole, "you can just say that because Princess Koyuki experienced too many eruptions of her seven-colored chakra, her hair faded!"
The director's dual eyes went round: "Cool~!"
With an agreement reached on that front, Kakashi voiced his opposition next: "Let's film the sequence where we defeat the usurper, Doto Kazahana, first. If that segment doesn't go smoothly, there's no point in filming the preceding parts."
This reasoning was perfectly sound, but Ryo was dissatisfied yet again. With him present, how could it possibly not go smoothly?
However, Kakashi's suggestion was unanimously approved by everyone in the crew. Furthermore, except for the cameraperson, everyone else expressed that they could comfortably wait on the ship... The cameraperson nearly burst into tears.
"I am afraid that won't do," Kakashi shook his head and spoke up. "If we don't travel as a cohesive unit, in the event that this location is ambushed, I am afraid..."
"It's fine, the Great Ancestor will just add a special effect for them!" Ryo waved his hand with a smile.
Kakashi paused: "That's even better."
He truly didn't want to drag so many ordinary civilians into the conflict either... even with Ryo standing by.
Consequentially, when they set out on the road, only ten people remained: Team 7, Koyuki Kazahana, Sandayu, the director, the cameraperson, Ryo, and Tsukika.
The Land of Snow was a minor nation. While it wasn't so tiny as to mirror the 'one village, one nation' dynamic of the Land of That, it wasn't significantly larger either.
After Ryo applied a 'Lightness Jutsu special effect' to the ordinary civilians in the group, traveling from the border to the capital took a mere half-day.
The group bypassed the main highways, specifically selecting uninhabited paths to march. Aside from avoiding unnecessary trouble, it also allowed them to capture some scenic landscapes—specifically, the Land of Snow's widely renowned Icy Precipices.
Those were four towering, hundred-meter-tall smooth walls of solid ice forged by the sublime craftsmanship of nature. Under the sunlight, they appeared crystalline and translucent. It was rumored that when spring arrived, they would refract a brilliant, seven-colored glow... Unfortunately, the Land of Snow had never experienced a spring.
Stopping to shoot along the way, a half-day trek stretched into the better part of the day. Around three in the afternoon, the group of ten finally arrived at the capital of the Land of Snow.
"Cool~! Is this the King's Castle?!" A magnificent fortress loomed ahead, provoking another sharp exclamation from the eccentric director.
Ryo curled his lip—short-sighted...
Koyuki Kazahana's expression was incredibly complex. Having fled this land sixteen years ago, she had finally returned to this exact spot.
"Cool~! This is an authentic manifestation of raw emotion! Quick, capture it! Koyuki, deliver your lines, Great Ancestor prepare to add the special effect! Scene 43, roll camera!"
Talk about shattering the atmosphere...
Koyuki helplessly cast a glance back at the group. Drawing the prop longsword from her waist, she aimed it directly at the castle: "Uncle Doto! Back then, you murdered my father to usurp the throne of the Land of Snow and even pursued me. Was it all just to seize the Hexagon Crystal Necklace around my neck?!"
Suddenly, a gentle breeze swept through, causing the Hexagon Crystal Necklace to flutter and refract a mesmerizing, dazzling brilliance...
Koyuki paused, before speaking up once more: "The treasure of the Land of Snow is right here, and your niece is also right here. Come out, Uncle Doto!"
Amplified dozens of times over by Ryo's special effect, her voice reverberated across the entire fortress.
"Uncle! Come out! The youthful version of me chose to flee, but the current me will forge bravely ahead and absolutely never surrender!"
It was a movie, after all; it had to project positive energy, otherwise, it wouldn't clear the censorship boards...
A brief moment later, the grand antagonist Doto Kazahana arrived fashionably late, flanked by his two minor underlings, Nadare Roga and Mizore Fuyuma.
Right now, Doto Kazahana's expression was anything but pleasant, endlessly cursing the Akatsuki organization for being unreliable: "Kakashi Hatake, is your Konoha firmly resolved to interfere in the internal 'family matters' of our Land of Snow?!"
Kakashi's tone was entirely flat: "No, it's merely because you dispatched men to ambush my client. I have simply come to demand an explanation."
"That's right, you bastard! Why on earth did you send people to attack Sister Koyuki?!" Naruto spoke with righteous indignation, decisively beginning to steal the spotlight.
"Y—Yeah!" Sakura chimed in.
Sasuke maintained his cold, aloof countenance.
Doto Kazahana completely ignored them: "My dear niece, you might harbor a slight misunderstanding regarding your uncle..."
"This guy is quite a coward," Ryo chuckled softly. Suddenly, his expression froze, and he fiercely snapped his head around to gaze at the distant sky.
"This... Deidara? What the hell?"
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