Twenty days passed in the blink of an eye.
Inside the Snow Country base, Naruto—currently transformed into the appearance of his mother, Kushina Uzumaki—was teaching a class of children in a large classroom. There was no blackboard on the podium, only a massive display screen. Each student sat before a standardized electronic terminal instead of books.
Suddenly, a red-haired girl seated by the window in the front row turned her head to look outside. She shot up from her seat, pushed her glasses up her nose, and exclaimed excitedly:
"Her Majesty is back at the base!"
The other students immediately turned to look out the window as well.
Smack!
A ruler about two fingers wide struck the girl's shoulder sharply.
"Ow!"
She quickly clutched her shoulder and sat back down. The rest of the students shrank their necks and immediately refocused on their screens.
"Very proficient use of sensory abilities,"
"Kushina" said with a gentle smile as she leaned down to look at the girl.
"Next month, the Firefly is heading to another continent. Gen'yoshi keeps asking me to assign him an assistant. Karin, I think you're perfect for the role."
"No, please!"
The girl's face instantly turned pale. She forced a pitiful expression and said hurriedly:
"Aunt Kushina, I know I was wrong! Look—today's DNA sequence map has already been completely analyzed by me!"
Smack!
Before she could finish, the ruler struck her hand again.
"Tss—"
This time, she didn't dare cry out.
"You've only finished analyzing the DNA sequence. Look at Sachiko next to you—she's already capable of independently performing certain cloning experiments."
"Kushina" fixed Karin with a stern gaze.
"She's only been here for half a month. Even her teacher was trained by me."
Karin's face flushed red, and she lowered her head. Beside her, Sachiko smiled faintly and quietly held Karin's hand, gently rubbing it.
"Kushina" nodded slightly and returned to the podium.
"S-Sachiko, I—"
"Shh, be careful. Aunt Kushina will hit you again."
"I'll tell you a top-secret—Snow Country is about to see spring."
"Spring? I heard Snow Country doesn't have spring."
"You'll see. I overheard Her Majesty while filming a movie—Snow Country is about to be renamed Spring Country."
"…"
Meanwhile, in a grand hall elsewhere in the base, Yukie Fujikaze sat alone on a plush sofa, gazing absently at a crystal pendant no longer than a finger.
After a while, the doors opened.
Keiichirō, dressed in a white lab coat, entered with two attendants.
"Your Majesty, Mr. Keiichirō has arrived."
"Keiichirō?"
Yukie looked up in surprise.
"That lord, he—"
"He has read your invitation," Keiichirō said with a respectful bow.
"He instructed me to inform you that he will not visit the Rainbow Ice Wall. He also has no interest in your proposal to form an alliance with the Land of Waves and the Land of Hot Water."
"However, he has approved all the scientific ninja tool development projects you applied for."
"As for your plan—together with Mr. Gatō—to establish a ninja village for the alliance, he declined."
"…But didn't he previously approve the establishment of a ninja academy?" Yukie asked in confusion.
"I'm afraid I cannot answer that," Keiichirō replied, bowing again.
"If you have no further questions, I can escort you to the Rainbow Ice Wall now."
About ten minutes later, a massive seven-colored rainbow appeared out of thin air above the entirety of Snow Country.
Somewhere atop a glacier, Sasuke Uchiha, who had just achieved a breakthrough in training, suddenly opened his Sharingan.
Steam rose unnaturally around him. The temperature steadily climbed. The ice blanketing the land rapidly melted away, replaced by grasslands bursting with flowers.
Elsewhere, on the rooftop of the base, Naruto watched the snow vanish.
Suddenly, he formed the Reverse Boar Seal.
A tall spectral projection appeared before him.
"Senior Hiashi, why are you contacting me now?"
"All Hyūga clan members stationed on patrol duty in the village were just replaced by ANBU under the Hokage's authority."
"There's no need to be alarmed," Naruto replied calmly.
"Those ANBU aren't the Third Hokage's people. Someone's afraid your clan might interfere, so they rotated their own people in ahead of schedule."
Hiashi fell silent. He immediately understood whose forces those were and felt a chill in his heart.
After a moment, he spoke again.
"I heard Jiraiya has returned to Konoha."
"Your information is slightly outdated," Naruto said evenly.
"But there's no need to worry. Jiraiya is on my side."
"What?!"
Hiashi could hardly believe his ears.
If Naruto wasn't lying, that meant two of the Legendary Sannin had effectively turned against the Third Hokage.
Before Hiashi could respond, Sasuke's projection appeared beside him.
"…?"
Sasuke glanced at Hiashi, then turned to Naruto.
"I need some Earth Release techniques."
"You've developed Earth-nature chakra?"
Naruto glanced at the rainbow overhead and nodded.
"Must be the weather."
"What do you mean?" Sasuke frowned.
Naruto simply smiled.
"I just think the weather's nice."
He produced a shadow clone and handed it a scroll.
Sasuke immediately cut the connection. When he opened his eyes again, Naruto was already standing beside him, scroll in hand.
"What's going on with Snow Country?" Sasuke demanded.
"From now on," Naruto replied,
"this place is called the Land of Spring."
Mirror World
Metal rang violently across the vast battlefield.
Naruto's shadow clones clashed fiercely with Shisui Uchiha, who was using Body Flicker to its fullest. Naruto's true body hovered high above, standing atop a hexagonal snowflake barely a meter wide.
Behind him, Kurama leaned casually against a jagged mountain, half-lidded eyes relaxed.
After a few breaths, Naruto turned.
"Kurama, you can step in now."
Kurama's eyes snapped open. In an instant, he condensed a massive black Tailed Beast Ball, larger than his own head.
"Isn't that overkill?" Naruto laughed.
"If you end it too fast, how are we supposed to test cooperative combat?"
"Relax," Kurama grinned.
"This is the only way to force out his Complete Susanoo."
With a swing of his claw, the black sphere shot forward.
BOOM—!
The earth trembled violently. From the explosion rose a towering green Complete Susanoo, wielding a massive spiral sword.
Naruto shattered the snowflake beneath his feet and descended, transforming mid-air into a giant of equal scale, blue wings unfurling behind him.
Kurama's eyes gleamed.
He stood upright like a human and extended a fist.
"Fist."
BAM!
Naruto slammed his fist into Kurama's. Golden flames erupted.
Kurama vanished—and a thick golden chakra cloak enveloped Naruto, nearly identical to his earlier post-seal-release form, now with wings.
"So this is how Ashura borrowed your chakra?" Naruto muttered.
"Feels similar to when you're inside me."
"It's different," Kurama replied.
"Not mutual assistance—this is true joint combat."
"Then let's test it."
Naruto seized a fallen mountain fragment and hurled it like a projectile.
Shisui's Susanoo dodged—but Naruto instantly appeared above it, bringing down a blazing golden greatsword.
CRASH!
The Susanoo was smashed into the ground.
Naruto followed up, pinning it down.
"It withstood a full Boil Release–enhanced strike?" Naruto said in surprise.
"It's still weaker than Madara's," Kurama replied.
At that moment—
"Kotoamatsukami: Radiance!"
"It won't work this time!"
Kurama's voice echoed from Naruto's mouth as fists rained down.
The Susanoo shattered within seconds.
"HAHAHA! That was satisfying!"
Kushina appeared at the edge of the battlefield, stunned.
"Kurama, the fight's over—and that genjutsu hurt."
"I broke you out immediately!" Kurama laughed.
Light flared, and Kurama reappeared beside Naruto.
System notifications flooded in.
Naruto sighed, shrinking back to normal size, and flew to Kushina.
"Mom, what's wrong?"
"A few minutes ago," Kushina said gravely,
"Orochimaru and his subordinates assassinated the Fourth Kazekage."
Naruto immediately opened a projection.
"…As expected."
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