"It really does make you envy Konoha's ninja. It's just a normal escort mission, and yet it still got rated A-rank. I honestly wonder how much they'll be paid once it's done."
In an open field outside Kusagakure, a burly boy watched the scene on the light screen, unable to hide the yearning in his face for Konoha—along with his desire for the mission's reward money.
Beside him, another, heavier-set boy immediately chimed in.
The two of them went back and forth, their eyes brimming with greed and hunger for profit, utterly lacking the innocence boys their age ought to have had.
Behind them stood a girl in plain clothes washed so many times they had faded pale. Her arms were marked with bite wounds of varying depths, and her gaze, too, was fixed on the light screen.
But her attention was not on the mission rank or the payment.
Instead, it was on Naruto, her eyes filled with expectation and uncertainty.
"You... you really are one of my clansmen, aren't you, Naruto-kun...?"
[On the screen, once Kakashi finished his final warning, his lecture to his students came to a temporary end.
At the same time, the film crew's preparations were complete, and shooting officially began.
Watching a film set up close for the first time, Naruto and Sakura stared wide-eyed at Kazahana Koyuki. It did not take long for them to be completely awed by her superb acting, and both of them wore expressions of unreserved amazement.
And busy, fulfilling time always passed quickly.
Though there were a few humorous little mishaps during filming, the first round of shooting still wrapped up smoothly soon enough.
Before anyone realized it, dawn of the second day had arrived.
But just as the sky was beginning to brighten, the production manager rushed into the ship's cabin in a panic, bringing bad news with him.
The director and the others hurried to the ship's rail. Looking out, they saw a massive iceberg looming across the sea like a great wall of ice, blocking the route of the large vessel the crew had rented.
"This is..."
"I'd only just gotten up this morning when one of the lookout staff started shouting that something was wrong. I ran over, and by the time I looked, our path was already blocked by this iceberg!"
Faced with the director's question, the production manager quickly explained, "The ship can't move forward now, and it'll be hard to go around it too. What are we supposed to do next?"
"Go around it?"
"No! That's not what we should be thinking about right now. Go call the writers at once. We need to revise the script on the spot!"
Barely able to contain his excitement, the director looked at the production manager—who was still baffled and worrying about the route—and explained:
"Idiot, stop thinking about detours and take a proper look. Do you realize how rare an exterior location like this giant iceberg is? How can we let something like this slip past our cameras?"
"This is absolutely a gift bestowed on us by the god of cinema himself! Hurry up and pass the word along—everyone get ready immediately. We're going onto that iceberg and filming this perfect scenery into the movie!"
At the director's command, the entire crew sprang back into action.
The stagehands carried equipment off the ship, the props team carefully checked the set pieces they meant to bring up onto the iceberg, and the cameramen repeatedly adjusted their gear. Everyone moved in a hurry, but with practiced order.
Before long, the script supervisor went down the list notifying people one by one. The crew was quickly ready, and the second round of shooting began. Once again, the camera turned toward Kazahana Koyuki, who was already in costume and waiting on standby.
Boom! Rumble—!
But just as Kazahana Koyuki was fully immersed in her performance, a deafening explosion suddenly erupted somewhere not far off on the iceberg.
The sheer force of the blast made the iceberg tremble, and the crew members were all startled by the sudden commotion. One after another, they stopped what they were doing and looked on in fear.
At the same time, Kakashi instantly flashed to Kazahana Koyuki's side, shielding her firmly behind him, then shouted to the panicking crew:
"Everyone, fall back!! Get away from the iceberg area, now!"
Even as he shouted, a powerful gust of wind suddenly blew away the smoke at the site of the explosion.
And from the place where the haze cleared, a figure emerged—someone clad in strange armor, with a bizarre and unnatural overall appearance.
"Welcome to the Land of Snow."
"You are..."
The moment he looked over, Kakashi's pupils contracted sharply. Even though Nadare Rōga now carried an inhuman, sinister air after absorbing the divine power bestowed by the Phantom Demon Emperor, Kakashi still recognized him at a glance.
But before he could finish speaking, another figure suddenly appeared atop a thick pillar of ice in the distance—a woman in similarly strange armor, her appearance both bizarre and coldly elegant.
"We have come specifically to welcome you, Princess Koyuki."
"Oh, and I trust you haven't forgotten to bring the Hexagonal Crystal along as well?"
"Princess Koyuki?!"
Hearing that title, Kakashi's heart jolted. For a moment he forgot all about the enemies in front of him—Nadare Rōga and Fubuki Kakuyoku—and whipped around in shock to stare at Kazahana Koyuki behind him, the woman who had always insisted on calling herself Yukie.
But less than a second after turning, he caught a strange fluctuation of chakra. Instantly he spun back around, his gaze locking onto the snow not far away.
Sure enough, another figure soon burst out from beneath the snow.
"As expected of Hatake Kakashi. I really didn't think you'd detect my presence so quickly."
"Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura—the mission of protecting Miss Yukie is in your hands now!"
Although he still had not fully grasped the situation, Kakashi no longer had the luxury of dwelling on his shock or confusion. He barked the order to his three students at once.
Then he turned toward the panicked film crew behind him and shouted again, louder this time:
"Everyone, back to the ship immediately! Move!"
The moment the words left his mouth, Kakashi wasted no more time. With a single step, he charged straight at the three Snow ninja, his eyes fixed on the strongest among them—Nadare Rōga.
"Fubuki, Fuyumaguma—the princess is yours."
Watching Kakashi rush directly at him, Nadare Rōga gave the order to his companions without even turning his head, then lunged forward himself.
In the blink of an eye, the two figures collided on the snowy ground, the dull impact of fists and kicks echoing across the empty snow peaks.
"Long time no see, Kakashi. Speaking of which, you're not planning to run this time, are you? I've been looking forward to a proper fight with you for a very long time."
"What exactly happened to you, Nadare Rōga?"
Even as they exchanged those brief words, their figures were already flashing back and forth across the snowy ridges. The pace of their hand-to-hand combat kept accelerating, and after only a few rounds, the snow peak itself had already begun to break apart under the force of their clash.
Elsewhere, the two Snow Hidden jōnin—Doto Fuyumaguma and Fubuki Kakuyoku—had already slipped around the panicked crowd and were charging straight toward Kazahana Koyuki.]
In the real world, as the true battle on the light screen finally began, people all across the ninja world broke into heated discussion.
—"Wait, hold on—I just realized something. Isn't Ice Release supposed to be the kekkei genkai exclusive to the Yuki Clan? Then why are these Snow ninja from the Land of Snow using it too? There has to be some secret behind that!"
—"Maybe some branch of the Yuki bloodline fled to the Land of Snow back in the day to escape disaster and eventually took root there. After all, the Hidden Mist once had that brutal policy of exterminating bloodline clans. In times like that, having part of the clan leave Kirigakure and preserve the bloodline elsewhere wouldn't just protect the family's roots—it would ensure the lineage survived. Honestly, that would've been the smart move."
—"I see. Put like that, it does make sense. Still, compared to that, those two young Konoha genin really are strong. Going up against jōnin from the Land of Snow, and they can still hold their own without falling behind."
—"Hmph! Don't even get me started—I get angry every time this comes up! Damn Konoha, this light screen has to be your doing. Just like Lord Raikage said, you're willing to stoop to anything to expand your share of mission commissions. It's disgusting!"
After all, the total number of commission missions available across the ninja world each year was limited. If Konoha took a larger share, then naturally the other villages would receive less.
And mission income was vital to a hidden village. From the smallest matters—such as daily training resources and medical support for ninja—to the biggest, like village defense and diplomatic expenditures, everything depended on mission payments to keep running.
If a village remained in a state of chronic mission shortage and dwindling income for too long, it could easily fall into stagnation. Talent would leave, strength would decline, and the entire village might wither away. That was no exaggeration.
Because of that, many ninja from other villages could not help burning with anger as they watched the light screen's scenes unfold, and one furious condemnation after another flooded the comments.
...
At the same time—
Inside Kirigakure, in the Mizukage's office.
Seeing the Snow ninja on the light screen using Ice Release, Elder Genji—who had taken temporary charge of village affairs after the death of the Fourth Mizukage—allowed a rare spark of excitement to pass across his usually steady face.
As one of the most respected elders of Kirigakure, a man whose authority equaled that of the Mizukage himself, Genji had never once stopped pursuing greater strength for the village.
The obsession of his entire life was to nurture Kirigakure into the foremost hidden village in all the ninja world.
That very ambition was what had sustained him into old age, and what had compelled him to shoulder the burden of Kirigakure's broken state even while the entire village was caught in turmoil.
His purpose in doing so was simple:
to restore Kirigakure to its former glory and make it great once more.
Unfortunately, the previous Mizukage had been manipulated under another's genjutsu, leaving the village ravaged and scarred beyond repair.
No matter how tirelessly Genji worked, no matter how diligently he governed or how boldly he pushed reform, he still could not reverse the slow decline Kirigakure had fallen into.
And it was precisely under such circumstances that—
the light screen suddenly revealed what seemed very likely to be a surviving branch of the once-exterminated Yuki Clan.
Of course Genji would be tempted.
In his eyes, if Kirigakure could bring this separated Yuki bloodline back home, then after ten or so years of careful nurturing and recovery, it might not be impossible to reverse the village's current decline.
The moment that thought settled in his mind, Genji could hold back no longer. He immediately summoned the finest jōnin the village had.
"Terumī Mei, I need you to lead a team to the Land of Snow and negotiate with the head of this Yuki branch on Kirigakure's behalf. You must do your best to bring them back to the village."
As he spoke, he suddenly recalled the earlier scenes on the light screen and, worried about the risks his team might encounter, quickly added:
"One more thing. If, along the way, you come across anything connected to that statue shown on the light screen, remember not to overextend yourselves."
"The main objective of this mission is to recover the Yuki bloodline for the village and preserve this legacy from our past. You must not let other matters distract you and cause you to lose sight of what truly matters."
"Understood, Elder Genji. Leave it to me."
Mei answered in a steady voice, then turned and left the Mizukage's office. Outside the door, two people had clearly already been waiting for some time.
"Ao, Chōjūrō—pack your things. We're setting out on a mission."
...
[Seeing Naruto and Sasuke locked in a hard-fought stalemate with the enemy, Sakura—who had remained by Kazahana Koyuki's side the whole time—finally began to act as well. She decided to escort her charge back toward the ship first and get her away from the immediate danger.
But unexpectedly, Sasuke's earlier Great Fireball Technique seemed to trigger a memory filled with terror deep inside Kazahana Koyuki.
So even though Sakura kept urging her from the side, Koyuki remained standing frozen in place, utterly unresponsive.]
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 119)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter79)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter125)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 73
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 55
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 66
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 63
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 55
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 31
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 31
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 31
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