The leading Snow ninja's voice trembled. "How... how can you use ninjutsu without forming hand seals?"
"As long as you can make ice appear, it doesn't matter whether you form seals or not."
The leading Snow ninja gritted his teeth and began forming seals again. The armor on his body emitted a faint glow.
"Ice Release: Ice Bullet Barrage!"
The surrounding snow and ice began to spin, quickly condensing into dozens of sharp icicles that rained down on Shin-chan.
Shin-chan clapped his hands together.
"Ice Release: Great Umbrella Technique!"
A massive ice umbrella opened above his head. The icicles crashed against its surface and shattered into glittering ice crystals that filled the air.
"How was that?" Shin-chan's eyes shone slightly. "Wasn't it amazing?"
Another Snow ninja could no longer hold back and rapidly formed seals.
"Ice Release: Wolf Fang Avalanche!"
The snow on the ground began to tremble. Two giant wolves formed from ice and snow pounced from the left and right.
Shin-chan let out a "Wow!" as the chakra inside him surged wildly.
A huge whirlpool of water swept the two ice wolves inside. Before they could struggle free, Shin-chan added:
"Freeze!"
The water vortex instantly turned to ice, trapping both giant wolves inside a massive block, unable to move.
The Snow ninja looked at Shin-chan as though they were staring at a monster.
"Again, again!" Shin-chan had become addicted to playing around. He clapped his hands. "Ice Release: Ice Chocolate Stick Technique!"
An ice pillar shaped exactly like a chocolate stick actually formed.
He even leaned over and took a bite, then frowned and spat it out.
"Doesn't taste good. There's no chocolate flavor."
The blizzard was still howling, but the atmosphere on the battlefield had completely changed.
The expressions of the three Snow ninja had gone from initial contempt to shock, then disbelief, and now to completely questioning their lives.
Because the Konoha brat in front of them showed no intention of stopping his experiments.
"Ice Release: Ice Elephant Technique!"
Shin-chan clapped his hands, and a massive ice elephant appeared beneath his feet.
As the elephant stepped forward, its front-left leg suddenly snapped. The entire elephant crashed into the snow with a thunderous boom.
"Ah, it failed." Shin-chan crawled out of the shattered ice and brushed the snow off his body. "Four legs really are harder. It would be better to make an ice snake. Snakes don't have legs."
The leading Snow ninja's mouth twitched.
An ice snake? Easier because it had no legs?
What kind of logic was that?
"Ice Release: Ice Snake Technique!"
A transparent ice snake rose upright from the snow.
"It worked." Shin-chan's eyes lit up. "Look, doesn't it resemble one?"
No one answered.
The muscles on the leading Snow ninja's face twitched twice. The feeling of being treated like a test subject was even more unbearable than being defeated head-on.
"That Konoha brat..." The Snow ninja on the right gritted his teeth. "Just how much chakra does he have? He's already used so many techniques, yet he isn't even breathing hard."
"Forget using them without hand seals. He's even making up the technique names on the spot," another Snow ninja said, his voice trembling as well. "Ice Elephant Technique? Ice Snake Technique? Those ninjutsu don't even exist!"
Shin-chan overheard their conversation.
"There's also the Ice Bouncy Ball Technique."
An ice ball larger than a person fell from the sky, smashed into the ground between the three Snow ninja, and bounced back into the air.
The Snow ninja instinctively looked up at the ice ball.
"Now!" Shin-chan clapped his hands. "Ice Release: Ice Prison Technique!"
The snow on the ground suddenly surged. Several ice pillars rose from every direction and met above the three Snow ninja, instantly freezing together into a complete cage.
"Wh-what technique is this now...?" The leading Snow ninja was already growing numb. The armor on his body lit up with a faint glow, repelling some of the ice fragments.
Standing outside, Kakashi noticed something interesting.
Whenever Shin-chan released a technique, the Snow ninja's armor automatically glowed and formed a transparent defensive barrier.
When the Snow ninja used ninjutsu, the armor also lit up. It was likely strengthening their techniques or amplifying their chakra.
Shin-chan's ninjutsu experiments continued.
"Ice Release: Ice Slide Technique!"
A smooth ice slide appeared on the ground. Shin-chan went over and tested it himself.
"Ooh, very smooth. It just makes my butt a little cold."
"Ice Release: Ice Toilet Technique!"
An extremely realistic ice toilet appeared on the battlefield.
Shin-chan walked around it once.
"Mm, the shape is right, but it can't be used. Using it would also freeze your butt."
The Snow ninja watched everything from inside the ice prison, their expressions completely out of control.
They had seen madmen on the battlefield before, but never anyone this insane.
Conducting ninjutsu experiments in the middle of battle. Putting on a ridiculous performance on the battlefield...
The saddest part was that they could do absolutely nothing about this brat.
"Enough!" The armor on one Snow ninja's body erupted with dazzling light. "It's only an ice prison!"
He formed seals with both hands. His chakra surged instantly, and the light from his armor condensed into a white shockwave that blasted toward the ice prison.
The ice prison did not move at all.
He blasted it again.
Still, it remained completely unmoved.
"H-how is this possible?" The Snow ninja widened his eyes. "Ordinary ice can't possibly be this hard."
The second Snow ninja drew the sword from his back and slashed down at an ice pillar.
The blade struck the ice with a piercing clang, leaving only a shallow mark on the pillar.
"Impossible." He looked at the sword in his hand, then at the scratch. "This ice... its hardness is comparable to steel."
The three Snow ninja exchanged glances.
Their chakra armor could defend against ninjutsu and enhance their taijutsu, yet it was completely helpless against an ice prison this brat had casually created.
Kakashi stood nearby, his gaze never leaving the Snow ninja's armor.
"Shin-chan, seal them first."
"Seal them, right? No problem. Leave it to me."
Shin-chan walked up to the ice prison. Black sealing formulas passed through the prison and spread toward the three Snow ninja.
"This is..." The leading Snow ninja tried to resist, but the sealing formula had already wrapped around his arm. The glow from his armor rapidly dimmed under the pressure of the seal.
The three Snow ninja lost control of their bodies at the same time and collapsed to the ground.
"Sealing complete." Shin-chan clapped his hands and released the Ice Prison Technique.
Kakashi removed the armor from one of the Snow ninja and experimentally injected a trace of chakra into it.
The armor reacted instantly, forming a translucent defensive barrier across its surface.
"This armor..."
Kakashi put it on and increased the amount of chakra he supplied.
The chakra absorbed by the armor was not directly consumed. One portion maintained the defensive barrier, while the other traveled through some sort of circuit and began amplifying the remaining chakra inside his body.
The sensation was subtle.
Kakashi removed the armor and remained silent for several seconds.
"If this thing were mass-produced throughout the ninja world..."
He did not finish the sentence.
An ordinary ninja had to balance three things at once on the battlefield: offense, defense, and mobility.
But this armor shattered that balance.
And if the Land of Snow could manufacture equipment like this, then its technology was far more advanced than he had imagined.