"AHHHH!"
Koyuki screamed, the sound tearing from her throat.
When Makoto told her to hold on, her brain lagged behind reality. By the time she processed the command, the laws of physics had already been rewritten.
The debris on the deck—chairs, crates, and the director still tied to the mast like a sacrificial offering—shot upward into the sky.
Koyuki felt her feet leave the floorboards, panic seizing her chest as she lunged at Makoto, wrapping her arms and legs around him like a koala clinging to a tree in a hurricane.
Makoto held her steady with one arm, but internally, he was face-palming.
'Are these Snow Ninjas absolute fucking morons?'
Doto Kazahana wants the Hexagonal Crystal around Koyuki's neck.
It is the literal key to his entire ambition, the cornerstone of his plan.
So why in the name of the Sage would they summon a giant ice whale to smash the fucking ship?
If the ship shatters, Koyuki dies.
If she dies, she falls into the ocean.
The crystal sinks to the bottom of the frozen, pitch-black sea.
Good luck finding a tiny gemstone in an arctic abyss, you absolute geniuses.
Makoto activated C-Moon: Gravity Inversion.
Instead of letting the whale smash the ship and then painstakingly repairing it with Crazy Diamond, he chose the efficient option: simply remove the ship from the equation.
With a groan of twisting metal, the massive steel vessel lifted out of the water, defying nature as it soared into the sky.
It hung suspended among the clouds, creating a surreal, fairy-tale scene—if fairy tales involved heavily armed battleships and screaming ninjas.
Koyuki, still burying her face in Makoto's chest, slowly open one of her eyes.
She looked down past the railing.
The ocean was no longer a threat; it was a distant, textured sheet of blue.
Her jaw dropped.
She finally understood why Makoto called her uncle a "joke."
As a civilian, she didn't know the technical difference between Jonin and Kage.
But making an entire battleship fly? That was a visual impact even an idiot could understand.
That was god-tier bullshit!
Below them, stranded on the ice, Team 7 and the Snow Ninjas were also craning their necks, staring up in stunned silence.
The Snow Ninjas looked at each other, confused.
"Uh... boss? The target is currently in flying. Our snowboards don't go that high."
"Useless trash," a deep voice growled, vibrating with anger.
Doto Kazahana appeared on top of the highest iceberg, glaring down at his incompetent minions.
"Kill Kakashi and the others. I'll handle the girl personally."
He ripped off his heavy cloak with a dramatic flourish, revealing the sleek, black Chakra Armor underneath.
And yes, this advanced prototype came equipped with a jetpack.
This was his confidence!
He laughed maniacally, activated the flight mechanism, and rocketed toward the floating ship with a roar of thrusters.
WHOOSH.
Doto reached the stern of the ship, landing on the railing with a metallic clank.
"Huh? What the hell is this?"
The first thing he saw wasn't his niece.
It was a man in strange green spandex, hanging upside down from the railing, looking absolutely miserable.
"BLERGHHH!"
Might Guy, the "Green Beast of Konoha," was currently, violently emptying his stomach into the abyss below.
This was the backup Kakashi had called.
Kakashi figured Guy's taijutsu was the perfect hard counter to the Chakra Armor's absorption abilities.
He just forgot one tiny, crucial detail: Guy gets brutally seasick.
And apparently, being suspended in an anti-gravity field didn't help his stomach!
"An enemy?"
Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee, and Tenten—Team Guy's genin squad—noticed Doto's arrival.
They tried to engage, but it was a disaster.
Neji hadn't learned the Air Palm yet, so he couldn't hit a flying target.
Lee couldn't fly.
And Tenten? She tried to throw a barrage of kunai, but the reversed gravity field sent her weapons curving hilariously off into space, defying all her calculations.
Doto ignored the green vomit-machine and the useless kids. He walked to the front of the ship with heavy, confident steps.
There stood his niece, Koyuki, clinging to the handsome stranger.
...
Meanwhile, down on the ice...
"AAAAHH!"
A Snow Ninja suddenly screamed, clutching his chest.
Blood sprayed across the pristine white snow in a gruesome arc. His arm twisted unnaturally, then snapped off as if pulled by a ghost.
"Sasuke?" Kakashi asked, glancing at his student while dodging an ice senbon. "Did you do that?"
The ninja who just exploded was Sasuke's opponent.
"No," Sasuke said, eyes wide with confusion. "I didn't even touch him yet. He just... broke."
"Weird," Kakashi frowned.
But he didn't stop to question it.
He took advantage of the confusion to Raikiri another enemy.
...
Back on the ship.
Doto hovered in front of Koyuki with a fanatical, greedy expression.
"Come on, Koyuki! Give me the Hexagonal Crystal! Don't make me peel it off your corpse!"
"Doto..." Koyuki stared at him, then looked around at the floating ship, then back at her uncle.
"Aren't you... afraid?"
She was genuinely confused.
Her protector just lifted a cruise ship into the sky with a casual wave of his hand.
'And you're threatening me? Is this a normal ninja behavior?'
"Tch! Koyuki, flying is nothing!" Doto sneered disdainfully. "Can't you see I'm flying right now? It's just technology! It's a trick!"
Makoto sighed deeply.
'Okay. Now it makes sense.'
Doto thought flying was just a gimmick. He probably thought Onoki was just a floating old man with good wires.
If Pain showed up and leveled a city, Doto would probably critique the special effects.
The man was a frog in a well, completely ignorant of the vast ocean outside.
"Do you do Tsunade's daily exercises?" Makoto asked suddenly, breaking the tension.
"What?" Doto's evil smile froze.
His eye twitched behind his goggles.
What the hell is he talking about? Is he mocking me?
"If you don't do the cardio, you're not qualified to dance with me," Makoto said, looking bored.
"You're talking nonsense! Die!" Doto snapped.
He ignited his Chakra Armor's boosters, lunging forward to snatch Koyuki and dive off the ship in one motion.
However... Makoto merely sidestepped.
Doto overshot his target completely.
As the warlord flew past him, Makoto reached out and grabbed the mechanical wings attached to his back.
RIIIIIP.
With a sound like tearing wet paper, Makoto ripped the high-tech flight mechanism cleanly off the armor.
"WHA—?!"
Doto immediately plummeted.
Gravity reasserted its cruel hold, dragging him screaming from the sky to crash violently into the frozen wasteland below.
CRUNCH.
Unlike the Stone ninja Makoto had killed, Doto didn't die from the fall.
His advanced armor absorbed the kinetic impact, saving his life. He groaned, struggling to stand up in the crater of snow he had created.
"Damn it..." Doto spat blood, glaring up at the sky with pure hatred. "I'll kill them! I'll build a massive cannon and—"
"Lord Doto..." A surviving Snow Ninja stammered, pointing a shaking finger at his leader. "Your... your arm..."
"Huh?"
Doto looked down.
His right arm was gone.
Because of the adrenaline and the numbing cold, he hadn't even felt it happen.
"What... how is this possi—URGH!"
Before he could finish the sentence, he gagged. Blood poured from his mouth in a sudden torrent.
Then, right in front of everyone, his tongue snapped off at the root and flopped wetly onto the snow.
THUD.
Doto collapsed.
Dead.
It looked like he had been executed by an invisible swordsman who decided to dismantle him piece by piece.
...
(Somewhere in the Land of Earth, Hidan was cackling maniacally in a circle of blood, thanking Jashin for the offering.)
...
"Your leader is dead!" Kakashi shouted, seizing the moment. "Surrender or join him!"
The remaining Snow Ninjas looked at Doto's corpse, then at the floating ship, and dropped their weapons instantly.
They weren't paid enough for this shit.
...
Royal Capital of the Land of Snow.
The ship landed.
Koyuki, flanked by Kakashi and Sandayu, marched into the palace. She used the crystal necklace to activate the "Secret Treasure" her father had hidden.
It was a massive geothermal generator network.
Steam vents opened across the valley, hissing as they released heat stored deep within the earth. The ice began to melt.
Flowers bloomed in minutes.
The "Spring of the Land of Snow" had finally arrived.
The people cheered and Koyuki was crowned the new Daimyo amidst a shower of confetti.
She immediately handed all the boring government work to Sandayu tough.
"Here," she dumped a stack of papers on the loyal manager's chest. "You wanted the throne? You run the country. I have movies to make."
She read Makoto's proposal for the "Movie Nation" again.
She didn't understand all the economic jargon about trade unions and supply chains, but she understood the vision.
Following Makoto meant freedom!
The nearby Iwagakure, would send advisors to help build the infrastructure.
It was a perfect ending for her.
...
A Few Days Later.
The filming for The Lotus Lantern finally wrapped up.
Before leaving, the Director approached Kakashi with a thick, heavy envelope.
"Here you go, Hatake-san."
"What's this?" Kakashi asked, confused as he accepted it.
'Payment? That didn't make sense. Sandayu paid for the mission. The Director hired Makoto. Why was am i getting money?'
"Have you forgotten?" The Director winked conspiratorially. "Your first royalty payment. Didn't you ask Makoto-sama to handle the publishing for you?"
"It's... already published?" Kakashi was stunned.
He had been enjoying a relaxing hot spring vacation for the last two days.
He had completely forgotten about the "ghostwriting" deal he made on the boat.
"Of course! It's a hit! People are eating it up!" The Director beamed. "Here, I brought a copy of the published book for you."
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