Chapter 43: Do You Make an Outline Every Day?
"Ah!"
When Kazahana Koyuki heard Shiromo tell her to hold on, she froze for a moment. By the time she reacted, she was already about to float up into the sky along with the miscellaneous items on the deck. Panicking, she lunged toward Shiromo and clung tightly to him.
Ice Release: One-Horned White Whale missed its target.
But Shiromo really wanted to ask, were these Snow Ninja pigs?
Wasn't what Kazahana Doto wanted the hexagonal crystal on Kazahana Koyuki's body?
It's fine if people die, but what if the crystal shattered and sank into the sea?
Shiromo activated 'New Moon', reversing gravity.
Rather than letting the ship be smashed apart and then repairing it with 'Crazy Diamond', Shiromo chose to protect the ship outright.
The ship, now flying upward under reversed gravity, looked dreamlike, like something straight out of a fairy tale.
Still holding onto Shiromo, Kazahana Koyuki slowly opened her eyes once gravity stabilized. When she looked at the scene below, she was completely stunned.
She finally understood why Shiromo had been so dismissive of Kazahana Doto.
As an ordinary person, Kazahana Koyuki didn't know how ninja strength was classified, but the sheer visual impact spoke for itself.
Below, Kakashi's team and the Snow Ninja were also dumbfounded by the sight.
The Snow Ninja's goal was to capture Kazahana Koyuki. Now that she was flying so high up, how were they supposed to get to her?
"Kill Kakashi and the others. I'll take care of the rest personally."
Kazahana Doto appeared atop an iceberg. After giving orders to the Snow Ninja, he tore off his outer clothing, revealing the latest version of his chakra armor.
Yes, this one came with built-in flight.
That was his confidence.
Activating the flight function, Kazahana Doto flew toward the ship in the sky.
"Hm? What's this?"
When Kazahana Doto reached the stern of the ship, he saw a man wearing a strange green bodysuit, hanging upside down there, looking utterly miserable and vomiting nonstop.
This was the reinforcement Kakashi had called in, Might Guy.
Kakashi had remembered that Guy's taijutsu countered the Snow Ninja, but he had forgotten one thing.
Guy got seasick.
"An enemy?"
The three genin of Guy's team noticed Kazahana Doto's appearance.
Hyuga Neji hadn't yet learned the Eight Trigrams Air Palm. Lee had no long-range attack methods at all.
Tenten tried to throw ninja tools from her scrolls, but because of the reversed gravity, they flew completely off course.
Seeing these four Konoha ninja in such a sorry state, Kazahana Doto didn't linger. He flew toward the front of the ship and finally saw his niece, Kazahana Koyuki.
At that moment, down below, screams suddenly erupted among the Snow Ninja.
One Snow Ninja suddenly sprayed a massive amount of blood, staining the snow red.
"Kakashi, did you do that?"
Sasuke looked at Kakashi in shock.
The Snow Ninja who had died so suddenly was the one Sasuke had been fighting.
"No… it wasn't me."
Kakashi was just as confused, but his attacks didn't stop.
He began rapidly cutting down the remaining Snow Ninja.
On the ship.
Kazahana Doto flew in front of Kazahana Koyuki, who was still holding onto Shiromo. His expression was crazed as he reached out his hand.
"Come, Koyuki. Give me the hexagonal crystal!"
"Doto, aren't you afraid when you see this ship?"
This time, Kazahana Koyuki was the one who was confused.
The power to lift an entire ship into the air, did that really not count for anything in the ninja world?
Clearly everyone else was shocked.
"Tch. Koyuki, what's flying, anyway? Don't you see that your uncle is flying too?"
Kazahana Doto sneered.
Alright.
Now it was clear why Kazahana Doto thought he could conquer the Five Great Nations just by developing chakra armor.
In his eyes, the Ōnoki next door was probably just some weakling who could fly.
If Pain went to his house carrying rice, he'd probably think it was a street performance.
"Do you have a daily outline?"
Shiromo suddenly asked.
"What?"
Kazahana Doto's smile vanished. The corner of his eye twitched.
Has this guy been scared stupid? What kind of nonsense was he saying?
"Then I don't need to act."
"You're not even qualified to act!"
Kazahana Doto rushed toward Shiromo, intending to snatch Kazahana Koyuki from him and then glide away.
However…
Shiromo merely sidestepped.
Kazahana Doto flew straight past him.
At the same time, Shiromo casually tore off the wings on his back.
Kazahana Doto plummeted straight down.
He didn't end up like that Iwagakure ninja from before, dying from the fall.
After crashing into the snow, he struggled a bit and still managed to stand up.
"Damn it…"
Kazahana Doto glared hatefully at the ship in the sky.
"Doto-sama, your…"
One of the surviving Snow Ninja pointed at Kazahana Doto's arm, trembling as he spoke.
"Hm?"
Kazahana Doto looked over, only to see that his arm had been cleanly severed.
Because of the extreme cold, and because he had just smashed heavily into the ground, he hadn't felt any pain at all.
"What… how is that possible… urgh."
Before Kazahana Doto could say anything else, his tongue suddenly broke off and fell out for no apparent reason.
Right before everyone's eyes, Kazahana Doto died miserably, as if he had been executed by an invisible executioner.
"Your leader is already dead! Are you still going to resist stubbornly?!"
Once Kakashi snapped out of it, he immediately began persuading the Snow Ninja to surrender. One by one, they gave up resisting.
Kakashi looked up at the sky. The ship began to move, flying toward the royal city of the Land of Snow.
Kakashi and the others also set off.
---
Royal City (Capital) of the Land of Snow.
Kazahana Koyuki used the hexagonal crystal to open the "secret treasure" Kazahana Doto had fantasized about, the geothermal generator, and witnessed spring arrive in the Land of Snow.
Afterward, amid the cheers of the Land of Snow's citizens, Kazahana Koyuki ascended to the position of Daimyō of the Land of Snow.
She then dumped all governmental affairs onto Sandayu and those people who had long hoped she would return to overthrow Doto's regime.
Kazahana Koyuki reviewed the plan Shiromo had given to the Land of Earth. While it couldn't be copied whole and there were many parts she didn't fully understand, she liked quite a few of the measures in it.
Only by doing things in Shiromo's way could she truly be free and continue pursuing the acting career she loved.
As for the development of the Land of Snow?
Just as Shiromo had said, Sandayu and the others lacked vision and ability, but they were loyal.
They couldn't learn ninjutsu, but as long as someone taught them how to handle affairs, they could learn.
The nearby Iwagakure, as a member of the "Economic Mutual Alliance," would send people to teach them how to develop according to Shiromo's plan and build a nation of cinema.
They stayed for a few more days and completed the final filming of 'The Lotus Lantern'.
"Kakashi, here."
The director held out an envelope and handed it to Kakashi.
"What's this?"
Kakashi took it, puzzled.
Payment? That didn't seem right. Sandayu had hired him. The director had clearly hired Shiromo.
"Did you forget? This is your first royalty payment. Didn't you ask Shiromo-san to tell me to publish your work?"
"It's already been published?"
Kakashi was stunned.
These past two days, he'd been enjoying a carefree vacation at the hot springs in the Land of Snow and had completely forgotten about it.
"Here, I brought the published book too."
The director pulled a book out of the bag behind him and handed it to Kakashi.
(End of this chapter)