INHERITANCE, a Naruto fanfiction

AU. Naruto's reality is tipped on its head when the mission to Nami no Kuni goes awry. With a set of fresh, untempered skills and a thousand scattered glimpses into tragedies past, is it any wonder he's struggling to remember how to live? (And if he never does... Well, who needed hope anyway?)


"UNITY": INHERITANCE ARC #2 | CHAPTER 5: FALLING SNOW


Hello! First up I'd like to say a MASSIVE thank you to all 1,200+ of you! It's really touching to know so many people are enjoying what I write. To treat you, here's the fight scene mayhem you've all been waiting for! It was originally an absolute beast at around 19k words, but I've split it in two, smaller chapters and added a little bit more to this one. The second chapter is pretty much finished, so that'll follow soon. Enjoy!


Knocked unconscious by the Yuki-nin's attack, Naruto experienced a memory from Kushina's perspective.

Kushina cleaved her way through the battlefield, blood soaking the beaches of Kiri's shores and dying them red. Kiri-nin were everywhere, but the Konoha forces she led were strong, skilled, and she was Uzumaki. She swept her katana to the right in a clean arc, cleanly decapitating two kunoichi who attempted to strike her side in showers of blood. It spattered across her white ANBU mask - Ushioni, the ox-headed demon. The redhead called forth one of her Kongō Fūsa (Adamantine Sealing Chains) and impaled a further two shinobi with it, batting another aside with the blunt length of the chain. But before she could throw herself further into the battle, further to the bloodlust and the gore, she felt it.

A prickling in the air, the feel of coming frost, her breath turning foggy as it escaped her lungs. The sight of a man, landing on the water of the coast, even as it froze at his feet. The feel, the oppressive, menacing chakra choking her. Around her, shinobi of both Konoha and Kiri fell to their knees, some even passing out or, in the case of those already close to death, passing on.

Kushina didn't. Kushina raised her eyes to his, and stared with the greatest hatred at Yuki Uyeda. The Sandaime Mizukage was a dark-grey haired man in his mid-60s, with prominent creases and frown lines around his mouth and squinted black eyes. Small, light-blue beads were weaved through his hair, evenly placed as if they were a stylised crown. The man was clad in his Kage robe and hat, but even as she watched he clutched his robes with his normal hand, ripping them off to reveal long, black trousers and a long-sleeved blue shirt. He wore armour over it, in the plate-style associated with the Warring Clans Era.

Uyeda pointed at her, then, with his other hand – his right, crafted of ice. "Uzumaki. Some call you a demoness on the field of battle. My men certainly fear you. But I see, now. You're just as weak as the rest of your clan."

"Heh." 'Don't react. It's what he wants.' "You act as if you defeated my grandfather, Uzumaki Tsutomu, by yourself. But we both know you needed a… hand with that," Kushina said, grinning menacingly.

It was bravado. Of course it was. But she did it anyway. Bravado was often the way battles between powerful shinobi began - with a verbal shit-slinging match.

And this was the man. This was the man who killed Tsutomu-jiji. The man who led the assault on Uzushio, alongside the Nidaime Raikage. The man who incited the rebellion amongst the scattered members of the Hōzuki Clan who served as Uzushiogakure shinobi. The man who had the barrier dropped, so that he could destroy her family, friends, and village.

The man who sacked Uzu no Kuni {Land of Whirlpools} and its hidden village, Uzushiogakure.

The man who orchestrated the slaughter of thousands.

And Kushina would see him brought to justice.

She took a great degree of satisfaction from the glare he sent her way, but the best was the ice covering the stump where his right hand once sat. Tsutomu-jiji, the last leader of Uzushiogakure, Uzu no Kuni, and the Uzumaki Clan, had reportedly severed the Sandaime's hand and the Raikage's head in a single stroke, as told by survivors from the conflict. The man had been killed by Uyeda shortly afterwards, but by then the damage was done.

Uyeda's resounding scoff was a splash of water to the face that ended Kushina's introspection. "Words are the weapons of the weak. Come. We will see if you are as strong as your grandfather." The Mizukage made handsigns rapidly, water flowing out of the ocean as he proclaimed his jutsu, voice ringing with power. "Hyōton: Makyō Hyōshō (Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals)!"

Mirrors formed, encasing the two shinobi in a large dome, but Kushina wasn't one to fall into a trap easily. She channelled her Katon-natured chakra through a Kusari, launching it towards one of the surfaces even as the Yuki stepped into it.

The mirror smashed, but didn't shatter, holding form. The fragments reformed into one solid pane, the ice melting back into a solid surface once more. Uyeda's image returned to clarity, reflected now in every mirror within the dome.

'Tch,' she thought, launching another Katon-infused chain towards a different surface. Again, the same process, and the Uzumaki almost smiled. 'Must be some form of Jikūkan Ninjutsu {Space-Time Technique}, mixed with elemental manipulation. He can focus on one, maybe two or three of these mirrors at once. But if I smash more of them?'

The man hurled another jutsu at her then, three spears of ice launched towards her from one mirror- no, each of the mirrors. The redhead considered her options for a fraction of a second before pulling a seal from her pocket and slapping it down on the ground, her gambit. All of this was done in the blink of an eye, the kunoichi's speed her greatest asset against the Mizukage's assault.

'Not a trump card I wished to use so quickly,' she thought. 'It's experimental, and highly volatile. Not to mention I only have one…'

Her ultimate technique, her own invention. The Fūinjutsu: Dōka Tate (Sealing Technique: Absorption Shield) glowed brightly, a dome coloured red as deep and rich as her hair lighting the interior of the ice formation and protecting her from Uyeda's attack. She felt her own reserves stretch and grow temporarily under the stolen power of his chakra. The technique fell apart, the sheet of paper it was written on dissolving to ash and smoke, but the Uzumaki did not fear.

Kushina manifested a dozen Kongō Fūsa, sending them flying towards the Yuki, who dodged to a window not targeted. But she had launched them all towards the same direction, and with the strength of the man's own chakra she smashed through them, briefly.

He was already reforming the mirrors, but she had launched the twelfth and final Kusari behind the others, and she used it to pull her through the closing gap. It closed before she could pass through and out, however, and the Uzumaki was forced to catch herself on the mirror inertia was carrying her towards, dispelling the chain. She cursed, landing feet-first on the ice and bouncing back into the centre of the impromptu arena.

The man launched hundreds of senbon made of ice at her, a barrage impossible to dodge within this confined space. Kushina called forth her Kusari, imbued them with Katon chakra, raised them in a barrier formation around her, and span on the spot. Her pace quickened, spinning faster and faster, and the senbon all melted to water, and then to steam, as they collided with her defence.

Their battle adhered to this pattern for what seemed like hours, dodging, striking, parrying and retaliating. Kunai and ice-senbon littered the floor, and Kushina was constantly on the move within the dome, wary of reprisal from the Mizukage.

Suddenly, Uyeda was in front of her, already in her guard and jabbing a spear of ice towards her heart. Kushina swiftly ducked, pivoting on one foot and spinning to slice the man cleanly in two. The figure of her attacker quickly turned to water, however, which fell to the ground and froze. 'A Mizu Bunshin (Water Clone), then)…' Another volley of senbon flew at her, then, and Kushina called forth her Kusari and made to begin a spin.

She couldn't move. The redhead stared down at her feet in shock, frozen to the ground beneath her – likely with the water the destroyed Bunshin exploded into – and could do nothing but twirl her chains in patterns around her body, hoping to deflect the man's attacks. Kushina channeled Katon chakra through her legs as she did so, the odd burn unfamiliar, but melting the ice formed around them all the same.

She couldn't stop all of the senbon. The Uzumaki fell to her knees on the frosted beach, blood seeping from a wound on her right thigh and another on her left shoulder as she gasped. Her blade was held loosely in her right hand, even as the left cradled her leg wound.

"Skilled," the man whispered. "Very skilled. Konoha no Kusari-Teikiatsu {Chain Cyclone of the Leaf}, I shall name you. But all cyclones eventually fade to but a slight wind and scattered rain, Uzumaki." The Mizukage's eyes were frozen steel, his eyes rolling over and through her like the tide. "You are strong, yes, but not as powerful as your grandfather. Tsutomu-dono wielded that blade with far greater skill than you, and had he possessed your kekkei genkai, I would be long dead to this world. Instead," and here, Uyeda smiled, "I am the one stood here, about to extinct a great Clan forevermore."

Kushina was prepared to retort – because how dare he, how dare this man so much as utter Tsutomu-jiji's name after what he'd done – but was distracted by a rapid blur of movement. With only a second to spare, the Mizukage dodged to the right into one of his mirrors, narrowly escaping certain death at the hand of the Orochimaru of the Sannin.

"Well well well," the Namami hissed, voice dripping with malice. "Look what we have here… a little mouse ventured out of its hole." The man spared a glance for Kushina, and she offered him a tired grin. "I'd have thought you capable of skewering a rodent like this, Kushina-kun."

The redhead shook her head, rolling her eyes, but the grin didn't leave her lips. "Some vermin have sharp teeth."

"Well then," said Orochimaru, tongue lolling out to lick his lips even as the Mizukage dropped from another mirror to land directly in front of the two Konoha ANBU. "Perhaps this mouse needs a reminder of how dangerous it is to challenge a snake."

They launched into battle then, a macabre dance on a battlefield of blood. The cold touch of frost sent shivers down their spines, the sound of hissing filled the night, and the rattle of chains striking ice rang in their ears. With each flick of the wrist, each movement to the side or slice of their blades, the dance moved from stage to stage, rapidly approaching its finale.

Twist and turn, duck and dodge, malicious laughter from that man, that demon, her blade twisting in her hand, a scream of rage as she charged at him, the coiled snake beside her stretching to strike, and-

A yelp of pain she vaguely recognised as her own. The Uzumaki fell back a step, startled, the feel of a kunai of ice protruding from her abdomen. She pulled it out swiftly, harshly, but even as she did so the ice in her left hand was manipulated by the Yuki and reformed, spiking outwards in every direction and piercing her limb with hundreds of needle-thin points. She cursed, channelling pure Katon-natured chakra to her hand and dissolving the ice to water, and the water to steam. The redhead felt burns forming on her skin and stopped, but it was worth it to prevent the man from keeping such a valuable weapon on her.

Kushina quickly bandaged the wound on her torso, using only her right hand because of the damage the left had sustained. 'Dammit,' she thought, turning a glare on her foe, who was distracted by Orochimaru. 'That's what he wanted. Cripple my kenjutsu offence.' The Uzumaki mostly used her katana with both hands, as it was meant to be used, and while she knew how to use it with one, her strikes would be considerably less effective. 'Not to mention I can't use elemental ninjutsu one-handed,' but then, Kushina only really channelled her Katon chakra through her weapons. She'd been accused, more than once, of having a very bizarre ninjutsu style.

The Uzumaki sprang to her feet once more, throwing herself at the Mizukage even as he dodged Orochimaru's Sen'eijashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands), twisting and launching a kick at the man's head, who dodged in turn. Kushina brought her katana around to curve at Uyeda's back, who ducked and struck her with a nasty kick to the chest.

Kushina was sent flying for metres before skidding across the beach. Her blade lay discarded in the distance, but even as she watched Orochimaru picked it up and rounded on Uyeda, a cruel snarl on his lips.

The Uzumaki nursed her broken ribs, struggling to her feet as she watched the two fight. Uyeda called forth another spear of ice, and used it to parry Orochimaru's strikes. But the Sannin was delicate on his feet, constantly looking for an opening. Kushina spat up a glob of blood, thick and viscous, and almost missed the moment when the older Konoha-nin slipped past the Mizukage's guard and sliced downwards.

The other hand – 'Oh, how fitting!' she thought, cackling – toppled to the ground, slick with blood. The Sandaime Mizukage clutched his wrist, forming ice over the wound. Orochimaru immediately attempted a follow-up beheading, but was blocked by a shield of ice appearing in front of the man. The Mizukage waved an arm before leveling them with a harsh stare.

"You have bested me," he admitted, but immediately began making one-handed handseals with his other hand, the one formed of ice.

'You're kidding me!' she thought, running forwards with a curse. Chakra gathered, strong and potent and rich with killing intent, and Kushina knew she would need Orochimaru's backup for this.

"Hyōton: Tsubame Fubuki (Ice Release: Swallow Snow Storm)!" the Yuki called, birds of ice forming from the mirrors and taking flight. More and more came, thousands of the creatures forming as the ice rose from the ground and the mirrors disintegrated. Shinobi on both sides stopped and stared, transfixed by the murderous flock of creatures.

"Kuchiyose: Rashōmon (Summoning: Rashōmon)!" Orochimaru hissed, slamming a palm to the ground. A great, horned gate with a demonic face sprouted in front of them, a sudden, steadfast defence.

Kushina wasted no time in slapping a palm on the ground, launching her Kongō Fūsa through the ground and loop strategically back up to the surface, colliding with the edges of the Rashōmon. "Kongō Fūsa: Kekkai (Adamantine Sealing Chains: Barrier)!" she exclaimed. Chakra shot between the chains, just in time to bar the passing of any of the ice birds.

For two full minutes the attack lasted, bombardment after bombardment of ice swallows, until even Kushina's monstrous chakra reserves began to deplete. The redhead panted as the gate receded into the ground, allowing her barrier to fall and turning back to face the Mizukage. The man stood ten metres away, frowning, and only the slightest tightening of the wrinkles around his eyes gave away his own exhaustion.

"I see there is no point continuing on from here." His voice was as cold as the air around them. The man turned and fled, forming an ice mirror and running straight into it. Orochimaru extended her blade, which he still held, and its wicked edge flew through the night. It pierced the mirror, but not the man – already, the Sandaime Mizukage was gone.

His troops retreated at the sign of his flight, turning and running deep into the thick mist, towards the thin valley of Yosuga Pass – the only entrance into this cove from the rest of Mizu no Kuni {Land of Water}. The Sannin beside her turned and ordered the remaining Konoha-nin not to follow, knowing the Kiri-nin would trounce them in a battle within the mist, especially with their own shinobi so weary. Best not to push their luck.

Kushina grinned nastily. Kirigakure was routed, and a beachhead on the shores of Mizu no Kuni could be established. Now, they could take the fight to the enemy.

The Uzumaki looked at Orochimaru, who was examining her blade in fascination. Turning at the feeling of being watched, he smirked and handed her the legendary blade back. "That's a nice blade, Kushina-kun. I don't suppose you could lend it to me at some point, for study?"

Kushina rolled her eyes, grinning slightly. "It's a family heirloom, Orochimaru. Shouldn't you just be glad that you got to use the legendary Kusanagi no Tsurugi, if only for a moment?"


WARNING: Eye-scream. Whoops. Sorry. *shivers*


"Chōji-kun," Hinata asked softly, her voice devoid of its usual stutter. "Please move your hand away."

In the hour following the disastrous attack on the iceberg, the remains of the three teams operated in a daze, mechanically caring for the wounded and moving the dead. A glum silence had descended on the remaining genin, the severity of their situation sinking in. Three missing, Shikamaru and Ino and Naruto, and suddenly the cold mortality of shinobi life was much more real.

"I don't want to…" the boy muttered, eye screwed shut as he cradled his face. He'd woken fairly quickly after their assailants fled, and because the attack was so staggering, they hadn't gotten to Chōji in time to stop him from closing up like this. He'd only gotten worse once word of who was missing – two teammates and a friend – had reached him.

"Choji-kun," Hinata repeated, voice turning pleading. That did nothing to belie the edge of steel under it, though. "You must show me what your injury is. Any cosmetic damage can be fixed-"

And before she even finished, the rotund boy shivered, gathered his courage, and removed his hand from over his eye.

The damage was significant. The eye was split cleanly down the middle, a vibrant mess of drying blood and destroyed tissue. A deep cut gouged its way down the left side of the young boy's face, stretching from above his eyebrow, through his left cheek down to his jawline.

"That bad, huh?" he whispered roughly, in response to Hinata's horrified gasp and stare. In response she mutely nodded, outlining the length of the gash on her own face. He winced. "There goes my career as a shinobi."

Hinata shook her head sharply in refusal. "No! Not at all, Chōji-kun!" she insisted. "I've seen shinobi with much worse damage, even within my own clan!" And damage to the eyes was a terrible, painful experience for the Hyūga. Especially when their dōjutsu was active. Some, like Hinata's mother, were known to go mad from the experience.

The Akimichi heir stammered around her rebuttal. "But… I'm wounded. I'm blind in one eye! I'll never be a successful leader of my Clan now…"

Hinata smiled at him, then, and it was full of such understanding that he stopped speaking, merely blinking in wonder. "I know what it's like," she said, slowly, softly, "to feel like you're never going to am-mount to anything. That y-you're a s-sc-screw-u-up! B-but y-you're not!" Hinata's voice trembled and shook with a stutter, her vehemence slurring her speech to near-incomprehensible levels. "You-you're a g-good sh-shinobi and a g-good friend!"

He stared at her, startled, and then quietly asked, "If that's true of me, why isn't it true of you?"

Hinata had no answer for that.


Kakashi watched from the boat as Asuma walked over to Chōji and Hinata. While the Copy-nin was unable to discern the status of the two genin at this distance without using his Sharingan, judging by the hard pat he laid on Chōji's shoulder, the boy had sustained a serious injury. Even as he watched, the Sarutobi dragged the two genin to their feet and directed them back to the boat, where the other Konoha-nin and the film crew were waiting.

The Hatake turned away to vaguely study another shinobi, only to encounter Kurenai stood next to him, hands on her hips. A single, quizzical grey eyebrow rose in question, and the red-eyed woman huffed, before sighing. "Kakashi, there's nothing you could have done."

It was an empty platitude. Predictable. Baseless. 'Wrong,' his mind whispered. 'Another dead. Another Obito, another Rin, another Minato-sensei or Kushina-san.' He had known he was not suited for teaching – had insisted – and yet the Hokage had lain another life in Hatake Kakashi's hands.

His bloodied hands.

"Maa, maa, I know that, Kurenai-chan," he insisted, instead, and his expression did not change even as the woman growled. As she reached forth and grabbed a handful of his jōnin flak jacket.

"Dammit Hatake!" she exclaimed, furious. "They're not dead yet! We can still go and save them!"

Cold cynicism hit Kakashi like a wave, and he smiled. The expression was decidedly grim, as was his voice as he spoke. "Kurenai, our team is three down – four, if we include Chōji, who we can't be sure about yet. It's a miracle that nobody actually died. And how are we going to infiltrate Yukigakure, and rescue our team with five genin?" The logistical nightmare struck him, again, even in the face of his own wishes, his own fear of hypocrisy. 'Those who break the rules are scum, that's true. But those who abandon their comrades are-' "It would be suicide."

"Did that stop the Konoha no Shiroi Kiba {White Fang of the Leaf}?"

Kakashi jerked as if slapped. 'What…?'

Kurenai had not stopped speaking he realised, and the vehemence in her voice was unmistakable. "Hatake Sakumo was a hero who refused to abandon his comrades, even in the face of terrible odds, in order to save them the experience of pain and torture endured by Kirigakure shinobi."

Kakashi's face had drained of colour, a well-remembered conversation echoing in his mind, but when he spoke his voice had returned to some degree of its common faux-cheer. "And if you don't recall, Kurenai-chan," said the silver-haired man, with some levity, "his failure instigated the Third War."

"Yes, yes." Kakashi noted, with faint amusement, that the red-eyed jōnin made an odd shooing motion with one hand, as if waving off the thousands upon thousands of casualties from the War as unimportant. "But the War would have started eventually anyway. And if the Shiroi Kiba hadn't saved his teammates, then Hyūga Hizashi would have died years prior to the Hyūga incident. Senju Kunio would have never lived to defeat Takigakure no Hisen {Hisen of the Hidden Waterfall}, and without his death, Konoha might not stand today.

"And let's not forget," Kurenai added, thoughtfully, "that we have the only remaining heir to the Kazahana family with us right now." The kunoichi tapped the deck of the boat with her foot. "If we are successful in our offensive, we could topple Dotō and install Koyuki, thus averting a war."

The only outward sign of Kakashi's immense scepticism was the rise of his left eyebrow. "And how would you propose we do that?"

"We have the numbers-"

"Genin, Kurenai. And we're down four already."

Another voice interrupted, this one refined, with a thick reinforcement of steely determination. "I should be able to aid with reinforcements, shinobi-san."

It was Sandayū, Kakashi realised, Yukie's – Koyuki's – assistant. Garbed in the armour of a Yuki no Kuni {Land of Snow} Court Samurai – guards of the daimyō. (1)

"It has been many years since Yuki no Kuni fell under Dotō's tyranny," the older man continued. "It is time she is set right again."


"I asked for the Hex Crystal and my niece, and you brought me three genin. Why?" Dotō questioned, impassive. The Kazahana male had long, brown hair and violet eyes. His face was an imposing visage, somewhat brutish and with distinct features, including pronounced tear troughs. He was heavily-muscled, but wore the traditional attire of the daimyō of Yuki no Kuni, all the same.

In response, Rōga Nadare nodded.

"Yes, sir. The girl, as seen in this video," here, Nadare swept a hand to encompass the large viewing screen that took up a wall of the small throne room they sat in, "is Fujikaze Yukie, and she possesses the crystal."

The woman of the team, Kakoyoku Fubuki, deepened her bow, her face lined with genuine regret. "Our chūnin teams were not as capable as we believed, daimyō-sama. Without the strength of Chakra Armour, they were easily defeated. We were left with no choice but to take what hostages we could."

"Hmm, I would know that face anywhere..." Dotō replied absently, staring at the image on the screen of Fujikaze Yukie. "She bears a marked resemblance to my late brother. Add in that she has custody of the crystal, and seems unwilling to travel here... Well, I think we have our girl."

"What would you have us do, my lord?" the second, more brutish man queried, behind Dotō's throne to the left.

Dotō smirked. "I suppose you haven't done too poorly. With their genin captured, Konoha will attempt to mount a rescue. Bolster the ranks of the perimeter guards and have them prepare for an attack. Nadare will remain here. Fubuki and Mizore will attack this… film crew, and capture Koyuki." Then suddenly, he laughed uproariously, a sinister sound which echoed in the dark room. "Konoha has many bloodline shinobi. Perhaps some of them may be… convinced to pledge servitude to me. Have our shinobi capture these foreign invaders." At the nods of the three shinobi, Dotō waved a dismissive hand.

'Soon,' he thought. 'Soon the treasure will be mine…'


Naruto stirred, restless, and moments later was wide-awake. He remembered the battle, the sensation of something connecting with the back of his head, - 'still there,' he felt – and then pain. His chakra pathways ached, frozen and lifeless in a way they never should be – 'but could be,' he thought, with a flicker of remembrance – and even as he felt around for his connection to the energy, his search came up empty. Grasping desperate hands reached for any source of chakra he could wield, any source of the elusive energy, and-

Found.

Kyūbi. The bijū was there, waiting, watching, its chakra but a hairsbreadth from the surface. 'Nobody around,' he saw, and with the faintest of thoughts, a spark of the corrosive chakra spread forth from the seal, frying the item and rendering it useless. A spark, a crackle, and a smarting pain where it once sat marked the destruction of the device.

'They didn't plan to deal with me!' thought Naruto, grinning roguishly. 'I wonder if they grabbed anybody else.'

A simple Nawanuke no Jutsu (Rope Escape Technique) rid him of the physical bindings preventing his escape. His first attempt to walk out of the cell was... admittedly painful, but a breeze of Fūton chakra to oppose the electricity surrounding his body was enough to protect him, although an absolute nightmare to maintain. Then the blond Uzumaki was free to roam the halls; he emerged from his cell, identifying his location as being part of a small prison complex carved out of ice. Smaller cells were spread out within a thin, cavernous room, lining the opposing walls on multiple levels. Naruto's own cell was in roughly the centre of one wall, on the bottom level, and he suspected he would find any of the other genin in cells distant to his own.

Naruto spotted bridges of ice crossing the expanse, and even as he watched a patrol walked from one entrance to another. Scanning the area for enemy-nin – and grinning when, for a few moments, his sensory talents held – Naruto continually avoided the patrols while searching the surrounding cells.

Most of the cells were empty of prisoners, a few holding emaciated, half-dead civilians bound in ropes. More than once, Naruto passed a body laying still in a cell, never to rise again. Ten minute's travel found Naruto outside a prison cell in which Shikamaru lay unconscious; another ten found the two genin gently awakening Ino in her own cell, and after a further fifteen minutes of searching, they concluded that the three of them were the only genin captured. From there, they all sat down in the shadow of a cell and set to planning.

"Those jutsu they were using…" Ino began. "Is that an elemental kekkei genkai?"

While Shikamaru looked ready to agree, Naruto shook his head. "No, it wasn't. I've seen Hyōton {Ice Release} techniques before." His eyes glazed over for a few moments, caught again in the memory of Uyeda. Just as the other two were about to nudge him back to awareness, he shook his head and continued. "Hyōton, like all elemental kekkei genkai, revolves around creating the sub-element by combining two of the standard natures. They were exclusively using already-formed ice."

"Isn't it possible that's just a different type of manipulating the same kekkei genkai?" Shikamaru asked.

Naruto shook his head. "No, the standard rule of elemental bloodlines wouldn't be broken just for these guys. Besides, they look nothing alike. I doubt they're all from the Yuki Clan, especially since they've been largely wiped out."

"What, then?" Ino asked. "How are they doing it?"

There was a moment of thoughtful silence, and then, "There are some examples – rare though they may be – of shinobi from a clan being unable to utilise their kekkei genkai, yet still using something similar," Shikamaru said, thoughtful. "It differs between clans, but the basics is that they've developed a watered-down version of the skill that can be taught, without the necessary genetic ability. Some claim that's how the Ino-Shika-Chō's techniques originated.

"But regardless," the Nara heir continued. "This puts us at an advantage. If they truly are only using extant ice, which would fit with my own experience again the Yuki-nin, then we have a weakness to their abilities. We can prevent them from gaining access to the formed ice," here, he looked around them, at their prison cell, "and keep them on their toes."

Ino and Naruto shared a sceptical glance, and the Yamanaka slowly pointed out, "Uhhh, Shika? Don't know if you've noticed this, but this entire building is ice. Kinda hard to keep them away from it."

The brunette shook his head in defiance. "Actually, I think they need physical contact, tempered by intense mental concentration, to make their jutsu work. Think about it. Did either of you see them pull ice up without physically placing their hands on the iceberg?" At their negatory responses, he continued. "So, don't give them an opportunity to physically manipulate the ice, and we're fine."

The other two genin nodded. "What can we do, then?" Ino asked. "We've no idea how to escape."

The Nara heir sighed. "It's troublesome, but we're technically still on the job," he said. "This is an A-ranked mission, supposedly. And since they hired shinobi, and three teams of shinobi at that, it's obvious that they knew that this was going to happen."

"This is the job we were hired for," Naruto exclaimed, in dawning realisation. Beside him, the Yamanaka's eyes went wide, and Shikamaru nodded. "And now… we're in the middle of the hornet's nest."

His fellow blonde tilted her head in confusion, but the Nara nodded. "My thoughts exactly. We were hired to protect Fujikaze Yukie – or, as those Yuki-nin called her, Koyuki-hime. And we can do that best by eliminating the threat, here, while we have the chance."

"Wait wait wait," interrupted Ino. "Koyuki-hime. As in, literally a princess. If she's in danger here, then we can assume it's because she's from a foreign or deposed government. Meaning her enemy is the current daimyō."

A moment, and Shikamaru nodded. "It would explain why she was so set against coming here. From what little I know of Yuki no Kuni, its current leader deposed the last in a successful assassination and coup de tat. Koyuki must be a relation of that previous leader, likely their daughter or granddaughter."

Ino waved off the brunette airily. "Yeah, yeah. But the real issue is – to protect her, we're going to have to depose the threat – that is, a daimyō. And we all know what happens when you do that."

The other two hesitated. "If we depose them, though," Naruto responded at length, "then Koyuki could take their place. And it'd make the reformed Yukigakure indebted to Konoha."

"That is, if she wants it," Shikamaru pondered thoughtfully. "I mean, if she doesn't, where would that leave us?"

"Ehh, that's her problem," the Yamanaka heiress concluded glibly. "We're shinobi, and we've been hired to do a job. So, how we going to do this?"

Naruto smiled cheekily. "I have an idea." He met Ino's eyes, and tapped a finger to his temple.

After a moment, she grinned.

Shikamaru groaned at the two blond idiots. "Troublesome." And so they set to scheming.


The three genin crouched outside the entrance to the Daimyō's chamber, surveying the room briefly before making their move. A number of shinobi – seven, to be exact – stood in front of the daimyō's throne on a raised platform. None of the shinobi amongst them were familiar from the attack on the iceberg, which both simplified and complicated matters. The lone female of the group singled one of the enemy nin out, and the brunette began performing his Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession Jutsu).

A nod from Shikamaru and Ino, and Naruto was away, sprinting into the enemy. He leapt into the air and jumped over the entire enemy force, which was incapacitated a moment later by the Kagemane. Ino placed her hands in her signature jutsu position and prepared her attack, even as Naruto summoned his Kongō Fūsa to strike at the daimyō.

The man spun to meet the Uzumaki's attack, a wall of ice erupting from the floor on instinct to protect the leader of Yuki no Kuni. 'Dammit. He's trained in the shinobi arts.' Naruto launched a length of chain into a far wall and used it to swing himself across the room, momentum carrying him to the ice wall where he caught himself and, with a burst of chakra, launched himself back towards his opponent.

Dotō brought a fist down onto the ground, and a dozen spears of ice launched at the singular Konoha genin, who threw himself low and to the side, hooking a Kusari length at the man's feet and swinging around him in an effort to trap him.

Instead of dodging as Naruto had hoped, the daimyō shifted his feet and a thick layer of ice rose around his legs, caging them in, but protecting them all the same. Naruto cursed and released his technique, the Kusari dissipating after extensive use.

A moment they spent stood still, facing each other, but that was all that was needed. Naruto allowed himself the faintest of smirks as Ino screamed and struck.


A twist, a pull, an odd wrenching feeling, and the sensation of her body dropping, lifeless. Except, not a sensation, but a sight, an outcome she watched.

Fighting, turning, twisting. The mind fought, as most did on instinct, but she was Yamanaka, she was a kunoichi, and her teammates were counting on her. She sat on the native consciousness, squashed it, and filled it with her presence. With a final, weak effort to shake her jutsu off, the mind of Kazahana Dotō went still; at least, for a time.

Ino smiled. The mouth that upturned in response was unfamiliar.

The plan had been simple. Shikamaru would distract as many of the Yuki-nin as he could, while Naruto attacked the daimyō and his main guards head-on. They hadn't been counting on the man being capable of fighting back, but it just bought Ino more time to prepare her jutsu in the shadow of the doorway.

And then, Shikamaru had directed the weakest Yuki-nin – as identified by Ino - to spot the Yamanaka, and faked a momentary loss of control of his jutsu. The woman had spun, and struck, and with precision timing Ino had flickered and shifted and entered the mind of the enemy leader, even as her own body crumpled and thus 'unintentionally' dodged a thrown kunai. The Yukigakure kunoichi would think she'd fainted from fear.

Naruto span, then, in a calculated move to 'distract' him by her scream, and Ino-Dotō rushed forward and struck him on the back of the head, sending the Uzumaki sprawling, unconscious. Her wince of sympathy was entirely internal, and did not fracture the cold malice reflected on the daimyō's face. And even as she ordered the Yuki-nin to carry the three prone genin back to their cells, she plunged deeper into the man's mind, searching for information she could report back to the Hokage.

Ino barged through mental barrier after mental barrier, fossicking through thoughts, shifting through feelings in the manner only the Yamanaka had ever managed. First, she went in search of the truth regarding the Hyōton the Yuki-nin used, more a curiosity than anything.

It was after only moments of search that she found it.

'It appears that Yuki no Kuni's scientists do not limit their studies to technological advancement,' she thought in distaste, sifting through the facts. Yukigakure had long been invested in the procurement of kekkei genkai, because no bloodline clans took part in the founding of the village. As such, Dotō sent a few of his shinobi to Mizu no Kuni {Land of Water} to fetch a Yuki Clan member – 'A Yuki in Yuki no Kuni', was his rationale. However, the kunoichi they found was incapable of utilising the Clan's kekkei genkai. Yuki no Kuni's scientists developed a therapy to allow Yuki-nin to possess the Yuki blood and chakra, which the woman still possessed, but they failed to bring out the latent Hyōton gene. They interrogated the prisoner for ways of making it work. Dotō was aware that it was possible for some shinobi to use kekkei genkai without possessing the necessary affinity, as Shikamaru had said.

The Yuki Clan member was aware of a way. She died from the torture, but not before they ascertained the location of a scroll of techniques usable by those Yuki Clan members who couldn't use the Hyōton. (2)

Ino sighed at that, but delved further into the memories, in search of information regarding Doto's position as daimyō. 'After all,' she admitted. 'If we're wrong then this is all going to go very poorly.'

Ah. So the man had deposed Koyuki's father, the previous daimyō. The man's own brother, burnt inside his home because of Dotō's machinations. Their suspicions were correct. And-

'Oh god,' Ino thought, assessing the information before her in disbelief. This was-

She needed to tell the Sandaime.


Jiraiya entered the Go-Ikenban meeting chamber with his sensei, frowning. 'I don't feel anything wrong, here. And we're the last to arrive.'

So what? What was causing the problems? How were they doing it, and how was it effecting the Shinobi no Kami {God of Shinobi}, and only the Shinobi no Kami? It seemed illogical.

Weeks upon weeks Jiraiya had worked with Sarutobi and Tsunade, and yet nothing could possibly explain the bizarre dissonance between action and cognition that the Hokage was experiencing. With every passing day, more potential examples emerged – moments, meetings, where Hiruzen's decision making seemed flawed – but nothing extreme. It was all cautious and methodical, calculated risks taken by their unknown enemy in a game set to completely destabilise the upper-echelon of Konohagakure no Sato.

"You don't think it has something to do with the guards?" he asked, softly. Of all the people, they were likely the most ambiguous - and unmonitored - of those present. Five guards present, all hidden under mild genjutsu throughout the room. Jiraiya felt that he vaguely recognised one of them, although he wasn't sure where he'd encountered it before.

Sarutobi frowned, but shook his head slowly. "No, I trust those four implicitly."

Jiraiya stiffened. 'He doesn't know that there's...?'

Immediately a smoke bomb dropped to the centre of the room, exclamations echoing around as the guards dropped to the floor.

Except one, of whom Jiraiya's instinct alone allowed him to track the movement of, moving through the shadows of the ceiling and making for the doorway. And they were moving fast.

The Sannin ran for the doorway, not even halting his movement as the enemy deployed a Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique), destabilising what little intuitive chakra sensing talent the Toad Sage had. A burst of speed, but the faux-ANBU was faster, and even as Jiraiya spun with a kick, the Hokage hot on his heels-

A Kage Bunshin caught the technique flat in the face, exploding into further smoke and chakra even as the original slipped between their fingers, disappearing into the wider hall, which held too many possible entry and exits points to possibly track the fleeing shinobi. And regardless of his summoning a toad to make tracking efforts, and the Hyūga and Inuzuka from the ANBU team making a joint effort to locate the assailant, Jiraiya knew they would be unsuccessful.

One of the Go-Ikenban knew. At least one of them. They had to, otherwise this could not have gone unnoticed for so long. There was no feasible way for this to have begun with the entire Go-Ikenban unawares.

And now, the faux-ANBU would not be stupid enough to possibly return. Meaning this was likely to be the last incidence of the assailant being present in a meeting of the Go-Ikenban.

And... they'd slipped away from him. Dammit.

Jiraiya cursed.


Kakashi knelt, searching for possible ways in which he could sneak atop the battlements.

The village was entirely covered in ice, the dark bricks of the walls but a dark shadow hidden behind the frozen veneer, untouched. A wall, formed completely of ice, surrounded the village, and atop it were guard positions. Over three dozen Yuki-nin stood atop the battlements, aiming odd contraptions at the ground, and Kakashi knew on instinct they could not risk those devices activating.

A force a hundred strong stood outside of the gates to the village, kunai in hand and prepared for the assault. Unspoken by any of them was the knowledge that the Konoha-nin and samurai were waiting, their sensors having already located them. Now it was simply a waiting game, preparing for the first strike.

Unbidden, memories of the War struck him, and the Hatake grimaced. Beside him, Asuma and Kurenai shared a knowing glance.

"You two take the walls to the side," the kunoichi proposed. "Skirt around, climb up the side. They'll have guards prepared for such an eventuality, but they'll be no match for you two. Hinata and Shino have determined most of their force is here, waiting for us to make our move. The Samurai will start the fight out here and hopefully create a diversion."

"What about you?" asked Asuma.

"I'll lead the Samurai and the genin. My genjutsu will do better against so many enemies than your ninjutsu could. And besides, you two need to take on the daimyō's guards. I can only fight them to a deadlock." The woman cradled her side, where the purple-haired shinobi had scored a painful blow to her ribs. The uselessness of genjutsu and ninjutsu against the Yuki-nins' chakra armour had made defeating them an impossibility for Kurenai. Thankfully, few of these shinobi bore the powerful armour, putting her at the advantage.

"What about the ones with the armour?" Kakashi asked.

She shrugged. "Shino's kikaichū and Kiba and Akamaru's Gatsūga (Fang Passing Fang) should work well to create and locate weaknesses in the armour, respectively." The young Aburame had already sent a swarm of his more hardy insects towards the unsuspecting Yukigakure shinobi. "Sasuke and Hinata's taijutsu should help them, as well. I'll make sure to keep an eye on them to see if they're struggling."

Kakashi hesitated a moment. He didn't particularly like this plan, but the alternative… "Alright. Go."


Hours had passed for him, sitting in this cell, and hours more beforehand when he remained unconscious. The figure of Kazahana Dotō approached his cell, and Naruto heaved a sigh of relief as the daimyō opened the cell door.

"They're almost ready," Ino whispered as she unchained him. "I'm just about to go to the village's walls. I've already freed Shika, and he's gone to provide backup for whoever is protecting Koyuki – Dotō sent two of those tokujō {Special Jōnin} that attacked us to the ship." A harsh tug as she dislodged the last chain, and he fell to the ground. She dropped his weapons at his feet. "I need to go – they've got some kind of weapons on the walls that I need to sabotage somehow." She tossed him a key and a wink, and turned to leave.

"Ino!" he whispered to her back.

She turned and regarded him with a raised brow. The expression looked odd, coming from Dotō's face.

He smirked. "Good luck."

She rolled her eyes, but he caught the smirk she gave in return before she walked away.

Naruto rolled his shoulders as he walked forward, flicking a kunai into each hand. 'Game time.' As he ran down the icy corridors, he launched the two blades towards nearby Yuki-nin. The two shinobi, caught unawares, had no chance to flee as the blades sunk deep into their brains, killing them instantly.

This process was repeated twice more before he encountered two enemy-nin beyond such paltry tricks. He dodged as the two kunoichi rounded on him, one pulling a wakizashi {side-inserted sword} from her back. A katana of ice formed in the other woman's hand as she pulled it from the wall, and Naruto pulled his own katana from its scabbard on his back.

The woman with the ice blade struck first, the ice of her sword attempting to form around his own as he parried. Naruto channelled what little Katon chakra he could control – just instinctual knowledge from his mother – through the blade, heating it just enough to protect it from the Yuki-nin's attack. The other kunoichi chose that moment to strike, her smaller blade curving around towards him. Naruto hastily moved to block with his katana, but grimaced when instead the woman forced herself past his guard and almost dislodged it from his hands.

He flipped backwards, calling forth a Kusari and manipulating it with care to distract them as he fished a pre-scribed Fūinjutsu: Chakura Baindo (Sealing Art: Chakra Bind) out of his pocket and laid it flat against his palm. The second woman, believing she had noticed his momentary distraction, launched herself at him while the other parried his Kongō Fūsa.

The metal-wielding kunoichi noticed what he had done, and tried shouting a warning to her comrade, but the other woman was too close to him now to back down. Naruto span on the spot, forcing the ice-blade out of the way with his own - his parry weakened due to only having one hand on the blade - as his other hand shot forward. The woman flinched backwards, but not enough to be decisive, and even as his Kusari dissolved from lack of control, the Hyōton-wielding Yuki-nin lost access to her chakra and slumped in shock.

The other kunoichi launched herself at him with a screech of outrage, and he struggled to parry the sudden, vicious attack. The bound woman leapt at him as well, but with no access to chakra and no blade in hand her strikes fell short. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!" he exclaimed, two clones forming at his sides, sans swords. Both flicked kunai into their hands and launched themselves at the attackers.

The weaker of the two, with her chakra beyond her desperate, grasping hands, took a step back from them in fear. However, dazed and frightened, she lost her footing and collapsed backwards as one of the Kage Bunshin descended on her, slicing and stabbing.

The remaining kunoichi began making handsigns. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!" she shouted, voice thick with hatred.

Naruto almost laughed. 'A Katon nature in Yuki no Kuni? Oh you poor woman.' He signed for another technique, his own Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough) easily overpowering her own technique and turning it back towards her due to his immense chakra reserves. The resultant blaze lasted only fifteen seconds, but the intense heat was too much for one of his clones, which dispersed in a puff of smoke.

As the flames cleared, he saw that the woman lay on the ground, burnt but alive, whimpering in pain. Even as the Uzumaki watched, the other clone attacked the downed kunoichi.

A stab, a cry of pain, and the Bunshin twisted its kunai sharply. But Naruto was already walking away, further down the hall and towards more enemies.

'I should really track down kaa-chan's old sword…'


'What the hell is this?' Shikamaru thought, staring at the odd creation in distaste. A long line of carriages, entirely made out of metal, based on tracks stretching into the distance. Even as he watched, shinobi walked off of it towards the building, a man in a different uniform to the others leaning out of a window at the far end of the contraption with a cigar in hand. The Nara considered his options.

'I could kill him, but then I have to figure out how to drive this thing.' Not impossible, but not something to risk if he could help it. 'Or I could capture him and try to force him to drive it. Chances are he'd fight back though, and maybe find a way of wrecking it or warning somebody else.'

"I know you're there," the man called a minute later, when nobody else remained, and the genin's eyes went wide in alarm. 'A sensor!'

Shikamaru made a handsign, using the Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique) to propel him forward to the front of the train. He lifted his bō staff, that Ino had fetched for him, spinning it in hand and swinging it towards the man's head.

The man dodged backwards, reaching for the controls to lift the window on the door, but Shikamaru was quicker, lodging his bō in the window and preventing its close. He shuffled it around slightly, the force causing the window to crack and smash. The driver launched a kunai at his head, but Shikamaru caught it in a carefully coordinated movement and sent it flying back at him, temporarily dropping his staff to do so. The man had no opportunity to dodge and caught the knife flat in his face.

Shikamaru's eyes went wide, gorge rising in his throat. He puked suddenly, realising what he'd just done.

'It was either him or me,' he thought shakily. 'I had to do it.'

The Nara heir hesitantly walked towards the device, pulling out his staff from the remains of the shattered window and pulling the door open. The corpse of the driver – 'genin, probably' – fell to the ground, and the Konoha-nin pointedly looked elsewhere.

He still caught a glimpse of the man's dead eyes, opened wide in sudden terror.

The Konoha-nin shuffled into the carriage and closed the door behind him, noticing a manual stored in an open drawer beneath the controls. It was the work of minutes to peruse through it, and he felt he could work the rest of it out on the fly. On one of the screens sat a map, which Shikamaru surveyed.

'There's a line leading directly from here to that location- There. That's where Ino said the film crew and Koyuki were.'

He began to power the transport on, the whir and groan of unfamiliar technology being activated. The train began to move forward, the metallic groaning reaching a crescendo as he experimented with the controls. The Nara viewed the map again, double-checking his route to the camp, and smirked.


They were directly outside Yukigakure, mere metres from Naruto, and he could only fight these opponents instead of try to save his cousin.

Sasuke ducked under a kunai and brought his chokutō up to parry a strike at his side. He twisted under and around, through their guard, and rapped his blade against the chūnin's armour-covered chest. The man snorted, uninjured, and looked into Sasuke's eyes with cocksure malice. "Going to need to do better than that, brat."

Sasuke smirked, tomoe spinning. "I already have."

The chūnin remained unamused. "Whatever, brat," he said, hurling a kunai. It passed harmlessly through the Konoha genin, impacting the Yuki-nin behind him, who let out a scream of pain. "Eh?! Genjutsu?!"

The Uchiha almost sighed at his idiotic enemy. "Really, have you never heard of the Sharingan before?" Sasuke muttered, ignoring the pang that accompanied that thought.

"The what?" the man asked, and then moved his head to the right slightly to dodge an incoming kunai. The chūnin didn't even have the chance to be surprised as the blade instead embedded itself in the centre of his forehead, killing him instantly.

The avenger turned away in search of another enemy to fight. 'Hopefully someone who can actually recognise and break out of a genjutsu this time. A challenge would be nice.' And find Naruto. That'd be nice, too.


"My apologies," the tiny, armoured woman muttered, and Kiba wanted to scream.

"I'm your enemy!" he insisted. "Fight me properly!"

The kunoichi flushed slightly. "I'm afraid I cannot do that," she said, dodging cleanly to the side in response to Akamaru's Tsūga (Passing Fang) without batting an eye.

'Triad-dammit! How the hell is this idiot a kunoichi?'

Kiba growled. "Take me seriously!" He hurled a kunai at her, then, and the exploding tag attached – 'Thanks, Naruto!' – exploded in a flash, the resultant sound echoing across the battlefield.

She responded to neither attack nor taunt, except to dodge again.

The Inuzuka shared a glance with his partner. 'Now, Akamaru!' "Gatsūga (Fang Passing Fang)!" he shouted, and the two launched themselves at the woman in a whirling dervish of movement and sound, which she couldn't entirely dodge. She was knocked backwards, cradling her chest and spitting a mouthful of blood out. The chakra armour covering the woman's chest cracked into pieces, and her meek mask fell with it. Suddenly, her body was tense, taut with anger, and she was leaking chakra.

'This is what I was after!' he almost crowed, grinning. The genin fell to his hands and knees immediately. "Gijū Ninpō: Shikyaku no Jutsu (Imitation Beast Ninja Art: Four Legs Technique)!"

The Yuki-nin actually looked him in the eyes, then, and something in them firmed. She sprinted at him, and Kiba met her with a gallop, trading blow after blow. Sweeping kick to the legs, dodge a palm to the face, twist away from a follow-up to the side, slice with claws, bite with teeth-

Kiba's fangs met steel, and he winced as the taste of his own blood filled his mouth. 'Bitch.'

A kick to the side sent him flying, but she was upon him even then, raining blow after blow on his airborne form. She kicked him to the ground, and dodged another Tsūga from Akamaru. The kunoichi flicked three senbon into the gaps between her fingers, forming a fist, and moved swiftly to jab Kiba in the face.

A quiet exclamation of "Fūton: Daitoppa" was the only warning before the small, short woman was blown away, a leaf in the centre of a hurricane.

The Inuzuka glowered. "Oi, Shino! I had it sorted!"

"She defeated you," the Aburame noted. "Why, you may ask? Because you quite literally asked her t-"

"Shut up, Shino!"


Kakashi and Asuma ran along the battlements, disposing of enemy-nin as they fought their way to the daimyō. The sounds of battle echoed up from the skirmish before the walls, the occasional burst of ice or fire smearing the landscape. The cries of the dying rose as a breath on the wind, and the two jōnin shared a glance, running faster.

As they ran, an order carried along the battlements. "Fire!"

'What?!' Kakashi thought in shock, but couldn't even act as the Yuki-nin on the battlements began rotating levers on the contraptions mounted on the walls.

Instead of doing what they were intended to do – i.e. launch kunai – the devices exploded. The shrapnel tore into the Yuki-nin manning them, and their other compatriots on the walls. Asuma bore Kakashi down to the ground just in time to dodge the barrage of broken machinery. Kunai fell out of the broken machines and littered the floor.

The two stood, then, and ran for the daimyō and his guard.

"Stand down!" Kazahana Dotō said, his voice a booming call across those amassed. "Flee!" His words caused a momentary lack of attention on the Yuki-nin's side, which the Samurai army and Konoha-nin took to their advantage.

The loyalty of the Yuki-nin wavered and fractured in a tide, confusion effectively sown at the contrary actions of their leader. Rōga Nadare rushed to his daimyō's side for clarification, sowing further dissent and chaos amongst the ranks. "Dotō-sama!" Nadare said. "Why are you ordering us to stand down?"

No further words were able to leave the man's lips, as Kakashi and Asuma chose that moment to strike, moving in practiced unison to strike at each man.

Dotō turned to the shinobi, and put his hands in the unique handsign for the Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Technique) – the sight of which Asuma especially was most familiar with. The Hatake only recognised it because of past missions spent alongside Yamanaka Clan members. The Sarutobi turned, then, and launched himself at the other guards, his two chakra blades easily slicing through enemy shinobi. Kakashi allowed his focus to slip to the single, most dangerous enemy.

Nadare was upon him again, a spinning typhoon of kunai and ice. Kakashi met the man with steel of his own, deflecting attack after attack. They fought, blade for blade, kick for kick, punch for punch, for what seemed an eternity. Parry and dodge, slice and hack, twist and turn and kick. His enemy was tiring, the Yukigakure no Shinobigashira {Head Ninja of the Hidden Snow} weakening against a stronger adversary. His chakra armour weighed him down, made him slower and less agile, while Kakashi remained unencumbered.

Desperate, the man backflipped and dodged backwards rapidly, before beginning handsigns. "Hyōton: Haryū Mōko (Ice Release: Tearing Dragon Fierce Tiger)!" Nadare shouted. Ice from the walls of Yukigakure stripped away, leaving holes in the defences as it reformed into a great dragon. The manifestation of his technique took flight, turning to strike at Kakashi with icy fangs.

Distracted from his own battle for a moment, Asuma spewed forth a stream of gunpowder for his Katon: Haisekishō (Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning), and the Hatake turned to Nadare, trusting the Sarutobi to handle the Ice Dragon. He saw, peripherally, the figure of Dotō turning on his own guards, striking at them with kunai and Suiton ninjutsu. Kakashi reached up and uncovered his transplanted eye, knowing he needed it for his next technique.

'Ox, Rabbit, Monkey,' he signed, collecting lightning chakra for his ultimate technique. "Raikiri (Lightning Cutter)!"

He launched himself at Nadare, dislodging ice beneath his feet as he ran. The lighting chakra sung to him as he travelled, Sharingan eye flickering to the Yuki-nin's form and tracking him as he dodged attacks, kunai and jutsu and bodies alike. The Shinobigashira shirked back from his attack, attempting to layer a kick at his head as his opponent ran headlong towards him.

Kakashi held his arm as he ducked beneath the man's desperate pre-emptive strike, bringing his Raikiri forward to strike at his exposed side. His foe dodged backwards, flipping in the air, but Kakashi sprinted after him, aiming to catch the man as he fell. Ino, having dealt with the guards just as Asuma defeated the Ice Dragon, Shunshin'd (Body Flickered) towards the Yuki-nin and caught him off balance, kicking the man in the face and stunning him.

Nadare, dazed and off-guard, could only watch in abject horror as Kakashi's technique attempted to spear through his heart. While the chakra armour protected him from the attack, the powerful lightning chakra fried the suit and rendered it inoperable. A moment later, the lightning bled away from his arm, but the Hatake simply pulled a kunai from his belt and plunged it straight through the remains of the man's suit, piercing vital organs.

Kakashi stood from his kneeling position, and turned to the daimyō of Yuki no Kuni with a raised brow as Asuma walked up next to him, in the middle of shamelessly lighting a cigarette.

A wink, and Ino welcomed the two Konoha-nin into Yukigakure with open arms.


They sat in the secured Hokage's office, their own council of caution. "Who could it possibly be?" Tsunade asked, frowning. "Who among the Go-Ikenban would directly betray the Hokage?"

Sarutobi puffed on his pipe, pensive. "Not Chieko – she is incapable of something so subtle. And not Shikaku or Chōza, either. It's not in their personality types. Ibiki is too loyal to the current system to possibly work against it." Unspoken between the three was the assumption that the ANBU Commander could also be trusted implicitly.

"Homura and Koharu we can trust about as far as we can throw them," Tsunade muttered, ignoring the unhappy glance Hiruzen shot her. "I know Akira – it seems unlikely he would be linked to this, but it's not something we can rule out. Hiashi and Shibi?"

"Can anyone say they trust the Aburame? Truly?" Jiraiya asked. "Why did they even join the village? It seems counter-intuitive when considering how isolationist they are."

The Sandaime shrugged listlessly. "Both Nidaime-sama and Shodai-sama warned me about the Aburame. Unlike the other Clans, who were invited, the Aburame just appeared outside of the gates one day, asking to ally with Konoha. By then the other villages were already forming."

"Do you think they're capable of something on this scale? Duplicity for so long?" Tsunade asked.

"I'd argue anything is possible with the Aburame," Sarutobi admitted at length. "We've never been able to get a read on them. Even the Yamanaka fear to enter their minds."

"What about Hiashi?" Jiraiya interjected. "Surely one couldn't hide from his 'All-Seeing Eyes' in such a tight space. And wouldn't he have been aware of the number of guards?"

Sarutobi sighed. "He should have been. And there is a Hyūga amongst the guards, invariably."

"Main Branch or Side Branch?" Jiraiya asked, frowning.

Hiruzen looked at him. "Side Branch. Always."

"What I want to know," Tsunade said, "is why Danzō is no longer on the Go-Ikenban. You used to trust him implicitly."

At the intense stare of both loyal Sannin, Hiruzen sighed. "Danzō's ANBU Root faction was ordered to disband after acting in direct defiance of my orders. Of course, in reality, they never did so," he added, in response to their sceptical glances. "However, the timing was so poor that I couldn't afford the resources to enforce the disbandment. The most I could do was remove Danzō from the Go-Ikenban."

"That old warhawk has his fingers in more pies than we even know exist, Sarutobi-sensei, and you know it," Tsunade insisted. "Holding a rival authority to the Hokage within Konoha is not to be borne. What could have possibly resulted in you allowing that?"

A beat.

Another, and then…

Jiraiya rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It definitely fits Danzō's M.O. And it would explain why I vaguely recognised the chakra signature."

Sarutobi shook his head. "We already suspected that Danzo was linked to this. The spy in the meeting was likely one of his Root. What we need to be concerned with is who his accomplice on the Go-Ikenban is, and how he's doing this. We can't risk moving until we're certain."

"No joy on the research front?" inquired Tsunade. Sarutobi and Jiraiya shared a look and shook their heads, and she sighed. "There's got to be some form of mind-control we haven't documented yet. I'll go through my ancestor's records and see if I can find anything."


Once the Konoha shinobi were inside the village, battle on the Yuki-nin's side fell apart. The cooling corpse of Rōga Nadare was well and truly enough to cripple the remaining Yuki shinobis' morale, and the capitulation of Kazahana Dotō – perpetrated by Ino – was well and truly enough to bring Yuki no Kuni, and thus Yukigakure, under new management.

After they had saved her from the Yuki-nin and toppled the regime that had murdered her father, Kazahana Koyuki was considerably more charitable to Konohagakure and her shinobi. Her guards, Sakura and Chōji, alongside Shikamaru found themselves on the receiving end of her esteem for their 'valiant efforts' to protect her. Thankfully, the three genin together had managed to foil Mizore and Fubuki's attack.

As such, only four hours after the battle for Yukigakure began, Kazahana Koyuki was installed upon the throne to her father's realm. Her first action as the new, somewhat reluctant daimyō, was to order the execution of her uncle, Dotō.

The second, unsurprisingly, was to place the 'Hex Crystal' in the device it was created for – a receptacle designed by her father's brightest scientists. As she did so, the cavern before her lit with the pattern of a snowflake, the ice blazing brightly. But even as she watched, colour bled away from the four great stone obelisks surrounding the crater, leaving only darkness.

Koyuki sighed. "It was nothing, then-"

Heat. Steam and condensation, a wave of warm air blowing across her features as she stood, transfixed. The quiet whir of technology was the backdrop of her discovery, as a great heat generator was brought to life.

"Impossible…"

But no, with every passing moment, the ice thawed, the snow melted, a rainbow formed, and her homeland became just as her father dreamed it would be. Spring.

A recording played of her when she was younger, and while she didn't remember the conversation, it brought tears to her eyes nonetheless.

… Yet her third action as daimyō was not as joyous, not something she could exalt in or derive any happiness from. She hurried through the halls of Yukigakure's medical facility, called by urgent iryō-nin who feared the worst. She entered the room she had been directed to, heart heavy. "Sandayū!" she exclaimed, the sight of his wounds burning itself into her mind forevermore.

"Koyuki-hime," the samurai exclaimed, smiling weakly. "Turns out I'm not as proficient with a blade as I remember… But you see? Your father, Sōsetsu-sama's gift has born the Land anew…" he said, gesturing towards the window outside. Light and life were rapidly leaving his eyes, and she shook her head mutely, unable to process this most recent, terrible loss. And just as the world was getting brighter…

The man's smile grew stronger, prouder, even as his eyes steadily grew more unfocused. "Haru no Kuni {Land of Spring}… such a beautiful name…" A cough, pained and wheezing as blood came from between his lips. "Guard her well, hime…"

And then he was gone, and again, Koyuki was alone.

Asama Sandayū. A loyal Samurai and courtesan of Yuki no Kuni. Dead, with the weight of the dreams of a nation on his shoulders, as he welcomed a new dawn for a barren land.

Kazahana Sōsetsu. A loving father and compassionate daimyō of Yuki no Kuni. Dead, with the charred remains of a brilliant future for his people, as his nation and family crumbled around him.

'They found something to value in this place,' she thought, and wasn't sure for which of them she felt more strongly. 'And now it's lush, and beautiful, and… and they'll never get to see that.' And, perhaps worse, was that they hadn't minded.

Through her tears – genuine, for the first time in years – and her sorrow, Koyuki thought that maybe, just maybe, she could bring herself to care for this place after all. For her father, and for Sandayū.

The sun was shining.


(1) My views are this: the daimyō each keep their own, separate security force (around 500 Samurai each), to maintain a degree of autonomy from the Hidden Villages. Otherwise, why would there need to be a specific group of shinobi like the Guardian Twelve to defend the Fire Daimyō, when he's guarded by shinobi already? In the Inheritance-verse, the primary difference between these samurai, and those of the Land of Iron (read: Mifune & Co.) is that these samurai are incapable of utilising chakra.

(2) For those who don't quite get it: in Inheritance, some kekkei genkai have been developed into techniques that, whilst watered down, are usable for those without the bloodline itself. It was originally for shinobi within the Clan who didn't have the kekkei genkai, and was jealously guarded because of it. To name a few that fit under this category, you have Dan's technique (a watered-down Mind Release) and Orochimaru's snake-shedding technique (a watered-down Flesh Release).