Naruko had finally reached the top of the staircase, only to find that she was standing at the edge of the river she had fallen into, shrugging, she began walking in the direction she hoped would lead her back to the bridge.
'Do you really want to go back, kit?' Kurami asked.
'What do you mean?'
'Did nearly drowning lower your intelligence?' Kurami jested.
Naruko pouted 'No, I was just caught up in everything that happened after.'
'That's fine in all, but don't forget the past. After all, you wouldn't have been in that mess if your teammate didn't push you off the bridge.' Kurami reminded her.
This made Naruko stop in her tracks 'Holy shit, I completely forgot about that!'
Kurami only groaned 'Sometimes I can't tell if you're a genius or an idiot.'
'Why can't I be both?' Naruko asked.
Kurami blinked, before sighing 'I can't believe you just said that. At least be average, not an idiot.'
'I'll try…' Naruko said.
'I'll help you, kit. Now answer my previous question. Do you really want to go back to Konoha? I think you'd be better off somewhere else.'
Naruko tilted her head 'Really? What about the old man, Kurenai, Ayame, and Teuchi?'
'You can always see them in the future, but I think you should go somewhere else to get stronger, plus if the Hokage finds out about your new contract, it would bring more problems.'
'Couldn't we just keep it a secret?' She asked.
'We could try, but it wouldn't be easy, plus you wouldn't be able to use the contract you just got.'
Naruko put her hand on her chin 'I guess you're right, then where would we go?'
Kurami seemed to think for a moment 'We could try either Snow Country or Kirigakure. Snow is a better choice since the bloodline war in Kiri isn't something I want you to experience right now.'
'Okay, we'll head that way after I say goodbye to Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari.'
'You plan to wait a week?' Kurami asked, confused.
'Yes, I'm not strong enough to survive on my own yet, so what better time than now?'
'You wish to spend the week training.' Kurami stated with realization.
'Yeah, I know that my will is stronger than those Xenomorphs, but I don't feel like I'm worthy as I am.'
'Then let's begin.' Kurami cheered.
xxx 1 week later xxx
Naruko had improved a decent amount, especially after Kurami informed her of the secret behind the shadow clone jutsu. She had kept an eye on the remains of team 7, and she learned that Zabuza had died, but the hunter-nin was taken as a prisoner.
After discussing it with Kurami, she decided to free the hunter-nin, after all, having allies could be the difference between life and death. She waited until nightfall, after everyone in the house was asleep, she crept into the house and into the room they had their prisoner.
Looking at them, she noticed that it was the girl she'd met a few days before the confrontation "Haku?" She asked in a whisper.
The girl looked shocked since she'd told no one her name. No one except that girl who died on the bridge after her teammate pushed her off. "How do you know my name? She asked I'm a threatening tone.
"Because you told me." Naruko emerged from the shadows and sat in front of Haku.
Haku's eyes widened "Na-Naruko?"
"It's me, I've come to free you!" She replied in a cheerful tone.
"Free me? But isn't it your team who's taking me prisoner?"
Naruko scoffed "I've decided to do things on my own now. There are only a few people in my old home that I'd miss."
"Old home?" Haku inquired.
"Yeah, I intend to head somewhere else when I leave here."
"Where are you going?" Haku asked.
"I'll tell you later, first I need to know if you're coming with me, then we need to get out of here."
Haku weighed her options, either be hauled into Konoha as a prisoner or take a leap of faith with a girl she'd just met a little over a week ago. After a moment she sighed "I'll go with you."
"Awesome!" Naruko cheered and untied Haku "We're going to Snow Country!"
"Snow?" Haku asked, confused.
"Yeah, but only after I say goodbye to Tazuna and his family."
Haku tilted her head "Why?"
Naruko looked a little sheepish "They're like the family I never had."
Haku nodded "So, where are we staying while we wait for the Konoha ninjas to leave?"
"I have a campsite set up a few miles away from here, on a cliff that overlooks Tazuna's house. It's how I saw that they'd captured you."
"You could see us from that far?" Haku asked, a little shocked.
"Yeah, I can see clearly up to ten miles."
"That's impressive, and that's without chakra?" Haku asked.
"Yes, but enough of that, we need to get out of here." Naruko stood up and approached the window, sliding it open, she jumped out.
Haku followed her after a moment. The pair head in the direction of the campsite.
xxx The Next Day xxx
Team Seven had spent half of the day searching for their missing captive, they eventually left when they were unsuccessful. Naruko approached Tazuna's house and knocked on the door. After a moment, Tsunami opened the door and froze in shock.
There was a long pause of silence, no one made an attempt to move. The awkward silence was broken when a male voice spoke from behind Tsunami.
"What's going on? Who's there?" Tazuna asked, walking up to the door, his eyes going wide "Naruko?"
"Uh… hi!"
She was instantly glommed into a hug by Tsunami "I thought you were dead!" She cried into the shorter girl's hair.
"Almost... nearly drowned." She said, patting the woman on the back.
"Why didn't you go back with your team?" Tazuna asked the important question.
"After that bastard, Sasuke pushed me off the bridge to avoid Haku's attack, I took a moment to revise where my loyalties lie and decided to be loyal to myself and those I care about."
Tsunami and Tazuna looked at the girl who was nervously standing behind Naruko.
"Isn't she the lady your team was going to take back as a prisoner?" Tazuna asked.
"Yes, I felt differently than my team so I freed her."
"Can you trust her?" Tsunami asked worried.
"Yes… you guys don't know about this, but Haku and I met a few days before the attack. She could have killed me then while I was sleeping. But she didn't and we talked for a while."
"I swore my loyalty to Naruko last night when she freed me." Haku said with absolute determination.
"Woah, woah, I'm fine with being friends, you don't have to devote yourself to me." Naruko frantically said.
"Nonsense, I owe you my freedom." Haku said, seemingly unwavering in her decision.
Naruko only sighed "Fine… anyway…" She turned to Tsunami and Tazuna "We came to say goodbye."
"Goodbye?" Tsunami asked.
"Yes, we're heading to Snow Country to try and make a life there."
"You sure? It's pretty cold there." Tazuna remarked.
Naruko shrugged "We'll just buy warm clothes in town, I should have enough money."
"You'll visit us again, right?" Tsunami asked with a hint of sadness in her tone.
"Of course…" She paused in thought for a moment "Hey, where's Inari?"
"He's asleep in his room, he took your death hard." Tazuna answered her.
"I see, tell him I'm alive and to look forward to seeing me when I visit again."
"We will." Tsunami said.
"Okay, see you guys later." Naruko waved before walking in the direction of the town to buy some warm clothes, Haku following behind her.
xxx 1 month later xxx
After a long month of avoiding patrols as they made their way to Snow, which forced them to cut through Fire Country and Iron County. They had finally reached it and were immediately surrounded by multiple ninjas.
"Look what we have here boys! Two more beauties for Lord Doto!" One of the men shouted, he must have been their leader.
A shiver went through both Naruko and Haku's spines. They didn't like what that implied and they both knew they wouldn't win a fight with this many ninjas, they were tired from their journey.
A thought came to Naruko, and an evil smirk grew on her normally gorgeous face causing a few of the men to look worried 'Kurami, should I unleash Kagemi on these assholes?'
'That could be fun, plus Haku is still unaware of them.' Kurami answered her.
'Good point… Well, no time like the present.' Naruko said before going through hand seals, gaining the attention of everyone around her, including Haku. A puff of smoke later Kagemi stood in all her glory in front of Naruko.
Kagemi looked at her king and tilted her head to the side, meanwhile, everyone around the pair was frozen in fear at the large monster 'What are my orders?' She asked in Naruko's head.
Naruko pointed in the direction of the ninjas, causing them all to tense "Those men wish to harm me and my friend here, please kill them all." The moment those words left her mouth Kagemi let out a low hiss and turned toward the men who were all collectively shitting themselves.
Within seconds they were brutally slaughtered, mangled body parts decorating the clearing, the snow tainted a crimson color. Kagemi, her mouth still covered in blood, approached her king, Naruko grinned at her and started rubbing her chin "Thank you, you can return home now." Kagemi simply bowed her head and left in a puff of smoke.
Haku, who was staring at Naruko, completely dumbstruck, finally gained her voice "What the hell was that?"
Naruko blinked, before chuckling "That was Kagemi, the Xenomorph Queen, she's kinda like my pet, though it's more of mutual respect."
"What the fuck is a Xenomorph?" Haku asked.
After a long explanation, Haku was sitting on a nearby fallen tree "So, there are thousands of those Xenomorphs and they all follow you?"
"Yes, and I'm about to send them to spy for me since they share a hive mind with Kagemi so anything they see, I'd see by proxy."
She then sent a hundred Xenomorph drones to spy and locate the source of this attack, after 30 minutes Naruko had the information she needed "It appears that the Snow Daimyo is a tyrant."
"What do we do?" Haku asked.
"Well, we can't live here peacefully if we're gonna be constantly attacked…" she crossed her hands under her bust and said in a tone that was too sweet "I guess we'll just have to kill the current Daimyo and anyone who follows him!"
Haku sweat dropped at this 'She can be scary when she wants to be' she thought.
Naruko went through the hand seals "Xenomorph Warriors. five hundred!" She called out and in a large puff of smoke an army of Xenomorphs that were larger than the usual drones stood in front of her, their bodies more muscular, their heads larger, with extra arms like scythes, their tails longer with what looked like the telson of a scorpion at the end of it.
"Woah!" Haku muttered.
"They're beautiful…" Naruko whispered since this was her first time seeing this breed of Xenomorph. Shaking her head to regain focus she ordered them "Kill anyone wearing this insignia." she held up a piece of metal that had a symbol that looked like four circles in a triangle shape, with an extra one above the triangle, slightly to the left on it. The warriors sniffed it and immediately dashed off to complete their task.
"Remind me not to get on your bad side." Haku remarked.
Naruko chuckled "Let's head to the place where the Daimyo is, I'll have a few drones escort us along with Kagemi." She went through more hand signs and Kagemi along with twenty Xenomorph drones appeared in a puff of smoke. She approached Kagemi and rubbed her chin "Let's go, we have a Daimyo to kill."
xxx Snow Daimyo Fortress xxx
Doto was sitting on his throne, flanked by two women in chains, when a man barged into the throne room in a panic.
"Lord Doto! We're under attack!" He screamed.
"What?" Doto roared, instantly standing "What village?" He demanded.
"Not a village mons-" He was cut off by a long black tail bursting through his skull, his brains showering the ground in front of him.
"What the fuck?" Doto asked, stunned by the display.
The tail ripped itself out of the man's skull and returned to the shadows behind the throne door. There was a disturbingly long silence following this, not a sound was made by either Doto, the two women, or his assailant.
"Show yourself!" Doto finally yelled though he would soon wish he hadn't. He stared at the entrance to the throne room, waiting for someone to walk through, and when they did he did a double take. It was a girl who couldn't have been more than 13, her blonde hair coming down to her shoulders, two jaw-length bangs framing her shockingly gorgeous face, three whisker marks adorned both sides of her cheeks, her azure blue eyes gazing into his eyes with an eerie calmness. She wore a black winter jacket with orange fur around the collar and sleeves, black winter gloves, and black winter shinobi pants that were tucked into black shinobi winter boots.
His gaze turned to her companion, another girl, no older than 15, her long black hair cascading down her back, two bangs framing her beautiful face, her dark brown eyes roamed the throne room, seemingly enthralled by the place. She wore a blue winter jacket with white fur around the collar and sleeves, white winter gloves, and white winter shinobi pants, that were tucked into brown winter shinobi boots.
The blonde girl let her eyes roam the place for a second "Nice place!" She whistled her approval, before returning her gaze to him "Some of your men attacked us unprovoked, and I don't appreciate that."
"Why should I care?" Doto asked incredulously.
"You shouldn't…" she said calmly "But you should be worried about the repercussions of your actions."
"The hell do you mean? I'm the Daimyo of Snow Country!"
"Not for long…" The girl then snapped her fingers and Doto felt his heart leap out of his chest when a large monster walked in to stand behind the girl, he was frozen in fear, which was unusual for the usually fearless man.
"What the hell is that monster?" He asked, pointing at Kagemi.
"Oh, her?" The blonde girl patted the monster on the head as if it was a puppy, and shockingly the monster seemed to like it "This is Kagemi, the Queen of the Xenomorphs."
"Kagemi? Queen? Xenomorphs? What the fuck are you talking about?" He demanded.
"Don't worry your ugly little head about it, you'll be dead soon, after all, all of your men are dead." She then snapped her finger again and Doto had a fraction of a second to react because the monster had charged him at insane speed, he managed to dodge, losing an arm in the process. He grunted in pain and coughed up some blood.
"Oh? You dodged that?" The girl chirped.
Doto gritted his teeth, how dare this creature hurt him, he charged at it and made an effort to stab it in the side. It, in turn, leaped to the side, dodging the attack easily, the last thing Doto saw was a tongue that looked like it had a mouth on it before he was dead.
Kagemi stomped over to Naruko, who patted her bloodied maw "Good job." Kagemi hissed softly before speaking in her mind 'New orders, old one complete.'
"Send everyone else except ten warriors back, and have those warriors come to this throne room, we need to inform the people about this man's death."
"Hey, what now?" Haku asked.
"Not sure, we just killed a Daimyo so that must have some kind of consequence, whether it's good or bad we'll just have to find out."
The ten warriors entered the throne room "Good let us head out to the balcony and address the people." She approached the balcony that was usually used for speeches from the Daimyo and called out to the crowd of terrified civilians "Everyone calm down!" She yelled, all eyes turned to her, she squirmed a bit, not used to all the attention "The Snow Daimyo is dead!" There was a pause before the crowd erupted into cheers.
A man piped up "Who killed him?"
"We did, with the help of my summons." She nervously replied.
"What is your name, young lady?" an elderly woman asked.
Naruko hesitated and glanced at Haku, receiving a nod and encouragement, she sighed "Naruko Namikaze."
There was another pause before the crowd once again erupted in cheers.
"All hail Lady Naruko!" People began chanting her name. She just stood there dumbstruck "Lady?" She muttered to herself "I didn't sign up for that."
It all happened in a blur for the young blonde, one moment she was frozen on the balcony, the next she was christened as the next Daimyo of Snow Country, then she found herself seated on the throne with multiple people kneeling in front of her, she knew she was supposed to say something, but she had no idea what to say.
Finally, she spoke "I'm shocked and honored that you all want me to be your Daimyo. I know I'm young, but I'll do my best." She then thought to her tenant, 'Kurami, please help me with this!'
Kurami snickered at her host 'I certainly didn't expect this, I'll help you with the task of managing a country, but you're doing the paperwork.'
'Deal!' Naruko thought, thankful she had a friend like Kurami.
xxx One Month Later xxx
Naruko had adjusted to her new role as a Daimyo well, with Kurami's help, and Haku being her personal bodyguard she'd been doing well, that was until a man entered her throne room with haste in his step.
"Lady Naruko, there's a ship approaching our shores without clearance. What do we do about it?"
"Send a team to intercept them with six Xenomorph Warriors, don't attack unless they do." Naruko said, before summoning the spoken amount of Xenomorphs and giving the same order.
The man nodded and left to fulfill his orders. The team of Shinobi and Xenomorphs left in the direction of the unknown ship, when they reached the shore where the ship docked they saw a group of four shinobi, a film crew, an old man who must have been the director, and a beautiful woman that must have been the actress.
"Halt, state your reason for being in Snow Country!" The leader of the team shouted.
The large group of people turned to face them and froze when they saw the Xeno Warriors, the apparent leader of their team spoke up "It's rude to ask for someone's name without giving yours first."
The leader of Naruko's team sighed "I'm first captain, Haruki Kimura of Lady Daimyo's military."
The director's mouth dropped "Lady Daimyo? What happened to Doto?"
"The new Daimyo showed up a month ago and killed him, the people all agreed with making her the new Daimyo."
The actress spoke up "My uncle's dead?"
This brought the man's gaze to her, and his widened when the implications of what she said sunk in "Princess Koyuki?"
The woman flinched at the title "I'm no longer a princess."
The man frowned at this "Well, this news must be brought to the Daimyo's attention." He gestured for them to follow, which they did.
Along the journey their team leader spoke up "I never told you my name, I'm Kakashi Hatake."
Haruki shook the man's hand "Nice to meet you, Kakashi."
Kakashi gestured towards the Xenomorphs "What are those?" He asked.
"Those are our Daimyo's personal summons, they're called Xenomorphs and these are the warriors." He answered.
"Interesting, I've never heard of them, they look… menacing."
"I don't know much about them myself, but they're ferocious, the amount of blood that was on the street…" he trailed off. The kids and adults behind them shivered at the thought.
xxx With Naruko xxx
She had received the information about who was here, and she groaned to herself "Why did it have to be them?"
"What's wrong, Naruko?" Haku asked.
"Team Seven is here." Naruko complained.
"What? That isn't good." She crossed her arms "What do we do?"
"You need to put on a mask, they might not recognize me since my hair is longer, and I can put make-up over my whiskers, but they'd definitely recognize you." She explained.
"Okay." Haku said, grabbing the white mask, with blue lines around the eye holes that she used to hide her identity.
Just as Naruko put the make-up on and Haku dawned the mask, the doors to the throne room opened. Haruki entered first followed by the Xeno warriors who positioned themselves so they flanked either side of their king. Kakashi, his team, Koyuki, the director, and his crew entered a few moments later.
"Woah!" The girl with pink hair, who Naruko knew to be Sakura, exclaimed "This place is beautiful."
Kakashi walked up and kneeled in front of her, it felt weird to see her old sensei bow to her, but she brushed it off. "Lady Daimyo, I'm Jonin Kakashi Hatake of Konoha, we were sent to guard Princess Koyuki from Doto but it seems you beat us to it."
He then looked up to examine the Daimyo for the first time since he entered, his eyes widened, because he saw a girl who couldn't have been older than 12, her long sun-kissed blonde hair flowing down her back, jaw-length bangs adorned her strikingly gorgeous face, with piercing azure eyes that bore into his soul. Then there was her outfit, she wasn't wearing what you'd expect a Daimyo to wear. No, she wore a gray winter trench coat that had orange fur around the collar, and sleeves, a black shirt of some kind under it, black winter gloves, and black winter shinobi pants with an orange belt, the pants flowed into gray winter boots that had orange fur around where the pants met the boots.
"I see, I'm glad you weren't sent here to attack us, I take being attacked very seriously." She said with a smile that was too sweet.
Kakashi gulped "No ma'am, we wouldn't be foolish enough to attack you." He nervously eyes the Xenomorphs in the room. Naruko caught this and smiled.
She got up and approached one of them and gently rubbed its head, causing it to let out a soft purr "I see you're looking at my Xeno Warriors, aren't they beautiful?"
"More like beautifully ugly." the boy she recognized as Sasuke snorted.
In an instant she was nose to nose with him, shocking all the shinobi around them "Don't insult them in front of me." She then returned to her seat the next instant "Now, what are your plans?" She asked Kakashi who was still reeling from seeing a 12-year-old move at Jonin speed.
He looked at her for a moment "Not sure, it depends on our client" he turned towards Koyuki.
Koyuki was staring at Naruko, the blonde in question noticed this and stood up, walking towards her, every step causing the tension to rise. When she was in front of Koyuki, she smiled "What's wrong? You look like you want to ask me a question."
Koyuki blinked, then blinked again, then blinked a third time "Oh… erm… yes, I want to know why you're the Daimyo."
Naruko tilted her head "Why you ask? Honestly, I don't know, I showed up here a month ago after traveling for a month through both Fire Country and Iron County. When I arrived I was attacked by Doto's men, as you can see…" She gestured around the room "I didn't like that."
"Then why be Daimyo?" Koyuki asked while Kakashi narrowed his eyes after learning she had been in Fire Country.
Naruko shrugged "It's actually kinda fun, even though it's really hard, seeing the smiles on everyone's faces makes me happy, especially since my childhood was filled with the opposite."
Kakashi's eyes narrowed further at that 'This girl is familiar, could she be? No, she died in Wave when Sasuke accidentally knocked her off the bridge.' He thought.
Naruko, having said all she wanted, returned to her throne "Do you wish to stay here, Princess Koyuki? Maybe take your place as Daimyo since it's your birthright?"
The room was silent after this, Koyuki was stunned. Did she want to be Daimyo? No, but would it be alright letting a child be Daimyo? She spoke up after a moment.
"Not really, but I can't just let a child do it." Naruko scowled and Koyuki began to sweat when she looked at her, her azure blue eyes gazing at her with a ferocity she'd never seen before.
"I may be a child…" Naruko started, marching up to Koyuki jabbing her finger in the older woman's chest "But I've been leading your country to the best of myabilities while you were off doing fuck knows what…" Naruko was now nose to nose with the shocked Koyuki, who felt small in this girl's presence. Naruko continued after a pause "Don't judge me because of my age, I've seen things you'd never believe, experienced things you've probably never experienced, and yet I sit here on a throne that was supposed to be yours." With that, she walked up to the throne and sat down.
No one spoke, the silence was broken when the masked ninja behind the Daimyo approached and whispered something into her ear. The girl sighed and nodded, she looked at Koyuki "Do you still wish to live here, Koyuki?"
Koyuki looked down when she realized she left the "Princess" out of her title "Yes…" she whispered.
Naruko sighed again "Fine, you can have one of the spare bedrooms."
Koyuki only nodded, following the shinobi who appeared to guide her.
"What about us?" The director asked.
"What about you?" Naruko asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well…" the man squirmed "We have a movie to shoot, and we were wondering if you could give us permission to film in your country."
Naruko hummed in thought "I guess you could. I don't have a problem with it."
The man let out a sigh of relief "Thank you, Lady Daimyo…" he then paused to think "Hey, we never got your name."
Naruko was calm on the outside but panicking on the inside 'What do I do Kurami? What do I do?'
'I'm not sure kit, if you make up a name I'd be hard to explain later, but if you say your true name Team Seven will tell the Hokage and that'd be a problem.'
'Wait a second, would it? Konoha couldn't make a move against a Daimyo from a country allied with Iron, Earth, and WaterFall. Right?' Naruko reasoned.
'Huh, now that you mention it, you're right."
Naruko turned her attention to outside her mind, her decision reached "Naruko Uzumaki Namikaze." Team sevens eyes widened to the size of saucers upon hearing this.
"Na-Naruko?" Kakashi asked
"Hello, Kakashi." She replied in a cold tone making him flinch.
"You're alive? Why didn't you come back to Konoha with us?" He demanded.
"Why didn't you search for me when that bastard…" she pointed at Sasuke "Shoved me off that bridge while we were fighting Haku?" she asked sarcastically.
He looked down in shame before his head snapped up "What do you mean shoved you? Sasuke said it was an accident." He glanced at Sasuke who had an air of indifference around him.
"He didn't tell you? He was about to get hit by her attack, and he couldn't dodge 'cause I was blocking him, so he pushed me out of the way, sending me over the bridge."
"Who'd believe a loser like you? He asked mockingly, only to have a sword at his throat from the masked ninja who was previously beside Naruko.
"Don't insult Lady Naruko." She said in an icy tone.
"Stand down, Haku." Naruko said, causing Team Seven's eyes to widen again. Haku didn't seem pleased with the order but complied and appeared next to Naruko.
"What is she doing here?" Kakashi asked.
"She… is my bodyguard, one of my strongest shinobi, and I trust her with my life." Haku blushed at the praise, but it couldn't be seen through the mask.
"How did you even get here?" Kakashi asked.
"That's a long story, which is frankly none of your business."
Kakashi frowned "You're my student, it is my business."
"Wrong, I was your student, now I'm the Daimyo of Snow Country."
Kakashi's frown deepened "So you won't return with us?" He asked, a hint of anger in his voice.
"Not a chance, I'm actually happy here, respected, loved, and treated like a human, not some monster."
"You're not a monster!" Kakashi shouted.
"You're right, I'm not. I never said I was."
"Aren't there people in Konoha you miss? He asked, a little hopeful.
"A few…" she shrugged "Doesn't mean I'm going back." She then put her finger on her chin "The chunin exams start soon right?"
"Yeah, why?" His hope was replaced with confusion.
"I'll be there, after all, I need to announce that I'm the new Daimyo of Snow Country." She looked thoughtful for a second "Hey, that reminds me, I need to ask Koyuki about that machine Doto was looking for."
The director visibly paled "Why?"
She looked at him "I thought it was obvious, as the Daimyo I need to know about everything that could pose a threat to my country."
"What would you use it for? That thing supposedly could destroy the country, maybe the world."
Naruko scoffed at that and pointed to Xeno Warriors that still flanked her sides "You see them?..." She got a nod in response "I have one hundred thousand of them at my disposal, not to mention the five hundred thousand Drones, fifty thousand Brutes, twenty thousand Striders, and the Queen, Kagemi. I could literally destroy the world if I wanted to." Everyone in the room except Naruko and Haku went pale.
"That many?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes, but as you can see…" She dramatically gestured with her hands "The world is still functioning." She turned her gaze back to the director "Now, do you know how to activate the machine? I know where it is but I don't have the key." The man looked hesitant to answer "I'm not going to destroy anything with It, I'm just curious about how it works."
"You swear on your honor as a Daimyo?" He warily asked.
"Yes, and you can ask those three. I won't break my word." The man glanced at them getting an affirmative nod from Kakashi but the other two remained silent.
"Okay, I'll trust you. The key is the pendant Koyuki has on her neck."
"Really?" She snapped her fingers "Bring me Koyuki, we're going on a trip."
The shinobi that appeared nodded and left to bring her, after a moment she arrived, still looking down.
"Princess Koyuki! You and I are gonna satiate my curiosity together!" Naruko said cheerfully to her.
"What do you mean?" Koyuki asked, confused.
"We're going to activate your father's machine!" She cheered, springing from her throne and exiting the throne room, leaving a shell-shocked Koyuki behind.