A Yuki-Onna in Distress

10 advanced chapters on my Patreon: Fiction Haven

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The fight had just ended and the enemy had retreated because of their defeat. The ground was painted red and littered with the bodies of enemies and allies alike.

"Princess… please, don't give up on your father's dream. End Dotō's reign."

"Sandayū-san, please, open your eyes! Sandayū-san!"

Everyone watched the unfolding scene with a sour face. Fujikaze Yukie was holding the hand of her wizened manager's hand with a teary face. Yukie wasn't acting this time. We had done our best, but we couldn't prevent casualties. We had saved a lot of people, but the old man Sandayū was not one of them.

I didn't care much about the old man's death. It was a harsh world; people came and went. I was, however, interested in his revelation. Thanks to him, I remembered the plot of the movie featuring this event.

Kazahana Dotō, the uncle of Fujikaze Yukie, better known as Kazahana Koyuki, wanted to eliminate her and destroy the treasure of Yukigakure that her father hid. Koyuki's father wanted to bring spring into the Land of Snow and thus he created the heater. Dotō, however, didn't like it which was why he killed his brother.

Of course, no one knew yet, what the treasure Dotō was desperately trying to get was and I didn't feel the need to tell them. Kakashi seemed to already know the entire story but also kept it to himself.

"Well, let's bury the dead and move on. I don't want this blood freezing on my body," I declared, gesturing at the blood covering my exposed body parts. "Everyone will die at one point. Accept it and move on."

"You don't understand, do you?" Koyuki muttered spitefully. "The feeling of losing everything precious to you before your eyes!"

"You are right. I was born without that."

Koyuki's eyes widened and I could see guilt flashed in her eyes. She avoided her gaze and then stood up. Everyone followed suit, collecting the dead bodies. Kakashi approached me and put his hand on my shoulders, disregarding the blood covering it.

"You were unnecessarily harsh to her, Naruto. Is something bothering your mind?" he asked softly.

"I won't dream about enemies whom I have killed, Kakashi-sensei," I said factually. "You might want to ask that question to Sasuke."

"I will, later. But I feel that you need to have the talk."

Kakashi gestured at the mutilated bodies on the ground. That was my job. I didn't know it was that easy to cut people up with Chakra-enhanced tantō. I blinked and waved my hand dismissively. I was not emotionally intelligent enough to feel guilty for what I did. Even if I were on Earth, I would still react the same way.

We relocated to a traditional Japanese house hidden in the snow-covered forest. As the others rested, I looked for the bathroom to clean myself. Warming my body up with Chakra, I washed myself with the cold water. When I was clean, I stored my wet clothes and took out my new clothes from my scroll. After dressing up and styling my hair, I got out of the bathroom.

Some of the people were recuperating, but most of them were still busy taking care of the dead bodies. Given Kakashi's absence, I presumed he was helping them. I felt a bit famished, so I headed to the kitchen. I immersed myself in cooking until I heard hesitant steps approaching. I didn't stop cutting the onions, though.

"Naruto…"

That made me stop, albeit not for long.

"Are you hungry too?"

"I am… but I want to apologize for what I said back then. I wasn't in the right state of mind after what happened."

The only sound in the kitchen was the sound my knife made against the cutting board. I needed time to think about why the people in this world easily got sappy. Who cared about what people felt in this dog-eat-dog world? People around the world got their chests stabbed at every passing second. Words shouldn't hurt you.

"Understandable. I am fine, by the way. Only kunai can make my heart blade. You don't have to worry about that."

"I am deeply sorry."

If my knowledge didn't betray me, Koyuki was supposed to act cold and detached until Dotō was taken down. Therefore, turning around and finding her bowing deeply made me wonder if she had slept on the wrong side of the bed.

I put my hand and her shoulder and forced her to straighten up. "How far are you willing to go to gain my forgiveness?"

Koyuki stiffened as she met my serious gaze but still gave a resolute response, "I will do anything."

"Anything, huh?"

A smirk crept up my face as I leaned my face forward. Panic flashed across her face and she could only close her eyes to mitigate it. Her breath became erratic and her body trembled slightly. I put my mouth right beside her ear and blew it, causing her to shiver.

"Don't say what you don't mean next time, Princess. The repercussion might be unsightly."

I pulled back and retracted my hand. Koyuki's knees turned weak, causing her to fall on her butt. I turned around and resumed cooking. The princess remained there, staring at my back dumbly. She only moved when I offered her a bowl of my highly nutritious porridge. I would be glad if she didn't follow me like a lost puppy, though.

…

Sometime in the early morning, I awoke to the sounds of shuffling feet. Kakashi stood in front of me, looking like he was about to wake me up.

"The enemies are coming," he said seriously.

"I just changed my clothes, damn it," I cursed under my breath.

Looking down, I found Koyuki sleeping on my lap. It was the second time I had a girl sleeping on my lap. I mentally swore I would be the one sleeping on their lap next time. Shaking Koyuki lightly, I woke her up. She blinked her eyes and immediately sat up straight upon noticing my serious look.

"I am going to wake the others," Kakashi said as he walked away.

"You should stay behind with Sakura and the warriors this time," I said to Koyuki who nodded dumbly. "Make sure not to get caught."

"I will do my best," she replied, grasping her necklace.

I looked at the necklace for a moment before standing up. I went outside the house, finding the Samurai and the Yukigakure warriors helping us looking at the sky worriedly. I looked up and found a blimp coming our way. It didn't carry as many people as the train that we had destroyed, but it was loaded with destructive weapons. It would be a hard fight since destroying it would be impossible unless it went down.

Kakashi joined me with my teammates. Sakura was still sleepy, but Sasuke was wide awake. Kakashi looked up and quirked his eyebrow faintly. I knew he wasn't worried about our safety. He was worried about the success of the mission. If anyone was dying, the member of his team wouldn't be the one.

"It will come down to drop some people eventually. Let's use that as a chance to get into the blimp," I suggested, causing Kakashi to look down.

"What if they got parachutes?" Kakashi asked in wonder.

"It will still go down since Dotō's objective is Koyuki. I would be damned if they returned to the blimp with wings."

"That is a solid idea," Kakashi praised, smiling with his eyes. I knew he was just testing me. "But can I leave invading the blimp to you?"

"My, are you doubting my ability, Kakashi-san?"

"Just making sure."

We got serious when the blimp lowered and ladders dangled out of it. One by one, the people in the blimp climbed down the ladders. The ladders were still far from the ground, but the blimp didn't fly any lower. The ground was covered in snow, after all. It would cushion their fall.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The annoying machines were shooting kunai at us. No one was hit, but it destroyed our formation.

"Sasuke, guard our client. Naruto, follow me. I will clear the way for you," Kakashi barked out.

Sasuke looked like he wanted to protest but held himself. I spared him a glance before following the sprinting Kakashi. The Samurai and the warriors followed after us, keeping quite a distance from us. I created a shadow clone and then cloned the Shūriken that I took out.

"Fūton: Daitoppa!"

The wind coming out of my clone's mouth sent the Shūriken I threw at the enemies at blinking speed and increased their kinetic energy. I kept throwing Shūriken at them until the air was filled with Shūriken. A lot of the enemies fell victim to the Shūriken, but the stronger ones prevailed.

I unsheathed my tantō when we were in combat range with the enemies. Kakashi burned them with Katon Jutsu, meanwhile, I cut them to pieces with my tantō. Our advance was stopped when the accursed machines focused on shooting kunai at us. We blocked some of the offending kunai but eventually decided to retreat.

"How are we going to reach that thing now?" I wondered aloud.

"We are going to allow the enemies to invade our rank," Kakashi said in disinterest.

"They don't mind shooting their allies, though."

"At least, their attention will be split."

That kind of mentality was what made me respect Kakashi as a Ninja despite his abhorrent tardiness. As a Shinobi, you had to be coldly pragmatic.

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Honorary Mention:

Faisal Salih

Florin Durbaca

Friday

Jamaul Pryor

Luck George