Blood-colored snow, the Ice-Fire Unit!

Based on Black Zetsu's intelligence, Tōka and Pakura arrived at a remote village in the Land of Water. It was a world where snow fell year-round, pure as snow, and filled with harmony and tranquility.

At the same time, the villagers were also terrified of Kekkei Genkai because of the war. In the eyes of the simple villagers, Kekkei Genkai symbolized war, killing, and death.

In this peaceful little village, Kekkei Genkai, ninjas, and Ninjutsu are all forbidden.

On this day, heavy snow was falling from the sky, the north wind howled from the highlands, rain mixed with snow, and the wind carried a cold front.

A chilling aura swept across the land, and blood silently descended at that moment.

Crunch, crunch...

Two figures walked slowly from the coastline, their feet sinking into the deep snow with a sickening sound.

"What are we even doing in this godforsaken place?" Pakura rubbed her arms; as Scorch Release ninja, she hated the cold more than anything.

If Tōka told her that she would be living in a place like this in the future, Pakura would definitely turn around and leave!

Tōka squinted, watching the snowflakes fluttering in the sky. A faint, pungent smell of blood wafted into his nostrils on the wind.

Black Zetsu's intelligence is accurate; she should be here.

Moreover, doesn't the timing seem a little too perfect?

The two stopped. Tōka Ge looked around, searching for any sign of the village. Pakura frowned, looking impatient and eager to leave.

Sudden!

"Ah!!"

A heart-wrenching scream came from the depths of the white world.

It was chilling, terrifying, and sent shivers down one's spine.

Tōka's expression changed slightly, and she reacted immediately.

His body suddenly sank, then he unleashed a burst of chakra and shot out like a cannonball, hurtling towards the direction from which the sound came.

Pakura reacted a beat too slow. When he saw Tōka's figure about to disappear from sight, he quickly took off running in the direction he had left.

They sped along, the white figures on both sides quickly receding, snowflakes swirling at their feet, leaving behind a beautiful snowy scene.

Gradually, a simple little village came into view.

At the same time, the smell of blood in the air became even stronger.

Outside the walls of a small village, gruesome corpses could be vaguely seen, some impaled by icicles, some frozen to death by ice blocks, and some stabbed by ice blades...

Without exception, all of these villagers died at the hands of the Ice Release Ninja.

"The Ice Release Kekkei Genkai of the Land of Water? The Yuki Clan?" Pakura subconsciously looked at Tōka and murmured as she asked.

Why would the ninjas of the Yuki Clan attack civilians?

Tōka didn't give an answer and just kept walking forward.

With the Chakra Sensing Technique activated simultaneously, Tōka quickly detected her presence within the small village.

Tōka leaped over a low wall and landed directly on the roof of a house covered with a thick layer of snow.

Entering the bloody world, countless corpses fell to the ground, with distorted faces and frightened expressions. It was as if they saw a heartbreaking scene in their ferocious pupils.

Dead people? Tōka was used to it.

The gruesome deaths of the crowd caused Pakura's pupils to shrink sharply. She was a killer, but she never targeted civilians.

"Tōka, what exactly do you want to do?" Pakura stared blankly at Tōka's back, standing still and unwilling to take a step forward.

The pristine, snow-covered world is now shrouded in a glaring crimson, and a bone-chilling cold sweeps in...

Crunch, crunch...

The slow, muffled sound of footsteps echoed in the deathly silent world.

Tōka strolled past the pile of corpses and headed towards a small thatched hut in the corner of the village.

The house was frozen by white ice crystals, like a fairytale house sealed in an ice world, pure and sacred, only to be admired from afar and never to be touched.

"No, don't come any closer!" A low, hoarse voice sounded softly, filled with fear and apprehension, but the object of the fear wasn't the person approaching.

Instead, they were worried about hurting others again.

Standing ten steps away, Tōka stopped as instructed and looked into the distance.

A petite figure huddled up, wearing only a thin garment, snowflakes falling and turning her black hair white.

A cold front swept across the land, and the cold wind howled, making the little face turn bright red from the cold.

Glancing at the pile of dry firewood beside him and the body of a woman who had made a protective gesture even in death, Tōka roughly understood what was happening before his eyes.

After a brief silence, Tōka once again took a step forward.

"Don't come any closer!!" A heart-wrenching scream, a hoarse voice filled with overwhelming fear.

Tōka remained unmoved; the Ice Release posed little threat to him.

Just then, suddenly!

An even more exaggerated chill suddenly erupted, making her petite body seem like the starting point of absolute zero.

Around her, snowflakes, water vapor, and even the space itself were clearly visible, transforming into strands of ice.

Click click click...

What a magnificent and astonishing scene! Strands of extremely cold ice pierced through the air, and the world seemed to freeze at that moment.

"The extreme of cold, freezing space?" A trace of solemnity flashed across Tōka's eyes. He could actually sense a threat of death from those tiny strands of ice.

Perhaps I really can grow to that point.

As his thoughts raced, Tōka's deep black eyes narrowed slightly.

Yin Release chakra condensed in his eyes, then transformed into an invisible ripple that spread out from his vision.

Genjutsu: Feathered Snowfall.

Suddenly!

Time seemed to stand still. The crackling ice threads in the air froze just three inches in front of them, and on the snow-covered ground, thick ice spears, like hedgehogs, pierced through the air.

They surrounded Tōka from all sides, leaving no gaps whatsoever.

From a distance, it was impossible to see whether Tōka had been stabbed in the back and left with a bloody hole.

"That idiot!" Pakura's expression changed slightly outside the low wall. He instinctively clasped his hands together, just as he was about to use his escape technique to rescue Tōka.

A muffled thud sounded!

The frail figure in front of the cottage rolled her eyes back and collapsed heavily to the ground, falling into a deep coma.

Perhaps it was due to prolonged stress leading to a mental breakdown; perhaps it was due to overuse of chakra; or perhaps it was Tōka's Genjutsu.

In short, as the sound of the girl falling to the ground rang out, the frozen space shattered at that moment.

With a crackling sound, a shower of ice shards fell to the ground, and Tōka's figure gradually came into view.

"Did it fail to pierce, or Budong to pierce?" Pakura smoothed his furrowed brow, released his hands from the Hand Seals, and a question flashed through his mind.

Crunch, crunch...

Tōka slowly made his way through the thick snow, bent down in front of the girl, and then reached out and lifted her up in a princess carry, placing her arms under her armpits and under her knees...

In the Land of Artisans, in a remote little town.

In the secluded courtyard, Tōka sat by the window, listening to the clanging and banging of metal being hammered outside.

Faint footsteps suddenly came from behind. Without turning around, Tōka asked, "Is she awake?"

Pakura shook her head slightly. She thought Tōka would be disappointed, but she saw that he was just gazing calmly at the small garden in front of him.

"What do we do next?" Pakura hesitated for a moment before asking. She hated this feeling of not knowing anything.

"We'll take the sea route, bypassing the southern coastline of the Land of Fire, and head directly to the Land of Rivers." Tōka didn't hide anything from Pakura this time, but he still didn't finish his sentence.

The Land of Rivers is not the final destination.

"What? You're not going back to Konoha?" Pakura asked in surprise, slightly taken aback.

Tōka's lips curled slightly upward, but he didn't answer her question. Konoha? Of course I'll go back, just in a different way.

The final showdown of the Third Shinobi World War: Kumogakure and Konoha, A-B Combo and the Yellow Flash.

How could Tōka possibly miss it?!

It was merely a change of Battlefield, a direct assault from the front lines into Konoha. While Kumogakure seemed to hold a significant advantage, in reality, Kumogakure was at a true disadvantage.

The true essence of Konoha will be fully revealed to Kumogakure.

The Kumogakure will truly experience the power of the leader of the Five Great Nations!

Even with the loss of White Fang, even with the departure of the Legendary Sannin from Konoha, and even with Danzo, Konoha remains the leading of the Five Great Nations and the number one hidden village in the ninja Ninja World!

The A-B Combo? This time they're definitely going to be called a bunch of idiots!

Pakura stared intently at Tōka, as if trying to see a flower bloom on his face, but even though the thing was smaller than her, it looked like a monstrous old monster.

Over the course of her time with him, she felt that the person beside her wasn't a nine-year-old kid, but a Fox that had become a demon.

Hmm... little Fox...

Knock knock knock...

A rapid knocking broke the silence between the two.

"Who could it be at a time like this?" Pakura wondered as he got up and walked towards the door.

The wooden door slid open, revealing a shopkeeper with a beaming face. She exclaimed excitedly, "The little girl you brought has woken up!"

"You're awake?" Pakura was slightly taken aback; she had just come out of that room.

Just then, a figure suddenly flashed by at lightning speed, rushing away like a gust of wind.

Recovering from the brief shock, Pakura smiled slightly and nodded to the shop assistant, "Thank you, I'll go take a look."

The people of the Land of Artisans are very simple and honest, especially those in remote Town. Although the main industry here is the production of ninja tools, most people have never witnessed the cruelty of war.

The shop assistant smiled happily in return, and then the two parted ways...

At that moment, Tōka had already appeared inside the little girl's house.

A pale, delicate face came into view, with a look of confusion in her eyes. A terrifying scene kept flashing through her mind, making her appear even more lost and uneasy.

"Bai?" After a moment of silence, Tōka called out.

The little girl lying on the bed subconsciously turned her head; she had indeed heard someone call her name.

But... why do people still know her name?

"Are you dumbfounded?" Tōka poked Bai's pale face with a finger, wanting to see if she would react.

Unexpectedly, her fair face suddenly flushed White Smoke, like steam rising from boiling water.

A flush rose to her cheeks, giving them a rosy hue.

"Who are you? Where is this? Am I still alive? Is everyone dead?" Bai stared blankly at Tōka, asking a series of questions.

Tōka was taken aback at first, then recalled Bai's questions and answered them one by one.

"My name is Tōka. This is the Land of Artisans. You're still alive." Tōka glanced at Bai with a puzzled look. Was he still thinking about killing her at a time like this?

He's definitely not suited to be a ninja!

"If the 'everyone' you're referring to is the people in that snowy village, then... they're all dead."

Seeing Bai's face turn deathly pale, Tōka's lips curled up slightly, revealing a sarcastic smile.

"And they were all killed by you!"

A faint, eerie voice rang out, like a cursed Demonic Sound entering Bai's ears, and an unconcealable look of pain appeared in her eyes.

She didn't want to hurt anyone...

I clearly didn't want to...

"What are you doing?!" Pakura opened the wooden door and walked in. Seeing Tōka staring at the crying girl with a cold smile, he mistakenly thought that Tōka was bullying Bai.

Pakura immediately took a step forward and stood directly beside Bai's bed, reaching out to pull Tōka away.

Click!

A piece of Ash Bones, exuding Death Aura, suddenly emerged from Tōka's arm.

Pakura's pupils contracted sharply, and her hand froze. If she grabbed directly, her hand would definitely be pierced with a bloody hole.

But that's not the point. The point is Tōka's ability—a one-hit kill!

Pakura was shocked. He quickly gathered chakra in the soles of his feet, which acted like suction cups, pulling his body to the ground and stopping his forward momentum.

Immediately afterward, Pakura bent down and leaped backward, quickly creating distance between them.

With a swift movement, he placed his hands in front of him, forming Hand Seals, and subconsciously assumed a fighting stance.

At this moment, Pakura looked up and saw Tōka glance at her indifferently, revealing a mocking expression.

Slightly startled, Pakura realized she was being too sensitive, and her face immediately tightened.

Then he slowly withdrew from his fighting stance and quietly stood aside.

"What? You don't want to believe it? Or you don't want to face it?" Tōka withdrew her gaze from Pakura and instead focused on Bai's face.

A girl as white as snow will turn crimson once she is stained with blood.

Snow is not suited to exist in such a polluted world.

Once snow falls, it faces only two outcomes: it melts into water and eventually sinks into the earth, disappearing from sight.

Another type... is rendered in dazzling colors.

Red, gray, or green...

If she had to choose, Tōka would hope that Bai could turn into blood-red snow, so that at least she could live peacefully in this chaotic world.

"What... should I do?" Bai's mind flashed back to the kind old men and women, and the amiable neighbors.

She couldn't understand why these people's faces could turn so ferocious in an instant.

Why did the father kill the mother with his own hands? Had the mother done something wrong?

Bai was confused, yet dared not seek the answer, because she was afraid—afraid of what all the villagers feared.

Something called "Power"!

"If you can't find anyone who cares about you, then live on as my companion." Tōka looked intently at Bai, her bright eyes revealing utmost seriousness.

"As a companion?..." Bai stared blankly at Tōka, seemingly not quite understanding the sentence.

"That's right, if you have no reason to live..." Tōka looked at Bai expressionlessly, "I'll give you one."

"Live on as my companion!"