If You Miss Them That Much, Go Join Them

Half of Fuyukuma Tōu's Chakra Armor had shattered. Blood gushed from several finger-thick holes in his neck, and he was plainly breathing his last.

The person who flashed in after him was none other than Shuofang Si. He glanced at everyone in the cage, then at Sandayu, his teasing tone carrying a cultured affability that made their scalps prickle.

"Oh, did you think I was deaf? Bad-mouthing me that loudly."

Sakura was the first to panic. With such a fierce battle going on over there, how could this guy possibly have heard what she said about him?

Her mind went blank, and she instinctively shrank behind Kakashi.

Shuofang Si had no time to bother with her. He walked over to Fuyukuma Tōu, planted a foot on his chest, and casually struck downward with his palm.

The penetrating force of the Heart-Destroying Palm passed through the broken armor and crushed the last vestige of life.

The Main God's cold voice rang out in his mind.

Killed Fuyukuma Tōu. Awarded one D-rank side plot and 1,000 reward points.

Shuofang Si had just withdrawn his hand and straightened up when he heard a faint rustling behind him.

He turned his head and saw Fubuki Kakuyoku, who had been lying unconscious on the floor, bracing herself with one arm as she struggled to get up.

Just now, she had been like someone trapped in sleep paralysis, able to hear but unable to move.

"Although I couldn't move for a while, I heard everything you said."

Fubuki Kakuyoku's voice was hoarse. She slowly straightened, suddenly picked up a kunai from the floor, and spun around to press it against Asama Sandayu's neck.

The Hexagonal Crystal nearly slipped from Sandayu's hand. He froze where he stood as though someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over him.

"I've figured it out." Fubuki Kakuyoku's gaze swept between Shuofang Si and the people from Konoha before settling on Sandayu's deeply wrinkled old face.

"You were pulling the strings behind all of this, weren't you, Asama Sandayu? You steered Princess Xiao Xue into opposing her uncle, deliberately concealed her identity, and hired Konoha ninja under the guise of an ordinary mission, all to drag them into the Land of Snow's internal affairs."

Sandayu opened his mouth, but before he could make a sound, she pressed the kunai closer to his throat.

Fubuki Kakuyoku looked away from Sandayu and toward Fuyukuma Tōu's corpse.

His mangled body lay on the cold floor tiles. Blood no longer flowed from the holes in his neck.

Her eyes reddened. "So this is a ninja's fate. If only I'd woken up sooner."

Her voice grew softer, as though she were speaking to Fuyukuma Tōu, or perhaps to herself.

Then she raised her head and looked at Shuofang Si, her expression solemn. "This is how powerless our small countries are before the great nations."

"If things go as Asama Sandayu said, and we destroy each other, all the efforts Lord Dotō made during his lifetime will come to nothing."

"Let's call a truce. I'll support Princess Xiao Xue in restoring the Kazahana family's glory."

Shuofang Si paused. He simply watched Fubuki Kakuyoku in silence, then suddenly burst out laughing.

His laughter echoed through the empty castle hall, leaving Fubuki Kakuyoku bewildered and making Kakashi and the others feel faint.

"Were you merely jesting with me just now?" Shuofang Si stopped laughing, his voice suddenly rising. "What the hell are you babbling about? Die!"

Before his words had faded, he lunged forward, the force of the Nine Yin White Bone Claw gathering in his fingertips as he went straight for Fubuki Kakuyoku's face.

"Hey! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Fubuki Kakuyoku's pupils contracted. She hastily activated the Body Flicker Technique and retreated several steps.

"This is a major struggle for the Land of Snow! It affects countless people's livelihoods! Don't you understand any of that?!"

But Shuofang Si did not answer her at all. Using Serpentine Movement, he shot forward close to the ground like a venomous snake sliding over ice, pursuing Fubuki Kakuyoku as relentlessly as her own shadow.

Fubuki Kakuyoku's eyes blazed red. She felt she had already conceded everything she could, even preparing to swallow her hatred over the deaths of Lord Dotō and Fuyukuma Tōu, yet he still acted with utter disregard.

Calling this man unreasonable wasn't enough. He had no limits whatsoever. He was a complete and utter bastard!

How could Konoha have someone like this? Was he insane?

Watching Shuofang Si's face draw closer, still wearing that savage smile, she instinctively shoved Asama Sandayu toward him.

As he flew through the air, Sandayu saw that Shuofang Si had no intention of slowing down even slightly.

Anger and terror mingled on his face. In the end, all he could squeeze from the depths of his throat was a distorted roar.

"You unruly wretch! You violent thug! You rebel! You'll die a-"

The Nine Yin White Bone Claw landed on the crown of his head. Five fingers plunged into it with a wet thud like five iron nails.

Sandayu's voice cut off abruptly. The Hexagonal Crystal flew from his hand and clattered across the stone floor.

At that moment, Nadare Rōga, who had been lying amid the rubble, also staggered to his feet.

He saw Fuyukuma Tōu's corpse and Fubuki Kakuyoku fleeing all around the hall as Shuofang Si chased her.

He was already gravely wounded, but at that moment, he no longer cared.

His trembling hands began forming hand seals, his face filled with crazed resolve.

"Hey, you're not planning to... we're indoors!"

Kakashi saw exactly what he was doing from inside the cage, and his voice cracked.

But Nadare Rōga merely glanced at him as he completed one seal after another.

"Ice Release: One-Horned White Whale."

All the moisture in the air froze at once. A gigantic white whale made of solid ice hurtled toward Shuofang Si, carrying a suffocating chill.

Shuofang Si had been chasing Fubuki Kakuyoku when he heard the thunderous noise behind him. His ear aperture relayed the sound of the ice whale tearing through the air to his brain with perfect clarity.

He did not look back. His eyes went blank in an instant as his gene lock opened.

His muscles swelled violently in a fraction of a second, veins bulging all the way from his neck to the backs of his hands.

Still desperately dodging directly ahead of him, Fubuki Kakuyoku saw only a blur before a hand gleaming faintly gold clamped over her face.

The next second, her world went completely dark.

Killed Fubuki Kakuyoku. Awarded one D-rank side plot and 1,000 reward points.

The Main God's cold notification rang out in Shuofang Si's mind, but he had no time to listen.

Every instinct he had focused on one thing: running.

Pushing Serpentine Movement to its limit, he darted more than a dozen meters just as the ice whale descended. Then he abruptly curled up, squeezing his entire body into the gap beneath the throne, which was less than half a person's height.

The ice whale crashed down. Countless shards of ice flew in every direction, and the entire castle shook.

When the ice cleared, Nadare Rōga stood amid the shattered ice covering the floor and stared at the area the whale had engulfed. A sizable section of the ice castle's outer wall had collapsed, exposing the pitch-black night sky.

His lips moved, and two streams of hot tears finally spilled down his face.

"Lord Dotō... Fubuki, Tōu..." he murmured.

But a claw suddenly shattered his Chakra Armor from behind. Five fingers plunged straight through his back into his chest, their tips closing around his still-beating heart before squeezing hard.

"If you miss them that much, go join them," Shuofang Si said from behind him.

He withdrew his blood-covered hand, lowered his head, and wiped his fingers on Nadare Rōga's clothes.

The Main God's cold, mechanical voice sounded in his mind right on cue.

Killed Nadare Rōga. Awarded one C-rank side plot and 3,000 reward points.