Kazahana Koyuki gripped the rope tightly, watching the boat descend toward the sea little by little. Half the weight on her heart finally lifted.
As long as she boarded that boat, she could leave all of this behind for good.
Just as she was about to climb over the railing and jump down-
"Out enjoying the sea breeze instead of sleeping in the middle of the night?"
A calm, teasing voice suddenly came from the shadows behind her.
Koyuki shuddered in fright, nearly letting the rope slip from her hands.
She whipped her head around and saw Uchiha Xin leaning beside the cabin door, his arms folded across his chest as he watched her with the hint of a smile.
"You... what are you doing here!"
Koyuki gritted her teeth, her face full of frustration.
"As your guard, isn't it perfectly normal for me to make a patrol at night?"
Xin strolled onto the deck and glanced at the boat below.
"What, trying to run away again?"
"None of your business!"
Koyuki angrily released the rope.
She knew that as long as Xin was here, her escape plan was completely ruined.
"If you're not afraid of dying, go to the Land of Snow yourself!"
Fuming, Koyuki shoved Xin aside, strode back through the cabin doorway, and slammed the door shut.
Xin stood on the deck, listening to Koyuki's footsteps recede, and gave a cold chuckle.
He turned and looked down at the boat rocking in the waves below.
Koyuki had been so nervous that she had failed to notice.
Several bodies dressed in white shinobi uniforms were floating right beneath the boat.
The seawater had washed away almost all the blood, but the fatal blade wounds on their bodies were still clearly visible.
Kazahana Dōtō's men had already made their move. These corpses were the advance force Xin had casually dispatched moments earlier.
The long sea voyage lasted five days.
Over those five days, the assassins Kazahana Dōtō sent clung to them like a festering sore, launching more than a dozen attempts to intercept and kill them.
Some tried to bore holes in the hull, some tried to sneak into the kitchen to poison the food, and others tried to creep onto the deck under cover of night to assassinate them.
But without exception, Uchiha Xin quietly disposed of them all without anyone noticing.
The film crew ate and drank well every day, completely unaware that they had already passed death's door more than a dozen times.
Five days later, the passenger ship finally docked.
They had reached the Land of Snow.
Everyone disembarked into a boundless white world of ice and snow, with a biting wind.
The crew excitedly began unloading equipment, preparing to set up the filming location.
Asama Sandayu approached Xin, looking extremely nervous.
"Sir Xin, thank you for all your hard work on this journey."
Sandayu lowered his voice.
"Our people are already gathering in secret. We only need you to protect Princess Koyuki for another three days."
"Once our main force arrives, your mission will be complete, and you can return."
Xin nodded noncommittally.
The crew's filming soon got underway.
But before long, while everyone was busy, Koyuki found a horse somewhere and seized another opportunity to flee.
She galloped more than a dozen li across the snow, leaving the horse panting with exhaustion.
Just as she thought she had finally escaped-
There on a snowy hill ahead, Uchiha Xin sat on a protruding rock, tossing a piece of ice in his hand.
"I really have to admire your persistence in running away."
Xin sighed helplessly, jumped off the rock, and blocked the horse's path.
Koyuki pulled on the reins, her face filled with despair.
"Why won't you just leave me alone!"
She shouted at Xin.
Xin was just about to try to persuade her.
"Heh heh heh..."
A grating, cold laugh suddenly rang out across the empty snowfield.
Three figures slowly emerged from the swirling snow ahead.
The man in the lead wore specially made Chakra Armor. He had purple hair and a sinister gaze.
It was Nadare Rōga.
A man and a woman accompanied him: Fubuki Kakuyoku and Mizore Fuyukuma.
They were the three most elite Snow shinobi under Kazahana Dōtō.
"Princess Kazahana Koyuki, we've been waiting quite some time for you."
Nadare Rōga stepped forward with a cold smile.
"Hand over the Hexagonal Crystal and come back with me to see Lord Dōtō."
At the sight of the three, Koyuki's face went deathly pale, and she trembled uncontrollably.
These were the very people who had stormed the palace that night ten years ago.
Overwhelming terror instantly swallowed her.
She abruptly jumped off the horse and actually walked toward Nadare Rōga of her own accord.
"I'll go with you! I'll give you the Hexagonal Crystal too!"
Her voice trembling, Koyuki turned and pointed at Xin.
"But he's just a Konoha Genin who has nothing to do with this. Please let him go!"
Nadare Rōga glanced at Xin and smiled cruelly, pretending to agree.
"Of course. Since Your Highness has asked, we'll spare him."
But behind his back, he made a hand gesture, secretly ordering Mizore Fuyukuma to dispose of Xin.
Seeing this, Koyuki turned and shouted desperately at Xin.
"Hurry and run! You have no idea how powerful their Chakra Armor is! You're no match for them!"
Xin stood where he was, listening to Koyuki's cries, and could not help letting out a disdainful scoff.
With a shift of his feet, he appeared beside Koyuki in an instant.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him.
"Shut up and stay put."
Xin looked up at the three across from him, his eyes full of contempt.
"Just these three small fry, and you're this terrified?"
"Small fry?"
Nadare Rōga flew into a rage, his face instantly turning livid.
"You reckless little Konoha brat! Mizore, kill him!"
The massive, bear-like Mizore Fuyukuma stepped forward with a vicious grin, cracking the knuckles of both hands.
"Boy, I'll crush every bone in your body, one by one!"
Mizore Fuyukuma advanced with long strides. He saw Xin standing in place, actually beginning to form hand seals.
Snake-Ram-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger.
Recognizing the seals for Fire Style, Mizore Fuyukuma burst into deafening laughter and mocked him without restraint.
"Hahaha! Is your brain waterlogged? Using Fire Style in the Land of Snow, where ice and snow cover everything year-round?"
"Could that little flame of yours even light a match?"
Fubuki Kakuyoku and Nadare Rōga also sneered as though looking at an idiot.
It was common knowledge that Fire Style's power was suppressed to the utmost in the Land of Snow.
The next second-
Xin finished his hand seals, his chest swelling high.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique."
Boom!
An immense, suffocating surge of chakra erupted in an instant.
A gigantic fireball more than twenty meters in diameter spewed from Xin's mouth.
This was no little flame, but a blazing sun crashing down!
Terrifying waves of heat swept through the surroundings in an instant. The air around them was instantly sucked dry, producing piercing explosive cracks.
The wild laughter froze on Mizore Fuyukuma's face. His eyes widened with utter horror.
He desperately tried to form Ice Release seals to defend himself.
But it was too late.
The gigantic fireball slammed into him with unstoppable force.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion shook heaven and earth.
The blast tore a bottomless hole in the ground.
Within a hundred-meter radius, the terrifying heat instantly melted all the thick snow, turning it into clouds of water vapor.
Mizore Fuyukuma was reduced to a charred black mark and vanished completely.