After hearing Nadare Rōga's words, Koyuki's face twisted with fury.
She bit out a furious rebuttal, "It was Doto Kazahana who usurped the throne and murdered my father, and now he's actually trying to twist black into white!"
"How shameless!"
Nadare, however, remained completely unmoved, still wearing that refined smile as he said, "Princess Koyuki, you shouldn't make such an expression. As a former member of the royal family, you ought to maintain your elegance at all times."
"So long as you obediently come back with us, I'm sure Lord Doto won't do anything too harsh to you."
Koyuki shouted, "In your dreams!"
Naruto couldn't hold himself back either and took two quick steps forward, anger blazing across his face. "We already know the truth! Even if Doto didn't come looking for us, we were going to go settle the score with him ourselves!"
Only then did Nadare seem to truly notice Naruto and the others. With a slightly mocking tone, he said, "So that's why Princess Koyuki dared to return to the Land of Snow. Turns out you brought helpers."
"But with just these few brats, I'm afraid they won't be able to help you."
Sasuke let out a dissatisfied snort. "Then let's just see about that."
"Attack!"
With a sharp command from Nadare, Fubuki Kakuyoku and Mizore Fuyuma immediately charged toward Koyuki and the others.
Gaara, Naruto, and Sasuke were equally unwilling to back down, and the three sides instantly clashed in a chaotic melee.
"Ice Release: Swallow Snowstorm!"
Fubuki blocked Sasuke's path and rapidly formed hand seals.
Countless sharp ice spikes burst from her mouth and swept straight toward him.
Sasuke gave a cold snort. His scarlet twin-tomoe Sharingan saw through every single trajectory of the incoming spikes, and he elegantly twisted and sidestepped each one.
At the same time, his hands flashed through seals.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
A massive fireball erupted forth, melting the snow in an instant and swallowing Fubuki whole.
Immediately after, Sasuke flicked his wrist, and two giant Fūma Shuriken appeared in his hands.
"Go!"
The Fūma Shuriken screamed into the sea of flames, colliding with each other in midair and constantly altering their trajectories.
Sasuke then yanked hard, instantly tightening the steel wires wrapped around them.
As the flames scattered, Fubuki's body was revealed, tightly bound by the razor-sharp wires.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Strike!"
Electric current raced along the wires and struck her body directly.
"Ahhh!!!"
Fubuki screamed in agony, then forced her hands into seals with great difficulty.
"Ice Release: Ice Blade!"
Sharp blades of ice sliced through the steel wires. She immediately retreated, and the contempt in her eyes was completely gone.
She had only let her guard down for a moment, yet she had nearly been killed on the spot.
Damn it. He was just a brat. Why was he this strong?
Seeing her break free, Sasuke was equally surprised.
She had taken his combo attack head-on. Even if she didn't die, she should've at least been badly wounded. How could she still keep fighting?
"You little brat, I'll kill you!"
Relying on the chakra armor covering her body, Fubuki actually rose straight into the air and launched one attack after another at Sasuke from above.
But before she could even feel pleased with herself, two massive wings suddenly burst out from Sasuke's back.
Fubuki froze in disbelief.
"What the hell kind of ability is that? How can you just grow wings like that?!"
Sasuke lifted his chin proudly and said coldly, "This is called Sage Arts. It's a refined way of using natural energy."
"You're not getting away."
The moment he finished speaking, he shot into the air and flew straight toward her.
Back then, in order to gain even greater power, he had once gone to seek out Orochimaru.
Orochimaru had taught him a crude method of using natural energy, one that could alter his body to a certain extent.
Originally, after learning it, Sasuke had thought it looked way too ugly and completely ruined his cool factor, so he had never used it.
But unexpectedly, now it happened to be exactly what he needed.
On the other side, Fuyuma had already locked into battle with Gaara.
His massive frame stood in stark contrast to Gaara's, making him look like an actual brown bear.
"Ice Release: Ice Mist Jutsu!"
Fuyuma first released a huge amount of icy mist, swallowing both himself and Gaara into it.
Immediately afterward, he activated the sensory ability granted to him by his chakra armor.
"Ice Release: Iceberg!"
"Ice Release: Ice Prison!"
"..."
Fuyuma launched attack after attack at Gaara without pause. His physical strength was enormous, and the ninjutsu he used were all large-scale offensive techniques.
For a moment, it genuinely felt like the earth was shaking and the mountains were trembling.
Yet Gaara wasn't anxious in the slightest. He simply controlled a large amount of sand and wrapped it around himself.
A Third Eye formed from sand floated in the air, allowing him to observe everything outside.
Faced with Gaara's absolute defense, Fuyuma gradually became more and more furious.
His attacks couldn't even break through the kid's defense!
"You damn brat! Do you dare come out and fight me head-on?!"
Gaara remained completely unmoved by the provocation.
He was like an extremely patient hunter, waiting quietly for his prey to exhaust itself before delivering the fatal blow.
Compared to Fubuki and Fuyuma, Nadare wasn't having an easy time either.
His once-neatly tied long hair had already come loose, and the gentle smile that always hung on his face had twisted into something savage and ugly.
The reason was simple.
This brat fighting him had completely exceeded his expectations.
Even with the aid of chakra armor, he still couldn't do a thing to him.
"Hey, hey, hey! Is that all you've got? I was actually excited for a while there..."
Hearing Naruto's mockery, Nadare clenched his teeth. "Arrogant little brat, don't look down on me!"
"Ice Release: One-Horned White Whale!"
A gigantic ice whale surged into the sky, then came crashing down heavily toward Naruto.
Naruto's expression didn't change in the slightest. His hands formed seals.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
...
A chain of white smoke burst upward as dozens of shadow clones appeared at the same time.
Then every single clone formed hand seals in unison.
"Wind Release: Chaotic Cutting Jutsu!"
Countless wind blades shot out from all directions toward the ice whale. In a single instant, it was sliced into tiny fragments.
Seeing that scene, Nadare couldn't help swallowing hard.
Damn it. He was just a brat. How could he possibly have this much chakra?
Was he some kind of human-shaped Tailed Beast?!
As dozens of shadow clones charged straight at him, Nadare quickly formed hand seals again.
"Ice Release: Tearing Dragon Fierce Tiger!"
A large number of ice beasts materialized in front of him, barely managing to hold Naruto's shadow clones back for the moment.
Taking advantage of that opening, Nadare shouted, "Kakuyu, Fuyuma! Let's use our combo jutsu!"
The other two were already in miserable shape as well. The moment they heard Nadare's order, they immediately flew over and regrouped with him.
With the chakra armor on their bodies, the three of them could unleash an extremely powerful combination ninjutsu as long as they joined forces.
It was humiliating to be pushed this far by three brats, but at this point, pride no longer mattered.
Seeing their movements, Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara also gathered together.
The three of them exchanged a glance and nodded in perfect sync.
A combination technique?
They had one too!