Chapter 194: Blind Loyalty. Foolishness.
"Action!"
"I'm nearly sixty and still pouring out my youth!"
"Every single one of you young people had better be moving!"
Sakura sat on a folding stool by the campfire, wrapped in her cloak, watching the director channel his remaining life energy into the production from a comfortable distance.
"He really goes all out," Kushina said, poking at a sweet potato in the coals. "I think he and Guy-senpai would have a lot to talk about."
"Guy, huh..."
The name brought Naruto to mind. Right now, somewhere off the coast, he was working through Nine-Tails chakra training under Jiraiya and Guy's team.
She hoped it was going well.
The fire crackled. The warmth of it, combined with the thick cloak, was making her drowsy. She stifled a yawn and pulled the cloak higher.
The film crew's safety had Iwa's contingent, plus Sasuke and Shino. Hikaru had wedged herself beside the director with barely concealed fascination, watching him work. If anything went wrong, she'd act.
And Kushina was right here.
Which meant Sakura was, technically, the least busy person in the entire operation.
She was fine with that.
Sasuke, standing on a ridge some distance off, swept his gaze across the surrounding terrain.
Whatever this country lacked in strong shinobi, it made up for in paranoia-worthy infrastructure. He was treating it like any other field environment — which, after the war, was simply habit.
He noticed something under his foot.
He cleared the snow away.
Iron rails.
A rail track.
He thought about the three Snow Country shinobi they'd encountered earlier. The way they integrated mechanical devices with their chakra techniques. This country's approach to combat was different from anywhere else.
He followed the rails until they disappeared into a dark tunnel cut into the ice, considered it, and decided to check in with Sakura before investigating further.
"Cut!"
"Miss Yukie, once more please."
The director suppressed his frustration and signaled for another take.
Koyuki nodded expressionlessly and reset her position.
She looked at the landscape around her — her home, her country, returned to it under the most constrained circumstances imaginable. The emotion the director wanted from her was present somewhere, but it was buried under several layers of exhaustion she couldn't explain to him.
She thought about her father. What he would have chosen, if he'd been standing where she was now.
She didn't know.
She looked at the Iwa shinobi standing at the perimeter, the Konoha ones scattered around — and understood with complete clarity that she wasn't going anywhere.
"Sakura."
Sasuke came back from his reconnaissance and found Kushina with a finger raised in front of her lips.
Small Sakura is sleeping.
Sasuke looked at the pink-haired girl sitting on her stool, chin almost touching her chest, breathing slow and even.
He hesitated. Decided it could wait.
Then the ground shook slightly, and Sakura's eyes opened on their own.
Elsewhere, the snow covering the rail track melted away.
A low, deep whhhhoom filled the air.
"What in the—"
"There's a train here?!"
The director stared at his assistant director.
You told me this location was completely clear.
Sandayū, about to bring Koyuki a cup of hot tea, looked toward the sound and understood immediately who was coming.
He wasn't afraid.
He'd had time in Konoha to quietly learn something about the shinobi assigned to this mission. He'd gotten incomplete information on most of them, but Sakura's record had become general knowledge by now.
The war had ended. Three Kage dead by her hand. The so-called Witch of Konoha.
That was enough. He hadn't made any of his original backup plans, because none of them were necessary anymore.
"Looks like we can deal with our target ahead of schedule," Sakura said, watching the black train emerge from the tunnel.
Doto Kazahana.
She actually intended to keep him alive, if possible. The rail infrastructure alone made him worth preserving — Wood Country still moved by horse-drawn cart, and the logistics implications of rail across the entire nation were significant.
Han rose quietly from his position, reading the same situation.
"My dearest niece!"
"It has been far too long. Uncle has missed you tremendously."
The voice came through the train's speaker system before anyone saw the man himself.
"Cautious," Kushina observed, not impressed.
From within the train, the threat assessment continued.
"Is this your hired help? You defeated Nadare's group — I'll grant you that much."
"But it ends here."
"Do you have the Hexagonal Crystal ready?"
"DOTO KAZAHANA!"
Three-Tails information, old grudge, loyal service — Sandayū put all of it into his voice.
"Traitor to blood and nation! You murdered your own brother, your Daimyo, a man whose veins ran with the same blood as yours!"
"Brother slaying brother! Retainer slaying lord! Every law of loyalty and kinship discarded!"
"And now you come for Princess Koyuki!"
"Heaven watches! Today is the day you answer for what you've done!"
The production crew stood frozen, staring at Koyuki.
Fujikaze Yukie is actually — she's actually—
The director stood motionless for a full two seconds.
Then a violent tremor went through him.
Hikaru, who'd been standing nearby, glanced over with concern.
The director slammed his script against his thigh.
"This is magnificent!"
"What production in history has ever filmed with a real princess?!"
"This is a direct blessing from the God of Cinema!"
"We put this in the marketing — the box office will be unprecedented!"
Hikaru stared at him.
I was worried about you.
I was wrong to be worried.
I am now worried for different reasons.
...I actually respect this man enormously.
From the side of the train, dozens of launch ports opened.
Han was already moving toward the front of the group.
His task was Koyuki's safety. Sakura's team had Konoha's film crew. The overlap was enough — he moved to cover everyone.
"Earth Release — Earth-Style Wall."
The ground tore upward in a solid curtain, enclosing the entire group.
Kunai buried themselves in it by the dozens.
"Cameraman! Cameraman!"
"This is your moment to give everything for art!"
"Got it!"
The cameraman launched himself out from behind the wall at a dead sprint, camera on his shoulder, angled directly at the action.
"Beautiful! Magnificent!"
Doto, inside the train, issued new orders. His people hadn't even reached the exit before—
A figure launched off the top of the earth wall, trailing steam visible even in the cold air.
"Boiling Release — Supernatural Might!"
Han's fist connected with the side of the train car.
The entire car left the ground, flipped, and landed thirty meters away.
"EXQUISITE!"
The director had abandoned any pretense of staying behind cover and was running forward with a camera.
Hikaru watched him, decided her priorities were clear, and ran after him.
Stupid old man.
Don't you dare die before the movie finishes.
Inside the train, alarms lit up across Doto's console.
The car door exploded inward. Han.
At the same moment, from the roof: lightning crackled, and a black-haired figure dropped through the opening, blade drawn.
Sasuke cleared the space in approximately four seconds.
"Yes! That jawline! That presence! That magnificent attitude of total disdain!"
The director was filming through a blown-out window.
"Young man — any interest in a career in entertainment?!"
Sasuke ignored him entirely.
Doto's controls were screaming red.
His soldiers weren't holding. Neither contingent could stop this.
He needed to fall back, regroup, redirect.
He reached for the emergency exit mechanism—
The wall of his compartment came inward.
Han stepped through it.
"It's over."
Doto looked at the large man, then at the door behind him — blocked by the fallen wall panel — and understood he had nothing left to reach for.
The fist coming at him was unhurried and total.
An impact like that from Han's Boiling Release would reduce anyone without substantial protection to a medical emergency.
It stopped.
A hand, palm open, caught the strike clean.
Han looked at the pink-haired girl who had appeared between him and Doto, her single hand holding his fist still with the apparent effort of someone pausing a falling leaf.
Behind her, Doto had sat down hard on the floor.
At the doorway, Sasuke's hand moved to his sword hilt without thinking.
"Haruno Sakura." Han's voice was level. "What's your intention here."
"I'd like to keep him."
Sakura looked up at him, expression easy.
"He has value to me. Consider it a favor owed."
Han studied her for a moment, aware of the presence behind her in the doorway, aware of the entirely unpleasant calculus of a confrontation with these two specific people.
Over a man like Doto.
"Fine." He stepped back. "Just make sure he doesn't complicate the rest of this."
He turned and left. Sasuke's hand moved away from his sword.
Doto, still on the floor, was processing what had just happened to him.
A prisoner.
He.
The Daimyo of Snow Country.
A nation's ruler, handled like baggage.
The rage that surfaced under the fear was volcanic.
His hand moved to the cuff of his sleeve.
He was, after all, the man who had designed and built the current generation of chakra armor. He had worn the newest model every day for years.
He raised his arm.
"Black Dragon Blizzard!"
The technique launched directly at Sakura's back.
A glance over her shoulder. She turned partially, raised one hand, and pressed her palm against the dragon's face.
The construct crumpled, exploded outward, and the snow and wind scattered through the broken windows and were gone.
"Good construction on this armor," Sakura said, with apparent sincerity.
She looked at Sasuke.
Sasuke walked over, punched Doto once with the focused efficiency of someone completing an administrative task, and began winding wire around him with the same energy.
When he dragged Doto out and dropped him in front of the group, a general silence fell.
A Daimyo.
Treated like this.
Sandayū's cold laughter broke it. He stepped forward and kicked Doto once, hard.
"Did you imagine this, when you staged your coup?!"
The chakra armor absorbed the kick. It didn't matter. The humiliation landed regardless.
"That's enough."
Sakura's voice was cool. "He's my prisoner. When we're done here, he goes back to Konoha with me."
"...Understood, Lady Sakura."
Sandayū stepped back.
He'd learned enough about Sakura by now to know where the line was.
Koyuki looked at the man on the ground.
Her uncle. Her father's killer. The recurring figure in ten years of nightmares.
Ended, without her lifting a hand, in minutes. By people who would never know what his face meant to her.
"Move on to the next step," Sakura said, glancing at her once. "We're past this part."
Koyuki didn't respond. Sandayū answered immediately.
"Yes! Lady Sakura is absolutely right!"
He turned to Koyuki and dropped to both knees, pressing his forehead into the snow.
"Please, Your Highness — take your place as Daimyo of Snow Country!"
"Save this nation's people from what they've suffered!"
"There is no one else who can do this. There has never been anyone else."
Looking at this man kneeling in the snow in front of her — his conviction absolute, his love for her father genuine, his years of patience and sacrifice completely real — Koyuki felt something inside her that wasn't gratitude.
She bent down and took Sandayū by the arms and brought him to his feet.
"Alright."
A single word.
Do you know, Sandayū?
Your love for my father is real. I know that.
And because you love him — you've just given away everything he built.
She couldn't say it. Not here. Not with Iwa and Konoha both watching.
"Yes! My lady!"
"I, Sandayū, in the name of all those who served Daimyo Sosetsu — we greet Daimyo Koyuki of Snow Country!"
"Everything has been prepared in readiness for this moment, my lady!"
Koyuki turned away from him as he spoke.
As she walked, the thing she had carried through ten years of playing a character who couldn't cry finally surfaced.
A single tear ran down her cheek and froze before it reached her chin.
Fujikaze Yukie couldn't cry on command.
Koyuki Kazahana had no problem at all.
Father.
Are you watching?
This is your loyal retainer.
This is the man who thought he was saving Snow Country.
And who just handed it away.
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you