12 A Yuki-Onna in Distress (End)

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[Uzumaki Naruto's POV]

It had been twelve hours since the event in the early morning. Kakashi had not yet woken up, but he had given me the right to command. It was for that reason that I found myself being stared at by six uncomfortable hard-boiled men. They were waiting for my strategy to save their kidnapped princess.

I didn't have a good plan. The best plan I could come up with was to tell them to die for their princess while I infiltrated Dotō's castle. I could encourage (manipulate) them to gladly do that with my speech, but it would be futile. We had lost quite a lot of warriors from the fight in the morning. The weapon-wielding civilians wouldn't help much.

"How long do you think you can hold off Dotō's army if we attack his castle?" I asked no one in particular.

"If nothing goes wrong, at most, two hours. We need to carry kunai throwing machines with us, though," one of the hard-boiled men answered.

"That is plenty of time to decapitate Dotō ten times."

"Are you going to lead the attack?"

And finally, they addressed the elephant in the room. I knew they had been dying to ask me that question.

"Yes."

"Very well. What is your order?"

I blinked and digested the words said by one of the hard-boiled men before looking at them one by one. They no longer looked at me in discomfort. I could only see the determination in their eyes. It was intriguing, to say the least. Maybe, I should start a cult given how easily everyone submitted themselves to me.

"I suggest you equip your men with shields and sturdy armor. You should mainly focus on defense since you are only a distraction. Of course, I do not discourage you from retaliating."

"What about Dotō's Two-Man-Team?"

"Sasuke will help you with that problem."

Beside me, Sasuke grunted in confirmation. The hard-boiled men looked at Sasuke quite uneasily. As expected, they didn't listen to just any kids. Sasuke sensed their doubt and flashed his Sharingan. The sole tomoe in each of his eyes spun hypnotically, rendering the men silent.

"Is it possible for Hatake-san to help us a little?"

At that question, everyone stared at me.

"It is possible," I nodded my head. "However, fight as if I am your only hope. Given his current state, his participation is quite unlikely."

"Understood."

Roughly an hour passed and we finally concluded our discussion. We decided to depart in two and a half hours. It would make us reach Dotō's castle at nine. Spent the rest of the time meditating while having my clones fight with Sasuke to teach him a thing or two. He stopped after an hour, following my instruction to conserve energy.

When I had enough of meditation, I walked into Kakashi's room and found him already awake. He sat on the edge of the bed and then motioned for me to sit down on the floor in front of him. He told me about Dotō's prototype Chakra Armor and what it did. It was quite powerful, but it was just a tool in the end. How useful it was would depend on its wielder.

"Good luck."

"My luck is shit, Kakashi. You know that."

"Then, what should I say?" Kakashi drawled.

"Wish me a good fight," I smirked.

"Have a good fight."

I turned around and waved my hand. I got out of the house and found warriors lined up in front of the house. They looked at me as if waiting for me to say something. Noticing their look of determination, I only had one thing to say.

"It's a good evening to die hard."

I walked into their rank and they parted to give me way. With Shunshin, I appeared on the other side of the rank.

When Sasuke joined me on my side, I said, "Let's move, boys. We got a princess to rescue."

…

It was not that surprising that when we reached Dotō's castle, his army was already waiting. They lost in number, but they had a huge advantage in technology. The Samurai and weapon-wielding civilians would have a hard time against them. Then again, they wouldn't need to wait for long. I would end this entire affair as quickly as I could.

I sprinted and created fifty Shadow Clones. Sasuke followed along. At some point, he and six of my clones stopped. My clones lined up evenly across from each other and Sasuke stood in the center.

"Suiton: Mizurappa!"

"Katon: Gokakyū no Jutsu!"

Water shot out of my clones' mouths into the air. As the water collided, Sasuke sent his giant fireball upward. The water immediately turned into vapor upon contact with the fireball. The vapor quickly covered the area, hiding the samurai army. It might not seem useful, but Dotō's army would waste more ammunition than they needed to even kill one person.

Fourteen of my clones stopped in their tracks as I and the rest of the clones moved past the first wave of Dotō's army. We killed those who stood in our way but didn't stop to do that. The enemies also didn't bother to go after us which was a good thing. When my clones and I were already a distance away, the fourteen clones made a move.

"Katon: Gokakyū no Jutsu!"

"Fūton: Daitoppa!"

When Fūton met Katon, the result was a devastating roast fest. I ignored the scream of pain from the army, more intrigued by the sound of their sizzling flesh. It was music to my ears.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy it much longer since I had to avoid getting hit by the barrage of kunai. I blocked those that I couldn't avoid with my tantō. When the barrage stopped, I had lost half of my remaining clones. It didn't matter, though, as I was already right in front of the gate of Dotō's castle. The soldiers did try to stop me, but their effort was futile.

I was about to enter the castle when a mechanical arm came flying my way. I dodged to the side, letting it hit the ground behind me. The power behind the mechanical arm was enough to shatter the ground. The owner of the arm soon revealed himself. It was Dotō's fat retarded lackey.

"You are not going to pass me."

I had no time to deal with him, so I decided to leave him for Sasuke to handle. A quick utilization of Shunshin later, I was right behind him. Before he could react, I slapped a Chakra Disruption Tag on his armor. My research on the Chakra Control Seal had led me to discover it. It was quite humorous when I remembered how I had found it.

I pushed Chakra into my foot and kicked the fat guy in the spine. His armor was sturdy enough to nullify a huge chunk of the impact, but I was sure it hurt like hell. His shooting forward due to the force indicated that. I had done as much as I could, so I would leave the rest to Sasuke. The tag couldn't be peeled off, but it would wear off in half an hour. I hadn't perfected it yet.

Entering the castle, I avoided confrontation by using Kakuremi no Jutsu. I suppressed my Chakra as much as I could and blended into the surroundings. I took out the device that the samurai had given me. It was a tracking device that detected the tag they had put on Koyuki before she was captured. As such, finding her was not a hard task.

She was in a basement, trapped in a cell like some criminal. Sakura was right beside her, having a collar-like device around her neck. I couldn't feel her Chakra, so I assumed it was a Chakra disruption device. I looked around before I revealed myself. It was obvious that it was a trap, but I walked into it regardless. I had no choice.

"Finally. It's about time you hand me the key."

Dotō appeared from the shadow, fulfilling the criteria of being the main villain. His soldiers followed after him, including the pink-haired lackey whose face I wanted to smash.

"How about we do this without bloodshed?" he suggested slimily. "The key for your teammate and your client."

"I am not here to bargain, oversized monkey," I scoffed.

"We will do it the hard way, then. Men, go after him!"

The twenty-three soldiers rushed at me. I guessed it was his best soldiers given that he believed they were enough to wind me up. Life is not fair. While some people were born with minuscule Chakra but great control over it, some were born with so much Chakra that they could barely control it. I was the latter. In a world where Chakra made a difference, I was unstoppable despite my size.

"…what?"

I was sure the disbelieving remark wasn't said on purpose. I couldn't blame Dotō for that, though. I would be astonished, too, witnessing a child kill twenty-three armed men in less than half a minute. However, unlike him, I would stop gaping at the blood-covered kid when he approached me.

"I suppose Konoha lived up to its name," he mumbled before turning to the pink-haired lackey. "Fubuki, take that kid. Don't hesitate to kill him."

The pink-haired lackey called Fubuki ran to the side and then up the wall before jumping down. A pair of wings came out of her back, allowing her to glide at me. Several ice needles materialized behind her. She sent them to me, but I easily avoided them. It was a distraction, however, seeing that she was already before me, ready to stab me with her sword.

Bam!

Unfortunately for her, I saw everything. It was extremely satisfying to see her confident smirk crumble as I slammed her head into the ground.

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Honorary Mention:

Faisal Salih

Florin Durbaca

Friday

Jamaul Pryor

Luck George