Land Of Snow Arc (5) : Strategic Retreat!

The fire receded leaving behind a charred corpse with armour attached to it and a completely unharmed Tachibana.

Tachibana checked himself for any damages other than the wound on his arm, he immediately looked at the other people on the snow-clad glacier.

No one seemed to be in dire need of his help, not even Sakura since Yamato had already used his clones to provide support to all the other genin in the battle.

"How cheap. I'm the last one you decide to help Yamato sensei?" Tachibana complained as he looked at the wood clone that was digging its head out of the snow and looking around to help Tachibana escape his enemy.

"You already got yours?" The clone asked with surprise.

"Yep. Teleportation using a spark has the ability to catch people off guard after all."

"...*sigh* why do you always make me feel useless."

"That's because you are…anyway, I hope you can help me examine this guy's armour so that we can beat those guys. They have this annoying pink shield that pops up and can negate pretty much all damage."

"Seriously?" The clone asked since it had been in the snow all this time.

"Yep. I only killed him because I surprised him. Everyone else is stuck with trying to find a way to break through."

The clone looked around for a moment before nodding.

"It probably won't be easy for us to find a weakness in their armour. Let's take the body along with us and retreat for now. We can fight them better when we know exactly what's keeping them immune from our attacks."

"Alright." Tachibana nodded and pulled out a storage scroll to seal away the body of his enemy.

The wooden clone had already vanished from its place, going around to help everyone else retreat for now.

Tachibana sent one last look at everyone else's battlefield and rushed back to the ship.

Naruto looked at his enemy and growled. His eyes had turned red in colour and his fangs had turned sharper.

"If shadow clones don't work against you! Then I'll beat you up myself!!" Naruto shouted as he rushed towards the barwler who rushed with a maddened smile towards Naruto.

"Haha~ Kid you're strong! I give you that! But you're naive!!!"

Just as Naruto's punch was about to reach the man, a pair of hands reached out from underneath and grabbed the man into the snow.

Yamato's clone appeared behind Naruto at that moment and pulled him back, "Let's return Naruto! We need to go! We are taking a tactical retreat!"

"...tactical retreat?" Naruto asked with confusion. But he was already being carried back by Yamato's clone.

Sakura and Sasuke were the next ones to be helped since their Yamato clones worked together to perform the-

"Wood Release: Pathway to Hell Jutsu."

-which caused bushes of thorns to emerge out of the snow and force the two enemies back while Sakura and Sasuke retreated.

Finally, it was Yamato's turn but he wanted to make sure they wouldn't be followed in their retreat so he performed a series of hand seals as he slammed the floor to perform an S-Class Jutsu.

"Wood Release: World Tree Bloom!"

The entire glacier trembled, and suddenly from the spot Yamato was standing in a small sapling sprouted.

The sapling rapidly grew under the gaze of all the enemy shinobi into a large tree, but it didn't stop there, the tree kept growing with its roots burrowing into the surrounding ice to grow into new trees. This process kept repeating and soon the glacier was being flooded by trees.

"NO!!! DON'T TOUCH THEM!!!" Nadare shouted as he spotted one of his team members fighting back against the tree roots that were about to curl around his foot.

But he was too late.

As soon as the man tried to use his ice jutsu, the roots suddenly shot towards the man and pierced his body.

"My chakra!!! I can't use anymore chak-" The man shouted but midway through his screams the tree root that had pierced him had grown an entirely new tree out of his body.

Nadare looked around at the escaping Team Seven and spoke with a little disappointment.

"Let's leave, Doto-sama will find us another chance."

Back on the ship, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and even Tachibana along with the rest of the crew on the ship were left dumbstruck by the scale of the jutsu Yamato had pulled off.

"The hell! If you could do this earlier! Why didn't you do that!?" Tachibana complained, even Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke looked at him with a frown.

Yamato who was sweating spoke after performing an S-rank jutsu and explained himself softly, "I can't control that thing once it's completed. It would've trapped you too if you weren't careful. And it's not like I can do much after using that. It takes nearly all my chakra to pull off."

That was when Naruto spoke with a slight bit of amazement, "Yamato-sensei…you're the best!!!"

Yamato smiled when he heard that and with a blush ruffled Naruto's hair as he spoke with a bold voice, "Hahahahah~! Aren't I the best!!???"

Tachibana shook his head and interrupted their happy time, "Don't we still have to inspect the armour we stole? So that we're better prepared next time?"

Yamato instantly stopped smiling and nodded, "We have work to do but before that, we need to talk with Miss Fujikaze."

Everyone's eyes fell on Fujikaze who was staring at the Glacier that had been engulfed by a forest.

Meeting in a room made off-limits to everyone other than the Director, his assistant, Fujikaze, her assistant Sandayu, and the entirety of Team Seven. Everyone was looking at Sandayu.

"I told you I didn't want to come back here! But you forced me! Now you know just how desperate they are to get me back!" Fujikaze nearly shouted.

Sandayu only kept his head bowed and spoke softly once Fujikaze was silent.

"Princess, I really hope you can reconsider. Everyone in the country has gathered one last time to rebel against Doto's reign. He has been nothing but a curse for the Land of Snow! He kills whoever displeases him. He uses everyone for his aim to make weapons to fight against the Shinobi Nations! He is a tyrant!"

Tears were streaming down Sandayu's face as he finished his plea.

But Fujikaze wasn't moved.

"Do you really think we'll survive going against an entire country!? Do you really think once we kill him, we'll be able to gain everyone trust and support? If everyone is so against him why are they even listening to him? Why don't they just kill him!?"

Sandayu rubbed the tears on his face as he explained, "He wears a strange armour that automatically stops anyone that comes close to him. And he has mastered a lot of forbidden Ice jutsu. But even still we have the power of these shinobi by our side! We can win! Trust me Koyuki-sama! We can win!"

"Koyuki? Isn't her name Yukie Fujikaze? She's an actress right?" Naruto asked innocently.

No one answered for a minute but Yamato explained slowly, "Her real identity is Koyuki Kazahana, she's been on the run since she was seven. Konoha was the one that saved her on a mission issued by her father twenty years ago."

"Don't bring up memories of that wretched man!!!!" Koyuki shouted as tears filled her eyes. "I still remember him promising me about the spring that was to come to the Land of Snow!! However, the Land of Snow still remains covered by a blanket of death!"