48. The Land of Snow

Aiko looked at the white landscape around him curiously, he had gotten bored of the sea after sailing in the ship for three continuous days to reach the land of snow a country which befitting its name was actually covered in snow and ice all year long.

It was Aiko's first time experiencing an environment this cold and truth be told he oddly felt a sense of ease as if he was accustomed to such a climate, making him puzzled. But this feeling got quickly over written by a sense of restlessness, one that he hadn't felt since the kyubi's attack.

"Finally" muttered Jiraiya looking at the snow covered ground beneath his feet.

"Aiko kun let's go, Land of snow is one of the rare peaceful countries you could find on the continent, due to its remote location and harsh climate, the land had almost escaped all wars unscathed." said Jiraiya explaining a bit of knowledge he had on this country.

They quietly followed the people from the shore and soon reached a huge building complex, the largest Aiko had seen till now, but what amazed him was that it had a huge path passing through the middle of the building, with people waiting on both sides of it.

Jiraiya paid some money to the armoured man carrying a large sword and got two pieces of paper in return. Aiko looked at the armoured man curiously as shinobis rarely carried such large swords, but the man had way more chakra to be a simple civilian.

"He is a Samurai, many small countries still follow the tradition of hiring samurai warriors as guards and protectors." said Jiraiya in a low voice noticing Aiko's curious gaze, The samurais and shinobis, even though their jobs might be similar, their work ethics were totally different as shinobis were taught to put their mission first and became a perfect weapon for their employers, Samurais were taught to put honor above all else even their own life.

Aiko nodded his head in understanding as he had read about them, he even knew that there was a country made up of them who refused to accept shinobi tradition known as the 'land of iron'. Looking at the man's heavy costume he was a bit curious about his fighting style.

A loud noise attracted Aiko's attention and he saw a huge metallic construct slowly entering the middle in the middle, before coming to a stop and the doors towards its side opened and people started exiting and entering it.

"It is called a train, a major way of transport in the land of snow" explained Jiraiya, as they quickly boarded the vehicle and sat in their designated seats and their journey to the capital began.

...................

'That was quick.' thought Aiko as he got out of the train with a bit of longing, as he had found the train ride to be an enjoyable experience.

The capital city of the land of snow, the city where the daimyo of the land resided, was a small but prosperous city, with a moderate population of people dressed in thick clothes and houses with huge chimneys releasing smoke hopefully keeping the residents of the house warm. Aiko also saw a lot of wheel less vehicles gliding easily in the snow pulled by furry animals.

Aiko wore a white fur coat with black shoes, while Jiraiya wore a red coat and brown shoes, the strange red and white haired duo gathered quite a bit of attention in the sparsely filled streets of the city.

Aiko noticed that the Samurais they passed by seemed tense by their aura and all were moving towards the north side of the city.

Even though the land was covered in snow, the sky was clear and dark shining with stars, that was also the reason Aiko looked up curiously, when he felt something fall on his head.

..................…..

"Father is always busy" mumbled a girl with a pout on her cute face as she walked in the hallway decorated with paintings and luxurious carpets.

"He is the Daimyo after all, princess, lord really wanted to accompany you." said a woman who was dressed in maid costume following behind the little girl.

"Hmph, you always say that." said the girl with annoyance in her voice but did not continue further as she walked with a lonely expression on her face. The girl who was about five to six years of age, had short black hair tied in two low ponytails. She wore a pink dress with an obi just below her chest and a headdress wrapped around her forehead.

She knew her father was working hard to bring spring to the land, but still staying in this huge palace all alone with no body to play with her was extremely boring.

"BOOM", Just when she was thinking what to do a huge explosion shook the whole castle knocking her and the maid off their feet as the wall surrounding the hallway crumbled and people wearing strange armour walked in.

"INTRUDERS…." screamed the maid trying to attract the attention of guards and the assailants as she quickly tried to pull the girl behind her, but went limp when a kunai shot from the strange gadget on one of the assailant's arm pierced her chest ending her life.

The little girl watched horrified as the maid who had taken care of her since she was small, fell lifeless on the ground, all she could do in that situation was tremble, her body refusing to move as fear gripped her.

"Now, C1 and C2 escort our guest, while the remaining of you will come with me to 'greet' the Daimyo properly." said the person who had shot the kunai, his voice sounded weird as if it was modified.

Two people from the group nodded their head and walked towards the girl, quickly tying her up so that she couldn't escape or make any noise.

The girl tried to struggle but felt her body go numb as one of them injected something in her arm, she couldn't even cry for help as she was tied up like a doll.

"Let's meet at the rally point, you will get a 20 minutes headstart." said the person who had spoken before, to his subordinates who nodded their head in acknowledgement, and one of them placed the girl securely to the front side of his armour so that she doesn't hinder their movement.

'20 minutes should be a piece of cake.' he thought looking at the now destroyed hallway and hearing the frantic footsteps of the guards. Today their mission was to kidnap Daimyo's daughter and ask for ransom, though he knew it wasn't as simple as that, he was an intelligent man and knew what questions to ask and what not to ask.

..................….

The Kazahana castle was located on the top of a mountain facing the capital and entirety of the land of snow, it's position granting it a type of natural defense as attackers first had to climb the mountain to attack it. At Least that was what her father had told her, when she had asked why they were living alone in such a large castle on top of a mountain.

Obviously that had not posed any problem for their attackers, as she was now literally flying through the air, she didn't know how but her kidnappers had flown into the air as soon as they had jumped out of the castle. Now she could still hear the sounds of explosions coming from behind her .

'Father, Yumi san' she thought, feeling scared, as tears dripped from her eyes quickly turning into beads of ice as they fell on the ground far below her.