Ch167. The reason why the 'Land of Snow'

"We are back and bringing gifts!" Konan jovially said as she opened the portal to the mansion in Uzushio where they currently stayed and stepped inside, right into the living room.

Mei was somewhat sullen on the way back from Yukigakure, muttering something about snow-brained dunderheads but Konan didn't pay much attention to her. Now that they were back, Konan barely finished her first sentence when Mei rudely whizzed past her, flopping down onto an empty seat next to Ringo who was polishing her swords, and released a fed-up sigh.

That only prompted Pakura and her apprentice, Maki, to shoot her amused glances, momentarily breaking their excited but quiet chattering which was becoming a more and more common sight these days. Especially since Pakura tried to stick to Rei like glue since he saved her and Maki tried to stick with Pakura.

Nowadays, seeing Rei in a room without these two when they were at home was almost an impossibility and it took some weeks for Mei and a bit less for other girls to get used to it. Even the corners of Tsunade's eyes seemed to twitch a lot these days whenever Pakura was nearby. Only Konna thought it was cute how the strict and no-nonsense S-rank kunoichi got all flustered whenever she was alone with Rei.

As for Rei... he decided to simply take it in strides and mostly tune them out. Most of the time, there was Maki right behind Pakura and that meant they could entertain themselves by chatting while he worked on seals anyway.

"Gifts?" Rei asked, stopping his game of cards with a very disgruntled and obviously losing Tsunade who eyed the pile of papers promising free favors she lost in the last hour. He looked towards Konan who excitedly walked in and then he tilted his head at the sight of an unknown white-haired woman wearing Konan's cloak over her quite tattered and already useless clothes.

Konan just gestured at the woman, "This is Yukimi Yuriko and you wouldn't believe where I found her and what she can do..." Konan promptly walked towards Rei and sat on his lap before starting to explain what she found deep in the underground tunnels of Yukigakure just as Yuriko took the closest seat to the door in the room.

Needless to say, Rei was flabbergasted at the fact the chakra armor cores had to be jump-started by Senjutsu chakra of Yuriko. His mind quickly started to go through theories upon theories of how is that possible and his eyes almost shone when he realized the potential of such a discovery, especially since he owned a dimension filled with the most potent, never-ending free nature energy.

Rei gave Yuriko a not-so-discreet once-over and made her nervously fidget which made Tsunade a bit sorry for her. Once upon a time, Yuriko must have been a strong and proud kunoichi. Especially if she knows how to use Senjutsu. That was not something some common chump could learn. The only one she knew with that ability was her grandfather so it was an incredible achievement and prompted a question of how exactly did she get caught by a third-rate village such as Yukigakure. Alas, now... Yuriko was nervous, afraid of her own shadow, and flinching at every sudden movement. Simply, the woman was a mess.

'Ten years of imprisonment and used as a lab rat. It would be useless to talk about her reaching her full potential in such a state. She would need a whole lot of mental therapy if she is going to get anywhere close to where she was before that experience. As for exceeding it...' Tsunade sighed and shook her head, joining Ringo, and Mei in not caring about the situation. With that, the conversation ended for her. Whatever scientific crap they were going to talk about was not her problem. She was a doctor and that's where she drew her line.

"Looks like the Land of Snow is an incredible treasure trove." Rei leaned back into the couch with a gentle and satisfied smile, enjoying Konan straddling him while their eyes refused to part.

"Aha! I knew you had an ulterior motive in coming here the second I discovered Yuriko!" Konan poked Rei's chest with her pointing finger, narrowing her eyes at him in a cat-like manner. "Spill. What is the really important thing you acquired here? I doubt it is the country or a place for a village. We could as easily make one in other lands or heck, even underwater, if we wanted. There must be more to 'why here'."

Rei could only give her a wry grin, 'As expected of Konan. She knows me too well to not realize it.'

Shrugging, he started speaking, "Yeah. The biggest reason was the 'Spring Generator' as they call it." All of the people present knew what he was talking about. After all, Rei did tell them about its existence even before he even went to the Land of Snow. It was just that neither of them knew of its real importance. "The thing is... what the Spring Generator does is basically, in simple terms, persuading nature energy to switch its attribute. The nature energy might be the same everywhere but in snowy lands it has a bit of a different aspect than let's say in forests. The generator does not change the nature energy itself, it just tricks it into changing the aspect which affects the land." Rei's face twitched at such an idiotic description but honestly, this was the simplest way for all to understand.

Tsunade, as the only Senjutsu user present apart from Rei, actually snorted, causing Rei to chuckle at her before humming in agreement.

"Nature energy is everywhere and it is shaping the world around us. Its predominant trait that every Sage could tell you is that it can NOT be changed at will. Even when a Sage mixes it with his chakra to create Senjutsu Chakra, it is not like the nature energy ceased to be nature energy. That is the whole reason why using it is dangerous. That is the reason why this entire thing is just so ridiculous. These scientists did something even people like Hashirama were unable to. As for explaining the theory behind it... that would take ages so I will just say the important stuff," Rei shrugged. He could feel all pairs of eyes in the room having their utmost attention on him.

"What the scientist of the Land of Snow managed was basically create something that could revolutionize the world. A way to use devices to affect the environment through nature energy which is the main element forming it. Just imagine instead of changing the environment to spring, changing it to a lava-filled place. It would be an instant bye-bye to an entire country. A forbidden Jutsus would lose their 'forbidden' meaning if this fact came out." Yes, Rei was really surprised when he found out the scientist in this backward world created something more powerful than an actual nuke by a sheer fluke. And while setting it up would be hard and require time and utmost secrecy... it was still not an impossible task and that is where the problems lay. "There is no way I could leave something like this in the wind. Nope, I naturally already secured all blueprints and plans for the generator. Fortunately, no single person knows how to create the whole thing."

This revelation shocked some and scared the other people in the room. Just imagining such a power...

As for the problems with setting it up, this was a world with ninjas in it. Secret operations were something that happened on a daily basis here but they usually didn't have much of an impact.

"Anyway, we should probably return to the original theme." Rei said, pulling the girls out of their thoughts as they looked at him with confused gazes so he turned his head in the direction of the newest addition and reminded them, "Yuriko."