Treasure

Seeing Doto and the Snow Ninjas die instantly, the rebels were terrified and fled in all directions.

Shintaro flew into the air and used [Blue] to capture the rebels one by one.

By the time Kakashi escorted Kazahana Koyuki, the rebels had already been piled into a mound by Shintaro.

"Konoha ninjas are truly terrifying." Sosetsu said, trembling as he adjusted his glasses, looking at the mountain of rebels, and couldn't help but sweat coldly.

Power like that was enough for one person to topple an entire country.

Fortunately, the Konoha ninja he hired wouldn't attack his employer. Sosetsu could only comfort himself with this thought.

"Your Majesty Daimyo, the main perpetrator has been killed, and all the remaining rebels are here."

Shintaro turned around, his blue eyes dimly glowing in the night.

"The White-Haired Demon Eyes... Konoha is very fortunate to have sent such a powerful person." Sosetsu said, full of emotion.

"Oh...good, thank you for your help; otherwise, the Land of Snow would have fallen into the hands of my brother. He was an ambitious man, and the Land of Snow would not have fared well under his rule."

At this moment, Koyuki came running, tears streaming down her face.

"Father... I'm scared..."

"Don't be afraid, Koyuki, the bad man has been defeated."

Koyuki hugged her father's leg and peeked out from behind him suspiciously. But when she saw Shintaro, she was frightened and started crying.

Behind Shintaro was a hill formed by the rebels, surrounded by a blood-stained battlefield. Coupled with his intimidating presence, it was indeed enough to make a child cry.

"I'm sorry, my little girl is too shy; please forgive her." Sosetsu said, holding his daughter, afraid of angering the white-haired demon-eyed man.

"It's okay." Shintaro didn't expect to make Koyuki cry, but he didn't care.

"Thank you very much. You saved the Land of Snow." Sosetsu said again, holding Koyuki and expressing his gratitude.

At this moment, a warrior rose from the crowd behind Shintaro. He seemed to be a loyal follower of Doto.

"Don't believe what he says! He's a liar!"

Shintaro and Kakashi turned to see a samurai in armor.

Just now, [Blue] didn't kill this miscellaneous warrior. Moreover, this warrior was lucky enough to be on the outskirts, so there were no serious injuries.

The warrior staggered, pointing at Sosetsu and cursing, "This foolish king collected money recklessly. He hid all the country's wealth and turned it into the Kazahana family's treasure."

"Doto-sama gathered an army because he couldn't stand it any longer. He was the force of justice! Only to overthrow this foolish king!"

Sosetsu's expression changed when he heard this, and Kakashi asked, "Your Majesty, is what he says true?"

Shintaro also looked at Sosetsu. He knew Sosetsu was not the foolish king that Doto portrayed, but he still planned to hear his explanation.

Sosetsu moved his lips but didn't speak. Then he sighed and said, "You both will know what the so-called treasure is."

He hesitated for a moment before releasing his daughter and taking Shintaro and Kakashi to a basin in the valley behind the palace.

The inside of the basin was flat and open, but it was covered with ice and snow. There were several large ice structures around, which didn't seem to be naturally formed.

They came to a pavilion. The top of the pavilion had an antique hexagonal roof, and the bottom was a platform with a small hole in the middle.

Sosetsu lowered Koyuki and removed a necklace from around his neck.

"This is the treasure I left for Koyuki and the Land of Snow."

There was a hexagonal crystal hanging from the necklace. Sosetsu took off the hexagonal crystal, showed it to the two of them, then walked to the pavilion and inserted the hexagonal crystal into the hole.

He then stepped back and waited for the device to activate.

Shintaro was the first to notice the change around them. He saw the snow in the entire basin begin to melt, and the melting snow turned into a stream. White mist began to rise around them, and his body felt warm.

"Is this the treasure? A geothermal generator?" Shintaro muttered.

Sosetsu adjusted his glasses, looking at his daughter as she curiously looked around, and said softly, "Yes, it's a geothermal generator."

After saying this, he looked up at the sky, as if waiting for something.

Under the sunlight, the large ice structures around began to melt slowly, revealing stone pillars and mirrored surfaces.

The sunlight emitted colorful rays after being reflected by the mirrors and refracted by the white mist in the air.

Under the combined influence of the geothermal heat and sunlight, the ice and snow on the ground melted, spring suddenly arrived in the snowy land, and then an image formed out of thin air in the sky.

"Believe in the future, and spring will surely come."

"What will Koyuki do when spring comes?"

In the air, a conversation between Sosetsu and his daughter took place.

"Koyuki will become a princess."

"What kind of princess will you be?"

"Be a gentle, strong, and pious princess."

"That's very difficult, but if you make your dreams your belief and pursue them without giving up, your dreams will surely come true."

"Can you see this? There is a beautiful princess standing here."

In the video, Sosetsu was seen putting the hexagonal crystal necklace on Koyuki.

"But Koyuki still worries about one thing, because she has another dream."

"What? Another dream."

"An actress."

When the video ended, young Koyuki was delighted to see it. She clapped her hands and laughed, feeling it was magical.

However, Sosetsu cried. He took off his glasses and wiped away his tears before calming down.

"I made this geothermal generator not only to show Koyuki a glimpse of spring and preserve that memory for her but also to bring spring to the Land of Snow."

"Although the geothermal generator can currently only be maintained within the scope of this basin, I believe that in time, the Land of Snow will become a country with a climate as pleasant as the Land of Fire."

Both Shintaro and Kakashi were deeply moved by Sosetsu's words.

Kakashi lamented the hardships Sosetsu faced as the daimyo of the Land of Snow. After all, as the daimyo, he didn't use the Land of Snow's money for his own pleasure but instead invested all of it in researching and developing the geothermal generator.

On the other hand, Doto, despite claiming to be a righteous warrior, invested a great deal of resources in researching war weapons like chakra armor, attempting to overthrow Sosetsu's rule and seize power.

The two men came to a conclusion, and the rebellious warrior's earlier statement was also nullified.

But Shintaro's feelings were entirely different.

In his view, the two brothers from the Kazahana family were merely a pair of sleeping dragons and phoenixes.

One person poured vast resources into researching a geothermal generator but didn't publicize it, leading to his being mistaken for a fool.

The other learned of the so-called treasure and hastily launched a rebellion.

However, the experience in the Land of Snow also provided Shintaro with some other benefits.

Originally, Hiruzen sent him to the Land of Snow to suppress the rebellion so that he would realize the consequences of rebellion.

But Shintaro learned the methods of rebellion from it.

This is the moral high ground.

Although Doto rebelled for the so-called treasure and power of the Kazahana family, he gained the support of everyone in the Land of Snow by publicizing his intentions to overthrow Sosetsu's rule, inspiring Shintaro's thoughts.

Hiruzen never imagined that the counter-rebellion mission he assigned would become the driving force behind the overthrow of his own government.