Land Of Snow Arc (13) : Escape.

Tachibana ducked on the ledge along with Koyuki as he peered over the edge to see the reaction of the two shinobi who rushed out of the bathrooms wearing towels.

"Why the alar-" Koyuki asked in a whisper but Tachibana interrupted her before she finished.

"Because the other guard probably got suspicious."

The shinobi who just walked out of the bathrooms acknowledged each other's presence before walking up to their clothes basket where they'd deposited their armour. Just as they pulled out their baskets, Tachibana threw at them four kunai with explosive tags attached.

The shinobi immediately detected the kunai, but with nothing to protect themselves from it, they were blown to smithereens.

*BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM*

A loud explosion filled the palace and Tachibana ducked behind the window with Koyuki as they took cover from the hot gasses that flew above their heads.

Once the explosion died down, Tachibana confirmed the deaths of the two shinobi and picked up Koyuki before rushing along the castle walls.

"Which place would be the safest here Koyuki-sama!?" Tachibana asked in a hurry causing Koyuki to frown for a few seconds before she replied.

"The treasury. It takes a long time to open from the outside. But there is a secret pathway that allows one to enter the treasury that is hard to find. If no one else knows of the secret pathway then we will be pretty safe in there."

Tachibana nodded and started to follow Koyuki's directions when his vision shifted and he saw a grappling hook fly out of one of the windows and pierce his stomach and grab him.

Tachibana jumped backwards but tossed a kunai with an explosion tag on it at the exact spot where the grappling hook aimed to ambush them.

*BBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM*

Another explosion went off and Tachibana barely managed to keep his footing on the icy castle walls as he used his spirit vision to scout for his opponent.

Digging his shinobi pouch for a few shurikens, Tachibana launched them through the smoke in hopes that they would damage their enemy.

*ting* *tung* *ting*

Hearing the shuriken do nothing against the armour that protected the shinobi, Tachibana immediately used the transformation jutsu to change his appearance.

The smoke soon cleared and revealed to both parties each other's identities.

"I didn't expect to see you here Yamato. But I guess we'll be finishing our match from earlier won't we?"

"Nadare.", Tachibana spoke with distaste.

'Damn…did it have to be the strongest one of them all?'

'At least it isn't Doto…'

'Now how do I run away from here…'

Tachibana didn't get much time to think since Nadare started to weave hand seals almost immediately.

"Ice Release: Snowflake Forest!"

The ice on the surface of the castle walls cracked, speeding towards Tachibana as it started to grow out small spikey protrusions that only grew with the distance they travelled.

"Is that all!?" Tachibana taunted as he threw across four simple kunai.

"Haha~ Really? You're using wire Kunai? What happened to your Wood Style jutsus? Run out of chakra already!?" Nadare simply blocked all the kunai with the armour covering his hands.

He wrapped the wire attached to the kunai with his gloved hands and pulled on it to drag Tachibana directly into the growing spikes of ice that were moving towards him.

As soon as he pulled the wire, however, he suddenly felt a lack of resistance from Tachibana. And when he looked at him, Tachibana had stopped sticking to the wall with chakra.

Hanging from Nadare with the help of the kunai and wire, Tachibana swung along with Koyuki, aiming for a window on another floor of the castle.

By the time Nadare understood Tachibana's plan, it was already too late. He tried to pull back the wire to misdirect Tachibana's trajectory so he couldn't reach the window, but as soon as Nadare pulled the wire back, Tachibana let it go and stuck his feet to the castle wall once again and slipped into the window while sliding on the icy walls.

"You! You're not Yamato are you!?" Nadare shouted as he broke into a frantic rush to capture Tachibana and Koyuki, except as soon as he entered the window, Tachibana had already applied explosive seals to blow up behind him and destroy the room.

While it wouldn't kill Nadare, it would at least delay him long enough for them to escape.

*BBBOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM*

And that's what happened.

Nadare immediately activated the pink shield to block the explosive flames while Tachibana exited the room along with Koyuki, following her directions to rush to a secret spot in the castle where they could stay until help arrived.

Tachibana rushed through the corridors without stopping for guards and such depending on how Koyuki directed him. Eventually after using a paper clone to send people in a different direction than they were going, Tachibana and Koyuki arrived at a dead end.

"Where to from here?" Tachibana asked softly, his breath unsteady since he had been running all this time with Koyuki on his back.

"Pull that scone! That'll allow us to flip this wall."

Tachibana nodded and moved towards a gold candlestick that was mounted on the wall and pulled it down.

Sounds of gears turning around echoed through the corridor causing Tachibana to panic.

"It's so loud!"

Koyuki bit her lips but didn't reply. Instead, she looked behind herself towards the other end of the corridor from where she heard several muffled noises and footsteps of people coming to them.

The noises stopped in a few seconds and Tachibana quickly pushed the wall and entered the secret pathway behind it before the wall sealed itself once again.

The space behind the wall was well-lit with a halogen light bulb connected by a string of wires and other regularly placed bulbs.

Koyuki finally got off Tachibana's back and leaned on the wall, placing her ear to see if there was anyone else on the other side who might've seen where they'd escaped.

Tachibana stayed silent and let Koyuki play detective.

After a few minutes when nothing happened and everything seemed alright, Tachibana collapsed onto the floor panting deeply as he tried to fill his burning lungs with oxygen.

Taking her time, Koyuki collapsed on the floor too while making sure they didn't make too much noise.

"When will your team mates arrive?" Koyuki finally asked.

"They should be here in another couple of hours. The Blimp came here in about five or six hours, so they should be here in ten."

"I understand."

"By the way, why did Doto let you live? Why didn't he just take the key and toss you out of the blimp to your death?"

Koyuki shook her head, "The plan to trick him with a fake didn't work. He immediately noticed that the one I had on me wasn't the original."

"Hmmm…is there something special about the original?"

"...I dunno. My father only gifted it to me saying that it would help me bring spring to the Land of Snow."

"I see…" Tachibana nodded.

'Bring Spring to the Land Of Snow?'

'Was this guy really just a crazy dude or something?'

"You're thinking if he was crazy aren't you?" Koyuki said with a sad *sigh* while holding her knees.

"I mean…"

"I get it…who would believe there'd ever be spring in a country that is called the Land of Snow."

Tachibana shook his head and stood up.

"Let's go to the treasury. It's probably safer in there anyway."

Koyuki nodded and they left the spot from where they'd entered, walking deep into the well-lit tunnel as they made their way to the treasury.