Chapter 74

Last time:

"Shit, Naruto-san!" He muttered under his breath and ran towards the location where Naruto fell.

Now:

~ With Naruto ~

Naruto internally groaned as Doto looked to him, the arrow in Koyuki's hands the only thing keeping him from taking a nose dive a few hundred feet to the ground. "Now, now, we can't have a stowaway princess." Doto said with a smirk. He took a sudden nose dive and with a quick slash, cut the Teflon rope. "Shit!" Naruto yelled as he fell. "Now princess, we must get going." Doto said as he flew towards the large snow cliffs. Naruto looked down to see a large range of trees coming towards him at a quick pace. He quickly positioned himself feet first and began channeling chakra to his feet.

When he passed the first tree branch on his way to the ground level, his hand quickly shot out and grabbed onto a nearby branch. With the agility of a gymnast, he used it to swing towards his left, sending himself flying at another tree trunk. As soon as his feet and the tree trunk made contact, he let out the chakra in one big burst, letting him stick to the surface and escape the worst of the fall. "Alright, you bastard, now it's personal." He muttered as he took off towards the direction Doto was flying. Below him, the director and camera crew came in a slow moving vehicle. "Quickly, after him! This is pure gold!" He yelled excitedly.

~ Glacier Plains ~

Doto smirked as he landed in the middle of the ice plains. As he landed in the large clearing, he pushed Koyuki away from himself and headed towards a small shrine in the shape of a water well. "Yes, now the Kazahana fortune will be mine!" He yelled in an excited voice. "So this is all about money, huh?" Koyuki asked in a low voice. Doto nodded as he took out the hex crystal from his pocket and looked to the shrine. In a rooftop about half a mile away, Naruto watched the proceedings through a pair of binoculars. "Shit, this is bad.." He muttered under his breath as he assessed the situation.

'Alright, that armor he has looks a lot like the armor the other nins were wearing. If it's the same kind, then any nin or genjutsu is out of the question. So it'll have to be a taijutsu fight..' He mused as he saw Doto walk towards the shrine with the hex crystal in hand. "What the hell, it could be fun." He muttered as he unsealed six exploding arrows and tore off the arrowheads, slipping a small amount of ninja wire through them. Once he was sure they were secured, he aimed his bow one more time and fired off an arrow to Doto, then sped off towards the cliff.

~ With Doto ~

Doto grinned as he inserted the hex crystal into the large shrine and the whole cliff seemed to glow. "Finally, the fortune is mine!" He yelled as he looked around, almost as if expecting a hidden vault to come out of nowhere and open before him. Instead, the snow seemed to be.. melting? 'What the hell..' He began, but was cut off as an arrow buried itself besides him. In a split second, it exploded, filling the clearing with a large amount of smoke. As Naruto ran closer to the clearing, he made a seal less shadow clone. "Get the princess out of here and to a safe location. I'll handle things from here." He instructed, getting a nod in return from the clone as it sped off.

~ With Doto ~

Doto looked around and snarled "Who the hell is responsible?!" Naruto appeared in front of him and with a harsh kick to the stomach, sent him flying a few feet back. "I am." Naruto said out loud, shield in front of him in a defensive position. Koyuki looked in shock at the young Shinobi before her. 'How did he survive that fall?' She wondered, clearly underestimating the abilities he had displayed. Suddenly, a gloved hand covered her mouth and a strong hand pulled her back. "Shh. It's me." The voice said. "Na..naruto-kun?" she asked, slightly ashamed at what she had just called him.

"Yea, now we need to get out of here." The clone instructed as he grabbed her and slipped away from the battle field.

~ With Naruto and Doto ~

Naruto ducked under a heavy hook from Doto and kicked his left knee, making him fall to one knee. "What's the matter, Doto-chan?" Naruto taunted as he grabbed the man's head and slammed it into his knee. "Scared?" He asked, only for the Doto before him to disappear into a poof of smoke. 'A substitution? Then where..' Naruto began, but jumped out of the way as a volley of kunai flew at him. Before they could hit the floor, they exploded, knocking Naruto back a few feet. "I heard from one of my subordinates you liked explosions." Doto said, making Naruto turn to the incoming man.

"Let's see how well you like mine!" He yelled and began firing Kunai after kunai at Naruto. Thinking quickly, Naruto charged towards Doto, avoiding the kunai thrown at him and deflecting a few of them. As soon as he was close enough, he tried to uppercut Doto, only to cringe as a huge pressure slammed into his shield. Doto had his arms hooked together and slammed the full weight down on the shield. Koyuki watched as he uncle slammed the boy with enough force to break the ice under his feet. She turned away, only to be called back to attention by Naruto.

"Don't look away princess!" He yelled, making her turn to see him. Despite the large pressure on his shield, he still held strong. "I'm not going to give up and neither should you!" Naruto yelled, then felt the ice under his feet break. Naruto quickly pushed Doto off of himself and jumped away. Before Doto could retaliate, Cap's shield slammed into his face, knocking him down. He quickly got up and went through a series of hand seals, then thrust his arm out, sending a dark ethereal dragon made of the ice around him. "Ice Release: Black Dragon Blizzard!" Doto yelled.

Naruto barreled out of the way of the dragon and picked up the shield. 'Shit, this is bad.' Doto thought as he looked to the incoming Naruto. 'I'm running low on chakra and I only have enough chakra for one more attack. I better make it count.' Doto thought as he went through a series of hand seals. "Ice Release: Twin Dragon Blizzard!" Doto yelled as he thrust his hands out. From the tips of his hands, twin black dragons were sent flying at him, their ethereal figures made of snow charging directly at Naruto as their red eyes and mouths snarled at him.

Naruto went through a series of hand seals, then looked to the incoming ice dragons. "Lightning Style: Lightning Dragon!" Naruto yelled. A large amount of lightning chakra was discharged from Naruto's hand and charged towards the twin dragons. Naruto charged even more chakra into it, making the lightning dragon grow in size. Doto watched in sheer awe as his twin dragons made of ice were melted as soon as they came in contact with the lightning dragon. Naruto quickly took off towards Doto, fist cocked back and ready to strike.

~ With Yugito, Samui, and Yugito ~

Yugito and Samui got to the clearing atop the cliff in time to see the three large dragons collide. "Naruto, where are you?!" Yugito yelled, trying to find him. Darui quickly landed besides them, looking forward. "Where is Naruto-san?" He asked, buster blade poised and ready to strike. "There." She said as she motioned to the blur charging towards Doto. His fist then began glowing as he channeled large amounts of chakra to his fist. As he got into range, He ducked under a hook from Doto and began releasing the chakra from his fist. Koyuki watched as the large amounts of chakra began to glow when exposed to the heater, taking on various colors.

'Like.. Rainbow chakra!' She realized. Naruto slammed his fist into Doto's chest. As soon as the arrowheads made contact, they exploded, sending Doto flying back and breaking Naruto's fist. Doto slammed harshly into a nearby obelisk of ice, knocking him out cold and cracking the power core of his chakra armor. Naruto fell to the floor, huffing heavily as he tried to catch his breath. He grabbed his shaking fist and watched as the rest of the snow began melting. The large caps of ice melted to beautiful lakes, the once frozen snow gave way to green pastures. Naruto grinned as he watched a smaller version of the princess appear in the middle of the clearing.

'Interesting, a hologram projection? Like Jarvis..' He mused as he watched the young girl say what kind of princess she was going to be. "Now… what happened to that princess?" He wondered as he looked to the younger Koyuki. He laughed as he heard her say she wanted to be an actress. "'Looks like all of your dreams came true, Koyuki..' He mused as he pushed down on his hand, popping the bones back into place before his healing factor kicked in and mended them in the wrong position. Koyuki laughed as she watched her younger self exclaim she wanted to be an actress and for the first time in her life, shed her own tear of joy.

Naruto grinned and fell back into the grass, only to yelp as a sharp burning sensation spread on his ear. He looked up to see Yugito and Samui glaring at him, Darui standing a few feet behind them all in an effort to avoid getting beaten. "What the hell were you thinking, you idiot?!" Samui demanded as she checked his hand to make sure there were no damaged nerves from the explosion. "Just what were you expecting to get by risking your life like that, Naruto-kun?!" Yugito demanded, the harsh glare she had been sending him slightly lessened by the fact he was alright.

Naruto motioned to the crying Koyuki. "Just a happy ending for a girl who wanted to give up.. and to show her there is more to life than just giving up." Naruto replied with a grin, making Yugito blush. She shook her head and pulled him into a deep kiss. Naruto returned the kiss and wrapped an arm around her. "Idiot.." Yugito muttered after she broke the kiss and laid his head on her lap. "Yea, but I'm your idiot." Naruto replied, making her grin and a pink blush spread across her cheeks. Before she could reply, Naruto was gripped by his shirt and pulled up into a kiss with Samui.

"Samui grinned and broke the kiss with a wink. "OUR idiot." She corrected him, making Naruto smirk and pull her and Yugito close to him. "Looks like spring finally came to the land of snow.." He mused as he laid back into the soft grass. "Nothing's broken and the whole hand seems to be mending nicely as a whole.." Samui muttered to him. "Then everything's perfect." Naruto finished with a smirk. With no warning, Koyuki jumped into his lap, making him sit up. She then planted a big, sloppy kiss on his lips, wrapping her arms around his neck. Naruto was shocked by the kiss and the fact the princess used so much tongue, but then realized what was happening.

He felt a freezing cold shiver run up his spine and slowly turned to see a dark aura form around Yugito and Samui. "Koyuki-san.." He began. "Yea, Naruto-kun?" Koyuki asked, oblivious to the danger she was in. "Run!?" Naruto yelled as he grabbed her by her waist and took off. The director filmed as Naruto took off, tears streaming down his face. "We're going to be millionaires!" He yelled happily.

A/N: Yay, and thus, the land of snow arc is complete. There are still a few chapters to go, and to those of you who haven't figured it out, the Akatsuki will be the main antagonists in this story.