Chapter 110: Asama's Worries
Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke exchanged a look.
The former clearly didn't understand Sakura's meaning. The latter, however, instantly opened and closed his Sharingan, a black tomoe flashing past, using it to send a signal, indicating that he had also noticed the abnormality.
"Sigh, Takehiko, it's all in the past. Just let it go," Asama Sandayū sighed. "Besides, if someone accidentally lets it slip and attracts the Snow Ninja, we'll be finished."
"Snow Ninja? The Land of Snow has ninja too?" Naruto interjected curiously.
"Yes, although not many, they have several Jonin," Director Asama said.
Hearing this, Sakura's delicate brows also furrowed slightly, and she asked a few questions. "A small country like the Land of Snow has Jonin? Logically speaking, it should already be very difficult for such a country to train ninja, let alone have several Jonin... Could it be that they're just Jonin in name only?"
"No... they have very strong ninja, no worse than your Jonin."
The one who spoke was Fujikaze Yukie, who had been uninterested in this kind of topic.
Sakura was a little surprised. She wanted to ask back, You dare to make such a comment? Have you ever seen a Konoha Jonin in action? But seeing that after hearing her words, the two Asama men not only did not refute but instead looked as if they were tacitly agreeing, she immediately felt that there must be a hidden story.
However, if the others were unwilling to speak, there was nothing they could do.
Asama Sandayū then spoke again, "Ninja-samas, please rest assured. We are just a film crew here to shoot on location, not people looking for trouble. I'm sure the Snow Ninja will not attack us for no reason."
Asama Takehiko opened his mouth but stopped himself from speaking.
Seeing their worried expressions, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto actually found it hard to understand.
After all, a film crew, no matter how you looked at it, didn't seem like the type to provoke foreign ninja. Why be so worried? Besides—
"Although I don't know how strong the Snow Ninja you're talking about are, as long as you operate within our protection range, ordinary ninja won't be able to harm you," Sasuke said with a calm and confident smile. "Besides, a mission with combat is what deserves the title of a B-rank mission!"
Sakura could see the blazing battle intent in his eyes.
After all, his strength has improved again these past few days thanks to the video review. And yet he's still being steadily suppressed by the real Sakura. He must be naturally looking for a suitable opponent to test his own growth!
Naruto, whose spirits were always high and upward, slapped the table and stood up, echoing, "That's right! On the name of the Konoha ninja, we will definitely protect you!"
The resounding statements from the two Konoha ninja swept away the unease in everyone's hearts, and the atmosphere became lively again.
However, Sakura noticed that there were still three people whose emotions were not quite right: the two Asama men and Fujikaze Yukie.
She took a couple more glances. Yukie's spirits were a little low, a look of sorrow on her face. Sakura didn't know the reason, and worried about overstepping her bounds with someone she didn't know well, she didn't know what to say to her.
The Asama uncle and nephew, on the other hand, were a little anxious and restless, as if they felt that if a strong enemy really did come, they might not be able to hold them off, and they were dismissive of Naruto and Sasuke's confidence.
"Director Asama, you really don't need to worry about the safety issue," Sakura comforted him. "To be honest with you, in our training these past few days, we haven't even used a third of our strength."
Director Asama's expression was momentarily one of astonishment.
Three days later, the cruise ship docked at a coastal city in the Land of Snow.
"This place is even poorer than the Land of Waves," Naruto said, jumping down from the cruise ship and walking on the shabby pier. He looked at the simple city before him, which could be taken in with a single glance, and couldn't help but be a little surprised.
"This seems to be one of the larger cities in the Land of Snow," Sasuke also jumped down, looking at the coastal street with a bit of gloom. The sparse flow of people and the low-rise shops looked even less prosperous than some of the villages in Konoha.
"Ninja-samas, this place is called Asakusa," a crew member who had come down to the shore on a rope ladder explained from behind. "It's already one of the two largest ports in the Land of Snow. But I'm afraid there are no shops selling ninja tools here."
"As expected," Sasuke shook his head. "No matter, we're just going to buy a few clothes."
He looked down and tugged at the clothes on his body, which had a few faint black marks on them, as if they had been roasted by fire. If his other clothes weren't even more tattered, he wouldn't be walking on the street in this beggar's outfit.
Naruto's was even worse. The clothes he was wearing had several long rips and holes of various sizes, all traces left by the wind jutsu, looking more like fishnet stockings than clothes.
The yellow-haired boy looked down and counted the holes in his clothes and said with a pained, gloomy face, "It's all Sakura-chan's idea. She said I should use wind jutsu to dry my clothes, and this is how they ended up."
Hehe, the black-haired youth on the side laughed to himself. This guy only dares to complain a little when Sakura isn't around.
"If everyone's here, let's go," Sasuke said, no longer talking about clothes. Seeing that the crew members in charge of procurement had all come ashore, he called for everyone to set out.
This was the sixth day since the crew had officially entered the filming state. Everything was still going smoothly, and the filming schedule was half completed. The Snow Ninja that the Asama uncle and nephew had been worried about were also nowhere to be seen.
The only problem was that they had been filming in the desolate, snowy outskirts of the Land of Snow. The seaside towns they occasionally passed through were also very poor, and they couldn't buy many supplies. A few small towns had even mistaken them for pirates and had fled from a distance when they saw them dock. Not a single person could be seen in the town, let alone buying anything.
So they had no choice but to make a special trip to Asakusa to purchase the supplies they would need later. To save time, the crew had split into two groups. One group had sailed over to buy things, accompanied by Sasuke and Naruto, while the other part was filming near Asakusa, guarded by Haruno Sakura.
Let's look at the other side.
"Cut!" Director Asama shouted, then looked down at the footage he had shot. "Alright, this take is good! Prepare for the next scene!"
Then, a staff member came over with a blanket and draped it over Fujikaze Yukie. Asama Sandayū handed her a hot coffee. The rest of the people went about their business, and the entire crew began to skillfully set up the next scene.
Haruno Sakura sat on the top of a tall fir tree not far away, watching the dozens of crew members working in an orderly manner under Director Asama's command. She could only swing her feet in boredom, her little white legs dangling and bumping against each other.
This kind of guard duty was actually very tedious. Most of the time, there was nothing to do, yet she couldn't be distracted and do other things; she had to stay vigilant.
Although it seemed there were no enemies to be vigilant about.
The crew's biggest enemy was nature—the most thrilling time was when a megaphone had suddenly malfunctioned, blaring at maximum volume, and then triggered an avalanche on a nearby snow-capped mountain. Fortunately, Sakura had timely used an Ice Style defensive ninjutsu to create a sufficiently thick ice wall to protect everyone, and the group had been lucky enough to escape disaster.
Director Asama had been so scared at that time he couldn't move, thinking he was going to die. And yet he was still able, while trembling, to film the magnificent scene of facing the avalanche with the most professional attitude. Sakura was instantly filled with respect for his spirit.
Other than that, it was all just unremarkable small matters, which was really uninspiring.
Especially now that she was the only one on guard duty, she was lonely and humming a song, "In this vast world of mortals~ find a wife to love me~" feeling that the mission was extremely boring.
"Hmph~ where are the promised Snow Ninja~" She even began to hope that some Snow Ninja would actually come and attack them, although no matter how you looked at it, it was an unreliable thing.
The girl stood up and looked around, with nothing to do.
"Snow Ninja~ where are you~ Snow Ninja~ where are you~ Sno... eh?" She froze for a moment, feeling as if she had discovered something. "Is this... a jinx?"
The next second, a giant snow whale suddenly rose up and completely swallowed the girl's figure!
"Ice Style - One-Horned White Whale!"
RUMBLE— After swallowing the girl, the enormous snow whale crashed onto the ground with its remaining momentum, stirring up a surging airwave and creating an ugly, huge white patch in this fir forest.
"Tch... a small fry," a middle-aged ninja with a ponytail who had appeared along with the ninjutsu said, pursing his lips and spitting with disdain. "To be able to die by my ninjutsu is an honor for you!"
He didn't think that the girl, who looked very weak, could have survived his ninjutsu.
"Hmm... speaking of which, there are still two more people? Forget it, the two little mice have probably gotten scared and are hiding!" He turned his gaze to the crew not far away, a wicked smile on his lips. "I'll just complete the mission directly. No need to waste effort on small fry!"
Meanwhile, the crew on the other side, which had been carrying out their filming work in an orderly manner, had fallen into chaos after seeing the sudden appearance of the ninjutsu—
"D-director, that's not an avalanche, is it?!" the lighting technician asked, trembling, the prop in his hand having fallen onto the snow without him even noticing.
"You idiot, there aren't even any big mountains around here. Where would an avalanche come from! It's-it's probably a ninja's ninjutsu!" another staff member who was leaning on a reflector as a staff cursed.
"It's the Snow Ninja..." Asama Sandayū's face was pale as he looked at the familiar ninjutsu and muttered to himself. "They really came..."
"Hey, are you kidding me! That Konoha girl is gone! She couldn't have died, right!"
"I think I saw her get hit... Didn't they say she was really strong? They must have been lying. To be gone so easily! Director, let's run!"
"Run where! Stop shouting and calm down!" Asama Takehiko reprimanded his subordinate, feigning composure. "We can't run away anyway!"
Now that he said that, everyone became even more panicked.
And the composure on this guy's face, as if Mount Tai were collapsing before him without a change in color, only lasted for two seconds before it broke—because at that moment, the Snow Ninja's ice jutsu really was crashing down on them like Mount Tai!
"Ice Style - One-Horned White Whale!"
The crowd watched in despair as the mountain-sized ice whale covered half the sky above them and pressed down on them with the force of a landslide!
BANG—!
A rumbling collision sound rolled through the forest, and a thick snow mist blotted out the sun and sky.
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