Land of Snow:
Snowy Battlefield :
The frozen battlefield was a chaotic mix of biting arctic wind and stark crimson blood staining the pure white snow. Amidst the din of clashing steel, a sharp, metallic hummed roar sliced through the air from above.
"Long time no see, little Koyuki."
Naruto's head snapped upward as his senses flared, tracking the spike of chakra descending from the sky. He watched as Kazehana Doto glided down, clad in advanced, pitch-black chakra armor complete with fully furled, mechanical wings on his back.
[ IMAGE ]
Doto landed heavily a few meters away from Naruto .
( Hmm , is the armor heavy ) Naruto noticed as he looked at Doto
Whose expression was grim as he glanced between his estranged niece, Naruto, and the swarm of blonde shadow clones around Kyuki and also that transparent Barrier .
(That transparent barrier around her..... looks like a sealing jutsu! But to break through it, I need to deal with this brat first,) Doto thought, his hands clenching into fists as he locked eyes with the blonde.
Only to be met with calm gaze back , seeing this Doto's expression hardened further.
(.....This is the same brat who took out Mizore, and the one , who single-handedly turned the tide of this entire Battle because of the shadow Clones ........ I can't underestimate him.)
Unlike his canon counterpart, this Doto was significantly more pragmatic and cautious. He wasn't terrified, but he was wise enough not to write off an Uzumaki.
The reason was simple: Doto Kazehana didn't view himself as a shinobi. Despite wearing powerful chakra armor and wielding jutsu on par with a Jonin, Doto considered himself a nobleman and a scientist first.
Fighting on the front lines like a common mercenary or foot soldier was beneath his station.
(....To think I'd actually have to step onto the battlefield myself ) Doto recalled his late brother, the true Daimyo of the Land of Snow, and clicked his tongue in irritation.
( I just hope that treasure is worth the trouble, brother...)
Shifting his focus back to the blonde, Doto narrowed his eyes.
( Why is That brat's gaze...so unsettling.)
[Holmes's Gaze]
Naruto studied Doto closely from the moment of his descent. In just a few fleeting seconds, his mind cataloged a lot of details.
(This guy's chakra armor..... not only does it cover more of his body, but it's clearly a an upgrade from that snow pig )
While Nadare Rouga and the other snow ninja wore modular pieces—mostly restricted to torsos and gauntlets—Kazehana Doto was kitted out in a full-body suit, including a heavy chest plate, dual gauntlets, and articulated greaves protecting his legs.
But Naruto's analysis didn't stop at the plating; he noted the exposed gaps around the joints: elbows, neck, head, and ankles.
(Considering the chakra wall deflecting impact around him, I'll need to breach that defensive perimeter first to land any effective damage......... but...)
Naruto's thoughts raced as he remembered the chakra wall he'd encountered when capturing Mizore.
Compared to that, Doto's upgraded rig was definetly leagues ahead.
(My rotating shuriken might not cut it this time... I'll need to run a few tests first.)
Adjusting the thick, red knitted muffler that Kushina had woven for him before Birth to brave the arctic cold, Naruto's eyes locked onto the enemy.
Doto had already begun shifting his hands into a complex series of rapid hand seals.
(Ninjutsu...? Is he planning to keep his distance?)
"Ice Release: Black Dragon Blizzard!"
Doto slammed his hands together with ruthless efficiency. The air temperature plummeted instantly as a colossal dragon formed entirely of supercooled, black ice erupted from the permafrost, its jaws unhinging as it roared directly toward Naruto.
( less than 8 Hand seals for that kind of JUstu ???.... ...Is it because of Chakra armor ?? )
Naruto's eyes flashed as He also moved
[Water Flicker: Instant Water Jutsu]
Utilizing the heavy moisture and ambient snow unique to the Land of Snow, Naruto vanished in a splash of liquid light. His movement was far faster than a standard D-rank body flicker, leaving a trail of melting frost where he had stood a microsecond prior.
BOOM!
The black dragon tore through the space Naruto had just occupied, carving a deep trench into the snow. But Doto's lips curled into a cold smirk.
" Thanks For Dodging that , brat?!"
" ..HUH ?? "
Hearing Doto's words , Naruto felt puzzled when Suddenly he remembered and turned his head back .
True to Doto's calculation, the massive black ice dragon didn't dissipate. Propelled by lingering chakra momentum, the serpent curved sharply in mid-air, its massive jaws redirecting straight toward the triangular barrier protecting Princess Koyuki .
CRASH!
*BOOM*
The dragon slammed into the barrier.
Inside the dome, Koyuki let out a cry, clutching her head as the transparent walls shuddered under the immense pressure , Only to feel
Nothing as the Barrier held firm .
" amazing "
Koyuki whispered as she looked at the barrier , though she didn't saw the shadow clones expression as they analysed te barrier .
While the barrier miraculously held firm, a network of ugly, spiderweb cracks fractured across its surface.
" Repair it "
" Osu " X 3
Three shadow clones stationed inside immediately pressed their palms against the cracks, flooding the barrier with fresh chakra to mend the fractures.
though an instant later, Naruto received a mental ping through his shared clone network.
( repairing the barrier drains a massive chunk of chakra........ If that thing takes 4 or 5 more hits like that, the Barrier's going to shatter )
Naruto's expression hardened. Evasion wasn't an option anymore; if he dodged, Doto's massive area-of-effect techniques would target the Koyuki and the barrier behind him.
(So either I don't dodge... or I actively engage him and force him on the defensive!)
With his mind made up, Naruto closed the distance rapidly , his hands blurring through a rapid sequence of seals.
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"
A surging torrent of pressurized water erupted from Naruto's mouth, rushing toward Doto like a miniature tsunami. But that wasn't all—hidden behind the the churning crest of the water wave, a half-dozen wind-infused, rotating shuriken were camouflaged by the liquid turbulence in front .
Doto narrowed his eyes behind his black armor. "Tricks!"
Slamming his hands down, Doto conjured a thick barrier of solid ice.
"Ice Release: Ice Wall!"
The rushing water wave smashed against the ice wall, spraying freezing mist everywhere. Simultaneously, the hidden wind-infused shuriken pierced through the thinner outer edges and structural gaps of the ice wall.
However, as they grazed Doto, they simply pinged harmlessly off his dense, upgraded chakra armor with dull metallic clangs.
"Is that the best your little parlor tricks can do?" Doto scoffed.
"Not even close," Naruto muttered coldly.
( ...as expected It didn't work )
Before the mist could even clear, Naruto transitioned seamlessly into his next sequence, his fingers snapping through a new set of seals.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"
A rapid barrage of small, concentrated fireballs rained down toward Doto from multiple angles, hissing menacingly as they cut through the cold air.
Doto sneered, raising his gauntlets. "Useless against cold-affinity chakra!"
"Ice Release: Ice Bullet Storm!"
Instead of trying to dodge, Doto unleashed a furious counter-flurry of hundreds of hardened ice pellets. Relying on sheer quantitative supremacy, the ice bullets collided with the fireballs mid-air, instantly extinguishing the flames in a thick plume of steam.
Before Doto could lower his arms, the ground beneath his boots suddenly trembled.
"Earth Release: Earth Spikes Jutsu!"
CRACK!
" UGHH "
Razor-sharp pillars of frozen stone burst upward from beneath the snow, driving straight toward Doto's blind spots. The heavy spikes slammed violently into the underside of his black armor, sending the nobleman flying upward like a ragdoll.
( It didn't work either ?? ) Naruto looked at the flying doto , his brows furrowing in observation
( well , it still has it's own gains , I guess )
While the armor completely absorbed the damage—leaving Doto uninjured—the sheer upward momentum threw off his balance entirely.
*Bang*
" Gahh , again ??? what the "
*Bang*
Seeing this , naruto and some of his clones rapidly made hand-seals as they all started using Earth Spike Jutsu to toss Doto according to their Plan .
Mid-air, Doto's eyes widened in sudden realization.
( He's not trying to pierce the armor Like this ........ he's using that jutsuto disrupt my footing, lock down my hand seals, and trap me Like a helpless beast ....!)
Unwilling to be caged on the ground, Doto snapped open the mechanical wings on his back, channeling a surge of chakra to propel himself high up into the open sky.
(Smart choice, Doto.... but you're too predictable.)
Anticipating the exact Moment of Doto's aerial escape using [MindHub] and [Holmes's Gaze], Naruto had already finished his final, lightning-fast seal.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Bullet!"
A concentrated, high-voltage beam of blue electricity whipped from Naruto's Mouth , cutting through the frosty air with a piercing shriek. Because Doto was mid-transition flight , his external chakra wall was momentarily thinner around his side joints.
Puchi!
( as expected .....While flying the chakar armor's defese Loosens a little around that place )
The piercing lightning bolt bypassed the primary chest plate entirely, striking the unprotected seam along Doto's side abdomen.
"ARGHHH!"
Doto let out a startled, cry as blood spattered across his dark armor. The electric shock coursed through his nervous system, paralyzing his side for a split second and sending him stumbling mid-flight.
Landing heavily a dozen yards away, Doto clutched his bleeding side, his breath coming in ragged, panicked gasps as he stared at the blonde kid with wide, disbelieving eyes.
( ......Impossible )
The injury wasn't life-threatening, but the sheer shock of being breached—and the burning pain in his side—shattered Doto's arrogant composure completely.
The warm, metallic scent of fresh blood drifted on the freezing wind.
Clutching his bleeding side, Doto didn't roar in the hardened, battle-frenzied rage of a veteran shinobi.
Instead, his reaction was —the instinctive, a primal panic of a human and a scientist who had just tasted real, pain and mortal peril for the very first time.
Fear seized his chest, tightening his throat. But as he stared down at the blonde boy standing casually below, the sheer humiliation of being wounded by a mere genin quickly drowned out the terror.
And that Fear hardened into a venomous, murderous rage as Doto flew again while Looking at the Blonde
(.....I will kill this brat.)
Before Doto could launch his next assault, Naruto was already moving.
Seeing his B-rank Lightning Bullet tear through Doto's chakra wall and actually draw blood, Naruto's mind raced, rapidly analyzing the results of his tests.
( a B-rank lightning jutsu is effective.... Was it because I kept hammering the same sector with continuous attacks? or was it because the man was using armor to fly ??)
naruto mentally flashed back to his original world's memories—how Sasuke's Chidori had only managed to fracture the prototype armor. But his current encounter was different; he had pierced both the active chakra wall and the unprotected seam of the abdomen.
(Wait... the chakra wall itself should have regenerated by now, unlike the physical cracks on the armor's plating, which permanently weakened its structural integrity. So the armor's overall defense rating ???..........depends on chakar core..!!)
Naruto's blue eyes narrowed, locking directly onto the glowing, mechanical core embedded dead-center in the chest plate of Doto's black armor.
(So I need to shatter that core directly.)
As Naruto shifted his stance to close in, he noticed Doto suddenly dropping altitude , plunging downward from the sky. Mid-descent, the nobleman's hands snapped through a rapid series of hand seals.
"Ice Release: Swallow Snow Storm!"
It was Fubuki's signature technique—the very same jutsu that manipulated ambient frost into a dense, flock-like swarm of razor-sharp, flying ice needles. Naruto recognized the lethal technique instantly, but he hadn't expected Doto to wield it with such velocity.
( ...so he can also use other Ice jutsu ?? even the subordinates ..!! )
In a fraction of a second, a blinding blizzard of snow swallows surged through the air, fanning out in a wide frontal arc.
Enhanced by Doto's chakra, the outer edges of the swarm began curving aggressively, threatening to box Naruto in from the front, right, left, and directly overhead.
Whoosh—!
Reacting with instantaneous precision, Naruto's dynamic vision and [Holmes's Gaze] tracked every incoming trajectory as His hands blurred.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
A massive, roaring torrent of water erupted from the snow beside him. But instead of launching forward to counter Doto, the dragon's movements were entirely defensive; it whipped around, coiling its massive watery body tightly around Naruto like a protective serpentine shield just as the snow swallows descended.
Hizzz—!
The moment the flying ice needles made contact with the swirling water body, they didn't slice through—they instantly dissolved, melting into harmless slush on impact.
" Huh ? "
Landing heavily a few yards away, Doto blinked , his expression twisting in sudden confusion. Naruto stood untouched inside his water coil, staring at the melted ice with an equally puzzled look.
" The snow melted ?? "
A bewildered silence hung between them for a heartbeat before Naruto's eyes lit up with sudden realization.
(...Ah. So that's it.)
Naruto let out a soft exhale.
(In the end.... it's not true, Kekkai Genkai Ice Release at all..... It's just a specialized secret technique that rapidly manipulates and compresses ambient snow and moisture! )
While Naruto was busy decoding the mechanics behind Doto's snow manipulation, the renegade warlord was drawing his own conclusions up in the air as he once again took the sky .
(The ice swallows were simply too small and dispersed, which is why that water jutsu dissolved them..... Well, I just need to use a bigger, heavier jutsu next—)
Doto's internal monologue was cut short.
Without giving the man a single second to breathe, the massive water dragon that had just melted his snow swarm suddenly coiled and lunged.
Propelled by a sharp burst of Naruto's chakra, the serpentine torrent surged straight up into the air, rocketing toward Doto even though he was hovering a full five meters above the ground.
"W-What?!"
Doto panicked, his composure cracking entirely as the roaring wall of water closed the distance with terrifying speed.
BOOM!
The water dragon slammed directly into Doto, sending him flying backward through the air like a discarded toy.
( ...chance )
Seeing the opening, Naruto kicked off the snow, his boots blurring as he chased after the tumbling nobleman, ready to capitalize on the momentum.
" Huh ??"
But mid-fall, Doto snapped his mechanical wings open. Catching the wind, he stabilized his descent and banked upward, smoothly returning to the air.
( THis man ......is much more proficient in using That chakra armor )
Landing back on his feet as Doto hovered once more, Naruto swept his gaze over the target and rapidly updated his assessment.
(As expected..... the armor easily tanks a B-rank water jutsu without a scratch......another thing... Doto can't fly and use high-level ninjutsu simultaneously.)
Naruto recalled how Doto hadn't woven his previous snow swallows while maintaining high-speed flight; he had initiated the seals only while dropping altitude mid-fall.
( So in flight , No ninjutsu without stopping it .....and simultaneously Less defense ??)
Naruto noticed That Doto might be physically uninjured from the water dragon smash, but mentally, the man was rattled to his core.
(Plus, sustaining that flight, taking a lightning bullet to the ribs, and eating a direct water dragon blast.......... that Armor must be burning through an absurd amount of chakra right now.)
Naruto licked his stiff lips beneath his red muffler, his blue eyes locking onto the sputtering nobleman above.
(A war of attrition is a terrible idea though..) Naruto's mind raced as he locked eyes with the hovering Snow Daimyo , while considering His plan .
If he bled himself dry trying to grind down Doto's defenses through sheer stamina, what would happen if the remaining snow shinobi tried to launch a secondary wave? or maybe another Third Party ?
Worse yet, Naruto couldn't afford to run low on reserves when he needed [Hiraishin] to pull an injured Sakura or Sasuke out of danger.
Kakashi had the right idea:
cut the head off the snake quickly, force a surrender, Or secure the retreat .
Besides, looking at the intricate rune-work etched across Doto's black Blue plating, Naruto couldn't even rule out the possibility that the armor possessed a built-in chakra storage function.
( A prolonged fight favors the enemy )
High above, Doto hovered with his pitch-black wings humming, a cold, calculating glint in his eyes.
( .......I still have advantage .......afterall The brat can't fly )
"Let's see how your little tricks hold up against the sky, boy!" Doto barked, banking sharply to the left.
Naruto didn't hesitate. Raising his right hand, he snapped off a rapid-fire sequence of long-range water shots and wind-infused kunai attached with explosion tags , blanketing the air with high-velocity projectiles.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
*BOOM**BOOM**BOOM*
It was a barrage designed to overwhelm through sheer speed. But Doto simply tilted his mechanical wings, executing a tight barrel roll that let the vast majority of the projectiles streak harmlessly past him.
The few that clipped his armor merely pinged off the thick wall without slowing his momentum.
( ...explosions didn't work either ?? )
Frowning, Naruto shifted tactics. Dropping the rapid pestering, he slammed his hands into the snow, funneling chakra into the earth to prepare a wide-area, high-impact ninjutsu.
(If speed doesn't punch through, then what about an area attack )
"Earth Release: Mud Mountain Collapse!"
The ground beneath Doto's projected trajectory heaved upward, threatening to smash the airspace open with a massive, crushing slab of frozen earth and stone.
But Doto was too quick for the heavy casting time. Acting like a heavily armored, erratic housefly, the nobleman simply used his mechanical wings to dart straight up, effortlessly floating out of the slow-moving shockwave's radius before the impact zone even formed.
( The flying speed is fast ) naruto noticed , the earth jutsu was just a tactical move , never considering the hit , but to calculate doto's speed .
"Too slow!" Doto sneered from above, capitalizing on Naruto's recovery lag.
Executing a sharp maneuver, Doto deliberately deactivated his flight mode in mid-air. Cutting power to his wings, he dropped into a rapid, free-falling descent, neutralizing his momentum just enough to free up his hands for a lightning-fast seal.
"Ice Release: Needle Rain Storm!"
With a flick of his wrists, hundreds of sharp, compressed ice needles cascaded downward in a tight, concentrated cluster directly over Naruto's position.
Before the flurry could strike, Naruto flickered backward, leaving the ice needles to shatter harmlessly against the snow , while simultaneously executing his Jutsu targeting the descending Doto.
[ Wind release : Wind Bullets ] X 10
But the moment his boots came near the ground, Doto snapped his mechanical wings back to life with a deafening whir, blasting himself high back into the safety of the open sky before Naruto could counter-attack.
Swish—clack!
The wind bullets Moved through and plunged in the snow canopy , The bullets were thrown in such a way to target doto comprehesively , But Doto manuvered around and flew away , easily .
( The Flight gives a lot of Movement Freely ......with no limitation for any Manuver ...PLus that speed )
It was a deeply frustrating loop. When Naruto threw fast, light attacks, Doto's armor simply shrugged them off or his flight evaded them; when Naruto wound up heavy, high-damage ninjutsu, Doto used the startup lag to dodge out of the way, exploiting his aerial mobility to dictate the rhythm of the entire exchange.
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