At the stairs of the main entrance to the Daimyo's Mansion in Kozuki City, Naruto ascended the steps with steady feet.
Haku and Kimimaro followed closely behind him, half a step back.
As they reached the middle of the stairs, a thunderous shout rang out.
"Halt!"
On the platform above, Nadare Roga, wearing advanced Chakra Armor, led fifty fully armed Snow Ninja elites, blocking the way from a commanding height.
At this moment, Nadare Roga, relying on the advantage of his equipment and numbers, wore an air of insufferable arrogance.
"Foolish intruders—"
He activated the armor's amplification mode, waves of energy barely visible to the naked eye radiating from him as he spoke in a cold tone.
"How dare you invade the residence of Lord Doto Kazahana!"
"If you know what's good for you, kneel and surrender immediately, and perhaps I might—"
Step... step... step...
Naruto's footsteps did not falter for even a moment.
His gaze was fixed straight ahead, toward the main entrance of the Daimyo's Mansion.
As for Nadare Roga and the large group of Snow Ninjas blocking the way, he didn't even spare them a glance.
Nadare Roga looked at Naruto and his two companions, who remained expressionless and hadn't even paused their steps.
Feeling blatantly ignored, Nadare Roga suffered an unprecedented insult.
"Bastard!"
"How dare you ignore me!"
His face contorted as his hands rapidly formed seals, fully unleashing his armor's power.
"Since you're looking for death, I'll grant it to you!"
"Ice Release: Tearing Dragon Fierce Tiger!"
The surrounding snow was whipped up by chakra, transforming into two massive ice crystal beasts that roared as they charged toward Naruto.
However, Naruto continued to walk without even raising a hand.
A figure had already moved past him.
"To disturb Lord Naruto's progress—"
Killing intent boiled in Kimimaro's eyes.
"—is a capital offense."
The patterns of the Cursed Seal instantly covered half of his face, and the first stage of the Gene Lock was opened.
Without any flashy movements, he turned into a bolt of lightning and directly shattered the two ice crystal beasts.
"Wha—"
Before Nadare Roga could even react in surprise, his pupils were filled by a rapidly expanding, pale white bone.
"Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Willow."
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch—
With an elegant stride, Kimimaro completed a one-sided slaughter.
His figure wove through the crowd; with every wave of his hand and every pause, a Snow Ninja would fall with blood spraying.
Screams, the sound of bones shattering, and the sound of blades entering flesh rose and fell, composing a symphony of death.
Naruto stepped onto the final stair and stood before the main entrance of the Daimyo's Mansion.
The last scream behind him came to an abrupt end.
Nadare Roga's eyes were wide as he knelt on one knee, blood constantly gushing from the corners of his mouth.
His chest had been pierced by a small bone spike; after entering his body, the bone burst open layer by layer like a blooming chrysanthemum, with thousands of bone shards erupting from his back.
It took away his last shred of life.
Until his death, he didn't understand why the strongest armor on his body couldn't block even a single bone spike.
"Phew—"
Kimimaro flicked the warm blood from the bone spike and lightly stepped back behind Naruto, without a single drop of blood on his person.
"Cleanup complete, Lord Naruto."
"Hmm."
Naruto nodded slightly.
He looked at the closed doors before him, which represented the highest authority.
Without any hesitation, he raised his foot and brutally kicked them open.
Boom!!
The heavy palace doors, along with their frames, were instantly sent flying, crashing heavily into the interior of the hall.
Inside the hall.
Doto Kazahana, who should have been sitting majestically on the throne, was currently in a state of panic.
He had just heard the screams outside and realized something was wrong.
He was scrambling with the help of his attendants to put on his trump card.
It was a set of exaggeratedly styled, heavy black Chakra Armor.
"Damn it—how are they so fast?"
"Where are the guards?"
"Where is that trash Nadare Roga?"
The dust cleared.
Looking at the three youths who walked in, Doto Kazahana's pupils narrowed slightly.
But he quickly regained his composure, or rather, the sense of power brought by the armor forced him to calm down.
"Who are you?"
He pushed aside his attendants, a strong surge of chakra erupting from him.
"Why have you barged into my palace!"
"Do you not know who I am?"
Naruto didn't answer; he only gave him a faint glance, a look that seemed to say: is a dead man speaking?
That look completely enraged Doto Kazahana.
"Bastard!"
"I am the Daimyo of the Land of Snow!"
"How dare you look down on me!"
He roared somewhat hysterically.
"Die!!"
"Ice Release: Black Dragon Blizzard!"
Two black chakra ice dragons roared forth, intertwining with each other to form a black tornado, blasting toward Naruto with a force that could destroy everything.
In terms of sheer power, this move, amplified by the Chakra Armor, had already reached the threshold of an S-rank ninjutsu.
Facing this violent strike, Haku instinctively wanted to step forward, but was stopped by Naruto's outstretched hand.
"The power is decent."
Naruto gave a fair assessment.
In the next instant.
A layer of tangible red chakra instantly covered his right arm—it was the Nine-Tails' chakra, filled with a destructive aura.
Naruto didn't form any seals; he only raised his hand and gave a casual wave, as if shooing away a fly.
That seemingly terrifying ice dragon, capable of crushing steel, was directly swatted away by the massive red chakra claw, vanishing into thin air.
"Wha—what?"
The ferocious look on Doto Kazahana's face froze.
Maintaining his casting posture, his mind went blank.
His proudest ultimate move was actually... swatted away so casually?
How was this possible?
What kind of monster was this?
Why had he come to the Land of Snow?
When had he ever provoked him?
Countless questions appeared in his mind.
Naruto dispersed the chakra on his hand and stepped forward, one pace at a time.
With every step, the echoing sound of his footsteps in the empty hall felt like a heavy hammer striking Doto Kazahana's heart.
"You... don't come any closer!"
Doto Kazahana kept backing away until his back hit the cold throne.
Looking at the expressionless blonde youth, the defenses in his heart completely collapsed.
So-called ambition and domineering aura were laughable in the face of the fear of death.
Thud.
The Daimyo of the Land of Snow, who had been dreaming of ruling the ninja world just a moment ago, felt his knees go weak as he fell directly to the ground.
"I surrender!"
"I surrender!"
Doto Kazahana kowtowed frantically, each strike against the floor making a crisp sound.
"Don't kill me!"
"I beg you, don't kill me!"
"I can give you whatever you want!"
"Whether it's money, an official position, or anything else!"
"Just let me live!"
"I am the Daimyo!"
"I am still useful!"
"I can be your puppet!"
Naruto stopped in front of him.
A dead silence filled the hall, broken only by Doto Kazahana's heavy panting.
Naruto lowered his head, his azure eyes looking intently into Doto Kazahana's, as if reading something.
Silently, Naruto had already read through Doto Kazahana's mind using Mind Reading.
Then, a contemptuous smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
"Doto Kazahana."
Naruto's voice was very soft, yet it made Doto Kazahana tremble all over.
"I like people with ambition, and I like clever people."
"But I despise those who think they are clever."
Doto Kazahana shuddered, a flash of panic appearing in his eyes.
"If you were sincerely willing to be a dog just now, for the sake of your industrial development, I might have actually spared your life."
Naruto straightened up, his gaze cold.
"But you want too much."
"You were thinking that as long as you survive and use Sosetsu Kazahana's treasury to turn the tables, you'd find a chance to kill me, right?"
"What?"
"How did you—"
Doto Kazahana was shocked; his internal calculations had been completely seen through?
"Placing your hopes on a 'treasure' you've never even seen yourself, while neglecting to train your own strength."
"Not even knowing what that so-called treasury actually is, yet already indulging in such unrealistic pipe dreams—"
"Too stupid."
Having said that, Naruto didn't bother to listen to any more of his excuses.
He raised his hand and delivered what seemed like a light slap.
Smack.
Doto Kazahana's head spun two full revolutions at an eerie angle; his body twitched twice, and then he collapsed completely to the floor.
The remnants of terror and confusion still lingered in his eyes.
A formidable leader of a generation had perished just like that.
Naruto didn't even spare a glance at the corpse, stepping directly over Doto Kazahana's expensive black armor.
He turned and sat on the throne that symbolized the highest power in the Land of Snow, looking down at the empty hall and the swirling snow outside the doors.
A new order had descended upon the Land of Snow.
[Ding!]