Chapter 192 Coercion and Enticement
The Snow Ninja hastily formed hand seals: "Ice Release: Ice Shield!" The hexagonal ice crystal shield had barely taken shape when the Rasengan, accompanied by a storm, roared in.
Ice shards and chakra fragments scattered everywhere. The twelve Snow Ninja were thrown back by the shockwave, crashing into the ice wall they had created earlier. The ice surface shattered inch by inch, and their blood seeped into the cracks.
Neji's eyes bulged with veins. He used the Eight Trigrams Steps, instantly appearing before several enemies.
"Gentle Fist Technique: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" His figure blurred into afterimages, the chakra gathered at his fingertips precisely piercing the Snow Ninja's meridian points.
The six enemies attempting a sneak attack remained frozen in their hand seals, their acupoints radiating icy blue chakra halos.
"Lightning Release: Chidori Stream!" Sasuke's roar shattered the ice pillars, and a raging lightning snake exploded outwards from him. Before the seven Snow Ninja's Ice Release ninjutsu could even take shape, their armor was melted into molten iron by an ultra-high-voltage current. Purple lightning pierced the ice surface, and spiderweb-like bolts of lightning spread along the glacier's cracks, electrocuting the five ambush soldiers hidden beneath the ice
, causing them to convulse. The Snow Ninja leader's eyes widened in fury. What he thought was an easy attack had suddenly turned into three unexpected variables. In just a few minutes, they had suffered heavy losses, but now Sasuke and the other two were already charging towards him. He could only frantically begin forming hand seals: "Ice Release Secret Technique: Extreme Cold..."
Before he could finish the seals, Neji suddenly appeared behind him and used Rotation. The chakra hurricane created by Rotation dispersed the newly formed ice crystals. The next moment, the Eight Trigrams Palm pierced through three layers of ice mirrors, and the leader was sent flying backward, spitting out a mist of blood. The chakra flowing through his meridians was completely sealed off.
Naruto's true form leaped high into the air, stepping on the broken ice. A giant Rasengan with a diameter of five meters roared, engulfing the last ten Snow Ninja along with their ninjutsu.
The shockwave swept across the canyon, clearing away the perpetual snow to expose a layer of bare rock more than ten meters square.
As Sasuke sheathed his sword, the last ray of lightning still danced on the ice.
Thirty corpses lay scattered haphazardly across the snowfield, bloodstains starkly visible against the pristine white.
Neji's Byakugan swept across the battlefield, and he shook his head slightly: "The chakra flow has completely stopped."
Kazahana Koyuki stood up, still shaken, her eyelashes clinging to her eyelashes. The three ninjas before her weren't even a speck of snow on their robes, as if crushing thirty elite ninjas was merely a warm-up exercise.
The blizzard had stopped sometime earlier, and sunlight pierced through the clouds, illuminating the glistening glaciers and refracting a rainbow of colors.
Asama Santayu rushed to Fuuka Koyuki's side, checking on her safety: "Koyuki, are you alright?"
"I'm fine..." Fuuka Koyuki was still in shock. The Snow Country ninjas who had previously left a deep shadow on her young life were like toys in front of these three Konoha boys who were several years younger than her.
"Thanks to the three of you, otherwise who knows what terrible things might have happened." Asama Santayu said hastily after seeing Sasuke and the others approaching.
"Mr. Asama, instead of telling us this, why don't you tell us why your movie crew was ambushed by the official ninja forces of the Snow Country?" Neji ignored Asama Santayu's attempt to be friendly, instead coldly questioning him while holding a headband he had just taken from a Snow Country ninja.
"Mr. Asama, you concealed information when issuing the mission, didn't you? Missions involving other governments, even small ones like the Land of Snow, are S-rank missions. S-rank missions aren't issued by just anyone." Sasuke's face was frosty. "Out of respect for other governments, even in peacetime, Konoha wouldn't casually issue S-rank missions involving official bodies, even to a small country like the Land of Snow. Can I interpret your actions as you wanting to drag our Hidden Leaf Village into a quagmire of war?"
"This..." Asama Santayu was stunned by Sasuke's words. Even if he were still a minister of the Land of Snow, let alone now just a manager, Konoha was a behemoth he couldn't afford to offend.
"Naruto, go and take control of everyone in this film crew. I suspect they're spies sent by other ninja villages," Neji ordered.
Naruto didn't say much. After forming hand seals and creating a group of clones, each clone approached a member of the film crew and took them into custody.
"No, no, no, we'll talk! We'll talk!" Asama Santayu quickly raised her hand in a French military salute as Neji was about to take action himself.
At this moment, Sasuke took out an alarm clock from the sealing scroll, turned the scale to the 5-minute mark, and threw it in front of Asama Santayu and Kazahana Koyuki, then stuck a kunai next to the alarm clock.
"You only have five minutes to explain everything clearly, otherwise, you can wait until you get to the Konoha Security Force interrogation room to deal with any questions." Sasuke said coldly.
Asama Santayu and Kazahana Koyuki were stunned by the cold aura emanating from Sasuke at this moment, and even forgot how to speak. Kazahana Koyuki was so frightened by the kunai flashing coldly not far in front of her that she was on the verge of tears.
"Crying? Crying counts as time!" Sasuke had no intention of showing any mercy and shouted loudly.
"Sigh, I'll talk." Asama Santayu realized that she might have gone too far, so she told Sasuke the whole story.
"So, this Princess Fengyun really is an exiled princess?" Sasuke frowned after looking Kazahana Koyuki up and down. "What proof do you have?" "
Kakashi, your Konoha's Hokage's assistant, Hatake Kakashi," Kazahana Koyuki said. "He's the one who took me from the Snow Country's palace."
"Brother Kakashi?" Naruto was stunned. "I've never heard him mention this."
"We'll verify that," Neji said. "Let's assume what you're saying is true for now. So, what's your purpose in concealing mission information from us? Do you want us to help this princess reclaim her throne?"
"To be honest, that's exactly what I'm planning," Asama Santayu sighed.
"Do you know that your actions are enough to land you on Konoha's wanted list?" Neji said.
"I'm sorry, but it was all my own plan. Koyuki was unaware of it. I hope you can let her go." Asama Santayu resignedly lowered his head.
"And you, don't you have anything to say?" Sasuke looked at Kazahana Koyuki at this moment.
Kazahana Koyuki lowered her head and remained silent.
"Um, Sasuke, Neji, why don't we just help them? They look quite pitiful." Naruto suddenly spoke up at this moment.
"Naruto, this isn't a question of whether we help them or not. The problem is that if we help them, the village will be mired in a public opinion storm of interfering in other countries' internal affairs," Sasuke patiently explained to Naruto. "Besides, even if what they say is true, it's unforgivable for them to deceive the village using such methods. Think about it, what would happen if another ninja team from the village took on the mission and faced the ambush by those Snow Ninja?"
Upon hearing this, Naruto shut his mouth. Although those 30 Snow Ninja hadn't caused them too much trouble, that was because they were already quite strong and each possessed wide-range destructive ninjutsu. If, unfortunately, a slightly weaker Jonin had taken on this mission, they might have really failed here.
"Furthermore, if they truly want Konoha to help this princess restore her kingdom, they can simply go through the proper channels and talk to the Hokage. As long as it can be confirmed that she is indeed the exiled princess of the Land of Snow, and that the current Daimyo of the Land of Snow seized power through dishonorable means of a palace coup, I believe my teacher would be very willing to step in and help the Land of Snow set things right," Sasuke said.
Sasuke's words instantly ignited hope in Asama Santayu's eyes. He immediately said, "I am willing to pay any price for my previous actions. However, I implore Konoha to help Yuki restore her kingdom. The Land of Snow truly needs Konoha's assistance! Over the years, the Land of Snow has suffered greatly under the tyranny of that tyrant, Fuuka Nata!"
After saying this, Asama Santayu knelt down and kowtowed deeply to Sasuke and the other two.
At this moment, Kazama Koyuki also raised her head, gazing at the three with a hopeful look in her eyes.
"Well, how about we help them?" Naruto hesitated for a moment before saying to the two beside him.
Sasuke, seeing that the time was right, said to Kazama Koyuki, "You just said that Lord Kakashi could prove your identity, right? You should know what the consequences of lying are, right?"
The purpose of Sasuke and Neji's performance was to intimidate the other side and gain the upper hand in the subsequent negotiations. Now that the other side was under their control, it was time to start making demands.
Sasuke summoned a communication snake, vaguely writing down the situation on an information scroll, which the snake then carried away.
After that, a long wait ensued, with no one daring to speak and provoke the three.
An eerie silence fell over the vast icy plain.
After about half an hour, the communication snake returned to Sasuke's side, bringing back a reply that Uchiha Touko had prepared beforehand.
As Sasuke examined the scroll, the atmosphere at the scene plummeted to freezing point. Asama Santayu's head was already soaked with cold sweat, which then condensed into ice crystals in the low temperature of the snowfield.
After a long while, Sasuke finally raised his head, glanced at the other person, and said indifferently, "Mr. Asama, the Hokage's meaning is that you and your production team must pay the price for concealing mission information. Of course, considering that your actions did not cause serious consequences, you only need to pay five times the mission reward as compensation. Naturally, this mission will also be terminated."
"I understand." Asama Santayu nodded. If it was just compensation, then he could accept it. "Then, regarding the matter of our Snow Country's restoration..."
"Lord Kakashi has already given me an answer. He did indeed rescue a Snow Country princess named Kazahana Koyuki from the Snow Country's palace back then." Sasuke said unhurriedly, "At the same time, the Hokage has also learned of the terrible suffering the people of the Snow Country have endured under the rule of the tyrant Kazahana Noto over the years. Therefore, out of consideration for justice, the Hokage has decided to form a special operations force, with me as the commander, to help you reclaim your homeland."
"Really?" Asama Santayu was immediately thrilled upon hearing this. "No wonder everyone says Konoha is the most righteous organization in the ninja world. Now it seems it truly is! The people of the Land of Snow will forever remember the Hokage's kindness!"
"Let's ask the parties involved first." Sasuke was unfazed by Asama Santayu's flattery and turned to Kazahana Koyuki. "Princess, may I call you that? What's your opinion? If you don't agree to this, then Konoha has no grounds to help you."
"What are the conditions?" Kazahana Koyuki didn't nod immediately but looked up at Sasuke. "I don't think Konoha would help the Land of Snow for nothing."
"The conditions are simple." Sasuke smiled warmly at this moment. "Konoha hopes to establish a friendly cooperation with the Land of Snow after helping you successfully restore your country."
"Friendly cooperation?" Kazahana Koyuki took a deep breath upon hearing this. "Like the Land of Hot Springs and the Land of Rice Fields? Joining your Konoha Pact?"
"Why not?" Sasuke said calmly. "In recent years, with the help of our Land of Fire, the Land of Hot Springs and the Land of Rice Fields have vigorously developed tourism, agriculture, and animal husbandry, resulting in rapid economic growth and a year-on-year improvement in the quality of life for their citizens."
"More importantly, Konoha can fully guarantee that they will not be disturbed by the surrounding great powers and will protect their safety. Of course, considering the special location of your Land of Snow, Konoha will not send troops after the treaty is reached. However, we can promise that when other countries launch a war against you, it is equivalent to declaring war on Konoha, and Konoha will send troops to assist you immediately."
"Your Highness, you might want to consider this: if the Land of Snow had such a powerful ally as Konoha, would your uncle have dared to launch a palace coup?"
Sasuke spoke slowly and politely with a smile, making Konoha momentarily dazed. It was hard to believe that the gentle and refined young master speaking so eloquently was the same person as the cold-faced, knife-wielding thug from before.
For Sasuke, this level of change of attitude was not difficult at all, and the reason for his change in attitude towards Kazahana Koyuki was also simple: he had just used coercion, and now it was time to use bribery.
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(End of this chapter)