Kazahana Doto: "What?"
[ At that moment, Kazahana Doto actually heard the sound of rushing water. Steam began to vent from the surrounding rocky crevices, and he could feel the temperature rising rapidly. Even the permafrost, which had been frozen for God knows how long, showed signs of thawing.
Kazahana Koyuki: "It's so warm."
"Warm"—a word that should never have been used to describe the Land of Snow—was murmured by Kazahana Koyuki.
"A geothermal generator? Could this be the Kazahana family's secret treasure!?"
Doto could not believe it. The treasure he had pursued so relentlessly was actually something like this!
"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!?" ]
Kazahana Doto: "Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Kazahana Sosetsu: "It is true. This is the secret treasure of the Kazahana family. It was completed through the painstaking efforts of successive heads of the family to make the Land of Snow a place where people could actually survive!"
Kazahana Doto: "Damn it!"
[ "A geothermal generator?"
Seeing the temperature warming up—and at an incredible speed at that—even Kakashi found it hard to believe.
"Even if it can generate heat, this rate of warming is simply incredible."
Asuma retreated to Kakashi's side and spoke in a low voice.
"True. But the problem now is that we seem to be standing right on top of the ice."
Kakashi glanced down at the ice beneath his feet, which had been blasted into fragments by the cannon fire. He suddenly had an ominous premonition.
Asuma and Kakashi exchanged a look and then simultaneously leaped away from their positions.
Nearly all the ice had cracked from the bombardment, and under the rapidly rising water temperature, the once-massive blocks of ice were shrinking by the second.
"Eh? Eh? EH!?" Seeing his footing disappear, Naruto was dumbfounded. "What the heck is going on?"
"You idiot, Naruto! Get off the river already!"
On the other side, Sasuke, sensing danger, had jumped onto a rock. Seeing Naruto still standing there dazed, he immediately shouted a warning.
"I told you, stop calling me 'idiot Naruto'!"
Naruto scrambled off the ice, but he didn't forget Sasuke's insult and snapped back instantly.
Just then, cracks appeared on the six massive ice walls. Soon after, the thick ice encrusting them fell away, revealing ancient stone walls that had been sealed for untold years.
As the ice fell, the geothermal generator's output finally reached its peak!
Then, centered around these stone walls, the snow and ice receded at a pace visible to the naked eye, replaced by green grass and blooming flowers.
One second it was a frozen wasteland; the next, it was a scene of vibrant spring.
This incredible sight caused the director, who was hiding in the distance and secretly filming, to cry out in disbelief!
And indeed, it was unbelievable. ]
A: "??? Do you guys think I'm easy to bully just because I didn't go to school much? You're calling that thing a geothermal generator?"
Onoki: "Indeed. Kazahana Doto, a mere geothermal generator couldn't turn a frozen wasteland like the Land of Snow into a spring paradise!"
Rasa: "There must be a principle at work here that we don't know about. Otherwise, it couldn't possibly have such a powerful effect. The Kazahana family's secret treasure truly lives up to its name."
Deidara: "So what? It's boring. Those cannons were much more interesting. Looking at them has given me new inspiration."
Sasori: "That Chakra Armor has also given me some ideas. I feel like my puppets have a new direction for enhancement."
Orochimaru: "In a sense, the entire Kazahana family are geniuses."
[ At that moment, a voice erupted from the center of the stone walls—a voice that was both intimately familiar and strangely foreign to Kazahana Koyuki.
Familiar because it had been in her ears since she was born; foreign because she hadn't heard it in a very long time.
"Believe in the future, and spring will surely come..."
Koyuki instinctively turned her head and saw the image of herself as a young child appearing in mid-air.
As an actress, she was naturally familiar with this; she immediately guessed that her father had recorded this video.
Yes, she remembered being in her father's room at the time. The layout of that room was very similar to this place...
Watching the projection on the stone wall, Koyuki, whose tears had long since run dry, didn't realize that fresh tears were streaming down her face.
Back then, she was naive and innocent, full of hope for the future.
Back then, she wanted to be a good princess, but she also had a dilemma because she wanted to be an actress too.
"I... I once said those things."
But then, a furious roar interrupted her daze. She turned to see a frantic and exasperated Kazahana Doto.
"What a joke! Dreams? Justice? In this world, power is the only truth! Without power, you can get nothing and protect nothing! Even if you turn the Land of Snow into spring, so what? Without the strength to match it, you'll only be swallowed by other nations!"
Over a decade of plotting had come to nothing. The treasure was gone, his plans had failed, and more importantly, he had attracted the attention of other villages prematurely.
And it was Konoha, one of the Five Great Ninja Villages.
Even if Konoha's strength was currently depleted, a starved camel is still larger than a horse. No matter how low they had fallen, they weren't someone a tiny place like the Land of Snow could compare to.
Originally, he had bet everything on the secret treasure. But he had bet wrong.
And the result was total defeat!
"Hehehe~ Hahaha! Father, you actually died at the hands of someone like this."
Looking at the impotently raging Doto, Koyuki was overcome with grief. In an instant, a surge of intense negative emotions flooded her heart.
"Am I wrong!?" Detecting the mockery in Koyuki's tone, Doto pointed toward Kakashi and the others watching from a distance.
"Do you see them? Konoha ninjas! Once they return, they will tell Konoha everything that happened today. Before long, Konoha will invade the Land of Snow."
"Before, it was because the Land of Snow had nothing but ice—no food, and certainly no Chakra Metal—so no one cared."
"But now, everything has changed! The Land of Snow's permafrost has become a fertile plain, land worth fighting for by every nation!"
"Do you think the current Land of Snow can protect this land?"
"When that time comes, we will face nothing but slavery and slaughter!"
"Even if I hadn't staged a coup, even if my brother were still on the throne, this would still happen! This is the sorrow of a small nation! This is why I sought power!"
"I wanted to master greater strength, to acquire more land. Is that a crime!?"
Doto's voice was deafening. ]