Chapter 330: The Snow-Earth Strategic Alliance
"Quick, use Ice Release with all your might! Everyone, block him together!" Dotō Kazahana was, after all, a man who had been the Daimyo of a country for a few days. After the initial panic, he quickly reacted. He knew that at this time, only by defending with all their might would they have a sliver of a chance to survive.
Dotō was now regretting it to death. "Why did I run so fast to ask for a beating? No, why did I refuse that Third Tsuchikage's request a few days ago, and now I've provoked such a monster?"
This kind of ninjutsu that blotted out the entire field of vision was truly terrifying, completely subverting Dotō's understanding of the two words "ninjutsu."
"Isn't ninjutsu supposed to be me attacking and you dodging, you attacking and I defending, a back-and-forth exchange like that?"
Under Dotō's shouts, his subordinates did their best to activate the special armor on their bodies, unleashing the maximum Ice Release they could achieve.
Finally, relying on the excellent performance of their special armor, Dotō and his men managed to cast a huge ice shield before Ishiro's mud tide arrived.
Unfortunately, that was all they could do.
In fact, the size of this ice shield was really not small. When Ishiro cast an A-rank Earth Release, if he didn't deliberately increase the chakra output, he wouldn't be able to reach this level.
But in front of Ishiro's mud tide, which was cast with his full power and surpassed a conventional S-rank ninjutsu, this ice shield was still not enough to look at.
What's more, to deal with a Tailed Beast's berserk chakra, Ishiro had also mixed a large number of chakra-sealing runes into the mud.
After the mud enveloped the ice shield, countless runes quickly combined, forming a huge seal on the surface of the ice that could suppress chakra.
Through the seal, Ishiro could clearly sense that the not-so-small ice shield was rapidly shrinking.
However, Ishiro frowned slightly. "This speed is not good enough. It's certainly no problem to deal with these dregs from the Land of Snow who don't have much ninja combat experience, but to deal with a rampaging Tailed Beast, it probably won't be enough."
"And the activation speed of the chakra-sealing runes is also too slow."
The intelligence of a Tailed Beast was not much lower than a ninja's. They would definitely not let him seal them at will. This process would last too long, long enough for any Tailed Beast to smash the seal to bits.
However, apart from Ishiro, the others did not see it this way.
Dotō and his men only felt the energy output through their special armor dissipating at an astonishing speed. Then, through the ice shield, they saw the mud tide rapidly compressing inwards.
"No..." Dotō let out a desperate cry.
He was unwilling to accept it. In his vision, his armor could still be upgraded, he still had many attack moves he hadn't used, and he still had a treasure that had not been opened. But all of this had turned into a bubble in front of a ninjutsu that surpassed S-rank and also came with a powerful seal.
Finally, amidst Dotō's roar, the mud tide, with the effect of the sealing runes, successfully sealed everyone.
A long time later, the porcelain mud landed on the ground, leaving only human-shaped stones wrapped up tightly, which were pushed out from the mud by Ishiro.
Koyuki Kazahana and Sandayū Asama were protected in the middle by a group of Iwa Anbu. Not far away, there were some other people from the Land of Snow.
These people were all officials loyal to Sōsetsu Kazahana. They had successively sworn allegiance to Koyuki after Ishiro's group entered the Land of Snow.
Some of them were truly loyal to Sōsetsu and then transferred their loyalty to Koyuki, similar to Sandayū.
Others had bet on Koyuki because they saw she had the support of Iwagakure, one of the five great hidden villages, and felt her chances of winning were greater.
These people, seeing the arrogant Dotō and his elite subordinates combined, couldn't even last a single move against the Fourth Tsuchikage, were all so shocked they couldn't speak.
Suddenly, one person spoke up, "I heard from Sandayū that Lord Fourth Tsuchikage wants to establish a branch in the Land of Snow to protect the country?"
Hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up. If an endlessly powerful existence was a neighboring country, it would naturally make one lose sleep and appetite, even if the other party was currently helping them.
But if one suddenly became on the same side as the other party, that feeling would be different. Fear would immediately turn into peace of mind.
Especially when they didn't have to sacrifice their national sovereignty, cede territory, or declare themselves vassals to the Daimyo of the Land of Earth, everyone expressed, "Lord Tsuchikage can be even stronger!"
"Sandayū, is Dotō dead?" Koyuki asked, both nervous and expectant. It could be heard that the little girl's voice was now erratic, clearly not having recovered from the shock.
Sandayū was not in a much better state. Or rather, with his experience, he was even more shocked than Koyuki. Hearing her question, he answered out of instinct, "Princess, I don't know either!"
Dotō was dead. Ishiro was not interested in him. The people Ishiro despised the most were those who had the upper hand but wouldn't deal a killing blow and instead liked to use "talk-no-jutsu." So Dotō died a very straightforward death.
There were also a few with decent strength or who were relatively loyal to Dotō. Because they had scratched out a few marks on their armor, their lives were also ended by Ishiro.
In the end, only some throwaway characters who probably hadn't even appeared in the original story were left alive by Ishiro. They would be escorted to the Iwagakure prison.
After dealing with Dotō, Ishiro's group slightly quickened their pace towards the capital of the Land of Snow.
A few days later, in the capital of the Land of Snow, at the place where Sōsetsu and Dotō used to work.
Ishiro and Ōnoki represented Iwagakure; Koyuki and a dozen high-ranking officials represented the Land of Snow. The two sides signed the Snow-Earth Strategic Alliance treaty.
The two sides agreed:
Iwagakure could establish a branch within the Land of Snow, and would take over all of the country's defense affairs. The Land of Snow would provide funds to Iwagakure according to the proportion of war expenses in the Land of Earth's fiscal revenue. The Land of Snow would receive merchant caravans from the Land of Earth according to the exact same policy as receiving its own.
The safety of the Land of Snow would be the responsibility of Iwagakure. Iwagakure had to guarantee that the civilians of the Land of Snow would not be bullied by external forces. Iwagakure had to promise the territorial integrity of the Land of Snow and not allow any country to invade it, including the Land of Earth.
The signing ceremony went very smoothly, with both guest and host enjoying themselves.
Originally, Sandayū had wanted to drag it out until Koyuki came of age. But after witnessing Ishiro's strength, all the high-ranking officials of the Land of Snow reached a consensus. They couldn't wait for Koyuki to come of age and impatiently agreed to Ishiro's request.
Firstly, they were afraid. Ishiro could completely send them to heaven with a single ninjutsu without even entering the capital. This was too terrifying. If they didn't sign the treaty now, they were afraid that one day, while they were still asleep, the entire capital would be gone.
Secondly, they also wanted to hold onto Iwagakure's thigh. They never wanted to experience something like Dotō's coup again.
Too many officials, big and small, had died at Dotō's hands these days. If Ishiro hadn't come early, they weren't sure how long they could have lived.
If Iwagakure would protect the Land of Snow, then the safety of them, the officials, would be guaranteed.
After signing the treaty, Ishiro, Ōnoki, and the other Iwa ninjas, along with Koyuki and Sandayū, came before the Rainbow Ice Wall.
Walking on the huge, altar-like platform in front of the Rainbow Ice Wall, Ōnoki pointed to the ground and said, "There is a huge energy source under here. It's a bit like natural energy, but not exactly the same."
"Shinya Matsutani, you tell me what you feel," Ōnoki said to him.
Shinya and his fat orange cat walked up to Ishiro and said, "Teacher Ishiro, Kohana and I sense that the energy under here may be related to natural energy, but there are some changes."
"This change is similar to your and Lord Third's Sage Art, but also different. I speculate this may be related to the fusion of a Kekkei Genkai and natural energy."
Ishiro was surprised that the energy in the Rainbow Ice Wall was actually related to natural energy and a Kekkei Genkai. But, wasn't this thing created by Sōsetsu, that ordinary person?
How did he do it?
Ishiro looked at Koyuki, but he didn't ask, because from the original story, Koyuki didn't know anything about the Rainbow Ice Wall at all. She had always thought that the so-called treasure was just a lie her father told.
Ishiro thought for a moment. This energy was most likely not created by Sōsetsu; he should have just set up a conversion mechanism. So he said, "If this so-called treasure is opened, the energy inside should be completely dispersed. Is there a way to release the energy bit by bit?"
Ōnoki shook his head and said, "There is no way right now. The village is not proficient in researching this kind of mechanism, and I didn't bring any professionals with me this time."
"But since we have signed the treaty, we might as well build the branch base near here. We can send people to study it carefully, and maybe we'll have some gains."
At this time, Shinya interjected. He said, "Teacher Ishiro, I want to stay behind to study this underground energy. I have a feeling that this energy will be helpful to me."
Ishiro squinted at him. Why didn't he believe his words?
After thinking for a moment, Ishiro still decided to believe him this once. So he said, "You can stay, but if the energy below is really natural energy, be careful. Although you have a talent for being close to natural energy, you know the dangers of it. Don't be in a hurry to train."
"Rest assured, Teacher Ishiro. I won't try it lightly," Shinya said.
Ishiro nodded, then looked at Ōnoki and said, "Lord Third, since Shinya wants to stay, I'll send another person over to act as your guard."
Ōnoki nodded and said, "Do you have a candidate in mind?"
Ishiro said, "Let's have Kajiyama Ri. He is still developing his ninjutsu, and his strength is improving rather slowly. Being by your side, he can learn a lot."
"Kajiyama? The one from the same year as Kawakita and Chiko. Alright, I will guide him. With his two companions progressing so quickly, his pressure must not be small."
Ishiro strongly agreed with Ōnoki's words. Kajiyama was relatively sensitive, and Ishiro was also afraid that he wouldn't be able to get over the mental hurdle, which was why he was asking Ōnoki to look after him.
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