Chapter 234: Fight Through

Explosions rolled across the iceberg.

Shikun, Saiji, and Riku fought for breath. Cuts marked their arms and faces, and the Snow-nin's chakra armor had turned every ordinary exchange against them. Shuriken rebounded. Explosive tags burst against pale defensive fields without reaching the bodies beneath them. Ice techniques returned with more force than their casters' visible reserves should have allowed.

The Konoha chūnin had tried feints, traps, and coordinated volleys. Without intelligence on the armor, their familiar tactics produced nothing but exhaustion.

Shikun's guided weapons changed angle only to meet the defensive field again. Saiji's avatar could strike with physical mass, but the amplified ice kept it away from the bodies wearing the armor. Riku's summons found gaps in the formation and then lost them when the devices brightened. Every test cost chakra, and every failed test gave the Snow-nin more confidence.

More Snow-nin emerged from the hidden structure until three four-person squads occupied the frozen island.

"Do not think this is enough to defeat us!" Shikun shouted. "We have grown since last year. We will not let the captain look down on us now."

The three scattered around the encirclement. When another wave of ice shuriken passed, they formed seals at the same moment and gathered everything they had left.

The Snow-nin recognized the danger. Each squad placed one caster behind the other three. Chakra entered their armor, multiplied through its channels, and poured into a combined technique.

"Ice Release: Dragon-Breaking Tiger!"

Three enormous beasts rose from the island and charged across the broken surface.

"Fire Release: Flame Tornado!"

Fire burst beneath Shikun's feet, laying a blazing path behind him. He accelerated like a launched projectile. At the first tiger, he leaped and spun. Fire-nature chakra wrapped his legs, increasing the rotation until his body became a burning drill.

The Flame Tornado shattered the amplified ice technique. Shikun broke through it and kicked two Snow-nin before their armor could redirect the physical force.

The field was designed to disperse incoming ninjutsu. Shikun's flames destroyed the tiger, but his heels carried momentum rather than a separate chakra projectile. By the time the armor recognized the change, he had already crossed its defensive boundary.

The impact smashed armor and bodies together. Flesh and fragments scattered across the ridge. Blood ran over the blue ice.

Shikun landed in a crouch, cold sweat covering his face. He had killed two, but the technique had consumed nearly all his chakra. The remaining pair turned toward him.

Across the island, Riku completed his own seals.

"Summoning Amplification Jutsu: Emperor Penguin Number Two!"

The five penguins launched themselves into the air. Chakra burst from behind them like rocket exhaust, driving their compact bodies toward the second Snow squad.

Four Snow-nin combined their technique into a massive wall. The penguins struck hard enough to crack it but did not stop. Their thrust changed direction with shrill cries, carrying them around both sides before the defenders could reform their line.

"What kind of jutsu is that?"

The Snow-nin raised their arms in desperation. Their armor had turned aside ninjutsu, but the penguins were living summons moving through physical space. Defensive fields that rejected shaped chakra could not erase their mass.

The first penguin struck an armored forearm and drove it into the wearer's chest. Two more hit from opposite sides before the field could change direction. The remaining summons passed through the collapsing formation and curved back, ensuring none of the defenders escaped the combined impact.

All four defenders burst apart when the summons struck.

The ice wall collapsed with its casters. Riku swayed on his feet as the penguins slid back toward him. Amplifying their launch consumed far more chakra than an ordinary summoning, and he had almost nothing left.

He looked toward Shikun and understood that his teammate was in the same condition.

Saiji faced the final complete squad.

"Secret Art: Demon God's Iron Fist!"

Cat Spirit Possession expanded behind him until the round avatar resembled a towering demon. One enormous paw closed like a human fist. Saiji drove his own arm forward, and the apparition copied him.

The four Snow-nin released another ice formation. The fist pulverized it without slowing. They raised a wall, but the spectral knuckles passed through the defense and pounded all four bodies into meat paste against the island.

The avatar faded. Saiji's knees nearly failed, yet he forced himself toward Shikun.

Of the three attacks, his looked simplest: one fist against one wall. The effort behind it was anything but simple. Cat Spirit Possession consumed chakra across the avatar's entire body, and concentrating that mass into a single point strained every connection Saiji maintained between himself and the apparition.

The two Snow-nin who had survived the Flame Tornado recovered from the deaths of their squadmates. Their faces twisted.

"Die!"

One aimed his armored hand at the exhausted Shikun. A cluster of ice shuriken screamed toward him.

Shikun saw them and could not make his legs move.

A cold flash crossed his vision.

Steel cut through every projectile. The same stroke continued through the two Snow-nin and severed both at the waist.

A black-clad swordsman stood in front of Shikun with its katana extended. The body wore no face he recognized, but Tonbo's voice came from above the battlefield.

"Can you make it back to the ship?"

Shikun understood. The captain had created and controlled the figure from a distance. Saiji and Riku relaxed when they saw it guarding him.

On the deck, Tonbo released Eye-Opening Hand and lowered the fingers directing the construct.

"Good strength," he said as his team began withdrawing. "Their finishing techniques have improved."

At their age, all three were already impressive. They had held chūnin rank for only a year, and each still possessed room to reach special jōnin. The cost of their attacks remained excessive, but surviving opponents strong enough to expose that weakness was part of growth.

Tonbo looked higher.

An airship hovered beyond the iceberg. His enhanced sight distinguished several observers along its rail and a broad man whose face resembled Kazahana Dotō. The vessel began retreating as soon as the Snow squads died.

"So this was a test," Tonbo said.

Dotō had watched twelve subordinates die simply to measure Konoha's escort. The sacrifice was ruthless. It also showed how little those shinobi mattered to him.

The retreating airship did not attempt to recover survivors, bodies, or equipment. It gathered the information the test had purchased and carried its ruler back toward Snow. Tonbo let it go. Chasing would abandon Koyuki, the film crew, and three exhausted subordinates for an enemy whose airship routes he did not yet know.

Apart from their armor, their skill had been closer to genin than experienced chūnin. Poor combat judgment wasted the protection and amplification provided by the equipment. With proper training, any one of those squads might have defeated Tonbo's three subordinates.

That was the true value of Snow's technology. It gave weak shinobi the margin for error of stronger ones.

Shikun, Saiji, and Riku returned to the deck wounded and exhausted.

"Well done," Tonbo told them. "Continue improving."

Their tired faces brightened. They had contributed to an S-rank mission and earned the captain's approval.

The film director reviewed the cameraman's footage with delight. "Magnificent! Real shinobi combat, and no special-effects cost. We can go onto the iceberg and film the next scene now."

"No," Tonbo said. "There will be no iceberg soon."

The words had barely left him when a deep rumble traveled across the sea.

Cracks split the frozen island. Its ridges collapsed into one another, and the entire mass began sinking. The displacement raised a wall of water toward the ship.

"Turn the rudder! Face the wave!" the director shouted.

Sailors fought the wheel while the vessel rolled.

Below the surface, Tonbo silently formed a giant whale with Living Weave. The construct pressed against the hull and held it aligned as the first wave struck.

Water crashed over the bow. The ship climbed, shuddered, and survived while the battlefield disappeared beneath the sea.