Chapter 236: The Return Voyage

"Charge! Kill Kazahana Dotō and restore the princess to the throne!"

More than one hundred resistance shinobi advanced on the lord's residence.

"Ice Release: Eternal Blizzard!"

They released the combined technique together. Snow and ice swallowed the road, rose above the walls, and rolled toward Dotō's defensive line.

Dotō watched without concern.

"Naive. Before absolute power, resistance is meaningless."

His regular army answered in formation. Chakra armor amplified their Ice Release while superior numbers fed the technique from one rank to the next. The two storms collided, and the resistance's Eternal Blizzard stopped before the manor.

Fifteen figures appeared around the defensive position.

Taketori Tenma and the Imperial Guard formed their seals. Lines of script spread through the ground and connected their chakra into a single formation.

"Earth Release: Crushing Stone Array!"

Broken rock rose in a vast cloud. The pieces launched like cannonballs into Dotō's ranks.

Snow's armor could redirect ninjutsu, but the stones were physical matter driven by a linked technique. They smashed through defensive fields, shattered plates, and tore bodies apart. Scores of Snow-nin died beneath the barrage.

"Earth Release: Multi-Pillar Rain!"

Stone columns formed above the battlefield and plunged toward Dotō.

Tonbo had supplied every useful detail of the enemy's position. The Imperial Guard placed its attacks where the armor units had the least room to scatter.

Dotō finally abandoned his contempt.

"Ice Release: Black Dragon Double Kill!"

Two black dragons spiraled around him. They struck the falling pillars and shattered them before they reached the center of his guard. Nadare Rōga and the other jōnin surrounding Dotō revealed their own strength, turning the residence into a collision of ice, stone, and amplified chakra.

"The Imperial Guard is incredible," Riku said from Koyuki's protection line.

"A force like this could overwhelm an ordinary battlefield," Saiji replied.

Tonbo watched the formation with equal interest. "That is the Taketori clan. Even in Konoha, shinobi capable of this would stand out."

For the first time since arriving in this world, he was seeing Fire Country's highest military power outside Konoha. It was anything but simple. The range of the formation could erase an average hidden village, and its concentrated force was even more absurd.

Combined ninjutsu fascinated him. Memories taken from Iwa shinobi had taught him how techniques could link, but knowing the principle did not let one person reproduce a formation built for fifteen. Every member supplied a different portion of the structure. Remove one, and the whole method changed.

Snow's ninjutsu confirmed another theory. As the defenders formed Ice Release, their techniques pulled cold natural energy from the region. Tonbo could sense the foreign power enter without passing through their bodies like Sage Mode.

His cursed-seal research, his increasingly quick meditative state, and the strength of his perception had all brought him closer to recognizing natural energy. With more experiments, he might eventually create his own sage art—or a true Sage Mode.

Snow provided one reference. The still-missing Urashiki might provide another.

The thought of the Ōtsutsuki pressed against Tonbo's patience. He had intended to study Snow for much longer. Every extra day away from Konoha was a day Urashiki might attack Ayame, Tenyu, or Maki while Tonbo remained across the sea.

"We should finish this."

During his infiltration, Tonbo had planted genjutsu seeds inside selected Snow-nin.

"Genjutsu: Hypnosis."

The seeds opened.

One defender drove a blade into the man beside him.

"What are you doing? We are on the same side!"

"Go to hell."

"Wake up, you bastard!"

"Go to hell."

Across the formation, other compromised shinobi turned on their comrades. Steel rang against armor. Bodies fell before officers understood that the attack came from inside their own ranks.

The defensive line dissolved into chaos. Resistance forces seized the opening and surged forward.

The hypnosis did more than remove the affected shinobi. Each betrayal forced nearby squads to decide whether the next ally was genuine. Commands lost their meaning, formations separated, and armor meant for a coordinated defense turned toward friendly bodies. By the time untouched officers restored control, the resistance had crossed the distance the blizzard could not.

Dotō glared at the Imperial Guard. "Fire Country dares interfere in another nation's rule? Are you not afraid every country will judge you for this?"

Tenma smiled. "You will not have long to worry about it."

He clenched his hand.

"Earth Release: Moving Mountain Jutsu."

The fifteen Taketori linked their chakra through the seals surrounding the manor. Every rock Dotō's black dragons had shattered began to move again.

The ground roared.

Stone converged from every direction and detonated around Dotō. His dragons broke, and his chakra armor vanished beneath the impact. The battlefield disappeared behind explosions and smoke.

When the air cleared, Kazahana Dotō was gone. No body remained, only thin traces of blood among the ruined stone.

Snow's celebrated armor had failed completely.

Tonbo inhaled sharply. Moving Mountain drew strength from the earth itself. It was a sage art performed through the combined formation, proof that the Imperial Guard also possessed methods involving natural energy.

The battle was over.

Several days later, Kazahana Koyuki took Snow Country's throne with Sandayū at her side. She thanked the Konoha team and Fire Country's guards, then privately offered Tonbo a place in Snow—as her consort if he wished it.

Tonbo answered with another memory insertion.

He erased the desire to keep him and left only Koyuki's gratitude for Konoha's contribution. He was a married man. An offer from a beautiful ruler would not make him forget Ayame.

Another traveler from his former world might have accepted first, altered memories afterward, and walked away. Tonbo considered himself too much of a gentleman for that.

His principles did not stop his preparations for the future Technology Development Bureau.

Tonbo captured every scientist responsible for Snow's chakra armor and related technology. Genjutsu extracted their knowledge while he copied the research archives. Snow's new government never learned how much information left with him.

He learned which metals carried the amplified chakra, how the plates vented heat, where early prototypes had failed, and which factories possessed the tools to reproduce them. The scientists remembered years of experiments that never appeared in the surviving documents. Tonbo took those memories along with the successful designs.

The theft would save Konoha years of work. Tonbo also read the Ice Release methods from the memories preserved in the corpses of Snow-nin. Their techniques depended on the region, but their way of drawing natural energy made them rare research material.

At the dock, Sandayū stood beside Koyuki while the film crew loaded the ship.

"Thank you for your support," he said. "I hope our countries continue to work together."

Koyuki no longer looked at Tonbo with romantic interest. Her thoughts had been rewritten completely. Had Tonbo considered permanent control necessary, he could have ruled her as Obito once ruled Yagura. He decided it was unnecessary.

"Goodbye," Tonbo said.

The ship raised its sails and began the voyage home.