The wind shredded the surface of the ice gauntlet. The lightning then penetrated the cracks, and ultimately managed to shatter the ice gauntlet into pieces.
However, at the same time, Akashi was knocked back by the pure force behind the enemy leader's punch.
The enemy leader grunted, expressing some degree of pain after the ice gauntlet atop his fist shattered, though such emotion was quickly masked.
"Huff... huff..."
Akashi was flown back, and back-flipping and quickly stabbing one of the two Kiba blades on the snowy plain, he managed to prevent himself from being picked up by the heavy storm that was getting more and more intense as the fight continued.
"H-Hitoshi-sama!!"
One of the Yukigakure's ninjas, circling around Akashi and the enemy leader whose name was revealed to be Hitoshi, cried fearfully,
"The storm is worsening!! We must evacuate, now!!"
"..."
Hitoshi grimaced as he formed another ice gauntlet atop his exposed fist. Akashi's eye narrowed behind his mask as Hitosi twisted his body while cocking his gauntlet-covered fist back.
Then, he blasted his fist at Akashi from a far distance away, launching the ice gauntlet on said fist at a ferocious speed.
Boom. Akashi disappeared with a blur, letting the ice gauntlet strike the ground and shatter into pieces with a frightening noise. At the next moment, Akashi was right above Hitoshi with his Kiba blades emitting the noises of electricity.
"Leave then!!"
Blocking Akashi's Kiba blades with the arm guards that were a part of the chakra armor that he wore, Hitoshi cried, having decided.
"Evacuate citizens!!"
The weather was in Akashi's favor. Not only was it difficult to pursue after Mei's group in this storm, but the advantage that the superiority in number provided has dissipated as well, since everyone's vision was obscured in this blizzard, and just keeping their feet attached to the ground at this point was taking quite an amount of chakra.
The electricity travelled from Kiba blades to Hitoshi's armor, but it instantly died down. Akashi noted that the chakra armor also had an insulating property.
As Akashi retracted the Kiba blades, Hitoshi immediately retaliated with a kick. Akashi quickly side-stepped to let the kick fly past him before throwing a roundhouse kick that landed straight on Hitoshi's cheek.
Hitoshi crashed into a nearby boulder, and Akashi quickly propelled himself toward the flown man, not intending to give him any time to retaliate.
Hitoshi stood back up, wiping the trail of blood on his chin. A panic was written on his face as Akashi's blade was right in front of him, about to divide him into two at any second.
CLANG!
Then, a barrier suddenly appeared around Hitoshi, which Akashi recognized as the built-in function of the chakra armor.
Hitoshi, sweating profusely and huffing rapidly, looked much worse off than just a few minutes ago. Akashi deduced that this barrier-forming function of the armor required a great amount of chakra.
"...Let us go."
Akashi suggested. His voice was muffled by the storm, and only Hitoshi, the one right in front of him, could hear it.
"You've lost a huge number of ninjas at my hands. The magnitude of this storm isn't something that many can withstand."
His eye briefly glanced at Hitoshi's back, where the ninjas were retreating into the central building sturdy enough to survive in this blizzard; it was the very building that the daimyo resided in.
"..."
Hitoshi's eyes wavered.
"But you—"
He was about to mutter something, only to stop midway. He then sighed, before backing off from Akashi's blade.
"...Just who are you?"
When Hitoshi spoke again, there was a fear in his tone. It was a sign of resignation, an indirect means of telling Akashi that he would comply with Akashi's offer.
Akashi sheathed the Kiba swords on his back instead of sealing them back, such that he could take them out again at any time if needed. He then brought his right hand to his mask and adjusted it as he spoke.
"...Taka."
"Taka of Kiri, one of the Seven Swordsmen..."
Hitoshi's face wrinkled up into a one full of wrath,
"Yukigakure will remember this event."
Without responding, Akashi simply turned back before his form vanished with a blur.
__________
"Huff... huff... now what is this?"
In the middle of the dunes of snow, Mei's group had to come to a stop as a large number of ninjas blocked their path.
Having gotten out of the center of the storm that was striking Yukigakure, the pile of snow atop the ground was so thick that they had to utilize chakra just to keep themselves above it; failure to do so would cause one's entire body to sink into the snow as if it was a pool of quicksand.
In the middle of the surrounding ninjas stood an obese man with glasses and luxurious clothes, seated with a servant holding an umbrella over his head.
Zabuza, amidst his heavy breathing, growled.
"Out of the way...!!"
"Zabuza."
Mei, with a grim expression, held her hand up as a sign for Zabuza to keep quiet. Gritting his teeth, Zabuza complied and backed.
From Ao's back, Gai watched the scene out of nervousness. Mei slowly walked, only to stop as the ninjas on the opposing side began to reek of killing intent.
The forehead protectors of Yukigakure were above their foreheads. Judging by the number and route, it seemed that...
'They were trying to drive us here in the first place. With a threat and justification that we infiltrated their land, they wanted to capture us as hostages—without a negotiation.'
This was reasonable, considering that there was nothing that Mei's group could offer other than to negotiate other than their own lives.
Nonetheless, Mei had to oblige—keep her courtesy as a kunoichi and member of a noble clan.
"...We greet the daimyo-dono, the ruler of Yukigakure."
"The pleasure is mine."
The daimyo eyed the storm behind Mei's group before bringing them over Mei, who was stiff out of nervousness.
'The situation has gotten out of hand.'
Mei pursed her lips, knowing that there was no way out.
There was no way to explain their purpose of visiting Yukigakure. After all, the very purpose of doing so was to recruit Akashi, and Akashi was currently utilizing the identity of "Taka". Explaining the purpose of their visit to the daimyo would mean revealing that Akashi is Taka, that Akashi was still alive, and that Akashi—the S-ranked criminal who was convicted of attempted murder of Hanzo—was now taken in by Kiri's Terumi clan.
"Unfortunately, you weren't invited as guests, which leaves us with only one possible way to explain your visit..."
Daimyo then grinned as if having ascertained his victory.
"You are here to spy, to attain our most crucial information. In other words... Kiri is preparing to wage a war against us."
Mei closed her eyes tightly, visibly troubled.
__________
Before tracking down Mei's group and rejoining them, Akashi, standing in a cave of snow, generated a shadow clone of himself.
This shadow clone was to pose as 'Akashi' to prevent people from connecting the dots between 'Akashi' and the identity of 'Taka'.
Atop the shadow clone, Akashi attached a simple seal—a simple storage seal that stored some degree of his chakra. Through this extra reserve, the shadow clone will be able to last for a longer period of time—though Akashi didn't know for how long this would go.
"You know what to do."
The shadow clone nodded stoically.
__________
Zabuza breathed heavily as he swung his greatsword to fend off the horde of ninjas ahead of him. It was evident that he was at his limit.
Ao, by his side, seemed no different. Protecting Gai, who understood the severity of the situation, Ao tried to think of a way out of this, only to reach the conclusion that there was no way out.
"Mei-sama..."
Mei was currently the primary reason why they were able to withstand the huge number of ninjas. Her proficiencies in Boil Release and Lava Release were once again proven to be superb as she spat out the lethal acid and scorching lava like an artillery.
"Hm..."
Watching Mei's feats, the daimyo frowned.
The troop of ninjas currently fighting Mei's group was the one that he prepared to enter the ongoing shinobi war. Therefore, he wished to minimize the damage. However, the damage taken has already gotten out of hand thanks to Mei's bloodline limits, which irked the daimyo.
"Besides..."
The matter of Red Blade was unfinished. Should that dangerous missing-nin join this ongoing battle after both sides had taken on a great deal of damage, the daimyo couldn't tell how the situation would turn out.
"Furthermore,"
The daimyo then whispered to himself a question that has been lingering in him for a while,
"Why isn't Hitoshi coming?"
Hitoshi. He was the jonin of Yukigakure, the 2nd-in-command whose strength was considered the strongest in this village. Originally, the plan was to have Mei's group be surrounded from the front and back. The reason why the troop ended up taking this much damage was the absence of Hitoshi and the ninjas whom the daimyo trusted with him.
He was completely unaware of "Taka".
"Mei-sama!!"
Ao cried mid-fight, trying to prevent a single ninja from attacking Gai who cowered at the back.
"What's the plan?!"
Mei grimaced. Her eyes briefly glanced over the daimyo with a killing intent behind them; she was considering the option of rousing chaos by murdering the daimyo.
The issue was that doing so would also earn the hostility of all the other daimyos around the world; it would surely bite her in the future.
She was currently hesitating. Fight here until they are captured, or kill the daimyo and ruin the future. She was in a dead-end.
Hesitation. Contemplation. Thinking something else mid-fight, in a dire situation. Mei unconsciously let her guard down for a split second, and the enemies didn't miss the chance.
A kunai was coming at her throat. Her eyes widened as she saw one Yuki shinobi in front of her with his face lusting after blood.
Time seemed to be slowing down in front of Mei. It was too late, and her hands by the sides won't be able to block the kunai in time.
'No—'
Then, another kunai, flown from the side, suddenly interrupted the Yuki shinobi's advance on Mei by striking and knocking said kunai out of the shinobi's hands.
Mei's eyes widened as the man wearing the hunter-nin's mask, Akashi, in the identity of Taka, appeared in front of her at a speed that she couldn't recognize.
Her ears rang. Her heart thumped so fast from adrenaline, and she grew goosebumps upon realizing that she could've died.
""MEI!!""
"Mei-sama!!"
Gai, Zabuza, and Ao then cried out in panic and relief.
Akashi eyed Mei before nodding slightly. The Yuki ninjas, noticing Akashi, paused their advance in caution.
Mei then saw that beyond what the mask covered, Akashi was sweating.
"I will give you an opening just like a while ago."
He spoke in the midst of his underlying exhaustion.
"Run. This should be the last."
Akashi unsheathed the Kiba blades once more.
Then, before Mei could say anything, Akashi dashed at the ninjas ahead of them.
The lightning flashed before the front-most ninjas were diced into pieces. Numerous of them were knocked back. With that ferociousness, Akashi was slicing his way through the flood of Yuki ninjas at a rapid pace, and the direction in which he was heading was...
"STOP!! STOP HIM!!!"
"THIS MAN IS AFTER DAIMYO-SAMA!! FOCUS ON THIS MAN!!"
where daimyo, one whose eyes were widened in disbelief as he stared at Akashi, was seated.
"Hurry!!"
Jolting up, Mei hurriedly shouted at Ao and Zabuza. They nodded as Ao quickly picked Gai up. They began running.
A couple of ninjas interrupted their way, but compared to what they've been facing before, it was nothing. As the majority of ninjas directed their dangerous intents to Akashi, Mei's group paved their way out and quickly disappeared beyond the dunes of snow.
"STOP!! STOP HIM!!"
Those ninjas were unable to stop Akashi's advance. Swinging his two Kiba blades, Akashi didn't know when to stop, bulldozing his way through. The daimyo visibly paled as he realized how close Akashi had gotten.
"Who is this man?!!"
Daimyo shouted, but no one answered, for no one knew. All they could tell was that their enemy was the masked man who wielded Kiba swords, indicating that he was one of the Seven Swordsman.
And in the blink of an eye, Akashi was right in front of the daimyo, about to slash the kiba sword on his right hand at the daimyo's exposed neck—
Clang.
And there, Akashi, with his face covered by the mask, was interrupted,
"...Huh?"
by the brown-haired, blue-eyed man who wore a tattered robe, whose hand firmly gripped the black sword Ryuma.
"You are..."
Yes, the man in question was Akashi. To be more specific, Akashi's shadow clone, meant to act as Akashi himself.
"...Daimyo of Yukigakure."
Akashi's clone then opened his mouth and spoke hoarsely.
"Let's make a deal."