บท 59: Land of Snow Arc (18) : Return and Surprise Gift.
The shinobi did exactly as Tachibana expected them to do and quickly formed a giant protective ring around the castle as they all formed hand seals and slammed them into the ground.
Multiple layers of ice walls showed up around the castle as they all quickly absorbed the surrounding snow to grow into a towering wall that was enough to face the incoming avalanche head-on without shattering.
The growing *rumble* that threatened to crush the castle started to quieten down and the avalanche slowly stopped moving after the first wave of snow crashed into the ice walls.
Naruto watched with fear as the snowy mist that had spread everywhere slowly cleared to reveal three gigantic shiny mirrors.
The mirrors weren't made of glass or silver. Hence why no one ever knew they were made and installed along the faces of such large mountains.
The mirrors were just modified Ice Release: Ice Walls but on a terribly large scale.
Not many people understood how they were made but almost everyone in the castle instantly understood what they were meant for.
Simply standing atop the castle the four genin of Team Seven felt the temperature around them go up by a few degrees.
"I guess we can stop pouring our chakra now that the walls are made I don't think they need chakra to be sustained.", Tachibana said as he stepped off the ridge he was standing on himself.
Naruto and Sasuke followed soon after but they looked much better than Tachibana since they had a lot more chakra than him.
"This…is this what my dad wanted to do for the country?" Tachibana heard Koyuki from beside him.
It seemed like Yamato had brought her up here at her request.
"I think so. He probably wanted to turn the valley around the castle into the Land of Spring."
"I see." Koyuki nodded. There were tears in her eyes so no one said anything else and for that day, everyone just waited by the windows they were near to watch for the first time in the Land of Snow, the snow melt and reveal the land underneath.
The ground underneath was mostly barren with small tufts of dry grass that was frozen probably some millennia ago emerging after a long time but everyone still enjoyed the event.
"You should turn this day into the official founding day of the Land of Spring." Tachibana joked but the idea set off a spark in Koyuki's heart.
"That is a nice idea…a new name for a new country…"
The days after that passed fast. The Ice Wall was deactivated by simply removing the Hex Crystal key because several preparations needed to be made before the castle was equipped for much hotter temperatures.
Within two more weeks, an official celebration was launched for Koyuki to take the seat as the new head of the Land of Snow. Several neighbouring Daimyo's were invited and a representative from Konoha had also shown up.
The party went well and Team Seven got a commemorative photo with an autograph from Koyuki.
Koyuki hadn't given up on her acting so the second Princess Gale movie was shot in the Land of Snow which had now been renamed to the Land of Spring after the ice mirrors had been revealed at the official coronation ceremony.
'Huh…' Tachibana looked at the large number of people that had gathered to watch Koyuki's coronation.
He'd visited the Kaito's burial earlier during the week and had asked Koyuki to help take care of his family since he used the old man to infiltrate the palace even though he didn't have long left.
Tachibana had remained hidden and didn't show himself at the burial so as to not cause any ruckus, but he was there only to make sure everything proceeded smoothly without any troubles.
And so Team Seven finally finished the mission they had been assigned directly by the Hokage. An A-class mission that very few people would have completed so soon after graduating from the academy.
"You've all done well.", Hiruzen said with a soft smile on his face. "Especially you Sasuke-kun. The will of fire truly burns with the sacrifices you make to keep our name high."
Sasuke looked unhappy, but what else could he do but smile awkwardly and nod?
'Yamato-sensei sent him a report about our mission earlier?' Tachibana guessed since they'd directly come to the Hokage office as soon as they entered the village walls.
'Makes sense since there was a representative of Konoha at the coronation ceremony.'
'So this mission was to acquire the loyalty of the Land of Snow and their technologies?'
'That was probably why Yamato didn't take us back to the village when Koyuki's true identity as the princess of the Land of Snow was revealed.'
Eventually the Hokage praised everyone on the team one by one, and then asked them all, "As a reward for completing this mission so perfectly, what would you all like as a reward?"
Sasuke was the first to speak.
"My eye-"
But Hiruzen interrupted, "Don't worry Sasuke-kun we'll speak after a little bit." then he turned to Naruto first.
"Make me the Hokage!"
Hiruzen gave an awkward smile before softly changing his reward, "You can learn any C - Rank jutsu you wish."
Then he turned towards Sakura.
"I would like to be taught Medical Ninjutsu."
Hiruzen's eyes lit up, he sat up a little straighter and asked, "May I know why you want to learn Medical Ninjutsu?"
"I want to be able to heal my teammates when they're in danger so that…so that things that happened this time will never happen again."
Hiruzen smiled warmly, nodded and informed her, "For the next two months Haruno-chan can study Medical ninjutsu at the Konoha hospital. We will sort out the personnel later. But you have my word."
Sakura's shoulders relaxed a bit and a soft smile came upon her face.
Hiruzen finally turned towards Tachibana.
"I want to take part in researching jutsus and learning Sealing." Tachibana wished for two things but it was more of an attempt to get his ability to study sealing passed since Hiruzen was probably going to reject his request to research jutsus.
He did it because he wanted to be able to use his sealing knowledge in public combat. He wanted to develop the persona that all the weird techniques he was going to gain as a Beyonder came from his research on seals and the like.
Hiruzen smiled and calmly responded, "While you are not yet capable of researching jutsus. I will have Yamato teach you about sealing so that you can get some basics sorted out first. Once your foundations are set we can later look at jutsu research, is that alright?"
Tachibana nodded and Team Seven finally left the room, with Yamato and Sasuke staying back.
Hiruzen finally looked at Sasuke and spoke seriously.
"Sasuke-kun did you know Kakashi's epithet?"
"Kakashi of the Sharingan." Sasuke immediately responded.
Hiruen nodded and then pulled out a scroll from his desk.
"This is a storage scroll. An important one at that. Do you know why?"
Although Sasuke was a child, he wasn't stupid enough that he couldn't immediately connect the dots. His eyes widened and his hands trembled a little.
Hiruzen noticed all this and spoke kindly, "I hope you realise that this eye has seen terrible things, but simultaneously it also shows the hope that one day those terrible things become manure at the roots to energise the tree of the village so that the will of fire can burn brighter!"
"I hope you can carry on the will of fire that Kakashi had nurtured."
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A/N: What do you want Sasuke's other Mangekyo Sharingan to be if his left one is Kakashi's long distance kamui.
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