The twelve Elite Snow Guards couldn't move.
The Conqueror's Haki bleeding off Kenji hit them like a physical wall. The air in the ruined throne room turned thick and suffocating. The guards gasped for breath, their knees buckling under the sheer, crushing killing intent.
Kenji didn't draw a weapon. He didn't weave a single hand seal.
He just stepped forward.
He moved in a blur. He grabbed the first guard by the faceplate and slammed his skull directly into the frozen stone floor. The reinforced helmet shattered on impact.
Two guards managed to fight through the pressure, swinging their broadswords. Kenji didn’t dodge. His forearms blackened with Armament Haki. He caught both blades barehanded, snapping the steel like cheap plastic. He drove a brutal knee into the first man’s chest plate, caving it in, and backhanded the second so hard his neck snapped.
In ten seconds, the throne room was dead quiet.
Broken bodies and shattered armor littered the frost-covered carpet. Kenji stood in the center, flicking a drop of blood off his knuckles.
Kakashi dropped through the shattered skylight, landing silently on the debris. His Sharingan was active, rapidly scanning the room.
"The courtyard is secure," Kakashi reported. "But Doto's aerial forces retreated. They have the client."
"I know," Kenji said flatly. His dark eyes were locked on the raging blizzard visible through the massive hole in the roof.
[Observation Haki: Active]
Kenji’s senses expanded outward, piercing through the storm. Three miles away and climbing fast, he locked onto Fubuki Kakuyoku's unique chakra signature.
"Take the team and track Doto's ground forces," Kenji ordered. "I'm getting the Princess."
Before Kakashi could object, Kenji bent his knees.
The solid stone floor beneath him cratered inward. With a deafening boom that shook the remaining walls, Kenji launched himself vertically through the shattered roof, shooting into the dark, freezing sky.
Down in the castle courtyard, the snow was stained red.
Sasuke Uchiha breathed heavily, deflecting a sweeping strike from a massive Snow Guard Captain.
His two-tomoe Sharingan tracked the man's every move. Sasuke saw the Captain shift his weight. The tell was obvious. The trajectory for the follow-up thrust was perfectly clear.
Sasuke pivoted to dodge and counter-strike the exposed neck.
He didn't make it.
His brain processed the opening perfectly, but his muscles were simply a fraction of a second too slow to execute the high-speed maneuver. The physical lag was brutal.
The spear grazed his shoulder, tearing open his jacket and drawing blood.
Sasuke stumbled backward, gritting his teeth in pure frustration. He saw the attack coming perfectly, but his body was too slow to react to his own eyes.
The Captain sneered, raising his spear for a fatal thrust.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Four clones dropped from the battlements. They slammed into the Captain simultaneously, pinning his arms and driving him face-first into the snow. The real Naruto landed smoothly next to Sasuke, a kunai drawn.
"You good?" Naruto asked, his eyes locked on the perimeter.
Sasuke glared at the snow, gripping his bleeding shoulder. He hated being saved.
Kakashi landed beside them. His lone eye scanned Sasuke’s injury. He recognized the exact problem instantly.
"Your eyes see the attack, but your nervous system can't keep up," Kakashi stated bluntly. "We'll fix that physical lag when we get back to Konoha. Prepare yourself."
Sasuke didn't argue. He just nodded tightly.
High above the howling blizzard, Fubuki Kakuyoku pushed her mechanical wings to their absolute limit.
She held the unconscious Princess Yukie tightly against her side, flying straight toward Doto’s mobile fortress looming in the jagged mountains ahead.
Then, a rhythmic, concussive sound echoed over the roar of the wind.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Fubuki glanced at her radar. A single, high-density chakra signature was approaching from behind. Fast.
She looked over her shoulder. Her eyes widened in horror.
The dark-haired Genin was running on the empty sky.
Using the Rokushiki technique Geppo, Kenji compressed the air beneath his boots with monstrous physical force. Every step triggered a sonic boom, launching him higher and faster.
"What the hell are you?!" Fubuki screamed.
She banked left and fired a rapid volley of razor-sharp ice swallows directly at his face.
Kenji didn't flinch. His right arm blackened with Haki. He swatted the incoming ice shards away, shattering them into harmless snow.
He closed the distance in three massive strides.
Dropping directly above her, Kenji reached out. His hand hovered inches from the mechanical chakra core mounted on the back of her wings.
[Skill Activated: Steal (Targeted Component)]
Space warped. The glowing chakra core vanished from Fubuki's armor and materialized cleanly in Kenji’s inventory.
Instantly, the mechanical wings died.
Fubuki screamed as gravity took over. Without power, the heavy armor became an anchor. She plummeted out of the sky, dropping the Princess in her panic.
Kenji instantly angled his descent, entering a controlled free-fall.
The wind roared in his ears as he tore through the sky, reaching out for Yukie. He was inches away from grabbing her cloak.
Suddenly, a low, vibrating hum filled the air. The Royal Suppression Field radiating from the castle below dragged at his chakra, slowing his kinetic acceleration just enough to rob him of his momentum.
Before his fingers could close around the fabric, a massive shadow broke through the clouds directly beneath them.
It was Doto’s colossal armored airship.
The heavy steel doors of the top cargo bay snapped open. Yukie’s unconscious body fell straight into the dark hold.
Kenji gritted his teeth. He kicked off the air for one final burst of speed.
CLANG.
The heavy steel doors slammed shut, locking tight a split second before Kenji reached them.
He landed hard on the reinforced steel hull of the moving airship. The metal groaned beneath his boots. The freezing wind whipped his grey robe as the massive fortress ascended higher into the mountains.
Kenji stared down at the sealed cargo doors. His dark eyes went dead.
"Alright, Doto," Kenji whispered to the roaring wind. "Let's see how your ship handles a boarding party."