Chapter 31 — The Protagonist Always Arrives Last
"It's salt!"
Nadare shouted with the exhilaration of a reader who has agonized through an entire mystery novel—
only to finally reach the moment when the mastermind is revealed.
At last, he understood why the snow and ice that normally obeyed him like an extension of his own body…
refused to take shape into the One-Horned White Whale.
All around the battlefield—
the snow had been dusted with salt, the perfect catalyst for melting ice.
Salt and snow were both white.
In the chaos of battle, none of them had noticed.
"Damn it!"
Veins bulged on Nadare's forehead. He felt an overwhelming urge to grab something—anything—and smash it into the ground.
Even in the Snow Country, very few knew this secret passed along by only a handful of people:
that the most basic and essential seasoning in human cuisine was also a devastating anti-ice weapon.
No wonder the enormous chakra he poured into his technique yielded only a fraction of its usual effect.
No wonder the One-Horned White Whale refused to form properly.
But—
"And you think this alone can stop me?!"
Nadare gritted his teeth.
To give up now was to die.
Everything that had happened so far made that clear:
From the throat-slitting infiltration of the sentries…
to the detonation of explosive tags collapsing the mansion…
to the instant kill attempts the moment they emerged from the rubble…
These enemies didn't negotiate.
They didn't threaten.
They didn't talk.
They came solely to kill him and everyone else here.
"—Hgh!"
Face reddening to the color of a steamed crab, Nadare forced his chakra into overdrive.
Bathed in the flickering glow of burning explosive tags, he looked like someone suffering severe constipation, desperately trying to force something out.
But at last—
with the additional support of his Snow Country chakra armor—
it appeared.
Shrunken, straining, but alive:
A One-Horned White Whale burst forth from the ground with a thunderous roar.
Under the firelight, its pure white body gleamed like a breaching humpback whale singing to the sky.
Well…
minus the size.
It had shrunk from a blue whale…
to roughly a humpback.
Still impressive, though.
"Heh… heheheh—DIE!"
Nadare exhaled deeply, thinking the tides of battle had finally turned.
The whale was smaller, but still powerful.
And in his eyes, this was undeniably the key to victory.
"Lord Kazahana Doto! Come with me—
we will seize victory!"
Hands forming seals, Nadare drove the One-Horned White Whale forward, crashing toward the still-silent Oto-nin formation.
Even in this critical moment, he remembered to shout to his lord—
urging him to join the counterattack.
But…
Nadare's invitation received no response—
just like a loyal simp inviting the goddess of his dreams, only to be met with complete indifference.
"…?"
When no answer came for far too long, a chilling premonition crept up his spine.
But now that he had mounted the tiger, he had no choice but to fight a hundred men if he must—
even without Kazahana Doto's cooperation!
Still, as the roaring One-Horned White Whale lunged forward like Mount Tai collapsing upon the enemy,
a tiny shard of hope clung stubbornly to Nadare's heart.
"Curse Seal of Earth — First State."
"Shikotsumyaku — Dance of the Camellia."
And then—
The One-Horned White Whale, the last pillar of his hope, shattered that hope instantly.
A voice—soft as the night wind—floated gently into Nadare's ears.
A youth stepped forward.
A boy in flowing white clothing, with white hair drifting like snow.
Against the massive white whale, he looked like a sesame seed at the foot of a mountain—
yet what Nadare saw next nearly shattered his soul.
The youth drew a length of pale bone from his own left arm.
In a heartbeat the bone reshaped itself into a sword.
Black markings crawled over the boy's skin like throbbing veins—
the cursed seal awakening.
Chakra surged.
His body blurred into a storm of afterimages.
And with that—
He appeared atop the One-Horned White Whale.
A beat.
A flash.
Sword sheathed.
Sword shaken clean.
The boy—Kimimaro—stood now before Nadare, the collapsed whale at his back serving as nothing more than a stage prop for his debut.
His eyes were calm.
Flat.
Emotionless.
They looked upon a defeated man… and saw nothing worth reacting to.
"N–No… impossible!"
Nadare's scream tore itself free, but his despair was the final straw.
The whale beneath Kimimaro groaned—then erupted with a thunderous boom.
The 11- to 12-meter construct of ice and snow shattered.
With it, so too collapsed all the fight left in Nadare.
"It's over."
Kimimaro looked down upon the kneeling man.
No ripple of emotion touched his gaze.
He raised his bone blade.
Oda Nobunaga hadn't asked for live captives.
The blade fell.
A spray of hot blood blossomed across the shimmering snow.
Then—
Kimimaro turned toward Kakuzu, who was dragging the immobilized and humiliated Kazahana Doto toward them.
"Heh. Not bad, little Orochimaru."
Kakuzu smirked, tugging on the thick black threads binding Doto like a caterpillar.
Sure, Nobunaga bought Kakuzu's services, and sure, Kakuzu promised not to expose Kimimaro's ties to Orochimaru.
But Nobunaga didn't pay him to stop teasing the kid.
The message in Kakuzu's grin was obvious:
See? In the end, I caught the biggest fish.
Doto, after all, with his flight-capable chakra armor and greater overall strength, was a far tougher opponent than the now-headless Nadare.
Kimimaro ignored him.
He held his bone sword up to return it to his body as usual—
But then… he suddenly stopped.
His gaze slid past Kakuzu, toward Oda Nobunaga standing far off in the firelit distance.
A moment of hesitation.
Then Kimimaro tossed the bone sword aside and used chakra to dissolve it completely.
"This kid…"
Kakuzu chuckled.
After all their time together, he had grown to somewhat like the quiet youth.
Seeing Kimimaro truly obey Nobunaga's pre-battle instructions, Kakuzu yanked Doto harder—producing a yelp from the still-defiant man.
"Didn't you want to know who was hunting you?
Wait a moment—my boss will be here soon."
Since Kimimaro wasn't fun to tease, Kakuzu redirected his attention to Doto.
Sure enough—
Doto shut his mouth immediately.
No matter his fate, he did want to know who had come for his life tonight.
Meanwhile, seeing that the battlefield was firmly under control, Nobunaga stepped aside gracefully and gestured to Princess Koyuki and her loyal retainer Asama Sandayū.
"Please, go ahead."
He invited them forward.
Koyuki instinctively moved to rush ahead—
but Sandayū firmly held her arm.
"After you, my lord."
Even Koyuki quickly realized:
Better to follow behind the man who led a force that tore down a mansion without a whisper.
"Very well."
Nobunaga nodded.
Without another word, he stepped forward—
From this distant high ground, the fallen estate of the Snow Daimyo lay far below, separated by both distance and a frightening drop.
But Nobunaga walked toward the edge as though strolling across level ground.
As if the sheer cliff meant nothing.
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