Waiting on the sidelines while watching Koyuki act alongside all her other partners wasn't new for Team Seven since they'd watched it all happen on the ship while they were travelling to the Land of Snow.
But what kept their attention glued to Koyuki was the fact that her acting skills were top-notch, once the camera started rolling, they couldn't believe they were looking at the same person anymore.
She really embodied the role of the character she was playing by masterfully controlling her expression to convey meaning and emotion in the dialogues she spoke.
More than her acting skills though, Team Seven didn't want to let their eyes slip from her because they were worried the moment they would let go of her would be the moment Doto and his men would kidnap her.
Team Seven had already confirmed that the plan would work with the help of Tachibana's divination, so the only questions left were when it would happen and how.
*rumble*
"Hmm…?"
"What happened Tachibana-kun?" Sakura asked noticing Tachibana frowning.
"Did you hear something rumble just now? Was it your stomach Naruto?"
"Huh? No. I'm not hungry anymore. I had three bowls of ramen."
*rumble* *rumble*
"Wait! I heard it this time!" Sakura said standing up as she started to look around with Tachibana.
Both looked around for a few seconds before they noticed Sasuke suddenly open his Sharingan and look at the top of the mountain with horror.
"What in the worl-"
"AVALANCHE!!!" Naruto shouted, grabbing the attention of all the people on the summit.
Yamato immediately noticed the large tsunami of snow and chunks of ice tumbling down the mountain. But instead of helping form a barricade to stop the snow from crushing and drowning them all, Yamato called out different orders.
"Everyone, quickly gather around the centre!"
The cast and the crew quickly followed Yamato's orders and crowded around the centre before he formed hand seals and caused a spherical wooden dome to cover them all.
Koyuki, the director, the cameraman and Team Seven were left out of this dome as they were meant to face the avalanche themselves.
Just as Yamato was in the process of forming more hand seals, two shinobi dropped down from the sky and landed on the snow.
"They're here!!" Naruto called out as he rushed towards the Land of Snow Shinobi to disable their shield and blow up their armour.
"Haha~ You thought you could escape us by burying us in the sea with that glacier? I guess you weren't prepared for this!" Nadare said while looking at Yamato who was frowning.
Nadare immediately formed hand seals and slapped his palms together.
"Ice Release: Rose Bush!"
All of a sudden, ice plants grew out of the snow spreading in all directions from him as they moved most rapidly towards Yamato to intercept him.
Yamato was forced to stop his hand seals and forced to dodge the ice plants which had long thorns in them.
Meanwhile, the second shinobi who had landed quickly rushed towards Koyuki while the Director filmed it all with the help of the cameraman.
Team Seven didn't waste even a little time and moved to confront the shinobi moving towards Koyuki.
With Naruto in the lead, everyone behind him pulled out their own means of attacking. Sakura pulled out an explosive seal kunai, Sasuke his Sharingan while Tachibana pulled out kunai and shuriken attached with wires drenched in oil so that they could catch fire easily.
Naruto used his armour and vanished under the snow as Tachibana tracked him swimming through it to reach directly underneath the shinobi that was about to attach a hook to Koyuki's obi (belt of a kimono).
Naruto shot out of the snow rapidly and punched the lady in her chin throwing her about ten feet back.
Sakura and Sasuke surrounded the lady while Tachibana looked at the hook that was hanging off what appeared to be a blimp.
'The heck is a blimp doing in this world!?'
'If there are blimps why isn't there an intercontinental ballistic missile here!?'
'Why don't they just invent nukes and blow up everyone!?'
Tachibana guessed where the thin invisible wire connected to the hook was and tossed his own shuriken at it, snapping it off and removing the danger of Koyuki being airlifted suddenly mid-battle lesser.
Shifting his attention back onto the shinobi that was fighting Team Seven, Tachibana was about to throw his shuriken but just then he heard a soft *whistle* riding through the air.
Tachibana looked up but was unable to spot anything, except Sasuke looked up at the same time and his eyes widened as he shouted, "Find cover!!!"
Naruto sank into the snow while Sasuke saved Sakura by grabbing her and rushing towards the ice walls from where they both rushed away.
Tachibana instantly listened to Sasuke and was about to use the body flicker jutsu and run away from the area but managed to glance at the female shinobi who unhesitatingly rushed towards Koyuki and was about to kidnap her.
Tachibana didn't understand how she was so uncaring about whatever was coming and so assumed that if he stayed by her side he could save himself too, and so instead of rushing away from the area, Tachibana rushed towards Koyuki to save her from getting kidnapped.
What Tachibana failed to understand was that if they had just been normal kunai dropping out of the sky Sasuke's reaction wouldn't have been warranted, except they weren't so simple.
As soon as the kunai came in contact with the snow they grew into thirty feet tall spiky bushes.
'The hell!!!??'
'How does she think she'll get away from this!?'
Tachibana cursed at his luck as he saw the thirty-foot-tall spiky monuments spawning in and turning the area into a thorny crystal icy forest.
Tachibana kept his focus on the twin-tailed shinobi and soon saw spider-like extensions emerging out of her back as she used them to grab onto Koyuki before extending her arms in the direction of the blimp in the sky.
A sharp spike shot out of one of the extensions on her back as it pierced directly into the metallic body of the blimp.
But before she could retreat into the safe haven of her sky Tachibana jumped onto her. Just as the ladies were being reeled back up towards the blimp, Tachibana managed to catch Koyuki's feet and hugged them for dear life.
The twin-tailed shinobi noticed their sudden slowing down due to the added weight and looked down at Tachibana with a frown.
"You're not going to escape this time lady!!" Tachibana shouted as he hung onto Koyuki as they were lifted into the air.
Tachibana thought the twin-tailed shinobi would stop going higher into the sky for fear of the string connecting them and the blimp breaking.
But to his unfortunate surprise, the twin-tailed shinobi started trying to stomp on his head to get him off by piercing his head with the sharp end of her boots.
"What are you doing lady?!! The string will break!!! Do you want to die along with me!?"
"As if! This thing can withstand nine g's of force!! You should be worried about yourself more!! You've managed to come up, but how will you go back down!?"
Meanwhile, Koyuki tried to remain calm throughout the situation as Tachibana kept swinging all around her to dodge the attack of the twin-tailed shinobi.
Looking at the distance between the blimp and the ground, Tachibana decided to take the risk.
'I can just drop an explosive tag and teleport to it if I can't hide on the ship.'
Finally, as they were about to reach the blimp, Tachibana pulled out an explosive tag and stuck it to the twin-tailed shinobi's boots.
"What are you doing!? Do you want all of us to die!?!" the lady shouted as the explosive tag was lit.
She hurriedly kicked away the boot and just as they landed in the blimp it exploded a little away from them.
*BBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM*
The twin-tailed shinobi looked around and to her surprise didn't find Tachibana anywhere around them.
'Did he fall back down?'
The twin-tailed shinobi was confused and she wondered if Koyuki had hidden him. But seeing her looking down with a worry-filled expression she was satisfied.
'He probably lost grip because of the explosion and fell down.'
'Good for me.'
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A/N : Sorry for the delay, Webnovel has been a little funky with me today. Next chapter will come soon enough.