In Konoha, Naruto lies down

She still looks like a goddess on the surface, but she is secretly keeping a record of grudges in a small notebook.

With a bang, Naruto summoned the Space Jumping Ninja Tool. Without further ado, he had Fenghua Xiaoxue carry him into the iron ball. Then, he struggled to climb in himself.

A mark was engraved on the space ninja tool, so it could be communicated with again after a while after the space jump.

Inside the iron ball, the two huddled together. The space jump was accompanied by a violent tremor, and it was no longer a question of whether or not they felt dizzy. When they stopped again, Fenghua Xiaoxue could barely keep her eyes open.

Naruto was in a tough situation. He barely crawled out to take a look, but he was wrong again, the Land of Grass.

"Wrong, keep going."

Fenghua Xiaoxue no longer had the strength to speak. The strain placed on her body by the space jump was enormous. Only a ninja like Naruto could endure it. For an ordinary person, two times would be the limit.

"Rest a bit, I'm dying," she said.

"Alright." Naruto agreed straightforwardly, "This time the location is remote, and we didn't jump over the other ninja village, so no one will bother you."

"You can even get some sleep before you go if you want."

"Who would sleep in a place like this?" Fenghua Xiaoxue struggled to climb out of the iron ball and looked around. "It looks desolate here. This is..."

She turned around to ask Naruto, but saw him calmly pull out a bed and a gauze curtain, then tossed them on the ground. Fenghua Xiaoxue was stunned for a few seconds, her pupils dizzy.

This wild and withered forest is totally incompatible with this expensive-looking bed and is quite eye-catching.

"You.......!!!" She took a few steps back.

Naruto stared at her, said "rest", and then ran to the space ninja tool to engrave the mark.

Fenghua Xiaoxue was surprised. What she meant by resting was simply finding a place to sit. A more luxurious option would be to lean against a big tree and take a short nap.

After all, she saw the current situation clearly. A shabby, rusty space jump machine wasn't considered mature technology. She could accept the risk.

In order to reduce the weight, she had to squeeze into a small iron ball with a tall and strong young man. If she squeezed a little more, she could get pregnant, and she would understand.

But this person suddenly pulled out an exquisite and luxurious bed from somewhere. Isn't it a bit too outrageous?

It was like wearing an Armani suit and eating steak, or driving a modified tractor at 120 mph on the highway. It was completely incomprehensible; this bed completely shattered her perception of a difficult journey.

My goodness, the only thing that is transportation is crude and has certain risks, right?

........

As the sun set, Fenghua Xiaoxue poked her head out from under the blankets. In the dim orange light, Naruto sat not far away, tending to his wounds.

"Have you rested well?" He tore off the bandage, applied medicine, and tied it tightly.

Without the Nine-Tailed Fox inside him, the wound healed slowly. It took half a day to barely close the wound, but it would take another day or two to fully heal.

Chakra can stimulate cells in the body, promote cell division, and help heal wounds. But in the past, the Nine-Tails' chakra was used to heal wounds automatically, and he was not very skilled at it now.

"Is the injury serious?" She walked up to him and asked.

"Alright, I don't want to get any scars," Naruto said casually, "Now that you've rested, let's continue."

The blood-red sunset in the wilds faded. Fenghua Xiaoxue squinted her eyes, their pupils flashing yellow. She wanted to say she didn't believe it, but only if she could reveal it to me, her sister.

But I felt that this kind of talk was too ambiguous, so I opened my mouth and tried to say it for a long time before swallowing it back. I grumbled in my heart, "Why is a grown man afraid of leaving a scar? Why won't he show it to me?"

Another space jump, this time before the lid of the iron ball was opened, the temperature dropped sharply.

Naruto felt a chill in his heart, they had arrived.

"It's so cold." Fenghua Xiaoxue was wearing a thin windbreaker and standing in the snow, shivering with her arms folded.

"Stop shaking." Naruto jumped out of the iron ball and threw her a warm coat and white cloak. "It's my fault. I didn't remind you to bring clothes when I came here."

"Maybe it doesn't fit perfectly, so just make do with it."

Fenghua Xiaoxue felt a little warm in her heart, thinking that this man still had many good qualities. She was about to thank him with a smile. Suddenly, she heard Naruto say again.

"We're already here, you won't run away, right?"

Her smile froze on her face. Okay, Fenghua Xiaoxue silently took back what she said. This man was only thinking about his mission all the time, not caring about her at all.

"No." She said through gritted teeth.

But after a while she lowered her head again. She felt that getting angry with a child was boring and would only make her look like a child. Although when they stood together, they were indeed the same height.

"That's good, this is the Land of Snow." Naruto said as he walked in front, "Let's go, you follow closely behind me, I can protect you if there is any danger."

"Oh." Fenghua Xiaoxue realized that she had really returned to the Snow Country, and her mood suddenly became depressed.

But for now, she could only follow Naruto obediently. This icy and snowy place was indeed dangerous, and her uncle Fenghua Nutao had never given up on capturing her all these years.

"Don't even think about running away. I remember your scent. You can't run away." He added without turning his head.

"Hmm, huh?" Fenghua Xiaoxue was slightly startled and looked at Naruto, "What?"

This sentence was a bit too ambiguous, but that guy actually knew a lot, and she really couldn't treat Naruto as a child.

Naruto didn't turn around completely, but leaned sideways, glancing at her with his narrow eyes. With a hint of seriousness, he reached out from his other pocket and pointed at her.

"It's best not to play tricks."

"I know." Fenghua Xiaoxue smiled guiltily.

She had indeed been hesitant before and didn't have the courage to face the past. But after seeing how desperately he worked for the mission, she couldn't bear it.

If I leave like this and cause him to fail in his mission, I will probably feel guilty for a long time.

Thinking of this, she gritted her teeth and took a few quick steps to catch up. She wanted to say a few words to show her determination not to run away, but before she could open her mouth, she stumbled and lost her balance.

"what!!!!"

In an awkward attempt to maintain her balance, Fenghua Xiaoxue landed on empty air, causing the snow to collapse. Within two seconds of her scream, she felt her wrist being grabbed with a snap.

Looking at Naruto's somewhat helpless eyes, Fenghua Xiaoxue wanted to explain. But when the words came to her lips, no matter how she said it, it didn't feel right, so she simply lowered her head and said nothing.

"I accidentally stepped on empty air," she said.

"Alright," Naruto said nothing and pulled her up.

"Do you think I'm particularly troublesome?"

"Not bad." He would look back every few steps to prevent Fenghua Xiaoxue from having any more accidents.

What does "fortunately" mean? She muttered to herself. A strong wind mixed with snow flakes whistled past, and ice fragments almost hit her face.

She couldn't stand it anymore, so she took a few steps and moved closer, "Let's find a place to hide."

"Okay." Naruto agreed readily and quickly found a temporary cave to hide in.

The snow outside was falling heavier and heavier, and it was already night.

"We can't leave today, let's take a rest." Naruto retracted his head and sealed the entrance of the cave with snow, leaving a ventilation hole.

Fenghua Xiaoxue watched Naruto skillfully take out a pile of firewood from somewhere and couldn't help but narrow her eyes. Ninjas... are all like this?

With a whoosh, the fire started to burn, dispelling the cold air around.

Naruto didn't even look at her. He just wrapped his clothes tightly, lowered his head and closed his eyes to rest.

She stared at Naruto beside the fire, feeling she had to say something, but she couldn't find a topic to start with. He seemed to know more than she did.

"Are you cold?" She regretted the moment she said it by the fire.

Isn't this just showing off his intelligence? How could it be cold next to the fire? He's a ninja, after all. What's the point of asking such a question? Damn it, why would his brain go astray at a time like this?

Hearing this, Naruto opened his eyes and looked up at her. His slightly scattered gaze focused for a moment and he asked.

"What do you want to ask?"

"I didn't mean to ask anything. What are you going to do?" She shrank back, her hand reaching for the fire. "I mean, the mission. What are you going to do?"

"My uncle, Feng Hanaruto, is the new king of the Snow Country. He has many ninjas under his command. They are powerful and have a lot of advanced weapons..."

"It's okay." He rubbed his brow.

"But you are alone, and... you are injured." Fenghua Xiaoxue said.

"Already healed."

"I don't believe it unless you show it to me." Fenghua Xiaoxue continued.

Naruto stared at her with a puzzled look on his face.

"Why are you looking at the wound?"

"I'm just concerned about whether you can complete the mission." Fenghua Xiaoxue said, "How can you deal with so many ninjas from the Snow Country by yourself?"

"You don't have to worry about that." Naruto said, "In fact, the solution to this problem is very simple."

"What is it?"

"Kill the old king and establish a new one."

"He can't do that. He has ruled this country for too long." Fenghua Xiaoxue said dejectedly, "There are ninjas everywhere. How is that possible?"

"Even if I succeed, after that, all I can do is act. Forget governing a country. I don't even have the courage to defy fate."

"The king that the people support is a brave and fearless woman like Princess Fengyun who never gives up." She hugged her knees. "Someone like me is not worthy of being king."

Although Fenghua Xiaoxue returned to Konoha and offered to restart the mission, that didn't mean she was mentally prepared. She was still an actress, not a princess of an old king.

Naruto glanced sideways at Fenghua Xiaoxue beside the fire, watching the flickering light on her face and the unsteady glint in her eyes. He frowned and spoke.

"It's not about whether you are worthy of being the new king, it's about you having to be the new king."

After a pause, he spoke again.

"You need to understand one thing. No one asked for your opinion. Now that things have come to this, you have no way out, and neither do I."

"For you, this is just a task." She couldn't help but retort.

"This is not just a task." He stood up, walked in front of Fenghua Xiaoxue, and stared at her condescendingly. She suddenly felt a little panicked.

"What's wrong with you?" Fenghua Xiaoxue looked at the tall Naruto, and her heart suddenly started beating.

"I have an immature idea," he began.

"Ok?"

"I forgot to tell you that the Snow Country is frozen all year round, but there should be geothermal energy underneath." Naruto took out a necklace from his arms and hung it in front of her like a pocket watch.

"Remember this?" he asked.

"Well, I gave it to you when we were at sea." Fenghua Xiaoxue said sullenly, as if she was recalling those days. "It's just a useless necklace."

"We'll know whether it's useful later." He smiled, put the necklace away and said, "I checked. This is a key. I guess the Snow Country should have some kind of geothermal device."

"So what?" Fenghua Xiaoxue was a little confused by him.

In fact, Naruto's words had many loopholes, but at this moment, Fenghua Xiaoxue had already been shocked by his various unreasonable operations. Her brain completely gave up thinking, and all the unreasonable things became reasonable in his case.

"I will help you secure your throne and change the status quo of the Snow Country." Naruto said, "In return, you will have to pay a price."

"What...price?"

"I want you..." Naruto spoke without stopping, but the first phrase made Fenghua Xiaoxue's mind go blank, and she could not hear the rest of the words clearly.

"I want you to collect a geothermal tax from the residents of Snow Country. The rate won't be too high, and we can negotiate it later," he said. "How about that? Do you agree?"

"Hmm?" Naruto looked at her, "What are you daydreaming about?"

"Ah!" Fenghua Xiaoxue blinked. "I...I'm fine. What did you just say?"

"I asked if you agree?"

"Ah... okay." She nodded, "But can we start a few years later?"

"A few years later?" Naruto frowned.

Damn, the system option says that Snow Country residents will pay taxes for geothermal heat, but it doesn't specify when the tax will start. If it's a few years later, it should still meet the option requirements.

On the other hand, if the ice and snow in the Snow Country melt, it will indeed take several years to transform and it will not be able to bear too much tax.

No, we can start immediately. But setting a low tax rate, or even a zero tax rate, would be a few years later, right? He thought for a moment and finally nodded.

"Okay, that's fine."

"Oh." Fenghua Xiaoxue's beautiful world-weary face turned red for a few seconds under the cover of the firelight.

Chapter 244 Snow Country, Judgment

Naruto vaguely felt that something was wrong, but seeing that Fenghua Xiaoxue had lowered her head and stopped talking, he simply didn't ask any more questions.