A Growing Affection

Chapter 57: The Birds and the Beans

"That's enough," The Daimyo of Birds barked, turning deep red.

"That  is the real Naruto," she continued, indicated the dirt-coated youth who  had been about to 'reveal' her, "Guards, surround the imposters."

"Lady Toki, you cannot believe this!" the fake Haruna started to protest, but the real princess interrupted her.

"Toki-dono  knows I would never refer to her like that," the Daimyo of Greens said  imperiously, despite still being short of breath. The imposter's group  all turned to glare at her.

"Big mistake," Naruto crowed, "Taking your eyes off me."

Uzumaki  charged the remainder of the gap, and punched his doppelganger hard in  the face. The stunned ninja was knocked back into the false Sakura, and  as they collided, he lost control of his transformation, and reverted to  normal. The long-limbed, hairless Grass Ninja reappeared in a puff of  smoke.

"Now what?" the revealed warrior asked, as he leapt back to his feet, drawing a kunai in each hand.

"Plan B," the false Haruna sneered, dropping all pretense of civility. She drew a whip, readying herself for a fight.

"Plan  B doesn't call for them to be here!" the duplicate of Sakura insisted.  Her hand swept to indicate the three Leaf Ninja, but her eyes focused on  Naruto and Haruna. The Grass tech ninja nodded in agreement.

"Fine," the impersonator of the Daimyo grumbled, "Retreat."

"Like  we're gonna let you escape," Naruto made a cutting gesture with his  hand. But at the same time, the four Grass shinobi each smashed a smoke  bomb on the ground. The cloud was swirling as the imposters used the  Body Flicker to appear behind the guards, already running. Naruto  started to give chase.

"Stop," Neji ordered. Uzumaki almost  tripped as he slid to a halt, and he turned to goggle at the Jonin. The  eldest teen had activated his Kekkei Genkai, and was watching their  enemies flee.

"We gotta go after them," the blonde Chunin insisted. But Hyuga just shook his head.

"No,"  their leader explained, "There are four of them, and only three of us.  They have already split up, which means whoever we do not pursue could  double back. Our job is to protect the Daimyos, and that is best  accomplished by staying here with them."

Naruto nodded reluctantly  in agreement, and Sakura sighed. Part of her agreed with her teammate,  but she knew their leader was correct.

"Well, you all appear as if  you could use a chance to clean up," Toki stepped back down, taking  charge of the situation, "But I don't intend to let you out of my  sight."

"Ah," Sakura groaned in contentment as she eased herself into the bath. Both of the Daimyos were already submerged to their shoulders, and Toki smiled at the Shinobi.

"I take it you had an interesting trip?"  their host asked, after the warrior-medic had settled, and had placed  her towel on the shelf. Sakura and Haruna glanced at one another, and  the ruler of the Land of Greens shrugged.

"Not interesting,  To-chan, just tedious," the younger Daimyo explained, "Someone,  presumably the same group from earlier, trapped us in an illusion that  made us walk in circles for hours without being aware of the time."

'To-chan?' Inner Sakura frowned.

"So then to make up for lost time, Naruto carried me part of the way."

"You must have loved that, Ha-chan," Toki smirked at her counterpart.

"I've been through worse," she conceded, but her reddening cheeks and tiny smile made lie her apathetic tone.