Royal Visitors
It was strange, Naruto decided, to be back at the academy as somebody that would teach a class. His time off had been quite relaxing and he had decided to actually do nothing in concerns of training for a whole week. He had gone to the movies, spent time at a lake, going swimming, cooking over a campfire and watching the stars at night. It had been really peaceful. Many of his old classmates had gone on one mission or the other during that time and he had occasionally spent some time with those that were at the village.
The second week he had started setting up his lesson plans and continued his training, as there were still more jutsus that he was interested in learning. Currently he was working on a water jutsu that allowed the user to cover the victim in a cocoon of water that then drained the prisoner of his chakra. A great jutsu to capture targets alive. It was based on the water prison jutsu, but more complicated and higher ranked. Where the water prison jutsu was a B-rank jutsu, the water cocoon jutsu was an A-rank jutsu. He spent three hours each day working out the mechanics behind the jutsu and he was coming close to mastering it. Shadow clones were incredibly useful for jutsu training after all.
When he had been a student at the academy, he had dumbed down his abilities to not be sabotaged by the civilian council. Things had changed for the better since then, but he still didn't trust them as far as he could throw them. He knew that if they saw a chance to regain some of their former influence, they would take it immediately. And they hated him with a passion, no matter his heritage. They saw him as the reason why they had lost their previous influence in the village. None of them acknowledged that they hadn't ever had a right to wield the power they had, but like always, if somebody got power, he tried as hard as possible to not lose the power again.
Now, as a special jonin, he had worked for the respect he got. His classmates knew about his true level and trusted him to lead them on missions properly. His opinion was valued in discussions about how a mission could be fulfilled efficiently and the higher ups in the military supported him in his wish to grow stronger. It helped that his jonin sensei had become the new Hokage and the village flourished under Kakashi's rule.
He stood in front of the class, which hadn't noticed him yet. He had used a camouflage seal on the sleeve of his shirt to blend in with his surroundings. It was fun to see how the children were discussing the new specialist lessons and wondered which one they would have today and who the teacher would be. Naruto had decided to let his prankster persona out again and had trapped the chairs in each row with sticky glitter bomb seals. The most atrocious colours he could find at that. From neon pink to shocking orange. It should get the children's attention fairly quickly. He made the snake seal and activated the tags, which caused the children to scream and the glitter fall down everywhere, sticking to anybody it hit, which was the whole class, as none of them had been prepared for something like this.
Naruto deactivated the camouflage seal and phased into view when the children tried to get rid of the glitter. It was good for two lessons.
"Well, I'm a little disappointed that you didn't even try to check for traps inside the classroom. Lesson Number One: A ninja is always prepared for the unexpected. Lesson Number Two: Never underestimate what a creative mind can do with fuinjutsu," Naruto spoke loudly, making the children all turn towards him, the only person in the classroom to not be covered in sticky glitter.
"I'm Naruto Namikaze, for the duration of this specialist lessons, you will call me Naruto sensei," He announced, suppressing a grin at seeing the mix of awe and outrage on the faces of his new students.
"Now, take a seat, then I will give you an overview what we will work on during these lessons," Naruto announced.
"What about that stupid glitter?" One girl asked angrily.
"That will stay as a reminder that you need to have more situational awareness at all times. You could have prevented the full blast with a simple substitution after all, which I know you all have learned already," Naruto easily answered, "We live in a dangerous world, you have experienced it not that long ago, when Konoha was attacked by Suna and Oto. We thankfully knew ahead of time that it would come and prepared, which allowed us to limit the losses. Enemies won't refrain from attacking our village, if they think they will gain something by doing so. And you, who study to become ninjas, need to know how to deal with that."
"You were part of the forces that defeated the enemy, right? My Dad said you had mastered your father's most famous jutsu," A girl half asked, half stated.
"That's true," Naruto answered and vanished from his spot, only to appear behind the class, "The Flying Thundergod Jutsu that was originally developed by the Second Hokage and which my father, the Fourth Hokage then took to new heights."
The children looked in awe at the execution of the famous jutsu right in front of them.
"The Flying Thundergod jutsu is a masterpiece of space time ninjutsu combined with fuinjutsu. Wherever I leave my marker, I can teleport to in a split second."
"I never knew that it was also fuinjutsu," A boy exclaimed, "Will we learn that too?"
"No, it's too advanced. What I'm going to teach you are the basics of fuinjutsu to see if some of you show talent in the art. It takes time to study this, as it is complicated. The difficulty is comparable with medical jutsu. You can teach anybody first aid, which is using and recognising fuinjutsu for that area. Common seals include explosive tags, light bombs, paralysis seals and storage seals. Any ninja needs to know how to use the basic seals and how to distinguish between them," Naruto lectured.
"Medical jutsu needs high levels of chakra control and knowledge of how the boy works, fuinjutsu needs high levels of calligraphy and memorisation of how to build up a seal. With learning the basics, you will be able to make your own storage scrolls, explosive tags of low power and privacy seals to make sure you can't be overheard. Comparable how a medic first needs to learn the mystical palm jutsu before he or she is allowed to work on the higher level things like treating deep flesh wounds and the like. It is all building up from zero and concentrating to not make mistakes. It can cost lives in both cases," Naruto warned.
The children listened closely. Naruto returned to his spot in front of the class.
"We will start today with looking at storage seals. They are the most commonly used seals in the ninja world. Be it to carry large amounts of supplies in a single scroll or to hide a special thing you have on your person. New orders for bases outside of Konoha are also transported in storage scrolls that are keyed to the chakra signature of the commanding ninja of a base to prevent that information falls into enemy hands," Naruto explained and then started to write a few things onto the blackboard.
"This is a simple array, which you will work on first. It is a storage seal that can hold one item, like a shuriken or kunai. I will teach you how to create it and then you will practice with normal pens and paper at first. The ones that I clear for attempting it for real after three successful tries, will get special chakra conductive ink to write out the real seal. For this it doesn't matter how fast you work, but how precise. Fuinjutsu can be dangerous if you make a mistake in the setup. With a storage scroll it won't matter, it just won't work, but imagine if you messed up an exploding tag. That could cost you and others their lives. Not something we want to happen, so never mess around with this art," Naruto warned and got serious nods.
Then he started explaining how to build up a seal from the inside to the outside. The children paid attention and then Naruto handed out the utensils to practice, while having three shadow clones assist in helping the children to draw the seal correctly. The glitter stayed on the whole class and only at the end Naruto told them that it would come down when they took a shower and to not be caught off guard the next time like they were this time. And to not expect him to use the same trap twice.
Naruto spent two days of the week teaching at the academy, the other days he normally took short missions, leading team ten while they did D-ranks or short C-ranks. Asuma was still mostly busy with A-rank missions, so he couldn't take care of the three genin as much as he would have liked. He had left all of them scrolls with things he wanted them to work on while he was gone and all three got training from their clans, so it wasn't too bad. They wanted to improve after all to get their promotion during the next chunin exams.
When the group stood inside the Hokage's office for a new mission, Kakashi looked at them sternly.
"This mission, while not overly difficult on paper, is a B-rank. You are to escort the daughter of the new Daimyo of Wave Country around Konoha while her father meets with the Fire Country Daimyo and the Wind Country Daimyo. The negotiations will be tense I expect and we have to make sure that the princess isn't harmed while she stays in Konoha. Ino, you will stay with the girl the whole day, while Choji and Kiba work as guards mostly. The reason why I chose your team is that the princess is twelve years old, meaning close to your own age," Kakashi explained.
"Of course, Hokage Sama," The three genin nodded.
"Naruto, you are in charge and I might want to warn you that the girl could behave a little like a fangirl, thanks to your part in freeing Wave Country. You are seen as a hero by the people of Wave County," Kakashi pointed out.
"Don't worry, sensei, I can deal with fangirls," Naruto assured him.
"I hope so, as you can't simply leave her standing in the dust like you normally do with the fangirls that you got after people found out that you were Minato sensei's son," Kakashi commented.
"I did have to endure etiquette training under Tsunade, as you refused to believe me that I wouldn't embarrass myself when we had that mission to Bird Country. I know what I am allowed to do and not do while dealing with nobles. And it won't be longer than for the meeting," Naruto replied.
"Good. You will meet the girl in twenty minutes. She will be accompanied by a lady of the court in Wave Country, which is acting as a chaperone to the princess. The ANBU are keeping watch all over the city and will assist should anything happen, you will just keep the Princess safe and happy. Show her some nice places, like where to shop for nice clothes, go and eat something, things like that. Ino will probably have a few ideas where to take her," Kakashi said.
"Sure thing, Hokage Sama, I have a number of places that should be interesting for a girl to see that has never been to Konoha before," Ino agreed.
"Then you can wait for her in the client lounge," Kakashi told the team. He was curious how Naruto would deal with a fangirl he couldn't simply ditch. It would certainly be entertaining.
The team waited in the lounge that was set up to give clients a place to wait for the teams that were assigned to the missions they had requested from Konoha. It was a comfortable, but not luxurious place. The village was after all a military led place and not the Daimyo's palace. If negotiations were held in Konoha for the added protection that the ninjas could give, the nobles had to contend with what could be provided. There were after all high class hotels with luxurious meeting places to choose from. The Hokage Tower was just for placing missions and meeting the teams.
At the announced time the door was opened and a stern-looking grey-haired woman entered.
"I assume you are the team that will be escorting Princess Natsuki around," She stated.
"Indeed, ma'am," Naruto took charge, "These three are Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi and Kiba Inuzuka, all three genin. My name is Naruto Namikaze, special jonin and in command over the team for this mission."
"Really? They sent the saviour of Wave Country to lead the team?" Another female voice asked excitedly and a figure pushed past the older woman, "It's really him!" She squealed, "Hi, I'm Natsuki, the Princess of Wave Country. Oh, I wanted to meet you so much, Naruto Sama. I'm such a fan ever since you and your team freed Wave Country. Tazuna told my father and his court everything how you freed us from the criminal Gato. Can I have an autograph, please, please, please?"
Ino, Choji and Kiba were shocked at the behaviour that the girl showed. She was smaller than them by half a head, had long black hair, which was cut in a typical hime style with two long bangs framing her face, and wore an expensive red and white kimono. But she behaved like the worst of Sasuke's fangirls at the academy, according to Kiba's and Choji's thoughts.
"Princess Natsuki! This behaviour is totally inacceptable!" The woman reprimanded angrily.
"But Lady Shiori, this is Naruto Namikaze!" Natsuki protested.
"You are a princess, not a peasant. You have to uphold your duties that come with the position," The woman insisted, "And that means following protocol."
"But the protocol is stiff and boring. And anyway, these aren't stuffy nobles like the ones that always try to gain favours with father, ever since he took over ruling Wave Country from grandfather, these are ninjas that are trained to fight and defeat evil tyrants like Gato. I doubt that they care about protocol," Natsuki insisted, crossing her arms over her chest.
The three genin looked at each other, trying to figure out if they should step in or not. Finally, Ino decided to break the glaring contest up.
"Well, how about we get started with the tour of Konoha? We can have a look around first and you can decide which places you want to see in more detail," She suggested.
"Okay, but can we first stop at the hotel to get something easier to wear? I couldn't convince Lady Shiori that this outfit wouldn't be more of a hindrance than proper attire. But if we walk around the village for some time, it wouldn't be easy to move around easily," Natsuki asked.
"You will not put on those clothes. They are beneath your station!" Lady Shiori insisted, "And a princess shouldn't walk around with the common people like that. We will need a carriage or something else appropriate to take the tour."
"Lady Shiori, there aren't any carriages in Konoha that could be used for this. We don't have any nobles living here all year round, therefore people mostly walk to the places where they want to go. And I doubt that you would allow any of us to carry you and Princess Natsuki around, as it would be improper behaviour," Naruto calmly addressed the chaperone.
"Now, really, I have never experienced such a place. No large settlement should lack basic transportation ways for the nobility," She shook her head in displeasure, "And of course it is out of the question for any of you to carry the princess. She is a royal after all and only her family and future husband are allowed to have any kind of close contact outside of formal greetings."
"Then we will have to make sure that nothing too inappropriate happens. I think Princess Natsuki had a good idea by changing into something more practical. It would also serve as a better disguise to not have anybody attempt anything to harm her or use her as leverage against her father. While Wave Country is still dealing with the aftermath of the crimes of Gato, the daughter of a Daimyo is always a primary target for unsavoury objects," Naruto pointed out.
"I guess you are right; I didn't see it from that point of view. It still isn't appropriate and I only agree under security concerns," She sniffed.
"Then it is decided, we will go to the hotel, Princess Natsuki and Ino can find an outfit that will let the princess move around easier without being recognised as a princess at once and then we can show you the village. While you won't have all the comfort you may be used to, I know a few very beautiful spots that I think you will like," Naruto stated.
"What kind of places?" Natsuki asked curiously.
"Just wait and see, princess, it is a surprise," Naruto answered, to which Natsuki squealed.
She pulled Ino with her to get her outfit chosen quickly to enjoy the day with her idol.
Kiba and Choji looked at each other.
"And we have to deal with that for the next two days all the time?" Kiba asked.
"Yeah, but at least we have one advantage. We aren't her target," Choji commented, "Poor Naruto."
"Poor Naruto? He gets that hot chick hanging off his arm, when he already has an army of fangirls. Why do some guys get all the luck?" Kiba complained.
Choji shook his head. Kiba really had no idea what he was talking about.
Ino was quick to find a nice outfit for Natsuki among her large collection of clothes that she had taken with her to Konoha. She now wore a violet skirt that went down to her lower legs, but was swishy and a nice, short sleeved pink shirt in Chinese style.
"Very nice. Well, shall we go, Princess Natsuki?" Ino asked kindly.
"Oh yes. I want to see so many things. I managed to get Tazuna to tell me more about how Konoha looks like when he reported about the success of the mission to Konoha and how Naruto Sama's team saved our country. And especially the huge part that Naruto Sama played in the whole mission," Natsuki nodded enthusiastically.
"I heard about it from my friend Sakura Haruno. She was on the team as well. It was really bad when Gato was still alive, wasn't it?" Ino asked.
"Yes, very bad," Natsuki nodded looking sad, "We lived in fear of what he would do next. We didn't realise his plans at first and appreciated the idea of him bringing more business to our country. You see, Wave Country isn't rich. We have some fishermen, some shipping industry and farms that produce the goods that are sold in the shops in the villages on the island. Contrary to other countries we don't possess mines or the like that would give us valuable goods that we could export.
"At first it worked well, with Gato Corporation bringing more money into the country, but he only needed half a year to have the whole shipping industry under his control and as an island nation, we depend on shipping. He could cut us off from the mainland and install his regime of terror. My grandfather couldn't do anything. While he was the Daimyo, he at least managed to mainly put the target on himself and not so much my father. Still he abdicated in father's favour after the crisis was over, wanting the country to have a fresh start. And father isn't as rich as for example the Daimyo of Fire Country. He doesn't have as many soldiers as other countries have them to protect the country and the royal family equally. I was forbidden to leave the palace during the whole time.
"I wished that we could have helped the poor people that had to deal with the brunt of Gato's crimes, but it was too dangerous. He would have killed all of use and probably planned to do so, once he had crushed the last resistance. It is still hard to take in that four people, three of them only a little older than me, could free a whole country that was oppressed by one thousand thugs under Gato's command," Natsuki explained.
"Yes, that would be scary. While a thug isn't really a problem for a trained ninja, these numbers would overwhelm a normal team quickly. But there is a reason why Kakashi Hatake was chosen as the Fifth Hokage after all. He is the best ninja we have in the village and he had trained his students to be much stronger than normal rookie genin were. We found it out very quickly, even if at first only Naruto and Sasuke were that outstanding. Sakura at first was actually weak. But she trained hard and worked her way up. I can't believe that she was promoted to chunin before me. And that Naruto is already special jonin," Ino said.
"Well, with how he defeated hundreds of the thugs and then the ninjas that tried to get the bridge builder Tazuna on top, it was to be expected that he would be promoted quickly," Natsuki spoke with conviction.
Ino could only nod and then they reached the rest of the group. Lady Shiori didn't look pleased with the choice of clothes of the Princess.
"Princess, this is not appropriate for a person of your station to wear," she protested.
"It is actually very conservative for an outfit worn in Konoha. She won't stand out negatively and I doubt anybody will look at her in indecent ways," Naruto countered, "I think we should start with the tour, so that you can get to see a good number of things today before we go and find a nice place to eat lunch."
"Oh yes, I want to see the Hokage monument, how one of the training grounds looks like and of course the Senju Tree," Natsuki voiced eagerly.
"We can do that, your highness," Naruto agreed, not seeing a problem with that.
Natsuki nodded happily and grabbed Naruto's arm, wanting to be escorted around by him. Thankfully, for Naruto's sanity, Ino took to pointing out interesting spots and basically took the role of tour guide for the Princess and her chaperone.
It was very clear that Lady Shiori didn't like Natsuki's behaviour towards Naruto at all, but she kept it to annoyed looks for the time being.
Naruto kept his promise and showed Natsuki two very beautiful places. One was a waterfall on training ground twenty-nine, which was rarely used, but Naruto had found it during his exploring of the village. There was a small lake at the foot of the waterfall and a number of colourful flowers grew at the shores, next to water lilies softly swaying on the top of the water. The only sounds to be heard was the water falling onto the top of the lake's surface and some birds singing in the trees.
"Oh wow, it's truly beautiful," Natsuki breathed out.
"I have to agree. I didn't know that there was a place like this in the village. And on a training ground on top," Ino agreed.
"It doesn't look as if it is used much," Kiba observed, "Do you know why that is, Naruto?"
"You need jonin level clearance to come here. Not because of danger, which is why training ground forty-four is fenced off, but because there are rare plants and animals living around here. The medical corps has found that the soil on this training ground is special and suited to grow a number of rare medical herbs. This front area is actually the only part that can be entered if you aren't keyed into the seals that protect the training ground. As a special jonin I can take people up to the waterfall, but no farther," Naruto explained.
"So it is only a training ground by name," Choji observed.
"Correct. It is kept as a training ground so that no civilian can try to make a profit with the plants that are grown around here. They have tried to get it relabelled in the past, but failed, as all training grounds that are determined as that once, need the permission of the Hokage to change the classification. And the Hokages, ever since the Third Generation, have cited that this is a training ground for the medical corps, meaning nobody has a right to say otherwise," Naruto explained.
"I bet since Lady Tsunade returned they have an even harder time trying," Ino joked.
"Definitely. Tsunade is scary when she wants something. Kakashi sensei is lucky that they share their opinions on how the village should develop in the future. Otherwise it would be much harder for him to get her cooperation with how she transforms the hospital and medical training program," Naruto nodded.
"Can we go a little closer to the lake?" Natsuki asked.
"No. the barrier is one metre in front of us," Naruto answered, surprising the others.
"I can't feel anything. How can you know?" Kiba asked.
"Uzumaki blood," Naruto replied.
"Yes, you were known as Naruto Uzumaki when you were in Wave Country before your true heritage was revealed," Lady Shiori nodded, remembering the briefing she got before coming to Konoha, "So your clan was good at sensing things like this barrier?"
"The Uzumaki clan specialised in fuinjutsu, sealing, of any kind," Naruto answered, "I'm one of a few seal masters that live in Konoha."
"I heard that you equipped the bridge with seals to make it last longer," Natsuki commented.
"That's true. I wanted to make sure that even after Gato was gone, nobody would try to take up his place and endanger the bridge. With enough explosives it would have been easy to destroy it otherwise," Naruto nodded.
That must have been a huge task. I mean, how many kilometres is that bridge long?" Kiba asked.
"About fifty, give or take a few," Natsuki answered, proudly.
"That long. Damn, you have to have drawn seals for ages to cover that much space," Choji calculated.
"The wonders of shadow clones," Naruto stated.
"Otherwise you would probably have needed many months," Ino agreed, "How about we go and take a look at the shopping district. There are some wonderful places I want to show you. And we can find a nice restaurant for a snack as well."
"Sounds like a good idea," Natsuki agreed, still insisting that Naruto accompanied her, holding her arm.
Naruto was very glad when he could leave Natsuki with her father after the tour of the village. He had kept a tight hold over his emotions, but right now he needed to lose some steam. While Natsuki wasn't as bad as other noble daughters, she was exhausting in her own right, especially as she didn't let go of him all day, except when Ino dragged her off to try on different kinds of clothes. Which Natsuki enthusiastically took to, no matter if Lady Shiori protested, again. It was a much needed, very welcome break. And he wasn't comfortable with prolonged physical contact. While Natsuki didn't pose a danger, he didn't like people invading his private space. He had had a number of bad experiences in his childhood that made him wary of that kind of contact.
The team was dismissed for the evening and would return in the morning. The guard of the royal visitors was up to the ANBU during the night. It couldn't be expected that a genin team worked as protection for a Daimyo and his entourage. The only reason why the team had got the B-rank mission was that it was more for the sake of entertaining Princess Natsuki during the day, while her father went to the important business meetings. The actual protection during the day had also been performed by the ANBU, but as there was some small risk factor included that could have involved the team, it was labelled as a B-rank, instead of the normal C-rank it would have been otherwise.
He himself went to the nearest training ground and went through a long number of taijutsu katas to get back to balance. It was a good thing that the mission would be over tomorrow evening. Otherwise he would need to work in some time to meditate. This really wasn't easy, no matter what kind of training he had received.
But it was important for his growth as a shinobi and a person that he learned to deal with common things like these. He was a Hokage's son, which made him a type of nobility as well. It was expected of him to be able to move among people like nobles and princesses. But without growing up in a clan, or even with parents, he had never really learned much about social norms, never experienced how people interacted normally. He had lived around them, not among them. And he needed time to actually learn the things that others took for granted growing up. His sensei knew and understood that problem and made a point to have Tsunade teach him things he should have been taught growing up.
It wasn't easy, but he was progressing. Slowly, but surely, he would manage. But no matter what he had told his sensei about being able to deal with a fangirl, it took a lot of patience and control to not follow his first instinct to escape her grip. He had signed the autograph at the end of the day, hoping it would make her easier to deal with. It was a good thing she didn't live close by. It was harder to deny a princess something, simply because it would be bad for the business of the village, than normal fangirls.
This was one point he could sympathise with Sasuke about. Even if he didn't like the jerk's behaviour while they were at the academy.
TO BE CONTINUED...