Dark Phoenix of Konoha by White Angel of Auralon

Part 44 - Incident

Incident

The next morning came too early for Naruto. Still, he had a mission to fulfil and he didn't plan to fail at this. He put on his normal mission gear and went to check with the team. Choji and Kiba had taken the other night shifts of watching the princess, Naruto himself had had the first one, while Ino had been inside the suite in a room next to the Princess's one. Thankfully nothing had happened. He would have been surprised if it did, as the ANBU were watching for any outside threats as well as intruders that got too close to their royal visitors.

The team got back together and today the chaperone was resigned to letting the princess wear an outfit in which she could move easily, but still look nice in. It was a pale blue short yukata on top of a darker blue shirt with black leggings with flat heeled black boots. It was one of the outfits Ino had helped her choose the day before.

Today they planned to show the princess the look from the top of the Hokage monument, as she had asked to be taken up there. Naruto had cleared the request with his sensei and got the permission, with the assurance that the ANBU would be ready to act in case somebody used the opportunity to attack while there wasn't really much cover. They went down to breakfast, where the princess insisted that her guards got to eat as well. Lady Shiori protested, but the Princess in the end won. Thankfully they got to leave after twenty minutes, as Princess Natsuki was eager to make most out of her last day in Konoha. Again she latched onto Naruto's arm, who had prepared mentally for this and hid his true emotions.

The trip up to the monument took two hours, as they had to go at civilian speed, and especially Lady Shiori wasn't suited for hiking. She complained a lot about not getting a carriage to take them up there, and it not being appropriate for a noble to have to do this. Princess Natsuki thought it a great adventure, even if nothing really happened. Ino had made sure to pack some snacks and they stopped for a fifteen minutes break after one hour of walking up the paths through the forest. There were different kinds of fruits that were easy to transport, bottles with tea and water and some cookies.

During the picnic, Ino distracted the princess with things girls liked talking about and Naruto could get a small reprieve from his close contact. He kept watch for anything that might be out of the norm, but things were peaceful. He could feel the presence of the ANBU, he had trained in sensing others for a long time after all, but not pinpoint their locations. The break had helped Lady Shiori regain some strength and they continued their way. When they reached the top, Princess Natsuki wanted to watch the village laying at the bottom of the monument. They were currently behind a rail that kept anybody not a ninja or maintenance personnel away from the edge.

The face of the Fifth Hokage was still being built and nobody wanted to cause any accidents with people that got too curious.

"The look from up here is beautiful," Natsuki raved.

"It certainly is," Lady Shiori agreed, "Still, this village needs better transport facilities for the nobility."

The ninjas ignored her complaints, by now being used to doing so. She was always complaining about one thing or the other. Ino, being the one that was the most outgoing, told their guests about the history of the monument and Konoha in general, keeping it to commonly known facts. Lady Shiori approved of this, as it made the trip at least educational for the princess. She asked for some other things, like the things Konoha did next to ninja missions for earning money and Ino, being taught about business by her mother, explained how civilians made their lives in a ninja village.

Natsuki wanted to go closer to the edge to see better, but Naruto denied that, explaining that with the work on the fifth face being done right now, it was too dangerous. Natsuki didn't like being told no, but Naruto was firm on is refusal. And no amount of begging, attempted bribery and fury changed anything about it. Lady Shiori also reprimanded Natsuki for her behaviour, which had the princess grumbling about unfairness. A quick row between the two females later and they took to wandering the woods around for a while. Natsuki decided she wanted to play hide and seek and Naruto agreed to let her play with Ino, Choji and Kiba, as long as he stayed on guard duty.