Naruto Chapter 113

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.

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