Chapter 61: Palace
(3rd PoV)
"Kakashi! You are here too! Let's have a YOUTHFUL competition to see who can reach to the palace faster!"
Guy, who has just returned with his team an hour ago from a mission, found the invitation in his house, and encountered Kakashi on the way.
"Hmm, did you say something?"
"Kakashi, stop acting hip and cool!"
"YOSH! I will also compete, Guy-sensei!"
LEE standing behind him exclaimed.
"LEE!"
"GUY-SENSEI!"
"LEE!"
"GUY-SENSEI!"
"Lee! Guy-sensei! Please don't do this in her home!"
Tenten was embarrassed by these two, and Neji's eyes twitched.
Tonight, Shiori's palace's was going to be packed with people. Team Kakashi, Team Guy, Team Asuma, Team Kurenai and Team Yugao, along with RamenGuy and Ayame and Hiruzen were invited.
And it's not like the feast was without a purpose.
Shiori well get to show off her wealth and feel princess-y, and obviously, there are some other hidden agendas as well.
She wouldn't waste money for no reason.
Kakashi was going to the invited place, while getting late three hours due to a black cat, and he encountered Guy and his team on the way.
"Kakashi, you are on time for this? That's so YOUTHFUL!"
On time? Isn't it 9pm? And didn't he get the invitation for 6pm?
Oh...
"Well, my genin invited me, so I can't really get late, can I?"
"Naruto is your genin squad member, so teach him ninjutsu since I can't. But don't let his Flames of YOUTH get extinguished!"
Kakashi had an amused smile under his mask. Guy has brought Naruto to a very good level.
Naruto's speed easily surpassed any normal jonin. The brief taijutsu exchange had gave Kakashi a good enough insight.
Though, it is clear that Naruto likes using flashy ninjutsu more. Surrounded by clones, all with big Rasengans...
The Chunin Exam will be interesting.
As Kakashi shook those thoughts with his Icha Icha original novel version, which he liked more than manga, so much that he has read it for 289 times.
They arrived inside the Uchiha clan compound. Kakashi didn't know if it was bravery or just not having any sense of fear to build a palace in a place where so many people were slaughtered.
As they walked to the outskirts of the compound, they arrived at the palace. It was really big, and from what he has seen, Naruto's shadow clones and some D-rank missions were the manpower while a builder named Tazuna from Land of Waves was the builder. It was based on the fact that she has seen him in one of her dreams. And he did a really good job.
Asuma and his team, along with Kurenai and his team have already arrived on the gate, and were being received by Shiori. But it seemed like there was some tension. As they all moved closer, Kakashi felt really amused by the situation.
"Why did the barrier stop me?"
"Asuma-san, you are carrying some prohibited item with you. Don't tell me you have old man Hokage's bad habit of smoking?"
"Umm, I don't really do that much-"
At that, Shiori's face turned demonic, and he could just feel that she felt that Asuma is one of the biggest trash to walk on earth.
"Addicts like you are the worst trash. I am only allowing you to enter because you are Shikamaru and Chouji's Jonin-sensei and Old man's son.
Trash like you not only kill yourself, you also to kill unrelated people around you that don't have any business with you.
Take out your lighter and cigarettes, and throw it in a dustbin outside the Uchiha clan compound."
"But-"
"My words are final. My house, my rules."
"Listen-"
And if that wasn't enough, a pink haired girl with Kurenai, the Rookie of the Year, stood in front of Shikamaru protectively, and shouted at him, "Smoke in front of Shikamaru-kun, and I will plummel you to the ground when I get Tsunade like strength! And Kurenai-sensei, are you sure about this guy?"
Ouch. The last one must have hurt.
Shrugging, trying to not seem bothered by it, Asuma went out to dispose off his precious lighter and cigarettes.
"Sorry for the wait, please come inside. I will give you a tour."
But then, she gave Akamaru a look.
"Dogs are not allowed."
"Hey! But I saw you petting a Shiba!"
Kiba protested.
"Shiba is a cat."
"No, actually-"
"Shiba is a cat."
Shiori's words were absolute. It's her house.
Akamaru made sad noises, and Shiori threw a some premium pet food at it that she always kept on her.
Akamaru became happy, wagged it's tail, and happily muched on it.
Shiori huffed at such a simple creature. Cats were revered as gods in ancient civilizations, and dog has always been, a dog.
Calling a person cat is complimenting them to be cute or cutely lazy or cutely playful.
Calling a person dog is a slur.
Shiori looked down on such a simple creature, and welcomed everyone else with a smile.
As they entered through the main entrance, Kakashi felt passing through a total of 32 barriers. Okay, that's something.
Yesterday, there were only 28 barriers.
How are the barriers maintained? They should cost huge amount of chakra. But with Naruto, that shouldn't really be a problem.
But wide area barrier is some pretty high class fuinjutsu. What sets Konoha apart from the other villages is the village wide barrier that it got gifted by the Uzumakis upon it's foundation. Kumo has developed it's own after the second shinobi war, but the other villages don't have it. They have to continously keep sensor ninjas to create a detection area, and even then, Konoha has the Yamanakas, Hyugas, Inuzukas and Aburames to deal with the detection.
But these barriers don't seem to be just for detection. Should he try a Chidori on the barriers someday? It can work as a test for their durability, right?
"Now, please put your left hand on this scanner."
Guy regularly comes over. And Kakashi came yesterday. But to others, it was a surprise.
Scanner for fingerprints? That's very very impressive fuinjutsu.
As they put their hand on it, they passed another barrier and the scenery changed. The layout of the palace was looking different now.
'A genjutsu barrier?'
Kurenai was astonished.
"Woah! This palace looks totally different now!"
Ino exclaimed. Her eyes were shining. Even the Daimyo's palace isn't as impressive.
For this, Hokage have helped, since Naruto isn't be good at Yin-related techniques.
Kurenai, who will use genjutsu on Itachi, wouldn't be really given permission or trust to work on it.
It was in one of the predictions many years back after Itachi massacred the clan. That Kurenai will use genjutsu on Itachi.
Well, the predictions have reduced in number as Shiori doesn't see many new people anymore. And had hit her head.
"Now, I will show you around. But please don't run off from the group. Some traps may activate and they will kill you. And that's not an exaggeration."
The genins gulped, and Kakashi pulled out his headband. Let's see what the seals are. He has learned some parts of her language when he was observing her initial years in the apartment before she set up that barrier, which wasn't genjutsu but something else.
His vision sharpened, and he felt stinging pain just from the amount seals everywhere. Trees, ground, walls of the houses, and the barriers that were in the sky. Okay, this didn't seem to be a good idea, and Shiori's barely controlled smile meant she was smug about it.
"This is-"
What followed was a long tour of the palace, with all sorts of facilities in them.
A well which obviously didn't have a secret underground passage.
Four water treatment tanks to reduce the possibility of someone poisoning the water supply.
A fountain which obviously didn't have a secret passage.
A hot spring spa.
A small open air bathhouse.
Big gardens which was a small farm with various crops, a bunch of hens and their home didn't have a secret passage obviously.
A swimming pool.
A karoke.
A training ground with even more barriers.
And a lot of artwork and paintings, which when looked through the Sharingan, appeared to be made of really, really small letters. Sharingan didn't have much magnifying power, but maybe Byakugan will be able to determine what the letters are instead of them being barely recognisable.
Okay, this is just ridiculous. Is she really not an old Uzumaki posing as a kid?
Nah. That's too farfetched. Well, he guessed that since she has mysterious ability of a seer, it might actually be an effect of the said ability, or a different ability altogether. Again, nothing can be impossible in the Shinobi world.
Aside from Kakashi, the others were much more surprised, especially the kids. Ino had stars in her eyes, and even though she didn't like Shiori and Naruto, she liked their home a lot.
Chouji was enjoying the tour, but would have liked it more if they finished it quickly and went straight to the dinner. He didn't even bring the chips because his father said that it will be rude.
Shikamaru was feeling sleepy since it was late in night. For him atleast.
Sakura already knew about the palace much better than everyone else since she is Shiori's 'best friend'. Well, bodyguards need to know the ins and outs.
Kiba was feeling down without Akamaru, and Shino was showing no expression whatsoever.
Guy started crying the tears of joy.
"What a YOUTHFUL place!"
"Umm, Guy-sensei, you have already seen the palace-"
"But I just feel the dedication and hardwork for this! YOSH! I will do 5000 pushups after dinner!"
"YOSH! Mee too Guy-sensei!"
"LEE!"
"GUY-SENSEI!"
"LEE!"
Shiori smiled at the group, and finally led them to the dining room.
"Well, this is the main dining hall. Let's not waste more time and start the dinner."