Chapter 42: Land Of Snow Arc (1) : Fujikaze-san.
Midway through the movie team seven was kicked out of the theatre because Naruto was too loud and disturbing the other people watching the movie.
'Too bad there's no smartphone in this world yet…'
'Maybe I could search for whoever's making a smartphone in this world and invest in them to earn money?'
'I should get a newspaper subscription to catch the latest news…'
So they were hanging around behind the theatre in an abandoned lot where the theatre's junk was thrown out.
"Tsk. I skipped training for this…" Sasuke complained as he looked at Naruto who was observing the poster of the picture Princess Gale movie hanging between two bamboo poles with adoration.
"Wasn't Princess Gale so cool!? She stood up against injustice! She said 'The fight isn't over until light wins against the darkness!' I want a Princess Gale too!"
Sakura looked at Naruto with a deadpan expression while Saskue felt like throwing shuriken at him.
Tachibana on the side yawned until the four of them suddenly heard the sound of a horse rushing in their direction.
"Huh?" Naruto stood up, looking away from the Princess Gale poster as he tried to track the direction from which the sound was coming.
Suddenly a white horse jumped through the poster, over the wooden wall as it landed right in the lot the four genin were waiting at.
Everyone quickly realised the woman sitting on top of the horse was the same as the one in the poster she had just torn through.
It was Princess Gale.
The white horse landed on the ground before it rushed away with the woman on its back.
The door of the fence suddenly opened, slamming back Naruto and Sakura into the dirt, and out poured a horde of horsemen wearing black coloured samurai armour as they swarmed behind the woman who had just who'd just passed by on the white horse.
The dust settled with Naruto being the first to ask, "Was that Princess Gale?" As his eyes cleared he rushed after the horses, Sakura and Sasuke followed after him.
Naruto quickly used chakra to stick to the walls of various houses and climbed to the rooftop to shadow the samurai following Princess Gale.
Princess Gale herself pulled off a large banner from a roadside stall and tossed it at the samurai chasing her, causing them to slow down before she changed directions and quickly escaped through a narrow alley.
Naruto jumped down and landed on the leader of the samurai group who was still chasing Princess Gale and kicked him along with a few of his subordinates off their horses.
Sakura used genjutsu to misguide a few of the samurai into running their horses into a wall, while Sasuke cast a net on the samurai and caused the feet of their horses to become entangled making them crash into each other and fall down.
When all the samurai had fallen down and were groaning loudly, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura came together with a slight confusion on their faces.
"Where's Tachibana-kun? Did anyone see him?"
"He wasn't in the lot when we started chasing the samurai." Sasuke said based on what he remembered since he was the last to leave.
"He wasn't even on the roof." Naruto shook his head.
"Did he get kidnapped?" Sakura asked.
Meanwhile, Tachibana was holding onto Princess Gale for dear life as the mad woman seemed to be hell-bent on speeding through the streets of Konoha to escape her imaginary pursuers.
"Lady! Stop!! Please!!! No one is after you!!!" Tachibana shouted as Princess Gale's hair flew into his mouth.
"Get your hand off me, you filthy kid!! Or I'll stab your eyes out!!!"
"Woman please understand!!! I have no interest in your chopping board!!! I'm going to fall if I don't hold something!!! And your valleys aren't helping!!!"
"Choppp- Valley!!! You vile brat!!!!" Princess Gale pulled on the reigns of her horse as it slowed down by the side of a small pond and Tachibana finally let go.
Having his behind get bumped on the running horse's bony back was not on Tachibana's bucket list when he'd gone out with Naruto this morning.
As Tachibana rubbed his back Princess Gale walked over to him and kicked him in the shin.
Tachibana looked at her and only smiled before the woman fell to the ground holding her legs as if she'd kicked steel.
"What are those legs made of? Iron!?" The woman complained as she looked at her dainty feet.
"No. I just wear protection." Tachibana explained as he pulled up his pants to show the iron plates that were stuck to its underside.
"I haven't seen a kid ruder than you!"
"And I have seen a thirty-year-old flatter than you!"
"Thi- Thirty!!!!!!?? I'm still in my twenties!!!" Gale shouted as she began hitting Tachibana on his head ignoring her paining feet.
"As if. I'm sure all that's just make up isn't it? If you really are in your twenties wipe it off with the water in the lake and I'll believe you."
Gale frowned at Tachibana before walking over to the pond and dipping her face into it.
"See!? I'm young! No wrinkles!!! None at all!"
"...." Tachibana tried biting his tongue to suppress himself but he couldn't and fell down to the ground laughing while clutching his stomach.
"Oh my god!! She believed me!!"
"Huh? What's wrong? Did something get on my face?" Princess Gale asked with an annoyed expression.
Tachibana calmed himself for a few seconds before explaining, "It's a pond in a village, you silly girl! The livestock take a bath in it! And probably do much mo-"
Before Tachibana could finish his sentence, Princess Gale was bending over, spitting rainbows into the pond.
Only after a few minutes did Tachibana and Princess Gale calm down as they sat by the edge of the pond.
"What's your name by the way? I can't keep calling you Princess Gale." Tachibana said politely to kick up a conversation.
The woman gave him a sharp look before she said, "Shouldn't you introduce yourself first?"
"Sorry, my bad." Tachibana said causing her eyebrows to shoot up, she hadn't expected the 'rude boy' to suddenly have manners. "My name's Tachibana Rei. I'm a genin in the Leaf Village."
Princess Gale looked at the pond and admired the flowers floating in it for a few seconds before she spoke softly, "Yukie Fujikaze."
"Fujikaze-san then, why were you running away from your bodyguards?"
"Nothing you should concern yourself with."
"I see." Tachibana nodded he then looked at Fujikaze with a smile before speaking, "If you want I could escort you back, but since you want to stay here, good luck. My teammates are probably worried about me so I have to go back."
"Hm~m." Fujikaze nodded before she went back to listlessly staring at the water in the pond.
Tachibana walked back to the theatre lot and became puzzled.
"Where did they go?"
"Did they get lost or something?"