In the main hall of the Shrine Maiden's Palace, Shion and Tōji, both dressed formally, received Kakashi's four-person team.
Kakashi spoke first. "Lady Shion, I am Kakashi Hatake, the Jonin assigned to this escort mission."
"I'm Sakura Haruno!"
"Hinata Hyuga!"
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki..." Naruto sat properly like the others, without fooling around.
Naruto carefully studied Shion and noticed something was off. If the Shion in Awen's memories from the Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow had been somewhat world-weary, cold on the outside but warm within, then the current Shion was truly filled with nothing but despair.
Her heart was already dead. Naruto had seen that expression and those eyes on Kazahana Koyuki before, and Shion's despair was even more obvious than Koyuki's. No sorrow was greater than a dead heart, and Shion was utterly disheartened.
Could the butterfly effect have changed something again? Did she foresee something? How did Shion become like this? Naruto wondered in confusion.
The Nine-Tails in his inner world also sensed that something was highly unusual and became interested.
Tōji said, "Fortunately, Mr. Kakashi, you arrived in time and defeated the enemy."
"Is there something on my face?" Shion's voice rang out, heavy and low. Her gaze turned toward Naruto, and Tōji, Kakashi, Sakura, and Hinata all looked at Naruto as well.
Naruto was dumbfounded. He pointed at himself with an innocent look on his face. He had gotten dragged into this while doing nothing. Weren't Hinata, Sakura, and Kakashi all looking at her too? Had he done anything rude? He had not acted up or done anything attention-grabbing. What was going on?
Sakura's expression changed as she looked at Shion with some displeasure. It was not as though they had never encountered troublesome clients before, so she had