[Complete] Travelling to Sunagakure

Characters: Kakashi, Chouji, Kiba, Neji, Sasuke, Naruto
Warnings: None


The group travelled until the sun sank below the line of the trees, seeing nothing of any consequence. The most excitement came as the dogs and Kiba scented the trail of an intruder, possibly Kabuto's trail as he'd approached or left Konoha, but it was days old and not worth deviating from their mission to follow, even if they'd been inclined to.

When it grew dark enough that only Neji's eyes were unaffected, they called a halt, settling to the base of a huge tree to make camp.

"I'll go check around and establish a perimeter," Neji volunteered and vanished, his byakugan activated as he circled the camp, looking for signs of any other people around.

Sasuke found a place to settle, a little apart but still close enough to be ready in case of a surprise attack or trap.

He knelt and adjusted his sandal, putting his pack down for a moment as he watched the others through the corner of his eye.

Naruto watched as Neji took off. He walked over to where Sasuke was tying his sandal and stood, without speaking.

Kakashi landed softly on the leaf litter and looked around. He thought theat maybe they should have stopped before dark in order to set up a proper camp, but perhaps it was just best that they get to Suna as quickly as they could. The tension in the group was as thick as the silence.

When he spoke, his voice was low. "We should all try and get a few hours rest in a little bit. Watch shifts in twos, Neji and Kiba start, Sasuke and Naruto," Kakashi dropped a hand on a fuzzy blonde head, "and then you two can wake Chouji and myself. Alright? Shift every two hours."

He lifted his hand from Naruto's head and spared just a glance at Sasuke. Pakkun trotted off into the woods as Kakashi settled down against a tree and pulled out a ration bar. He would have liked to have adjusted his chakra to his eyes in order to read, but knew it would be a waste. Besides, he didn't think his mind would have kept to the pages.

Sniffing the air, Kiba scented water nearby and the traces of the small animals that made the tree their home. "There's a stream that way," he said, pointing off to one side. "Too small to attract anything larger than a fox, probably. I don't smell anything larger than that."

He wasn't at all displeased to get first watch... middle watch of three was always the worst, since your sleep was interrupted. He wasn't sure how pleased he was that Sasuke would be keeping watch with Naruto, though. Moreover, he thought he could guess exactly how pleased Neji would be to hear it.

"Hey, Naruto, Sasuke," he called as an idea struck him. "Why not let Akamaru stand watch with you two? That way we've got a scent tracker to cover the perimeter on all three watches." As far as he knew Kakashi didn't have any particular scenting abilities granted by his alliance with his dogs, but Kiba's nose was almost as sharp as Akamaru's.

Chouji pulled 2 ration bars and a bag of chips from his bag and quickly demolished the bars before opening the chip bag and munching on them quietly, finding comfort in the common gesture. The tension was getting to him, and he felt somewhat responsible. How was he to know that a simple mention of teamwork would set Sasuke off like that? He had only been worried about the other boy.

Sasuke glanced up at Kiba and shrugged, indicating he didn't care one way or the other.

"Kiba! That sounds fine," Naruto said.

"All right with you?" Kiba asked Akamaru. His partner snuffled softly and made a semi-rude noise, but then yapped his acceptence. He wasn't any more eager to sleep for two hours with nobody on watch who could scent an approaching enemy than Kiba was.

Of course, presumably Naruto and Sasuke both had other ways of detecting intruders... but instincts were hard to argue with, and Kiba's instincts insisted that it was far too easy to sneak up on people who couldn't smell you coming.

Plus, hopefully, it would settle any objections anyone might have to Naruto and Sasuke sharing a watch alone together.

Neji returned a few minutes later, dropping down from a nearby tree. "The area is secure," he said, glancing around at the preparations being made.

"You'll be taking first watch with Kiba," Kakashi informed the boy who'd returned in a quiet voice.

He was glad for what Kiba had done, putting Akamaru with Sasuke and Naruto under the guise of having a tracking nose on each shift. Kakashi spared a brief glance to the boy.

All of them, all of them... those Gennins who'd gone after Sasuke, ready to die...

They'd do great things.

With a soft sigh that was caught by his mask, Kakashi rested his head back against the tree and closed his eyes. He had his own reasons for putting Sasuke and Naruto on the same middle watch. The others had to accept it, not question it.

Second watch generally sucked because Sasuke could never fall right asleep after a march, and by the time he was starting to be sleepy it was second watch time and then after a watch he couldn't really relax enough to catch the last few hours of sleep before getting up to travel.

Which meant he probably wasn't going to get enough sleep this night to be worth counting.

Oddly, he found it didn't really piss him off. He didn't care. It wasn't a sour, disgruntled apathy. Sleep was for the dead. He had been in a coma for several days, apparently, he'd gotten plenty of sleep then. He felt calm and oddly relaxed, even after the whole argument with Neji. He was out, he was under the stars. It felt... free.

Which was a laugh but it still felt that way.

So as not to draw attention, he pulled out a blanket and found a perch in a low branch, leaning against the trunk.

There was room another for another person, it was a big, old tree.

Why did he think of that?

Naruto would likely fall dead asleep in minutes, and he was better off not in a tree, he'd only fall.

Second watch sucked. No doubt about it. Naruto found he wasn't even sleepy, but at least the prospect of a watch with Sasuke made the idea suck a little less.

He watched Sasuke choose his place to rest. At first, Naruto thought Sasuke might want to be alone, but there was some extra room in the tree. Not being overly shy, he walked to where Sasuke was. The next instant, he was in the tree next to the Uchiha.

Not bothering to wait for an invitation, he stole an edge of Sasuke's blanket and pulled it over himself, moving closer.

"I know you're about as sleepy as I am," he said, sliding a covert hand around Sasuke's back. "At least we'll have Akamaru later on."

Neji nodded to Kakashi. "All right," he said, then glanced around briefly, watching as people separated or gathered themselves together according to their natures, in preparation to sleep. He particularly noted that Naruto climbed right under the blanket with Sasuke.

Well then.

He moved over to Kiba, dropping down to sit next to him and peering out into the darkness outside of the camp. It didn't really matter where he sat. Kiba could scent anyone coming, without regard to direction, and he could see 360 degrees.

Kiba leaned back against the tree trunk and propped his feet on a rock. An approaching enemy might have seen him and thought he was being lax, but he was actually just concentrating on keeping track of everything he could smell, watching for any change or anything out of place.

He was a little surprised Neji didn't take to the tree branches for the watch; Hinata always had, but then, Neji was more powerful than his cousin, so maybe he didn't need the advantage of height to see out to the perimeter.

They'd probably go patrol a bit later, or at least Kiba would, just to extend his range to check on what was outside the perimeter. But there was no need for it at the moment. An enemy would have to be pretty stupid to attack the camp now while everyone was still at least mostly awake and the first sentries were fresh and alert.

Noting Naruto and Sasuke's closeness Chouji swallowed the last chip, savoring the flavor before settling down at the base of a tree not far from Kiba's.

((Thought since everyone was going off in little groups, we could continue in pairs or small groups if we want, and then start another group chat for the rest of the trip to Sunagakure))