"Hey guys," said the blonde 12-year old shinobi as he approached his teammates who were standing at the main entrance to the Leaf village.
"Oh hi Naruto," replied the pink-haired kunoichi when she saw her teammate approaching.
"Hn," was the only thing that escaped the third team member's mouth upon seeing the blonde team member walk up to him.
Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruna, and Sasuke Uchiha had become official shinobi of the genin rank only a few months ago. Finally, they had graduated from the academy and, after being teamed up into Team 7, this was to be their first official mission away from the Leaf village, their home.
"So do you guys have any idea what this mission is all about?" asked Naruto.
"No idea," answered Sasuke.
"We'll just have to wait for Kakashi-sensei to get here," said Sakura.
"Well, where is he?" asked Naruto.
"Dobe, you know he is always late. He could be here shortly or we may have to wait two hours. We never know," said an irritated Sasuke.
As the young shinobi waited for their jonin leader, they continued to ponder what they were going to do on their first trek as a team outside of the village. Kakashi-sensei, when he told them to meet him at the front gate early this morning, also told them to make sure to bring swimsuits, towels, and enough food and clothes for a two-day mission.
Just then, Kakashi-sensei seemed to appear out of nowhere in front of his three students.
"Good morning," he said in his normal, cool voice.
"Sensei, what exactly is this mission we are going on?" asked Naruto.
"I'll tell you on the way," Kakashi replied. "We've got to get going."
"And whose fault is it that we're late?" muttered Sasuke under his breath.
"I heard that," said Kakashi. "Let's go!"
The four members of Team 7 jumped into the trees outside of the village and quickly started to move towards their destination.
OlOlOlOlOlOlO
"Hurry up you guys," said Kakashi.
"What's the rush, sensei?" asked Sakura. "After all, you were the one that was late this morning."
"He's the one who is late every morning," muttered Naruto under his breath.
Kakashi smiled knowingly. "Yeah, I know. But it is kind of important that we reach our destination rather quickly."
Naruto let out a grrr.
"So where are we going?" asked Sasuke.
"It's only about a 2 hour trip…to a clearing in a forest next to a lake deep into the Fire Country," said Kakashi.
"Well, that sounds kind of random," noted Naruto.
"Actually….this isn't so much a mission as it is a….," started Kakashi.
"What?" said the three younger shinobi, almost in unison. They were getting irritated.
"This is kind of an, um…..kind of a camping trip," Kakashi finally said.
"Camping trip?" said Sakura. She wasn't a huge fan of the outdoors even though she knew that as a shinobi, she would be required to spend many a night away from shelter.
"No, that's not quite right," said Kakashi. "It's more kind of like…."
"Like what!" shouted Naruto.
"Summer camp, albeit a very short one," said Kakashi.
"What exactly is the difference between a camping trip and summer camp?" asked Sasuke.
"Well, a camping trip is where you put up tents, sleep in a sleeping bag, and cook on a campire…," started Kakashi.
"That sounds like summer camp to me," noted Sakura.
"At summer camp, it's more organized and you need to participate in the activities that your counselors tell you to," explained Kakashi.
"So you mean we are on the hook to do whatever you tell us to do?" asked Sasuke.
"Actually, yes. I am going to be one of your 'counselors'. Kurenai and Asuma will be there as well."
Sakura groaned. "Don't tell me racing to the campsite is the first 'activity'," she said.
Kakashi smiled with one of his large fake smiles. "You got it. The entire weekend will be summer camp with some training and fun mixed in."
"Let's get going then," said Naruto, speeding up in the process. He was definitely a competitive one.
"So sensei, is there a prize if we do well this weekend?" asked Sasuke. "I mean, what is our motivation for participating?"
"Isn't it enough that this weekend was ordered by the Hokage himself?" asked Kakashi. "He cooked this idea up just for the three rookie teams. But alright, if you need more motivation than just that….if you guys do well, I will…hmmmm….you each like different things. How about I treat Naruto to ramen, pay for a day at the spa for Sakura, and give Sasuke a full day of one-on-one training."
"What are we waiting for then?" asked Naruto.
Sasuke didn't particularly care one way or another, but he wasn't about to let Naruto beat him to the campsite so he sped up so he could follow Naruto closely behind.
OlOlOlOlOlO
When Team 7 arrived at the campsite, they saw that Team 10 was already done setting up their tents and were busy collecting firewood while Team 8 was in the middle of unpacking their belongings.
"Darn it," said Naruto. "We got here last."
"Hi Sakura," said the blonde from Team 10. "Going a little slow today?"
"Ino," Sakura acknowledged her friend.
Ino didn't stick around for long. She noted Sasuke was standing nearby and she approached him.
"If you need any help with your campsite, I'll be right over there," said Ino to Sasuke pointing towards her team. "Since we're done with set-up, I've got lots of time on my hands."
Sasuke looked the other way.
Kakashi let down the large pack from his back. "Here are our tents," he noted. "Go ahead and start putting them up."
Team 7 did as they were asked. They erected the tents, collected firewood, and put their packs away. When they were done, they met with the other teams by the large fire pit that had been created near the lake's edge.
After everyone was there, Asuma stood up.
"I'm sure you have already been told that we were sent here this weekend by the Hokage. He expects us to enjoy ourselves, but also to get a bit of training in. You have all been working so hard, but you are still very young and he wanted to change things up a bit. Most of the activities we will partake in will seem like normal summer camp games, but I assure you that you will still need to use your skills to successfully beat your fellow teams. The goal is to get the greatest point total in two days time. It will be two days from now that we will pack up and return to the Leaf," Asuma explained.
Seeing no one having any questions, Kurenai was the next to stand up. "The first event for this mission, codename: summer camp, was to see who could arrive the fastest to the campsite. Team 10 receives 5 points, Team 8 receives 3 and Team 7 receives only 1."
Naruto crossed his arms in frustration. He hated to come in last.
"The second event will occur right now. As you can see, we have a beautiful lake in front of us," explained Kurenai. "Each three-man team will compete in a relay race across the lake and back."
"That doesn't seem very hard," noted Shikamaru from Team 10.
"However, there is an additional stipulation," said Kurenai. "One person can swim using any stroke they wish. The second person must run and the third must get across using a method that is not swimming or running."
"Sensei, you mean like using ninjitsu?" asked Kiba.
"Exactly. Use your imagination to figure something out," Kurenai said. "Now go into your tents and change into your swimsuits. You have ten minutes to formulate a plan for your team. Go!"
The nine shinobi (and one dog) ran back to their respective tents. One-by-one they emerged and gathered with their teams to talk. The jonin 'counselors' just stood back and observed.
"One minute remaining!" shouted Kurenai. The groups broke and they all approached the edge of the lake. Naruto, Hinata and Ino all took their places.
"Ready, set, go!" shouted Kurenai. The three shinobi all entered the lake and began swimming.
"It looks like we all started with our swimmers," said Shikamaru to Choji.
Everyone on shore cheered as the swimmers reached the other side and started swimming back again. Naruto was the first to make it to shore, which allowed Sakura to launch into a swift sprint across the surface of the lake. She had the greatest chakra control after all and thus, was Team 7's best choice to run across the lake.
Shortly after Sakura took off, Shikamaru started running. He was followed shortly thereafter by Kiba. Kiba was definitely the fastest. In fact, halfway across the lake, he decided to start running on all fours like a dog.
"Is that allowed?" asked Naruto from the shore.
"Sure, why not?" answered Kurenai. "After all, he is still technically running."
Kiba quickly passed Shikamaru and nearly caught up to Sakura by the time his run was finished, but Team 7 remained in the lead after two people were done.
Sasuke was the anchor for Team 7. As soon as Sakura passed him, he turned around and jumped high into the air. He used his Great Fireball Technique to propel him across the lake. He, of course, would need to breathe every so often so he would allow himself to land on the surface of the lake before repeating the same steps once again.
"Not bad," observed Kakashi aloud.
Kiba tagged Shino, who already had summoned his bugs. There were more bugs visible than usual. They cradled Shino's body and allowed him to hover over the ground before moving forward over the surface of the lake.
Finally, Shikamaru let Choji take over for Team 10. Choji expanded into a giant rotating ball that merely skipped over the surface of the lake - almost like skipping a rock across water. Choji was definitely the fastest of the three remaining shinobi – the question being, could he catch up to the two other teams.
"Faster," Shino said aloud to his bugs as he saw Choji approach.
"So tired," noted Sasuke lowly to himself. He had already turned around at the far side and was started on his way back to the side of the lake where everyone stood.
Shino passed Sasuke, but then Choji passed them both just before they reached the shore.
"Team 10 wins and receives 5 points. Team 8 gets second and receives 3 points. Team 7 receives one point," said Kurenai.
The three shinobi who had just finished were all sprawled on the shoreline trying to catch their breath. They had given it their all.
"Ok everyone, good job today. You are now free for the rest of the evening. Eat dinner, go swimming, whatever you like," said Asuma.
Sakura went to help Sasuke up from the ground, but he refused her hand when she offered it to him.
"This sucks!" he said aloud. He was extremely competitive just like Naruto was and he didn't like losing especially when his team was in the lead when he took over.
"Don't worry about it, Sasuke," said Naruto. "We'll catch up."
Sasuke grumbled all the way back into his tent where he didn't reemerge for the rest of the evening.
Everyone else seemed to have a great time with one another. Naruto spent quite a bit of time annoying Shikamaru and Choji while Sakura got to know Kiba and Hinata a bit better.
Kurenai walked over to Kakashi who was standing by the lake. "Looks like they are starting to bond beyond their team," she noted.
"Yes, the Hokage was correct when he said that they would," answered Kakashi.
OlOlOlOlOlO
It was after breakfast the next day when the shinobi next lined up waiting for their next set of instructions. This time, Kakashi addressed the rookie nine.
"The next activity is a scavenger hunt," he started to explain. "Here are the lists of things for you to find. As shinobi, sometimes you are asked to be highly vigilant and notice things that others may not ordinarily notice. This scavenger hunt will accomplish several things: you will practice being aware of everything around you. You will also learn to feel chakra signatures as at least one item on your list has your sensei's chakra signature on it. It will be a kunai and it will not be visible so you can only detect it by its chakra. You have up to three hours though if more than one team finds everything on their list, the fastest team will get the points. You are not to move more than 5 miles away from this spot in your search. And please…no stealing from other teams. Go!"
"So what's on the list?" asked Sakura to Sasuke, who was the one holding the piece of paper that had been given to Team 7.
Naruto started reading. "What the hell is this? Peril…Perilla…."
"It's a plant, dummy. Perillae Herba - we learned about it at the academy. It's used in healing," said Sakura. "There are a few herbs and roots on the list."
"Most of this stuff doesn't look too bad," noted Sasuke. "We will surely be able to find most of it pretty easily….Kakashi's kunai will be the hardest."
"Naruto, you should go for the easy stuff," said Sakura.
"Usually, I'd argue…but in this case, I wholeheartedly agree," said Naruto having looked at the list. "I don't have a clue what half that stuff is."
"I'll go for the plants," said Sakura. "Sasuke, you look for that kunai first. It should have Kakashi-sensei's chakra on it. You'll probably have to be within 50 feet of it in order to find it."
"Maybe we'll get lucky and he will have pumped some extra chakra into it," said Sasuke.
"Once we complete our own assignments, we can help with the others," said Sakura.
"Let's go. Scatter!" said Sasuke.
Each of the three members of Team 7 went in slightly different directions. Naruto took a sack with him since he had the most to find – both Sakura and Sasuke could put what they found into their shinobi pouches.
Sakura went to work straight away. She figured that of the plants that were on the list, the hardest thing was actually remembering what they looked like from her academy days. She wouldn't mind becoming a healing ninja at some point, but apart from being at the top of her class academically, she really had not had much medical training as of yet. Sakura wondered if at least one of the shinobi on each of the teams would remember all of the plants and roots they were asked to find. Her better-than-average memory would certainly come in handy today.
Sasuke mentally developed a plan to scour the area for Kakashi's chakra signature. He had to be thorough as well as not too fast. If he was going as fast as he normally does, he could easily fly right by the kunai and not even realize it. He decided on a directional north-south pattern across the 5 mile radius that they were given as a search area. Each sweep would most likely be too wide to catch every spot, but he didn't have time to do a complete sweep by himself in the time allotted.
Naruto went for the easy stuff. Square-shaped rocks, a charred piece of wood, anything manmade left behind before these three teams arrived. It was all relatively easy…it would just take some time to gather it all together.
30 minutes ticked by in no time. Soon 1 hour had elapsed. Then 90 minutes.
"Naruto!" Sakura shouted at her teammate.
"Sakura, are you finished?" asked Naruto.
"Yeah, do you need some help?" she asked.
"Sure," he replied. "I only have these four things left."
"OK, let's get these four and then we can track down Sasuke," said Sakura.
"Sounds like a plan," agreed Naruto.
Naruto and Sakura only took another 15 minutes to track down the remaining four items on Naruto's list. They spent the next 20 minutes tracking down their teammate. Finally, they found him on the far side of the lake. He stopped when he saw both of his teammates approach him.
"Are you guys done?" he asked.
"Yeah, both Sakura and I are completely done. The kunai is the last thing. No luck?" asked Naruto.
"I've been doing north-south sweeps this entire time, but haven't felt even the hint of his signature," said Sasuke. "I'd suggest that one of you start east-west sweeps while the other one goes diagonal starting from the southwest quadrant. We'll cover the most area before time expires."
"Got it," said Sakura. "I'll do the diagonal – Naruto, go ahead and start going east-west."
"I'm off!" said Naruto.
45 minutes later and each of the Team 7 shinobi were starting to think that it wasn't going to happen for them.
I may as well head back, thought Naruto to himself. He turned and headed towards the campsite by the lake.
When he arrived, he saw that Sakura and Sasuke were also just arriving. Some of the other members on other teams were starting to show as well.
"Any luck?" asked Sasuke to Naruto.
"No, 'fraid not," said Naruto.
Sasuke overhead some of the other teams talking about how they did. Team 10 looked like they were completely done. Team 8 definitely found their kunai, but were missing a good portion of the plants on the list.
"I'll be back in a second," said Sakura.
"Where you goin'?" asked Naruto.
Sakura's cheeks turned slightly pink.
"If you must know, I need to use the bathroom!" said Sakura. "Also known as that tree over there!"
"Oh," said Naruto, giggling trying to hide his embarrassment.
"Five minutes left!" shouted Kakashi.
Sakura reappeared. At first, she walked towards her two teammates. But then Sasuke noted that she started running towards them.
"Quick! Where would a kunai be around Kakashi-sensei?" she asked.
"Huh?" said Naruto.
"When I was walking back towards you guys I detected another signature like Kakashi's...only it wasn't exactly where he was standing," said Sakura.
"That makes total sense!" noted Sasuke. "Where better to put something with his chakra on it than near him. Most teams would never guess it to be around their sensei and wouldn't look that closely when in proximity to him."
"Quick, fan out!" said Sakura.
The three shinobi were lucky that there really wasn't all that much near the shoreline of the lake. The trees were set back far enough that they knew it wouldn't be hidden in a tree. It was unlikely it was under water...
Sasuke turned over a large, flat rock. There in the sandy soil was the kunai.
"Got it!" he shouted to his two teammates.
They jogged back to the meeting place.
"Nicely done," said Kakashi. "But you were lucky you came back with minutes to spare to find it. If you had come back right on time, you wouldn't have had the time to figure it out."
"Time!" shouted Asuma. "Now, how did the teams do?"
Each of the sensei's categorized each of the teams' items from the hunt.
"Team 7 has everything with no time to spare," noted Kurenai.
"Team 8 did not find four of the items," said Asuma.
"Team 10 has all of the items," said Kakashi. "Based on the fact that I saw when Team 7 found the kunai with my chakra signature on it, I'll have to award them 2nd place. Team 10 wins the scavenger hunt and receives 5 points."
Ino and Choji gave each other a high five while Shikamaru simply looked on expressionless with his arms crossed in front of him.
"Damn!" said Naruto.
"Don't worry about it," Sakura tried to comfort him. "Think of it from a big picture perspective. This weekend summer camp is supposed to let us have fun and train at the same time. So what? They're making us compete with each other. But we leave here tomorrow and in a week you'll forget all about whether we got first or last. Just do your best and have fun."
"Oh, alright," he said.
"It's time for lunch," said Kakashi. "Afterwards, we will have a kunai and shuriken throwing contest. The jonin will set up the targets shortly after lunch, so the competition itself will begin mid-afternoon."
OlOlOlOlOlOlO
The afternoon flew by. Most of the rookie shinobi had completed weapons courses like this a million times. Targets were set up and each member of each of the teams simply had to hit as close to the bulls eye with the pre-determined weapon for that particular target. The event wasn't timed, but it was expected that each shinobi would attack as fast as they could. There would be no patience for anyone taking their time so they could aim better to get a better score.
Team 7 finally won their first event of the camp - Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto were all excellent with kunai and shuriken. Both Choji and Ino were not nearly as good as Shikamaru and Team 10 received third place. Team 8 received second due to a less than stellar performance by Hinata.
By the time the weapons contest ended, it had started to get dark out. The jonin started a fire in the large fire pit and the genin helped to prep the food.
The crowd spent the meal as well as most of the evening gathered around the fire. There was some friendly talk, some storytelling (especially by the jonin), and a lot of bonding.
"What is the overall score anyway?" asked Choji to Asuma.
"Hn...I believe Team 10 is in first followed by Team 7 and then Team 8," said Asuma. Asuma hadn't really been keeping score because, just as Kakashi and Kurenai knew, this little camp wasn't about winning or losing...it was about training and bonding, just in a new and unique way.
that 12 year-olds would hopefully enjoy.
"Hey, how about a ghost story!" said Ino.
"Yeah!" agreed Naruto. "I haven't heard a good ghost story in a long while."
"I don't know any good ghost stories," said Asuma. "But I can tell you that they say this forest is haunted."
"Haunted? Yeah, right," said Ino.
"No, it's true," insisted Asuma. "It was during the third world war when a battle was fought somewhere around here."
"Here? In the Land of Fire?" asked Sakura.
"Oh, you mean that time that...," added Kakashi to Asuma's story.
"Yeah, that time," said Asuma.
"I thought I saw something once," said Kurenai.
"What? What did you see?" asked Choji, in a bit of a panic.
"Choji, get a grip," said Shikamaru.
"No, seriously!" said Kurenai. "I once cut through here on my way to the ocean for a mission on a ship. It was time to set up for the night and rustling leaves woke me up. When I peeked outside of my tent, there they were."
"You saw the ghosts?" asked Asuma.
"Yeah, I did," answered Kurenai.
Looking around the campfire, about half of the genin were visibly hooked on the story and were horrified...included were Hinata, Ino, Choji and Naruto. The other half - Kiba, Shino, Sakura, Sasuke and Shikamaru were not fazed in the slightest.
"How many were there, sensei?" asked Hinata.
"There were about ten," answered Kurenai.
"Ten? I saw 50 that time I was here. They died in that battle the Leaf had with the Land of Lightning. They glowed so brightly it almost seemed like the full moon was out even though it wasn't," said Kakashi.
Naruto gulped to himself. Sasuke looked over at his teammate and rolled his eyes. Sakura simply tried to stifle a giggle. This storytelling really was fun, even if it was just watching one's teammates sweat.
"Were they from the Land of Lightning?" asked Choji.
"Most of them were," said Kakashi. "The Leaf won the battle, so more shinobi from the Land of Lightning had died. Asuma, did you ever see anything?"
"I was here once," said Asuma. "Definitely more than 50 though. More like 100."
"100?" said Ino, shocked. "Did you have to defend yourselves?"
"Luckily no," said Kurenai. "They did start coming for me, but it was just about sunrise. When the sun peeked over the horizon, they just...disappeared."
"I wonder what would have happened if the sun hadn't rose," asked Kakashi. "What if you had seen them in the middle of the night rather than closer to daybreak?"
"I probably wouldn't be sitting here right now, that's for sure," said Kurenai.
"Ok, that's enough," said Asuma. "I think it's time for everyone to turn in and get some rest."
"But sensei...," pleaded Ino. "I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight."
"You'll be fine, Ino," said Kurenai. "So will the rest of you. Perhaps the ghosts have moved on. It has been a while since the third world war."
"S-s-sakura?" said Naruto softly to his teammate.
"Hm?" she answered.
"D-do you think I can move my sleeping bag into your tent tonight?" he asked.
"Naruto! Of course not! Don't tell me you think the stories are real! They were just pulling your leg!" she insisted.
"Sasuke?" Naruto spied his other teammate.
"Don't even ask," he said dryly.
He wasn't about to ask Kakashi and wasn't really comfortable asking the others from other teams. So Naruto had no other choice than to go to bed in his own tent.
OlOlOlOlOlOlO
Naruto had been sleeping soundly when he was suddenly awakened by the rustling of leaves. His eyes flickered open and he took an inventory of where and when he was.
Then he heard whispers. He froze, not moving a muscle in his sleeping bag.
The moon wasn't quite full, but it was bright enough that he could tell someone or something was moving outside of his tent.
Then, whispers again.
Naruto wasn't sure what to do. His mind immediately went to the stories of the ghosts from the third world war. Of course it had to be them...who else could it be?
Perhaps if he stayed still, they wouldn't come after him. After all, all three jonin had run into these ghosts and all were still here...but then again, it was much closer to sunrise when Kurenai saw the ghosts.
Naruto heard nothing for a few minutes and thought that perhaps the ghosts had moved on. But that's when he heard something that sounded a bit familiar.
What was that? he thought to himself.
He was compelled to look no matter what the consequence. The noise he heard sounded strangely like...Sakura?
He opened the front flap of his tent just slightly and peeked out. What he saw out there caused him to jump out to the open and yell loudly. "Get your hands off of her!"
Just then, Sakura bit the hand of the shinobi who was holding her enabling her to scream for the first time. "Naruto!"
"Sakura!" he shouted back.
Then, most of the other tents came to life and the genin and jonin in them also emerged.
"What's going on here?" asked Kakashi.
"Don't move a muscle," said one of the shinobi who had invaded the campsite.
"Who are you? What do you want?" asked Kurenai.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" snickered one of the enemies. "All you need to do is be good boys and girls while we take this little one with us. If you follow us, she dies."
"Sakura!" shouted Naruto once again.
The strangers suddenly disappeared.
"Let's go!" shouted Naruto.
"Naruto, are you sure?" asked Ino. She didn't want Sakura to get hurt.
"Naruto is right. I'm fairly sure they're just bluffing. I'm not really sure what they are really after, but we have to do what we can to get Sakura back. Kurenai take the left side, Asuma take the right."
"Got it," both answered in unison.
The jonin and genin swooped into the air and caught up to the perpetrators in no time. As soon as they saw they were surrounded with little hope of escape – as well as who exactly they were dealing with - they quickly let Sakura go and surrendered.
"That was a tad bit anticlimactic," noted Shikamaru.
"Tie them up and bring them back to camp," said Asuma. His subordinates did as they were told.
OlOlOlOlOlO
The fire at the campsite was roaring once again as the eastern sky just started to turn pink indicating the sunrise would happen in just over an hour. Naruto sat in front of the fire looking a tad bit dejected and tossing small sticks of wood into the flames.
"What's wrong, Naruto?" asked Kakashi sensei.
"I should have been ready," he noted to his teacher and leader. "I hesitated by letting that ghost story get to me."
"Everything turned out fine," said Kakashi.
"Yeah, but Sakura's life really could have been in danger. I could have reacted much better than I did."
"Don't beat yourself up over it. You are still just a kid just barely out of the academy. That's what this weekend was all about, right? Although this 'exercise' wasn't planned, you still learned something. No one is perfect…you just have to learn from your mistakes," said Kakashi.
Naruto looked at Kakashi and he seemed very sincere.
"Ok, sensei. I got it," said Naruto. "I'm going to go find Sakura and make sure she's alright."
Naruto popped up leaving Kakashi there by the fire. Kurenai walked over to him and sat down.
"That was probably the best unplanned training mission that could have happened to this bunch," she noted.
"I agree," said Kakashi.
"So what now?" Kurenai asked.
"Now that we've got these thieves, we should probably head back to the village a little early. We need to get them properly arrested and jailed," said Kakashi.
"But what about the two remaining events of summer camp?" asked Kurenai.
"Forget them," said Kakashi. "The teams have done enough for one trip. You know as well as I that the competition was just a way to motivate them to do their best. The points awarded mean little. It's all about the training and the teamwork."
It took the three squads about an hour to pack everything up and leave their site as undisturbed as possible. It would take longer to get back to the village because they would have to allow the prisoners to walk.
"Asuma-sensei?" said Choji on the walk back.
"Hm?" Asuma answered.
"I really enjoyed summer camp. Do you think we can do it again sometime?