Update: fixed up a VERY embarrassing typo (my worst ever). Apologies to all who read that, and if you missed it...I'm glad :)

Chapter 2 Mission 1 : The Stingy Coward Part 1

The public park was and still is the most quietest and relaxing part of Konoha, with only a few families and couples ever casually walking through the grounds to admire the view. The main attraction to the park was its grand spiralling staircase, which lead further into the large park. Lee could remember the solid cement stairs very well, thinking back to when he was using crutches to walk around after his first chuunin exams. He made it to the top back then after the surgery, even though it took him hours to do it, and he distinctly remembered an angered Tsunade scolding him heavily for it.

It was so effortless now to do it, as they marched their way around the stair case, making it to the top in less than two minutes. Their client appeared to be setup in a tent kiosk underneath the lone towering street light in the break point of the stairs, with assorted goods laid across tables. On closer inspection when they got closer, the teens were able to see an assortment of toys, jewellery, and other stationary goods. Their client appeared to be a mid thirty year old man that was slightly taller than Lee, with blonde hair that was done up in a pony tail that reached to his upper back. Judging by his silk looking brown kimono and sandals, the man must have been very wealthy.

His poker face like brown eyes homed in on them, which matched his smile that for some bizarre reason made Sakura think faux straight away, "Good morning to you young lady, may I interest you in some jade jewellery to match those gem like irises?"

Sakura normally would have flushed at such a compliment, but the fact she knew he was just trying to make her buy something gave her not even a surprised gasp.

"Are you Chokichi-san?"

His 'happy' mask seemed to partially crack on the edges of his smile to Sakura's question, "Who is asking?"

"We are your ninja escort."

The mask in a blink of an eye was thrown away to show pure disbelief, "You?"

Sakura blinked at his question and pointed to herself, "Yes. Is there a problem with that?"

The dazed man looked back and forth between the two shinobi and shook his head in pure confusion, "You're both kids! How are just two of you going to protect my goods from being robbed?"

Sakura was taken aback, but surprisingly Lee stepped up and glared, "Forgive me for being disrespectful, but are you misinformed with who you are addressing?"

"Well, 'forgive me for being disrespectful', but no."

"She is the Godaime Hokage's apprentice, Haruno Sakura."

It was amazing how when you mentioned that more formal title, it would always result in the same reaction.

Sudden striking of fear and shock.

"I-I-Is that so? m-my humble apologies then!" Chokichi stuttered after several bows to the growing embarrassed Sakura.

"A-And you are?"

Chokichi stuck out his hand to Lee, who didn't accept it but gave a thumb up with his affixed gaze still holding, "I am the beautiful green beast of the hidden leaf. Rock Lee!"

'How the hell can a beast be beautiful as well!'

"I-I see! pleased to meet you both then. If you give me one moment, I will fetch my map." Chokichi quickly darted into the tent, leaving Sakura with a raised eyebrow at his actions.

"Thank you for supporting me then Lee-san. Can you please not use my title like that again though?."

"But Sakura-san, it is your title. You should be proud and honoured to bare it!"

The kunouchi rubbed her neck with a light chuckle, "I guess you are right, but I would appreciate it if you didn't."

"Hai Sakura-san! if I break that promise, I will do one thousand squats' as punishment!"

Sakura's left eye twitched as a sweat drop ran down the back of her head at his claim.

'You could have just left it at 'Hai'.'

Chokichi came out with the map in his hand, ushering the shinobi over as he unrolled it on a table, "I plan to sell some goods at Crater city for a festival they are having within a day's time. I am then expected to be at Tanzaku Gai the next day for a special item sale. After that, you are to escort me to the border town in the west, where you will wait for Suna nin to come and take over."

"Suna nin? Why not just have us continue?"

"Because that would mean I would have to spend triple the money for a B or A ranked mission, where as it would cost me just another C ranked mission to have another country continue my journey."

Sakura had to use all her will power to not slap her forehead, she thought she was tight with her money, obviously she was more 'normal' than she once boldly claimed. What made her inwardly groan though was how Chokichi had made it sound like he was doing something 'smart'.

"Very well then Chokichi-san, please start packing your belongings."

"Of course, I should have it packed in my carriage in no time." Chokichi then took off and started getting to work, surprisingly without ordering them to do it for him like the kunouchi was half expecting him to hint. It may have been because of Lee's manner of announcing who she was, that made the trader reconsider otherwise.

"Orders Sakura-san?"

"Pack for a week's trip I guess Lee-san. Don't be surprised by the way if we need to spend our own money for meals and accommodations...He is very stingy by the looks of it."

With their back packs ready, they regrouped back in the public park to find that Chokichi had all his gear packed in a large trailer, which they distinctly remembered him claiming was a 'carriage'. They guessed if you counted the wooden sides and roofing, one could make such a claim. The carriage's four wheels made of old, chipped timber, appeared very well used judging by its condition. The carriage was boxed shaped, with a clean forest green curtain to cover its front entrance, where a basic bench was placed for whoever was steering the horses.

The only issue was that there were no horses tied at the front of the carriage, as instead there was a lone partly rusted chain laid out on the ground, clipped to a tow bar of the carriage.

Sakura paused when her mind caught up, 'Don't tell me...'

"Alright so are we leaving now?"

"Umm Chokichi-san...where are the horses?"

The blank look he gave her narrowed her suspicions down to truth, "Well, I didn't think I needed them."

Sakura felt a vein start to pull, but Lee stepped up to the task, "Yosh, I will handle this if you want Sakura-san?"

Sakura stopped him from passing by her with a hand on his shoulder, "Chokichi-san. We are shinobi, not your slaves. We will arrive at our destination much faster if you purchase even one, which are sold at the front gates if you are not aware."

Chokichi was about to rebut, but that subtle raising of her left eye brow to looked to say 'come on, argue with me. I dare you.' made him suddenly frantically nod his head.

"O-Of course! I will go get one right away, y-you two just watch my stuff."

'Great, he's stingy, and a coward...I envy how Kakashi-sensei can be so calm when addressing such idiots.' Sakura mused, watching the man run down the stairs as if running a marathon.

"I could have pushed it along fine Sakura-san."

Shaking her head she grinned apologetically, dropping her withholding hand, "You are too kind to some people Lee-san. If I had let you do that, he would have thought we would do everything for him...sometimes it is best for us to stick to what we are being paid for. Escort, protection, and nothing else. If he wasn't such a jerk, then it may be a different story."

Lee went wide eyed mouthing an 'oh', while quickly pulling out a notepad from nowhere are jotting down her words.

Once he was done, he looked up at the eye twitching Sakura, "That is some very wise words Sakura-san."

Sighing at to her regret, was sincerity and not sarcasm in Lee's words, she looked back at the carriage, "Let's make it easier on that poor horse at least. Let's get this thing down the staircase."

"Yosh!"

Lee beamed, running straight towards The chain, "Let me hel-..."

Sakura trailed her voice in shock when the miniature Gai effortlessly pulled it towards the stairs.

'Holy crap! He is moving that with just his normal strength? A-Amazing!'

Guiding Lee from the side, they were roughly half way down, when the wheel suddenly began to roll down by itself, quickly picking up speed from the carriage's heavy weight. Lee's was effectively knocked right inside the carriage from the collision ramming into his legs, but just as quick as he entered, he soon was flung out by a sudden jolting stop, tumbling down several steps before gracefully stopping in a dizzy sitting position.

'What was that?'

"You ok Lee-san?" He heard a strained voice call a few meters away, and looked up from the couple of steps he fell down to go agape.

Sakura was in front of the carriage with both her arms holding it back in a manner similar to trying to push against a wall, although she was trembling from the tremendous effort. Shaking off his shock to see a near meter and a half tall girl holding a three meter by six meter long carriage back, he quickly got up and took back his position.

"Hai. My apologies Sakura-san."

Feeling the weight no longer against her, she dropped her hands and sighed in relief while standing upright, "No need to Lee-san."

When they made it to the bottom, Lee turned in shock to the kunouchi who was rubbing her arms as if they were sore.

"How did you hold that back Sakura-san?"

Sakura chuckled while innocently shrugging, "Long story Lee-san. Can we just say it's something I have been trying to learn from Tsunade-sama...although I cannot do it anywhere near as good as her of course."

Sakura then looked back at him while still trying to sooth her sore arms, "More importantly, how on earth were you moving that so freely Lee-san?"

Lee seemed to take it the wrong way and slumped his shoulders, "My apologies again, I should have taken off my weights before moving it, I might not have lost my balance so easily."

Sakura's jaw hung dish wide open, 'HE WAS WEARING WEIGHTS TOO?'

Shaking her head clear and mumbling something along the lines of 'not human', she turned when sensing their client coming back with to her surprise an actual decent sized white horse that was taller than him by a good two feet.

Once all set up, they made for the front gates and began their journey, with Sakura on the left side, Lee on the right, and the horse in-between them.

Their journey went uninterrupted for over several hours, with the only audible noise being the galloping horse, and Sakura's soft humming to herself. Since they were moving a carriage, they were forced to stick to the main roads to their regrets. This meant that if someone was to try and attack them, their attackers would have plenty of cover from the dense forests on both their sides of the claustrophobic path to exploit. Sakura's humming became more audible when her senses kicked in, as she continued walking along side the horse with her eyes closed.

"Sakura-san?" Sakura opened her left eye to peer in front of the horse and see Lee.

"I know." She mouthed, while continuing to hum although now tensed.

'There's so many...please be just thugs.'

Deciding the game was up, she petted the horse on the side, making it stop as she stroked her hand against it side. Whether it was to keep the animal calm, or her nerves down was a mystery.

"Come out." She ordered, her voice being carried over by only the howl of the wind around them. Suddenly the bushes exploded with life, as at least two dozen men wearing roughened outfits that could pass as used shinobi gear surrounded them. The members were armed with different assortments of rusted weapons and tools.

Chokichi already was beginning to sweat in fear at the very skewed odds, 'Damn it! I knew I was screwed with these kids as my protection!'

"They don't appear to be shinobi Sakura-san."

Stroking the stressing horse to keep it calm, Sakura nodded with signs of relief already showing on her relaxing posture, "I think you are right Lee-san."

A near six foot tall man, who they guessed was the leader of the group, stepped forward with a sword pointing at Chokichi in front of the pair of shinobi, "You are Chokichi I take it?"

"W-Who is asking?"

"It does not matter who I am. Word I hear is you are en route to sell a valuable item said to be worth a mountain or two...we would love to have a little look at it. If you don't mind that is."

Sakura rolled her eyes at his sarcasm that made a wave of chuckles echo around them. She almost was going to groan when Chokichi answered back like a coward, "O-Of course! Take it! Take everythi-"

Sakura's sharp glare to him made him stop, as she turned back and looked at the man that must have been in his early twenties.

"Chokichi-san would like to keep a hold of it for himself. If you do not mind that is."

The man laughed at her neutral statement, "Was I talking to you? No. Keep that cute little mouth of yours shut, and I may ensure you won't get 'messed up', little girl."

Sakura's eyes narrowed to slits at the bandits twisted words, which made a few members in the group smirk at her in a way that made her blood boil.

"Sakura-san, orders?"

Sakura's anger extinguished at Lee's slightly angered but composed tone, while patting the horse once more and then walking forward, "Let me handle this Lee-san."

Sensing a surprised gaze from the miniature Gai, she turned her head to him and winked, while continuing to walk towards the snickering man.

'You are going to pay for that.'

Sakura was now five meters away from the leader, and pulled out two black gloves from her weapons pouch.

As if in suspense, she stretched them over her fingers, "I will say this once. Please leave, or you will regret it."

The chorus of laughter's did not make her even blink, while Chokichi was trembling on the spot, "Is she crazy! They are going to kill her if she keeps that up!"

Lee stood at attention, prepared to help if he needed to, 'What do you have planned Sakura-san?'

The man rubbed his teary eyes from his laughter, "Very cute. But do you have a bite to go with that bark?"

The leader roared, while charging with his sword ready to slash at the still standing Sakura. When the sword went to slice down at her, she span around it like a dance, rearing her opened hand back.

"HERE'S YOUR DAMN BITE SHANNARO!"

After the loud slap echoed around them, the man was literally sent flying like a spinning missile into one of his stunned subordinates. He didn't lose flight however, as he still continued his airborne journey until he smacked straight into a tree, with enough force to make the hollow tree groan its protests loudly, while leaves began to litter around the area. Once the man had slid down from the tree with a soft 'thump' at his landing, all bulging eyes turned to the innocently smiling Sakura.

"If you wish to join him then step forward...or please kindly leave us alone."

Maybe she misinterpreted her own words, but the group surely treated her kind request like it was a fire alarm going off in a preschool. The group of 'men', literally dropped their weapons and sprinted for their lives in different directions, screaming at a pitch so high that it would make one question their manliness. Lee did not miss the cries of 'Monster!', 'Kami save me!' and 'I don't want to die!' Fly out of a few of the thugs mouths.

Sakura turned back and smiled at the agape Chokichi, "W-Wha-How-Di-"

"HAWWW! Resolving a possible conflict with an example and kind note! That's so hip Sakura-san!"

Crater city was as Lee expected jam packed busy with people that were coming to the festival. Even though the actual event hadn't started yet, the scene might as well have been written off as underway. Neither of them knew what the occasion was, but they could see as they descended down the slope into the gigantic impact crater, that the entire city was decorated for the mass event. The fact that they could hear the noise of children's pure joy filled laughter echo from below must have meant there were at least thousands of families here.

"What exactly is being celebrated here, Chokichi-san?"

"Nothing really of importance. Crater city relies on their festivals every two months to strive sales and bring in the tourists. As you can probably see and hear, it certainly works a treat."

Lee however was more interested in the town's history itself, "What could have made such a gigantic crater? It must have been something of great power to form something as grand as this."

"Something from the sky? a very large firecracker? Hell it could have even been one of those legendary chakra beasts. Who honestly cares kid?"

"Bijuu."

"Huh?" Both turned to the still walking Sakura, who was focused on the road ahead.

"They are called bijuu. Crater city was said to have been formed by a large battle between the Kyuubi and Hachibi a long time ago."

Chokichi shrugged while muttering 'book worm'. Lee on the other hand, was more interested as to why Sakura suddenly was so down as they continued their decent to the bottom.

Once they were setup, Sakura permitted Lee to go and take a look around while she had things to attend to with Chokichi. Lee didn't know where his feet were carrying him in the crowd, he just followed what he called his 'youth' senses. How ironic it lead him to a grand selection of food and sweets kiosks.

'Yosh! let's look around.'

Sakura sighed while flipping open a notepad she had taken from her pack, along with a freshly sharpened pencil. While sitting in the seat at the front of the carriage, she began to write. Chokichi after what he defined as a 'stale' day, had decided to close shop after a couple of hours and turned in behind her within the carriage. His loud, even paced snores were beginning to drive her insane.

Giving in, she set her pad aside and brought up her knee's so her arms could wrap around them, while her dull eyes flickering as if in memory to something as she lost herself in deep thought. She didn't know how long or when her eyes had closed, but sensing a strong, warming fragrance, that reminded her of green tea, made her open them to see her guess being presented in reality to her.

"The salesman was claiming his fresh green tea was so amazing, it could bring a smile to anybodies drizzly day."

Sakura chuckled while accepting the drink, "You were tricked by false advertising then Lee-san."

Despite her comment, the gesture enough brought a smile to her face after taking a mouth full and sighing in satisfaction.

"Thanks Lee-san."

Placing the cup by her side, she resumed her writing now with renewed motivation, while Lee patted the horse, "What are you writing Sakura-san?"

"Notes for your report."

"O-Oh..."

"Hehe, relax Lee-san. You are doing great so far already."

The miniature Gai blinked in puzzlement, "But I haven't demonstrated anything astounding Sakura-san?"

"No, you have. One important aspect of being a competent shinobi is the ability to respect and listen to your leaders instructions. Today for example, You have at all times asked me for approval before carrying out your intentions. The more commendable action you have done today was instead of engaging those thugs, you waited by my side, and asked for orders, instead of taking matters into your own hands."

Taking a short break to have a sip of her drink, she continued, "...'There is no purpose of being a leader of a squad, if your members do not listen to you.' That is what was given under the explanation. To both you and me, it's common act to do so without thinking about it, but in the eyes of an examiner, it is something they look for in determining the difference between a genin and a chuunin.

'A genin must learn to cooperate to get things done with their team...a chuunin must use what they have learnt to survive and succeed as a team on missions of life or death.'

Genin's are not expected to face shinobi on their mission's Lee-san, despite how fate continues to throw that out the window for us. Chuunin's however are expected to encounter enemy shinobi, and you and I can both agree, that any competent shinobi is much harder to outwit and defeat, than people like those thugs from before."

"So I have demonstrated a chuunin quality?"

Lee ecstatically beamed, making the horse do a small jump in surprise as she chuckled, "Ah Lee-san, you have."

The day of the festival went faster than Lee could comprehend, and before he knew it, they were on the road again after the 'profitable' day. They left with the late orange hue afternoon sky over their heads, since Chokichi was needing to get to Tanzaku Gai for tomorrow. To both shinobi's relief, the area was much more open now, with nothing but clear fields around them and the dirt path leading to their destination. Continuing their systematic like walking for hours, the orange sky soon darkened to a deep sea blue, with only the moon allowing them to see in the night. Chokichi had fallen asleep in the carriage, leaving just the shinobi and the horse to continue the journey.

If there was one thing Sakura could pinpoint you learnt to get used to as a shinobi, it was walking...and lots of it. That didn't mean she had no a limit of what she could do in a solid eight hour walk with no breaks, or at least her now stinging feet sure didn't.

"Lee-san, I am going to sit down if you don't mind."

"Help yourself Sakura-san." Making herself comfy on the front of the carriage, she rubbed her sore feet while looking to the completely unaffected miniature Gai, still walking with no traces of such exhaustion.

She did not even want to ask if he was wearing weights, she already knew he was. Reaching a cross section in the road, she looked to see the a lone direction post with three arrows. The one pointing to them was to Crater city, while the one to their left was Tanzaku Gai. Finally, the one the right was to a place called Sky District, which had been crossed out by the chipped markings of an edged weapon or tool. Reaching into her pack, Sakura pulled out her map and opened it, while reaching into her weapons pouch for a light stick. The loud crack was heard in the silent night, as a small green glow emitted from the tube. Dissatisfied with her still squinting eyes, she focused chakra into the tube, warming up the reacting liquids so it glowed brighter for the sake of lasting time.

"We are around four hours away Lee-san..." Sakura's brows furrowed though as she focused more on the trail on the map, her finger tracing over the path they needed to take,

'Wait a second?'

"Yosh, let's go then." Lee announced, directing the animal to the left.

"Wait."

Lee paused and looked in question as Sakura jumped off and approached the sign.

"The map says we should go right..."

Staring at the post now in deep suspicion, Sakura lifted her light stick so she could scrutinize all of its features.

Lee's presence was not far, "Perhaps just some kids playing a prank by swapping the signs?"

"No. Look closer Lee-san, it doesn't even appear as if it has been tampered with. It's not leaned to show someone did such thing, and if it was kids, then they must have a knack for bolting the signs. Also..."

Running her hand down the rough wood, she felt more than just splinter bringing timber against her fingers.

'Most, if not all civilian kids, don't know how to mould chakra.'

Sakura handed over the light stick while forming a seal, "Kai!"

After her sudden announcement, both teens watched as the signs shimmered in a haze, but then solidified to show the signs were normal again, but the two destinations had flipped over, with Sky district left, and Tanzaku Gai right.

"...Genjutsu?"

Lee voiced his thoughts aloud, while noticing a new feature that wasn't on the post before, "Sakura-san, what is that?"

The kunouchi dropped her gaze to see a small white piece of paper, with a red kanji symbol in the middle that read 'seal'. Tearing the paper off, Sakura brought it up for closer inspection with the green light.

"I...I'm not sure."

"Wait...I know what it is. It's a seal paper used to maintain weak jutsu's over time. Tenten uses them for some of her traps that require chakra to be effective."

Sakura looked back at Lee wide eyed, "How long can one of these last for?"

"Depends what it is used for. A simple genjutsu could possibly last four to five hours, taking a bit of an uneducated guess." Silence came between the shinobi, as both shared the same thoughts and walked back the carriage with tensed faces. Lee did the honours for Sakura, and pulled away the curtain to peer inside with the light stick illuminating the entire small space.

Chokichi was sleeping on a makeshift mattress on the corner of all his stored goods, "Chokichi-san."

Sakura spoke at full volume, making the man jolt out of his snoring sleep with a snort, "W-Wha- We there yet?"

Sakura didn't know why this situation was starting to sound so nostalgic, but she voiced her question.

"Care to explain to us why shinobi are after you?"

Sitting around like a campfire group under the sign, with their 'warming' bomb fire being the still working green light stick, Chokichi scratched his head lost for words.

"W-Why would ninja be after me? I am just a trader."

"If I may be direct Chokichi-san, we do not believe it is you they are after, but more so, what it is you possess."

Sakura nodded in agreement to Lee's explanation, "What is this 'special item' that is meant to be worth a 'mountain or two'?" Sakura questioned flatly, highlighting the reasons she and Lee both believed was what the shinobi were after.

Chokichi gulped while shifting a small box that he brought out with him, "S-Surely it can't be this."

Lee's thick eyebrow rose in question, while the mumbling trader opened the plain box to reveal an eye soothing ruby that easily was bigger than his fist, which he could tell even against the green light was coloured a rose red.

"I won it in a card game at a meeting I had with some people I meet up with in the trade."

"Well there is our explanation then. The next question is why didn't you explain in the mission report about this item? If my master had read this, a B ranked mission would have been assigned instead. Frankly Chokichi-san, if this was to do with saving money, then consider both me and Lee-san's services no longer-"

"No! No! I swear I didn't think it was worth mentioning. I didn't think the people I meet with regularly would do anything like this. Please, you must believe me!"

The man near shouted in fear of her unfinished threat as she lowered her head, "Alright. I believe you. "

After several assurances, Chokichi relaxed and went back to sleep inside the carriage. Sakura ran a hand through her hair as she watched the light stick's green hue show signs of dimming away.

'I guess on the bright side of things, there is no evil organisation behind this, nor is there an S ranked missing nin involved...I hope.'

"What is our plan of action Sakura-san?"

"...We will continue. He wasn't lying when he said he never foresaw this happening, it would be wrong to leave him to be robbed of what is his...even though I question who would be stupid enough to gamble with something of such great value. Do you agree with me Lee-san?"

"I do, I find his story while it may be possible, a little mystifying. Trader's should know the value of such an awe striking ruby, and would consider other items to use in a wager instead...it seems very suspicious."

Sakura nodded her head in agreement, while laying the map down between them with the starting to dim light being held over the top.

"We should be able to enter Tanzaku Gai several hours before sun rise. Once we have entered, we will take it in turns keeping watch while the other sleep's."

"Yosh, so we are expecting that we may have to deal with these shinobi during the trade?"

"Ah, since we are not falling into this trap with whatever is waiting for us at Sky District, the only other opportune time would be during the trade...what happens after that does not concern us as long as Chokichi-san is not put in danger, Lee-san."

Sky District used to be just like any other grand city in the fire country, with its many twenty plus story buildings for businesses and apartments spaced out in its mazes of streets. Not many of the new generation understood why it was suddenly left abandoned, with the only sound being the howling wind travelling through the empty streets, occasionally slamming broken doors open and shut.

"This place gives me the creeps." A mid toned voice that belonged to a teenage boy echoed through the streets.

A low chuckle soon followed, "Want to hold my hand Katsumi-'chan'?"

"Go to hell Isamu!" Two similarly attired shinobi wearing the grass country insignia on their forehead protectors walked out of one of the buildings entrances.

Both were wearing navy blue shinobi pants, along with similar shaded long sleeved shirts. Both were also wearing over the top their thick, armoured plated vests, that were a solid myrtle green. The slightly taller one of the two who was on the right was Isamu. Isamu had oceanic blue eyes, along with gravity defying spiky brown hair. Katsumi was roughly half a head shorter than his college. Katsumi had near shoulder length black hair, with several spiked bangs over hanging his forehead protector.

He was glaring with his onyx eyes at his teammate, "Whatever. Just like I thought though, all the stuff in this dump is useless, and there is no good food."

"You actually hoped to find something in a city that has been abandoned for so long? heh, idiot."

The pair continued their heated exchange as they came to the entrance of the city, where a third nin was sitting atop of the banner that read 'Sky District'. He was similarly dressed, but instead wore a loose fish netted shirt, that reached up to his wrists.

The grass nin looked to be in his late teens, and had very short light brown hair, bundled with similarly coloured irises, "Would both of you actually act like shinobi, and shut up?"

"But Taro-"

"Yeah, Yeah, 'Isamu said this and that'...what are you, nine? Then you wonder why I was made in charge of this mission."

Kasumi growled and looked elsewhere, "Where is this dumb trader anyway?"

"Probably got lost, who knows."

Taro groaned at his teammates responses, while jumping down, "Or he has a competent escort." The leading nin corrected for Isamu's statement.

"It's at the start of dawn. Unless Isamu failed in setting up that genjutsu properly, they should have arrived here an hour ago..they didn't fall for it."

Isamu folded his arms and frowned, "I did not screw up. So does that mean they are still heading for Tanzaku Gai?"

"Most likely. Let's get a move on then, we cannot afford to miss our chance."

"Whatever you say, you're the 'real' chuunin apparently after all."