"Fuck, that stinks." Naruto grumbled as he loaded what had to be the last bag of tea into the storage of the wagon. Whoever had organized the transport had clearly not thought that they were going to return with one massive bag instead of six slightly less massive bags. It didn't help that the stench from the tea was so absolutely foul that it managed to transport Sasuke and Naruto onto the same wavelength.

"It's turmeric, old people's favorite flavor." Sasuke practically wretched on the end of his sentence. "All they do is drink this shit and sit around while their bones and brains rot."

It was obvious that his anger was overruling his logic, his tone practically coated in frustration and annoyance. These emotions never simmered, even as he and Naruto finally managed to lock the hatch and made their way over to Kakashi and Sakura. It was then that Sasuke and Naruto finally got a better look what they'd have to be sitting in for the next twelve hours.

"Nice ride, isn't it?" Kakashi said. While "nice" may have been a stretch, Sasuke could imagine much, much worse. From what he could see, the wagon was made up of three main parts. The first was a large wood frame, similar in design to a pallet with protruding guard rails on its sides. Just going off the obvious gaps in between the strips of wood, Sasuke guessed it couldn't have been at all heavy. Even the large wheels that were attached to its side were obviously hollowed out to lessen the strain put on the towing animals. At the head of this section sat a smooth wood grip which allowed the operator to attach further carts. Only two had been attached, one being the makeshift tea storage and the other being what was effectively the "front" of the wagon. Like the pallet strapped to the back, it had purposely been undersized to prevent the three horses towing the thing from having to slow down. In the front, sat a man with long white hair that zig zagged into separate strands down his back. Each one strangely resembled a lightning bolt.

"Who's this guy?" Naruto asked, eyeing the blank faced man from afar. He wore a long-sleeved blue shirt as well as a pair of sunglasses.

"That's Dao, he's your driver." Kakashi responded, flashing a thumbs up to the man, who must've caught it in the corner of his eye, as he immediately flashed one back. "He's a trade summoner."

"A what?" Sakura said back, not recognizing the term.

"Someone who uses summoning jutsu as a tool to get work. Obviously, Dao is proficient in working with horses, be it riding or navigation. He's also deaf and possibly mute, so it's not like he had many job options available." Kakashi answered, walking over to the back of the wagon and retrieving three sharp metal sticks that lay in it,

"What are those?" Naruto asked, everyone being somewhat confused as to why the cart had sharp metal sticks that looked like they'd be used to maneuver wood around a fire place just lying around.

"You'll be riding down near the west Konoha border, where you may encounter scale snakes."

Sakura's eyebrow raised at the mention of the animal. "I thought those were just a made-up animal that parents told their kids about to try and get them to stop crying. Aren't they attracted to sorrow or something like that?"

"Oh, there are certainly real but their sensory capabilities, and really abilities in general, have been grossly overstated. In reality, their just big snakes who can kind of sense chakra. If you do see one slithering along next to you, just give them a wack, like this- "Kakashi thrust the metal rod outwards at Sasuke so quickly, the Uchiha boy thought he may have actually been stabbed in the face for a split-second. It didn't help that even when he realized he hadn't been, Kakashi continued to hold the rod at near eyelevel for an awkwardly long amount of time.

"Can you get the stick out of my face please?" He asked, tone so rhetorical it rendered the "can you" pointless. Kakashi nevertheless complied, stowing the metal back near his own leg.

"Sorry, you just have incredibly snakelike features. It was throwing me off."

Naruto (and to a lesser extent Sakura) both laughed at this, while Sasuke just made an expression that signified that he was not particularly impressed.

"Anyway, you guys should really be going. It's going to be a long one." Kakashi's almost cheery tone didn't match the context of his words, that context being that the three genin were going to be stuck on a pallet for the next twelve hours. Following his orders, the trio hopped up over the sides of the pallet before becoming seated. The pallet was wide, with the safety sides coming up to around Naruto's abdomen if he sat cross-legged. It was also raised upwards off the ground, presumably so the aforementioned snakes couldn't slither over into it. One more feature it boasted, was the fact that, between the "big enough to lose a coin" gaps separating the planks and strange splintery material that those same planks were made up of, the pallet was really fucking uncomfortable. By the time any one of the genin could come to that realization though, it was too late, as Kakashi signed to Dao that it was time to leave which was swiftly followed by the pallet beginning to move.

Two hours had passed and the sun was hotter than they had expected it to be. Maybe it was because they'd previously been riding through a forest, so they'd been sheltered from its righteous warmth, but it was undeniable that the humidity in the air was annoying. What was even more annoying, was how it wasn't even that annoying. It was hot, obviously, but a weird a middle ground of hot that capped any emotional turmoil at just under "slightly frustrated". Of course, the existence of this cap only served to contradict itself. You couldn't get mad at how hot it was. For example, Naruto didn't even care enough about the heat to fully discard his jacket. He'd zipped it open, sure, but the heat had never been so intense as to get him fully shedding layers. It was like a fucked up genjutsu, the weather being warm enough to annoy you but not quite warm enough to make you realize what you needed to do to cool yourself down.

Sakura let out a loud groan as she leaned back against the side of the pallet, only to sit back up again as she realized leaning against heated wood in humid weather wasn't a good idea. Conversation had been slow since they hit the one-hour mark, which was to be expected. Sakura was the spitting definition of socially awkward when she was around people her age, and she was the most communally-aware out of the three of them by a country mile. Naruto only added to conversations that involved him, never starting them (something she'd noticed him do since his second year in the academy) and she was pretty sure, if she tried really hard, she could get a decent guess of the exact number of words Sasuke had said since they had left Konoha.

In a frantic search for something to talk about, she finally rested on Naruto's tapping. His finger continually tapped against the side of the pallet, though it was not without reason. Due to the hollowness of the transport, even the smallest tap was equaled with a sound, which Naruto used to create a rhythm. The quickness of his tapping made Sakura realize that there was no way he was just going off the cuff.

"You like music Naruto?" She asked, knowing the answer before he even spoke due to the smile that broke out on his face.

"Yeah. My- "He paused for a second, correcting what he was going to say. Both Sasuke and Sakura couldn't help but find it suspicious, though the latter was more focused on trying to get some discussion out of him to pay it any mind. "-I have some old records at my place. I haven't listened to a ton of them but sometimes I'll put one on, ya know?"

What Naruto neglected to mention, was the fact that he didn't listen to the frankly massive collection of records he had because he'd once broken one by placing it down on the record player and had been living in fear ever since. This wasn't that uncommon, records in the shinobi world were made out of wood and covered with tactically drawn carvings. When the player needle scrapped over these carvings, sound would be uprooted. However, shinobi record players were a lot of things, precise being not one of them, which lead to constant scraping, cracking or other times just full on dismantling. Suffice to say, "home music" was a niche, and Sakura found it interesting that Naruto would have any.

"Can you sing?" Sakura joked, only to get a half-serious response.

"A bit." Naruto laughed back.

"Sing a song then"

Naruto's lips and eyes shifted to the left, as the Uzumaki boy began to try and remember a song that he could sing with any degree of competency. There was a small amount of silence before his facial features switched back into his usual grin.

"Okay." He tapped against the wood a few times to get himself into rhythm, giggles indicating that he wasn't taking this at all seriously (which was for the best). Then he launched into song. "I'm on this road…it's the fastest road I've ever known. Snow's falling, trees grow through though. I guess it's just another spring in Kumo"

It was a good thing that Naruto became a ninja and not a singer. That was one of the main takeaways Sasuke had as he listened to the other boy's voice crack like a vase being tossed off the Hokage tower. The other realization was something much larger. While Sakura just kind of laughed at the sheer act of Naruto singing, Sasuke actually took the time to listen to exactly what he was saying. Kumo was short for Kumogakure which was the capital city of the land of lightning. The leaf had an awful relationship with them, only second to the mist in "countries most villagers would sick a tailed beast on if they had a chance" and even that mist hatred could be chalked up to recency bias unlike the hatred of the lightning. No big-name musician would dare play a song that praised Kumo in any capacity (certainly not the one displayed in Naruto's lyrics) and no small name musician would be put onto a record. This left two options:

1- Naruto had heard the song at a live show, in either a music venue (hard to find) or a bar that he snuck into.

2- Naruto had a Kumo record in his apparently vast collection.

One was unlikely, as Naruto was far too uncultured to actively seek out music and two just opened up more questions. There was no doubt in Sasukes mind that Naruto thought Kumo was made up just for this song. In the academy, he'd observed Naruto label the five great shinobi countries completely randomly (except for the fire) before getting frustrated and leaving it to his partner. Why on earth would he have this record? Wait, why would he have any records at all?

"What's with the face Sasuke? Are you jealous of how good my signing is?" The piercing sound of Naruto's voice derailed his train of thought completely.

"I'm the exact opposite of jealous of your signing." You could tell it took a couple seconds for Naruto to grasp what had just been said, as his smug grin stayed on his face for way too long after he'd just been insulted. As soon as it clicked, however, it practically melted in the place of a pout.

"Let's see you sing then!"

"Yeah, Sasuke, sing." Sakura managed to join in before letting out a laugh at the sight of Sasuke signing with any amount of emotion.

"No." Sasuke slipped up with his response. His distaste for the idea became a little bit too clear, to the point that even Naruto could pick up on it. It wasn't everyday that he found something exploitable to tease Sasuke with, so to not pursue this further would be, in Naruto's mind, a wasted opportunity. He leaned in towards Sasuke, ill-intentioned grin on his face.

"Come on dude, we'll do a duet. It'll be fun"

"Nope."

"Sing, I'm on this road- "

"I'm not on this road- "

"No, I'm on this road- "

"I'm not going to sing."

"Yeah yeah…look, he wants to sing." Naruto pointed a finger at Sasukes face.

"No, I don't."

"He does."

"I really don't."

"Look at him, look at him!"

"I don't want to sing."

"C'mon, I'm on this- "

"Shut the fuck up, Naruto! I don't want to sing your stupid fucking song!" Sasuke finally grew tired of the other boy's insistence, delivering his words with a venomous tone. In response, Naruto just leaned back against the wood, crossing his arms and looking to the side. Usually when Sasuke insulted him, he'd either become comically angry or just laugh it off. This time he did neither.

"Fine." The situation's playfully light air had been sapped in a matter of seconds, much to Sakuras dismay. She looked over at Sasuke, who's face had dropped ever so slightly in actually seeing Naruto legit pissed off. This drop was very quickly nullified into an indignant glare as soon as he saw Sakura staring back at him. Sakura wasn't willing to drop this one though, eyes beading up in a stern look back. They had ten hours left, she was not going to spend those ten hours with the two of them taking jabs at each other. She also maybe, sorta, kinda, liked her two friends being friends as well. Her and Sasuke glares collided with each other. It was a tense battle, neither side wanting to give up. Sakura had objectively correct righteousness on her side, but Sasuke had something even more powerful, and that was attempted prevention of self-embarrassment. After probably ten seconds of what was basically a serious staring contest, Sasuke sighed and looked to the ground, admitting defeat.

"Naruto, I'm sorry I didn't want to sing your stupid fucking song. It's really hot and I don't feel like keeping a tune."

The Uzumaki's face turned from angry to happy so quickly, Sakura had to ask herself if he had actually been angry in the first place.

"It's okay, I get it." Naruto said with a small smile. "It's hard because your singings not as good as mine, so you'll know you'll get overshadowed."

"That's not true." Sasuke suddenly felt the anger that had immediately bubbled up again. In an attempt to send it back down, he changed the subject. "Ah, was there really no one else the third could get to do this?"

This question was mostly brought on by the sly heat that had gradually been creeping up Sasukes neck. He looked over the side of the pallet, past Dao's compartment in hopes of finding some forest or even just a few trees up ahead. If there were any coming up, they were still a while away as anything up ahead was all grasslands. Spruce, barren, dry grasslands.

"Ah, I know." Sakura groaned. "He's the worst Hokage."

Sasuke turned to her with a teasing look. "Careful, you're about a step away from treason."

"Shut up." She joked back with a laugh.

"Yeah. Everyone knows the Fourth's the worst Hokage." Naruto added, his statement being so bizarre yet so serious. When an annual survey was done, Minato Namikaze consistently held a strong 78% approval rating post-death with a strong 83% at the peak of his reign. The only Hokage with a higher approval rating was Hashirama Senju, the first, with an unbelievable 97% (though it could be argued that this rating was high because of a mix of the lite-propaganda that was shown to more recent generations and blind nostalgia from the older ones). With all this in mind, Naruto just dropping what he said like it was fact threw both of his teammates through a loop (especially since Tobirama had been made the sacrificial symbol of Konoha's collective failings, so there literally couldn't have been a more obvious choice.)

"Are you serious?" Sasuke said, even his monotone being infected with a small burst of laughter. Naruto didn't share his humor.

"I'm a billion percent serious."

"Why? Everyone likes the Fourth" Sakura said, confused. Naruto looked at her like she was the dumbest person in the whole world.

"Uhhhh, no. The fourth is a loser and an idiot, and, like, a total moron who probably didn't even know what math's was which means he probably couldn't even run the country and someone else did it for him because he was such an idiot and couldn't even read!"

Naruto shouted back; way too loud for the situation at hand. If the driver hadn't been deaf, Sakura and Sasuke would've tried to shoosh him.

"Under the Fourth we had the strongest economy in the five nations though. I don't think he ever did anything that bad." Sakura responded, correctly pointing out how dumb Naruto's ad-hominin attacks were.

"Two words. Nine-Tailed Fox!" Naruto shot back.

"That's three words." Sasuke corrected.

"No, 'cause the hyphen in the middle."

"It's still three words."

"It is. And also, he sealed the nine-tails, who do you think could have done any better in that situation?" Sakura asked him.

"Old man third would've kicked the nine-tails ass before it could even kill anyone!" Naruto barked back at her, completely illogically. It was so dumb that it gave Sakura pause as she tried to wrap her head around what he said. Surely, he didn't mean it, surely, she'd misheard it. After around five seconds of pure befuddlement, Sasuke (who was equally as shocked but slightly more coherent) took the words right out of her mouth.

"The Third fought the nine-tails. He was there"

Naruto's eyes widened as he realized how dumb what he just said was, as well as how it completely contradicted himself by implying value in whoever dealt with the nine-tails better made them the greater Hokage. The next few words came out in short but deafening breaks of speech.

"No…I meant…I meant…. I meant Old Man Third in his prime, so Young Man Third." Any other person would've rolled over with their argument defeated but Naruto immediately sprung to attack. "And don't say The Fourth doesn't suck, because it's objectively true that he sucks, and he's an idiot so don't even…let's talk about something else now dattebayo!"

Naruto ended his rant with what could only be described as the most aggressive conversation changer ever.

"Okay." Sakura said, still dumbfounded by Naruto's massive yet seemingly unfounded hatred for the Fourth Hokage. With the sheer rage the boy was putting out, you could have sworn The Fourth destroyed his house and killed his dog or something to that extent but Naruto's gripes against him consisted entirely of "he couldn't read (citation needed)" and "he didn't beat the nine-tails in one move"

She looked at him with a questioning glance.

The sun had begun to fade a few hours later. Blue skys had been replaced with orange sunbaths, as the blank night began its approach. Naruto thought it was beautiful, or it would've been if the universe had decided that the three of them now deserved some forest for their troubles. It wasn't nearly as pretty as it could've been had they been in the grasslands, but looking up at the slowly fading sunset through the trees wasn't the worst. Each genin was lying on their back, every so often shifting to their side due to the unrest that was caused by the gaps.

"Nice sunset." Sakura idly said, as the rays of light bounced through the treetops.

"It's like the night is eating the daytime." Naruto observed. He wasn't wrong, the sky was almost completely dark but still illuminated by the light beyond the horizon line. "How many hours until we get there?"

"Probably around three." Sasuke replied, his response earning a loud groan from the other boy.

"I'm gonna go to sleep." Naruto said, earning a bizarre look from both of the other teens.

"What time do you normally go to sleep?" Sakura asked him.

"Eleven-ish."

"Oh yeah, I got to bed at that time as well." Sakura said, blatantly lying through her teeth as Inner-Sakura sniggered at her.

"Naruto, it's probably six thirty at max, if you go to bed now it'll kill your sleep schedule." Sasuke correctly pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah! Wake me up when we get there." Naruto completely sandbagged the advice, flopping over to his side and mushing his face against the nearest pallet-wall. He wouldn't even notice the three hours flying by.

He did notice them. Not only did he notice them, he unintentionally forced everyone else to as well. At around thirty minutes, Naruto had received a splinter in his forehead and had begun working tirelessly to try and dig it out. Neither Sakura or Sasuke were all too pleased at having to share their room with a person who was trying to rip a splinter out of his head, so they tried to convince Dao to let them off at the nearest stream so they could try and rinse it out of his head. Dao had pretended not to understand them, which lead to Naruto attempting to forcibly claw the splinter out of his head, which then lead to bleeding. Seeing the blood rushing down the boy's head, Dao had immediately agreed to pull over at the next stream. Twenty minutes passed before they were close to another one, ten minutes quickly being added on as Sakura and Sasuke both tried to wash the splinter out (Naruto almost falling into the river in the process).

All in all, their pit stop served to intensify the pain that it felt as Dao rode down the unbeaten path. If there was thirty minutes until they reached the old woman's house, they'd be annoyed because if Naruto hadn't decided nap time was a prerogative, they'd only be twenty minutes away. If they were twenty minutes away, the same thing would happen. It should be said though, maybe the agony of delay made Sakura touching down against the soil for the first time in six hours all the more exhilarating (Not that she could enjoy it, as Naruto and Sasuke wasted no time in telling her she was taking too long in delivering the tea to the doorstep.) The woman's cottage was nice and quaint. It was white and strangely orb shaped, surrounded by fencing. Just from looking at it, Sakura guessed it couldn't have held more than four or five rooms. Trees lined up besides the house, leaves tipped with a strange purple coloration that Sakura hadn't seen before, even in picture books. Every few seconds, a faint breeze would run through the area, scattering the purple leaves out like cherry blossoms.

With some help from Naruto and Sasuke, she dragged the tea bags over to the doorstep, blades of grass crunching beneath her sandals. Doorbells in the shinobi world were incredibly primitive, being a small, bell-connected string that stuck out of the door. It would ring the aforementioned bell when pulled, alerting the home owner to the team's presence. Sakura did as so, pulling the surprisingly ungiving string forward and then releasing it. small thump was heard, Sakura quickly shooing Naruto and Sasuke back to the cart as the old woman's footsteps echoed through the halls. After a couple of seconds, the door swung open.

The old lady was shorter than Sakura expected. Being no giant herself, Sakura easily towered over her to the point where she could probably knock her over with a slight slip of her hand. She had fogged up glasses and white hair that stuck upwards in a thick bob that somewhat slumped down over her forehead. Her face was old and wrinkled, though not as much as you would expect considering her age,

"Hello?"

"Hello!" Sakura smiled back, sweetly. "I'm Sakura Haruno, a kunoichi from the hidden leaf. I'm hear to deliver your tea."

The old woman smiled back.

"Thank you so much dear. I have to admit I was running a bit thin over last few days." She walked past Sakura, so short that each step she took would be equivalent to a tip-toe from the genin. Her seasoned eyes glanced over the tea bags, offering a gentle hand up to the fabric. She turned back to Sakura with a smile.

"So you're a kunoichi?"

"Yes ma'am. I started about a month ago."

"Good girl. Those your teammates over there?" She motioned to the cart that held Naruto and Sasuke, the former awkwardly taking her small gesture as a sign to wave as hard as possible.

"Yep."

"They look like a couple of idiots." The old lady said back, smile indicating that this was nothing more than banter. Sakura quickly reciprocated the same tone, though her gaze was marred with an obvious positivity as she looked back at them.

"Yeah, they are."

Another breeze blew by, sending Sakura's hair flapping in the wind. The old lady turned to her in time with it.

"You wanna come in for a drink?"

Sakura's smile drooped a bit, despite the fact that she normally would've taken the offer. The old lady seemed extremely sweet, but she didn't want to impose on this woman's time. She also really wanted to go home and go to bed.

"Ma'am, you don't have to-"

"No, no, you drove six hours to get here, you're gonna drive six hours back. Why not have a drink huh?"

Sakura stood there for a second, looking at the woman before looking back at Naruto and Sasuke. Upon seeing that the pair was more than occupied playing what looked like a bizarre frankenstined combination of rock, paper, scissors and just punching each other, Sakura realized that she could take a drink break.

"Yeah, okay."

"Great! I've got some stories to tell you cause being a kunoichi is tough work! I'll say that- "The woman's face suddenly dropped. There was no discernable reason at first. She had walked past the tea bags, and her face had gone from happy to unhappy in a split-second. The shift was so sudden that it took Sakura around ten seconds to, one, realize she'd stopped moving on purpose and second, become disgusted.

"Is something wrong?" Sakura asked, walking forwards to get a better view of the woman. It was a bad sign when her expression turned from disgusted to one that was the absolute encapsulation of "sorry."

"This tea has turmeric in it." The lady said, as if that for some reason explained anything. Sakura stared back at her, clearly displaying that she didn't grasp why the appearance of turmeric was apparently of any relevance. Reading her expression, the lady went on. "I am completely allergic to anything to do with ginger. If I even have one cup of that, my lights are going off."

That was when it clicked in Sakura's mind just what was going to happen over the next eighteen hours. Try as she might, she couldn't defy the inevitability of destiny.

"Are you sure? What have you been drinking the last billion years?" Her voice was almost screeching, cool certifiably blown now that she grasped the reality of the goose-chase she'd been sent on.

"Not turmeric, that's for sure."

The information was laid bare for Sakura's mind. This old woman had been expecting lighter tea, there had been a mix-up at the pharmacist and they ended up giving her strong tea. Tea that was strong enough to kill her because of her weakened digestive system.

"…Can you just drink it anyway?"

The answer was a no, a very solid no. The wheels of the wagon creaked under layers of dirt and rocks as it rode through the moonlight. Sakura had curled up into a ball as she realized that there was no doubt that they'd send them back once they got the right batch while Sasuke cursed the clerks under his breath, simultaneously looking to the side where Naruto was locked in a dead heat argument with an actual deaf person. This day had definitely been a hot streak for him, with this altercation coming off the heels of him berating an eleven-year old.

"Fuck you! I don't have any money asshole!" Naruto had long forgone signing, in favor of attempting to yell loud enough to reactivate the Daos hearing. The man was currently demanding that if they were going to do another return trip to-and-from the ladies' cottage. Realizing Naruto was obviously yelling something, Dao stirred the flames by continually holding his hand over his ear in a "I can't hear you motion", getting more and more of a rection out of Naruto.

"Hey! You can hear me; you know what I'm fucking saying asshole!" Naruto continued to yell until the sight of Dao holding his hand out shoved him to breaking point. In an attempt to sign something along the lines of "just get going huh?", Naruto hands flurried around quite ridiculously, as if he'd been possessed by something otherworldly, to the point where he nearly smacked Dao across the face. In response, the man meekly attempted to shove Naruto backwards, succeeding in halting the boys flailing but not his anger. It continued to sizzle within him, even as he sat back down in a huff.

"How much longer Sasuke?" Naruto asked to the designated-GPS. Sasuke had gained a simple but somewhat effective grasp of the correlation between the scenery and the time left before they reached Konoha.

"What's coming up?"

Naruto half-heartedly shuffled to the side of the cart, moping over the vicinity. He looked over for a miniscule amount of time before turning back to Sasuke.

"I can't see." He replied.

Sasuke clutched his hands together and began to weave through signs before finally unleashing a large pillar of fire up into the air. The light from the flames acted as an improvised lantern, an orange tint illuminating the area with renewed visibility.

"Thanks." Naruto said, tone surprisingly reserved when considering his friend had just shot a fireball up in the air. He once again looked over the side, moving quickly this time. The fireball had helped but it wasn't going to last forever, even now it's retracting reach was causing Naruto to have to squint.

"I see…a few trees, then after that there's no trees. There're flowers sticking up from the ground, white ones."

"Snake." Sakura interrupted him with a panicked tone.

"Nope, I don't see any." Naruto responded absent mindedly.

"Naruto! Get out of the way!" Sasuke yelled, the gravitas of his voice running up Naruto's spine and sending his eyes darting to the side. His body moved before his mind could properly react to what was in front of it, a subconscious twitch telling him to move backwards. Whatever that twitch was, it saved his life, as a large, almost dragon-headed snake chomped down against the wood wall.

"Oh fuck!" Now his brain kicked in. The snake was big. Not human-size or anything, but Naruto knew snakes shouldn't be that big. Small, scaled spikes stood out on its head as it dangled from the wood, pointing backwards at an acute angle. The resemblance was something crossed between a snake, a dragon and a demon, it's reptilian features only being amplified as it hung onto the cart with its mouth.

"Get it off!" Suddenly, its beady yellow eyes snapped shut as a metal stick slammed against its face. Sakura, who was obviously the most fearful out of them all, had not hesitated in grabbing her weapon and beating on the creature. Initially shocked at seeing the girl smacking the animal with an attempt to at the very least maim it, Naruto and Sasuke quickly grabbed their own sticks and began to rough up the creature.

Bam!

Bam!

Bam!

It felt like hours until the snake decided to cut its losses and just let go of its grip on the pallet. Even the slightly sick thrill of hitting an opponent with an attack begun to subside as the attack's uselessness became obvious quickly. The snake just sat there, eating every swing of the rods until finally, Naruto was able to pry its grip lose by sliding the baton into the gap between the Snake's teeth and the wood. Upon its primitive brain realizing that it would most likely fall into the path of the wheel and die if Naruto's overthrow attempt was successful, the snake dropped back onto the ground and scurried backwards away from the genin. Sakura and Sasuke immediately felt their energy levels spike downwards as the adrenaline in their systems evaporated. Naruto just stood up triumphant, leering at the snake.

"Yeah, you better run!"

The snake didn't even have ears.

"The hell do you three want?" The brown-haired lady and Dason had apparently been working a long shift, as they were both still bickering at the counter when Team Seven emerged into the halls of the pharmacy. Sakura and Sasuke looked like they'd just been through a warzone while Naruto couldn't help but keep one of his eyes fixated on the small, fluffy pink toy from earlier.

"You gave us the wrong tea." Sasuke said simply, glaring at her with pure venom in his eyes. All words and emotions were temporarily sucked out of the room, until Dason began clutching at his stomach like he was going through sickness. What he was feeling was anything but though, as loud laughter began to flow from his mouth like lava to a volcano.

"Hahaha…HAHAHAHAHAHAH! I fucking told you! 2845 is turmeric. 2854 is hibiscus!" He berated the lady to his left, who jumped from embarrassed to self-justifying in less than a second.

"Shut the fuck up you revisionist piece of shit. You didn't know!"

"I did so. Just didn't want to say anything so you ended up looking like a dumbass."

"That makes you compliant!"

"And it makes you a dumbass."

"Then go get the 28532555-whatever jackass, since you're apparently a tea connoisseur."

"I'd hope I would be; eighty percent of my job is pouring out the thing after you fuck it up." He smugly shot back as he walked into the back room.

"Yeah, yeah!" The lady was thoroughly depleted of any insults she could throw out to disguise the fact that this was undoubtedly her fault. She leaned against the countertop, positioning her elbow in a way that specifically made it so that she didn't have to look at Team Seven. They were fine with it, as the tea was now the least of their problems. Out of all the issues they had, the main one was that they now had a deaf man waiting outside who wasn't going to let them complete the mission unless they payed him. They could've just told him to fuck off, and told the Hokage what had happened, but Sasuke had rightfully have pointed out that no matter what they did, there was a high chance that this mission would be considered a technical failure. It didn't matter the context, having a low-rank mission like this be a technical failure would be an absolute resume-ruiner.

They needed money.

Kakashi let out a loud groan of pleasure as he settled into the bath. One dry hand was on a book, one wet hand was wrapped around a glass of sparkling red wine. Steam drifted up from the blissfully warm water, warping through the foamy bubbles that lay just over the surface and into the man's mask. Early-on in his discovery that bathing was more than just sitting in still water and washing your hair, Kakashi had recognized that he could use his face mask as a steam vent to exfoliate the pores of his face. He was winding the day down as he should be, relaxing in a nice, hot bath. No genin, no missions, just him, a good icha-icha novel and a glass of fine wine. The scent of the bubbles radiated around the room, bouncing from wall to wall and intensifying the smell. It was a special bubble bath marketed for "adults", so instead of kids scents like strawberry or grape, this one smelt like fresh autumn leaves flowing in at the end of a wet, windy day. (Admittedly, it wasn't that far off from what their brand of strawberry smelt like.)

"Kakashi!"

A voice rung out, too light for him to make out the gender. He clutched the book a slight bit harder. Sometimes, when he was alone, those voices had a tendency to crawl back into his head but after all these years, he'd learnt to block it out for the most part. Just focus on the page…

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!"

Wait, was that Naruto? Sure as hell sounded like him if it wasn't. Kakashi looked up at what he could of the houses front from the bathroom doorway. If it was Naruto, he didn't know if he wanted to answer. He had his bath, he had his wine, he was tired. Hearing the Uzumaki's voice bellowing through his house was probably one of the things he least wanted to listen to at this moment in time.

"I don't think he's in there." Wait, that was definitely Sakura's voice, which meant Sasuke was presumably there as well. What the hell did they all want at this hour?

"Who else could we ask if he's not?" There was the confirmation of the Uchiha's presence.

"Maybe Iruka-sensei." Naruto said

"He's an academy teacher Naruto, I don't think he's financially stable enough to shill out Daos fee."

"Well, then Kakashi-senseis our only hope."

A small silence began.

"Let's break his window."

Kakashi scampered out of the bath fast enough to cause a tsunami.

Five hours down, seven to go until they could sleep easy, at least according to Sasuke's time-keeping. They couldn't rest easy in the pallet itself, lest another scale snake try to hop in and kill them (so much for the raised protection) so they were forced to just try and wait it out for the time being. Even with borderline insomniacs Naruto and Sasuke, a collective feeling of fatigue was still being felt around all three of them. Heavy sleep bags sat under there eyes, every limb being just a step away from going limp. The night sky was in full-swing at this point, high up moonlight bleeding down to the ground.

"We should sleep in cycles." Sasuke suddenly said, visibly having to work to keep his eyes open. "Two hour and a quarter hour each, the other two stay up and watch for snakes."

"That's a good idea. One of us will have to go a super long stretch without sleep though." Sakura said.

"Me and Sasuke'll rock paper scissors for it later. You can go first Sakura." Naruto commented. The girl was initially opposed to the idea, attempting to protest.

"No, that's okay."

"Seriously Sakura, you look like you're going to straight up drop dead at any second." Sasuke added on to Naruto's point. While she wasn't a heavy-sleeper by any stretch of the imagination, it would be a lot easier for one of the other two to bear the load of complete exhaustion. With that in mind, Sakura chose to nod instead of object any further, curling up sideways and resting along the side of the pallet. She closed her eyes, trying to let the wave of sleep wash her to a resting place.

Thump!

Okay, maybe that was going to be difficult. The wagon would constantly run over rocks and things of the like, sending large, earthquake-like ripples through the back compartment. Sakura doubted she was ever going to get to sleep if she had to deal with the constant feeling of her head being thrown up slightly before bashing against the wood.

"Hey, can you guys talk to me for a bit?" She said, rubbing her eyes as she spoke.

"Aren't you meant to go to sleep?" Sasuke responded, confused by her request.

"I always sleep better with white noise." This definitely made sense, and it wasn't like Naruto and Sasuke had anything better to do.

"Yeah sure. What do you want to talk about?" Naruto asked, brushing at the whiskers of his face. Sakura took a few seconds to think of a reply before her eyes opened wider.

"Let's play a game. We each go around and tell the others one secret about ourselves."

Naruto and Sasukes response came instantaneously, and perfectly in-synch.

"Not it."

Sakura's face, in turn, temporarily twisted into one of anger.

"Come on!"

"Sorry Sakura, you suggested it so you should go first." Naruto pointed out, to which Sakura didn't even bother to refute. She was going to talk eventually, so she may as well go first anyway.

"Okay. But you guys can't laugh!" She pointed a stern finger back at the pair, who both nodded. With ground rules laid out, she decided to just rip the band-aid off and say her secret as fast as she could. "Sometimes, when it's cold, I sleep with a plush animal. "

Naruto instinctively snorted, though he was so quick to apologize that Sakura didn't even have time to tell him off.

"Sorry."

Despite his obviously sincere act of contrition, Sakura still curled her lips up into a pout. Embarrassment began to run down her face, until, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Sasuke staring back at her with a look of slight curiosity.

"What type of animal is it?"

It took a few seconds for Sakura to realize what he'd said. Her pout faded into a smile.

"It's a little, white bunny rabbit. She's called Kanna."

"That's nice."

Sakura hadn't ever seen Sasuke smile as sincerely as he did then. When he had smiled, it was usually either dim or tainted with the slight cruelness that came at him laughing at whatever dumb antic Naruto had just gotten himself into. For once, she could say she had a solid picture in her head as to what Sauske's real smile looked like.

"Okay, Naruto, you're next."

"What?! That's not fair, what about Sasuke?!" He complained

"You're going to have to talk eventually anyway, just do it now." Sakura replied, vocalizing her own line of thinking. It wasn't like Naruto had anyway to counter it, so he quickly shut up and began to think. He sat there for probably half a minute; eyes pointed upwards as he racked through his brain for a "secret".

"I don't have one." He finally said, much to both Sasuke and Sakura's chagrin.

"Boo! That's a cop-out." Sakura replied, mouth once again folding into a pout.

"No it's not. I'm just, like, super transparent that's all." Naruto argued back, clearly not doing so in good-faith.

"There's no way you don't have one secret, Naruto." Sasuke added.

"Fine. My real name isn't even Naruto. It's short for…Narutother."

"That's a lie." Sasuke responded quickly, choosing not to believe that Naruto's parents were apparently sadistic fucks who would name their child "Narutother" (as well as realizing if that was his real name, it would've been mentioned by a teacher once at the very least) "Tell a real one, or admit you're too much of a baby to tell us a secret."

This, Sasuke had found, was a surefire way to get Naruto fuming as long as you didn't overuse it. Maybe its effects had something to do with how badly he wanted to be Hokage and that by calling him literally the furthest thing from it, you set him off. Or maybe it was because Naruto was a thirteen-year-old, and thirteen-year olds didn't like to be called babies. Either way, it sent him into a huff.

"Oh yeah? Here's a real one for ya'- "Naruto began with angered facial features, only for them to soften up as he stopped himself. "-You two have to promise not to tell anyone, okay? Not even Kakashi-sensei."

Both Sasuke and Sakura nodded their heads.

"…My dad was the Fourth Hokage." He blurted out.

Sakura's eyes went wide at the statement. Sasuke's became slim with judgment.

"Bullshit. Is it because your both blond?" Sasuke immediately said, only for his words to apparently aggravate Naruto instead of cause him to back down from the lie.

"Shut the fuck up." Naruto growled back spitefully, only to quickly realize he needed to compose himself to make it seem like he wasn't bullshiting. Considering he'd just claimed one of the most beloved world leaders in Shinobi history was his father, evidence was definitely required. "It's true, Old Man Third told me. I've got a picture of him with me as a baby and he's holding me up and shit."

This wasn't quite enough to fully convince Sasuke, though, as it wasn't like Naruto had the picture with him to prove it. In seven hours, they all would have probably have forgotten about it, so it was probably a good idea to pursue the possible lie now.

"Why wouldn't you tell everyone this?" This wasn't at all a bad question when taking into account Naruto's personality, as well as the fact that he never had many friends in the Academy. The thought that Naruto would've brought it up to try and score some cool points with the other kids wasn't that far out of the realm of possibility in Sasuke's mind. However, Naruto's face became almost hurt at the question, to the point where Sasuke couldn't help but feel a little guilty for asking it.

"I told a group of kids one time and they…" He paused for a second. "Beat the shit out of me for being "disrespectful", which is dumb because it's true so it can't even be-"

Sasuke completely slowed his interrogative tone as he heard Naruto's tone begin to get softer and softer. The Uzumaki boy trailed off from speaking entirely, crossing his arms and looking over at the nearby scenery. His friends sat there in silence, regretting trying to pry an answer out from him at all.

"I'm sorry Naruto." Sakura said, guilt running down her back despite her not even really pressuring him into anything.

"It's okay, he's just a deadbeat. All he ever cared about was himself, I'm glad he's fucking dead so I don't have to live with him."

Silence overtook the landscape, the only recognizable sounds being the howling of the wind and the occasional sound of crickets chirping. The three of them sat there for a while, not a word being spoken. That was, until, a small, soft string of noise began to ring out. It was barely above a whisper, so low in tone that even a person a running along next to the cart wouldn't be able to hear it. It was from Sasuke.

"I'm on the road again- "He sung, drawing both Naruto and Sakura's gazes on to him. "it's the fastest road I've ever known."

Naruto couldn't help but smile. Well, maybe a little more than smile. Realizing he needed to act quick to successfully harmonize with the only other part of the song Sasuke probably knew, he began to sing along, even if his voice still rung a bit more hollow than usual.

"Snow's falling, trees grow through though. I guess it's just another spring in Kumo" The two sung together, forming what could be, in only the most technical sense of the word, described as a harmony. They continued through the rest of the song, Sasuke speaking every word one second after Naruto as he didn't know the song. It created a strange, awful-sounding mish-mash of words, but despite this, Naruto unmistakably perked up throughout the performance, solemn smile becoming brighter and brighter on every line. Before Sakura even realized it, she was falling asleep. This shitty, out-of-tune, barley coherent song was lulling her to sleep. She would've laughed if she wasn't already out by the time she realized it.