Approximately half an hour ago the four genin along with the four members of the Nagai family exited the Village Hidden in the Leaves and set out for the Land of Candy. They walked though the peaceful forest with the gentle chirping of the birds following them throughout their walk. A gentle breeze caressed the leaves of the tall trees now and again. Naruto and Hinata walked in front of the family while Sakura and Sasuke walked behind them. Everybody was quiet. Naruto and Hinata kept their eyes on the road with an occasional glance and soft smile towards each other. Sakura and Sasuke walked in silence while she directed subtle glances towards him trying to get him to look at her in the hopes of starting a conversation with him. However, the cool Uchiha kept his eyes on the family, especially at the boy whose walk seemed to be slower and slower. Finally, the boy tugged on his father's sleeve.
"Dad, my legs are starting to hurt."
"Alright then, climb on." His father said before he kneeled down so his son could climb on his back.
"Your legs wouldn't be hurting if we had just taken the carriage." His sister added annoyed.
"Yes, they would." Amai replied quickly. "They hurt if I sit for a long time too. I need to walk when I can so my legs could get stronger."
"Whatever." Yuna rolled her eyes.
"Come on, it's such a nice day outside! Why not walk for a bit?" Naruto said cheerfully trying to cheer up the girl.
"Well, I don't like to walk! We're not cave people! We have means of transportation." Yuna crossed her arms and frowned at the blonde.
"I need to walk! You only think about yourself all the time!" Her brother argued.
"You can walk all you want when we get back home!" She blew a raspberry at him which he loudly returned.
"Now, you two! Stop it!" Umi yelled.
"I thought she was just grumpy today but it looks like she's like that all the time." Naruto whispered to Hinata.
Hinata just shrugged and smiled at him.
"You and Hanabi aren't like that, are you?" He asked.
"No." She replied. "You'd think that we would be quite spoiled but…"
He chuckled. "Hey, if anyone is spoiling you, it's me."
She giggled. "You're so silly."
After another hour of walking they came across a river surrounded by mossy rocks. Sasuke looked around and not detecting any trouble he stopped. "We should take a break here." He declared.
The other genin nodded in agreement.
"Finally!" Yuna exhaled.
Umi walked up to one of the mossy rocks and sat on it.
Yuna blinked. "Mom, there's all kinds of bugs in there! I'm not sitting on that!"
Umi just sighed while her daughter pouted.
Naruto rolled his eyes and unzipped his jacket. Taking it off, he laid it over one of the rocks. "Here, you can sit on it now."
Yuna looked at him before blushing awkwardly. "Uh… thanks…" She said rather quietly before sitting down on top of his jacket.
Amai looked at the sparkly river in awe. "Can you put me down, dad?"
"Of course." Korashi said kneeling down again. Before he even kneeled completely, Amai jumped off of his back and ran towards the river. "Woah, look! A fish!"
His parents smiled at his son's antics.
Hinata approached them. "He's been cooped up inside for a long while, hasn't he?"
"Yes." Umi replied. "That's why he wanted us to go back by foot. He missed the nature."
Naruto grinned at that and walked up next to the boy who was happily watching the fish swim by. "You want me to teach you how to catch them?"
"How? Do you have a fishing pole?" The boy asked.
"Nope. I use my hands." Naruto replied with a grin.
"You can catch them with your hands?!" Amai jumped up. "Show me! Show me!"
"Sure! Just watch this!"
While the blonde took off his backpack and sandals and got into the river, Sasuke sat on one of the rocks with his arms crossed. "What a child."
"Well, technically we are too." Sakura sat next to him. "We were just raised to be mature and emotionless unlike them."
"I guess that's true." He replied.
"Woah! You got one! You got it!" Amai's voice interrupted them.
Naruto held up the fish. "Do we release it?"
"Yeah! Fast before it's too late!" Amai replied making Naruto laugh. "Can I try now?"
Umi stepped in. "I'm afraid the water is too cold. He has weak blood circulation in his legs at the moment so it could be dangerous for him." She said to Naruto.
"Right…" Amai looked down sadly.
"No problem!" Naruto said gently grabbing the boy by the waist and placing him on a dry rock in the middle of the river. "You can catch 'em from here!"
Amai cheered happily before squatting down and observing the fish, waiting for one to swim by.
The others sat on the rocks and watched them.
"Does he play with his siblings like that too?" Yuna asked turning to Hinata. "Or are boys just that easy to entertain?"
"Oh, well… Naruto does not have any siblings…" Hinata replied.
Yuna looked at her in surprise.
"In fact… he never had any family at all…"
Yuna's eyes widened while Korashi and Umi looked at the Hyuga. "He doesn't have a mom and dad?" Yuna asked to which Hinata gave a slow nod. "Who did he grow up with then?"
"Nobody. He was all alone." Hinata looked at the blonde who was currently fiddling with a slippery leaf which Amai mistook for a fish.
"He didn't have any friends either." Sakura added. "We weren't even his friends…"
Yuna looked towards Sakura and blinked in disbelief.
"What I'm saying is… don't take your brother for granted." Sakura continued. "You might disagree at certain times but he's still your little brother and you need to be nice to each other."
Yuna nodded and looked towards Amai who held up a fish above his head. "Look! Look! I got one!" He yelled excitedly before the fish slipped out of his small hands and splashed back into the river and swam away. "Whoopsie!"
Yuna blinked before bursting out into a fit of girly laughter along with her mother.
"Maybe we should get going." Sasuke suggested hoping to put the unpleasant family talk to an end.
"Aww…" Amai pouted while Naruto carried him out of the water.
"Hey, there are usually some rabbits here and there, maybe we'll run into a few." Naruto said to the boy to hopefully cheer him up.
Amai's eyes lit up. "Bunnies!"
Naruto chuckled and turned to Yuna who was looking at him. The girl blinked awkwardly at him. "What?"
"What? You don't like bunnies?" Naruto smiled at her and raised a brow.
"I do." The girl replied quickly.
"Let's go already." Sasuke's annoyed voice interrupted them.
"Fine, fine…" Naruto waved him off.
Once they hit the road again Amai jumped about, analyzing the bushes for any trace of the little fluffy creatures while his parents looked on in amusement. Eventually, the boy got his wish and happily watched as his new furry friend hopped along a large field near a farm. They walked by the wooden fence of the farm looking around but no one seemed to be outside except for the farm animals. The group quietly walked by the farm until Sasuke turned around and noticed that a curious little chick was waddling behind him. He shooed it away but to no avail as it kept following behind him. Once his frustration got vocal the others noticed their passive teammate shooing away a little baby chicken while trying to remain his usual cool self.
Naruto watched him for a bit before a loud laugh burst out of him. "Wow, Sasuke. You really are a chick magnet! HAHAHAHAHAH!"
"Shut up, you idiot!"
The others joined in the laughter to Sasuke's dismay. Eventually, the chick saw its mom and went waddling away towards her, finally leaving the Uchiha alone.
After some time the group was walking on a narrow woodsy road by the farm. They carefully stepped through the tall trees. While Naruto was keeping watch by looking around he caught a glimpse of Sasuke's frown. "Don't tell me you're still bitter about that chicken."
Sasuke glared at the blonde who got the meaning of that glare right away. "You sense something?" He whispered.
Sasuke nodded. "I feel a strange presence near us. I felt it near that farm too."
Naruto frowned and looked at his female teammate. "Hinata."
She nodded before activating her byakugan and scanning the area. "I see a single figure at the start of this road, they seemed to be walking towards us very slowly."
"Do you think they are after us?" Sakura asked.
"I'm not sure but let's keep our guards up." Sasuke replied.
Suddenly Amai yelled. "Woah! What is that?!"
The instant his yell was heard the person Hinata detected quickly hid himself behind a tree. Hinata frowned at that before turning towards the boy.
"What happened to your eyes?" He asked.
"Oh, that's my family's doujutsu." Hinata replied bashfully.
"What's it for?"
"It allows me to see many miles away and I can see through objects and walls too." She explained.
"That is so cool! Can you teach it to me?" The boy asked eagerly.
"I'm afraid I cannot. It's specific to my family only."
"Aw, man."
Naruto laughed. "Remember when the two of us had this exact conversation?"
Hinata giggled. "Yes, I do. We had just officially become genin that day."
"Dad, my legs hurt again." Amai complained.
"Hop on then." His father said.
While the boy climbed on his back Hinata whispered to the other three genin. "The figure following us hid once they heard Amai's voice, I'm sure they are after us."
"You two go on ahead, I'll go take care of it." Sasuke declared. "Can you tell me if he got any closer?"
Hinata nodded but upon activating her byakugan she blinked in confusion. "They're gone. I do not see anyone anymore."
"That fast?" Sasuke thought.
"Well, that's odd." Naruto commented. "Let's get out of these woods, huh?"
Korashi turned towards them. "Is something wrong?"
"Oh, no! Everything is fine." Hinata quickly replied. "Let us keep going."
"Yes." Umi agreed. "Maybe we should get out of the woods before the sun goes down."
Naruto suddenly looked up at the sky. "Hey, I haven't even noticed how late it got! We better find somewhere to set up our tents soon."
"Tents?" Yuna asked in disbelief.
"Don't worry, I have sleeping bags!" Umi pointed at her backpack.
"Great." Yuna replied sarcastically.
Thankfully, they came across a perfect place to put up their tents and after some delicious dumplings Hinata brought, the Nagai family went into their tent, with a bit of protesting from Yuna. After they seemed to have fallen asleep, the genin sat in their tent. "What do you think that was about back there?" Naruto asked.
"Could be a thief." Sasuke added.
"Maybe we should keep watch outside tonight." Naruto suggested.
"What if they're hiding something?" Sasuke crossed his arms.
"The Nagais?" Sakura asked.
"Rememeber our first mission to the Land of Waves?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes, Mr. Tazuna did not tell us about the men who wanted to kill him." Hinata replied.
"You think they are hiding something like that too?" Naruto asked.
"But Mr. Tazuna did it because he could not afford to pay for a higher ranked mission." Hinata added.
"But Lady Tsunade said that this family is well off so they could definitely afford it." Sakura said.
"Plus, they have kids with them. They wouldn't risk their safety." Sasuke added.
"Yeah, maybe this guy is just some thief." Naruto concluded.
"Still, I think we should keep watch." Sakura suggested.
"I'll take the first shift." Sasuke said getting up.
"I'll take the second shift." Naruto offered.
Sasuke nodded briefly before walking out of the tent. He peeked into the other tent to insure that all four members of the family were there then he turned around to go sit on a rock… and saw a leaf on the ground… a single leaf… with no other leaves around… which was not there before. He picked it up and examined it. "There was no wind…" He looked around with his sharingan but didn't detect anything. He flicked the leaf away and sat on the rock.
Unbeknownst to him, a decent distance away from their camp a man leaned against a tree panting heavily. "Damn it… they've got ninjas with them… this is not going to be as easy as I thought…" The mysterious man said to himself before he sprinted away in an unknown direction.
Back at the camp, Sasuke pressed his head against the ground. "The footsteps are fading away… I guess we are safe for now…" He lifted himself up before he heard a slight thud behind him. He swiftly twisted around and pulled out a kunai just in time to see a branch on the tree behind him slightly shake. A large acorn on the ground seemed to be the source of the thud he heard. He scanned the tree carefully before he sat back down with the kunai still firmly gripped in his hand.
"No squirrel is heavy enough to shake that branch…"
He lifted the flap of his tent to see the other three were just about to lay down. "Hey."
"You got something?" Naruto asked.
"Sleep with one eye open tonight… we might be dealing with more than one thief…"