The moon hung over the trees. By then, Kakashi's team had made it to the Crossing Point, the 5 mile junction between the more hospitable Outer Forest and the wild, man-eating Inner Forest. This was around the area where Ron first remembered to encounter the Acromantulas, and he was not happy.

He kept looking frantically, for any trace of a hairy leg or multiple eyes shining out through the darkness. Fortunately for his state of mind, there were none to be seen just yet. This did not console him much since he knew they were out there and in justifiable paranoia his knees where knocking.

Kakashi smirked behind his mask as he studied the Weasley boy's face. Oh, he'd paled when he told them curtly (and happily) that they'd be camping right here of all places.

Harry had linked in recognition, he wasn't exactly happy either, but he had the guard and he wasn't as terrified as Ron was. Rather, he clutched at the kunai he had received earlier that day.

Hermione gazed at her two classmates with fondness in her eyes as the others began to set up camp. Again the dogs were paired up with them as Wolf called out names for guard duty. This time Hermione got a huge bulldog, Harry got a large, shaggy hound with shades perched on its nose and Ron got…Ron got a pug…a small, brown, entirely cuddly pug.

"Alright, Harry first up for guard duty, then Hermione, then Ron and then me. Ron will take over the last shift before I take over again. After you've made your tents, I'd suggest you look into your survival kit for the weapons your teacher has hidden." Kakashi rummaged in his own pack and took out a kunai.

"This is a kunai; basically it can be used as a dagger. You can slash things with it or throw it at opponents, and beware of the edge, its razor sharp and novices like you often cut yourselves on the edge between handle and loop. I suggest practicing holding it right now, and later practice throwing them to get a better aim. Also, I will teach you this…"

Kakashi put away the kunai and slowly formed the seals in front of them before saying the Jutsu, intentionally keeping the required chakra low for a demonstration. He faced somewhere in the clearing where he wouldn't burn anything vital.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

Inhaling deeply, Kakashi held his fingers up to his lips and blew. A glowing, hand-sized ball of flame appeared, and Kakashi watched the trio's faces in the orange glow.

Hermione was wide-eyed in wonder, Ron was stunned like a dead fish as he gaped and pointed at him with a finger.

"That's wandless magic, that is! How'd you do that?" He cried out, while Harry eyes were intent with fascination upon the flame that had been produced. Kakashi lowered his hand as the flame died.

"The hand seals I did a while ago correspond to the wand movements that you learn in class." Kakashi began. "I merely focus and direct my magic through them while visualizing the effect that I want. The flame corresponds to the amount of concentration and magic I pour into the seals. You may want to practice this for a while before some of you go to bed."

Kakashi paused and then continued. "You use this…magic to call me or as a combat spell, but be aware that you must get the hand seals completely right as well as the amount of magic, and focus on saying the word 'Katon' well. The rest of it you can memorize but you don't have to practice it over and over again as long as you keep in mind of the end result of what you want the spell to do. Should you be unable to perform the spell, don't worry about it too much, just send up red or green sparks with your wand, I'll come as soon as I can."

"I am teaching you this because should you find yourself in a situation without your wand, it would be best for you to have an alternative means on defending yourself. This spell can produce fireballs as large as you want or have the magic to produce. All you need is knowledge and the proper hand seals."

Hermione raised her hand, an instinct gained from years of school. "Question, what are the hand seals?"

Kakashi raised his arms. "You'll have to copy these hand movements, and keep repeating them until you can do it fast. When you get them to a decent speed, concentrate and push your magic through them and then say 'Katon'."

Kakashi performed the hand seals, saying the names in turn.

"Serpent, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger."

Ron blinked and yelled out. "That doesn't look like a tiger at all, or a horse or a tiger or a ram! It looks like you're making odd shapes with your hands!"

Kakashi blinked and then shrugged. "These are 'weird' hand seals that will help me do THIS!" At the last word, Kakashi inhaled, raised his hand to his lips and blew.

Hard.

A huge fireball appeared, scorching the ground and reducing a nearby tree to ashes. Ron was excited and he ogled the damage made by the Jutsu. Harry however had other ideas.

"How can you do that through a mask?"

Kakashi crossed his arms. "It doesn't matter if your breath actually touching anything. What matters is that you focus where exactly the magic's going to come through. I can do this through a mask, a cloak or anything remotely thin. It doesn't matter if I'm soaking wet. As long as I'm focused I can make fire."

Harry blinked. "Ah, but why are you teaching us?"

"Because you're going to need to defend yourself." Kakashi answered cryptically. He then turned the youngsters loose after showing them the hand seals three times.

After a while, only Harry had gotten a small curl of fire out of his mouth. Hermione had gotten the seals right, but she couldn't quite grasp how to push the chakra out of her lungs. Ron, on the other hand, had gotten one seal incorrect and the result had slightly singed his eyebrows off.

After that, Kakashi sent the two of them to bed. Harry went first for guard duty. Kakashi himself bed down some distance away from them and went into a light doze. He trusted his Nin-dogs enough. They were currently patrolling a short distance away. Should anything occur, a simple howl from one of them will wake him up.

Harry woke up Ron as he yawned, the dog beside him barking softly. The small pug beside Ron bit Ron's leg in an attempt to wake him up. Ron in turn, yelped and glared at the pug, but kept silent. Harry gestured vaguely to the rock where he had been keeping watch and now it was Ron's turn to be the guard. Some distance away, the guard was sleeping, his back towards them. Nearby, Hermione's head rested on the huge bulldog's back, eyes closed in sleep.

Ron rubbed at one eye as Harry sluggishly walked away for a moment before bedding down on a bedroll he had found in his pack. Since it was late December, snow had formed on the ground. Some magic, however, kept the bedrolls warm and dry, and Harry was thankful for it. Soon he drifted off to sleep.

Ron was left alone. The pug tugged on the sleeve of his clothes and soon Ron was forced, heels dragging in the snow, to where Harry had been previously positioned. The pug then sat down and stared at Ron lazily. Ron blinked. "Oy, what you looking at?"

He was quite amazed when the pug opened his mouth and spoke.

"You, of course." The pug replied calmly, gazing at him. Ron was taken aback, and he quickly stared at Harry, who was dozing off. "Bloody Hell Harry, it talked!"

The dog blinked and spoke again. "Well of course I talked. Haven't you seen a Nin-dog before?" After that he paused, raised a leg and scratched behind his ear as Harry and Ron looked at him oddly, with Harry putting his glasses on.

"So what type of a dog is a Nin-dog? Do all Nin-dogs talk?" Harry asked, blinking. Pakkun stopped scratching his ear as he replied. "'Course not. I'm special."

Ron leaned closer. "So why do you talk?"

The dog lazily looked at them. "Because I want to, duh."

Harry blinked again and spoke in a flat tone. "I'm hallucinating."

The Nin-dog appeared to be insulted. "I'm not a hallucination! Feel the paw!" He showed his paw to Harry, who dubiously actually did bother to feel the paw. It was soft, oddly. Ron eyes had widened, and his eyes had taken on the disturbingly sparkly sheen. "Aren't you so cute!"

The Nin-dog smirked. "Well of course I'm cute. I'm Pakkun. Who are you two? Genins?"

Harry blinked. "What's a Genin?"

The dog simply replied. "Students."

Ron nodded. "Oh. Yeah We are!"

Pakkun resumed talking. "I suppose you're here for the Chuunin Exam." Harry scowled.

"What's a Chuunin Exam?"

Pakkun looked at them doubtfully. "The one wherein you become a higher ranking…shinobi."

"What's a shinobi?" Ron asked. Pakkun blinked. "Never mind."

Harry burst out in angry tones. "What do you mean 'Never mind!'"

At that moment, the guard awoke, and he simply glared (through the mask) at their direction. Pakkun looked at them and murmured conspiratorially. "I'll tell you later, kid when the boss isn't so mad at me."

Harry and Ron sulked. After a moment, Harry went back to bed, still sulking somewhat and Ron was left on his own at the rock, scratching Pakkun behind the ears. The dog seemed to be quite pleased.

Around ten minutes later, when they were starting to settle in, the sound of spider legs moving through the underbrush started, an odd 'chitter-chitter' sound.

Ron recognized the noise and proceeded to pale dramatically. "The spiders are coming." He squeaked, an octave higher than normal and quite loud enough to wake the half-asleep Harry up on his own, grabbing for his wand. The guard was already up, he too got to his feet fairly quickly while walking over fully armed to shake Hermione awake, and not a moment too soon because spiders skittered into the clearing, jaws snapping angrily.

The guard spoke two words that made Hermione gasp, Harry blink and Ron gape.

"Well…shit."