Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its franchises.
Two days later, the group is around three to five miles from their original encampment; deciding not to set up camp the day before, but today to get more mileage.
As Shinji was looking through his bag, taking out necessary supplies, he noticed that there was not any food left.
"Hey tubby! What's the big idea eatin' all our food!"
"I'm not fat, I'm big boned! And I didn't eat your food!" he yelled back at Shinji.
"Then how the hell do you explain the fact that there's no more food left!" Shinji asked while pointing an accusatory finger at Choji.
"Umm…..there's no need for f-fighting. M-maybe we just didn't ration the food r-right." Jun said, trying to calm down both Shinji and Choji.
"Bullshit! Fatty over here ate all out food!"
"Uh-oh. This isn't going to turn out very well." Asuma said, predicting Choji's reaction to being called fat more than once.
"Yeah, should we stay neutral or do something about it?" Ino asked.
"Hmm….let's wait and see what happens." Shikamaru answered while both Shinji and Choji were trying to beat each other up.
"You bum." Ino said when she figured out that Shikamaru just did not feel like breaking up the fight.
"P-please, there….there isn't any need for fighting is there?"
"Oh yeah, there is. I'm gonna teach fatty here a lesson about eating other people's food!" Shinji said as he sat on Choji, doing the camel clutch on him.
"I didn't eat your food!" Choji said as he got out of Shinji's hold by elbowing him in the ribs, as soon as he fell on his back from the impact, Choji did the Five Star Frog-Splash on Shinji.
"Could you please help me break them up?" Jun asked the others.
"Alright." Asuma and Shikamaru said rather reluctantly.
"Come on you two." Asuma said as he grabbed Shinji by the arms, and Shikamaru took Choji by the arms too, as well as trying to calm him down.
"Let go of me!" Shinji said, trying to get out of Asuma's grasp.
"Fighting amongst each other isn't going to help us any." he calmly replied.
"Trust me, it'll definitely help me." he said as he finally got out of Asuma's hold on him.
"I'm telling you, I didn't eat any of your food!" Choji yelled at Shinji trying to defend himself.
Shinji then activated a part of his Shogukane power, his empathy, to see if Choji was telling the truth. Unfortunately for him, Choji was telling the truth. Reluctantly getting out of his fighting stance, he exclaimed "Dammit, it's not him!"
"That's what I've been telling you all this time!" yelled an exasperated Choji.
"Alright! Which one of you jackasses ate-" Shinji was about to yell when he was stopped by Jun who had her hand on his wrist.
"Oi, what's the big idea?" she pointed her index finger to the left, indicating that someone else was there, hidden behind a small boulder. The others took out their kunai, ready for battle now that they weren't so distracted while Shinji slowly walked up to the boulder trying not to let the stalker know that they knew he/she was there.
He walked around the boulder on the farthest side of the stalker to find a little old hermit; no taller than four feet, with a tree branch for a cane at his side; balding with gray hair, and wearing a long yet simple robe with a cross hanging from his neck, actually daring to eat his food!
Shinji may have been mad about losing his food, but now he was definitely pissed off beyond belief. He grabbed the hermit by the neck and was strangling him, yelling "Who the hell do you think you are eating MY food!"
The others ran to him, holding his arms trying to calm him down yet again.
"Shinji, you can't resort to violence right now. You'll draw attention to us." Shikamaru tried to reason.
"I don't care!"
"Umm….Shinji, I think this hermit is our guide to Augustus. Remember, he said a hermit would take us to his encampment? Please let him go." Jun said as she took the old man from Shinji's hold.
"Still doesn't mean we can trust him" At this he took out his shinobigatana and began questioning the hermit.
"This one meant no harm; just trying to feed himself."
"Why are you referring to yourself in third person?" Ino asked.
"This one has followed the principle of no-self, and is on the verge of achieving nirvana."
"Nirvana my ass. Take us t' Augustus y' old man."
"Yes, even with your disrespect, this one will take. As you may know, there are procedures we must abide by for the Katorikku to accept us within their encampment."
"Yeah I know those rules and we won't have to follow them since we're not going in there. What, thought you could get some more free food, huh?" Shinji asked as he saw the hermit's face sag at finding out that they wouldn't be entering the Katorikku Nomad's encampment.
They traveled for three more weeks where the wood ended and the plains could clearly be seen.
"So…..what do we do now?" Asuma asked.
"We wait for Augustus to come; it's all we can do. But I wish he'd hurry it up, we have a time-schedule here."
"We do?"
"Yep." Shinji said as he took a step towards the plains area, when an arrow landed by his foot, warning him not to take another step forward. At that, Group 10 took out their kunai getting in front of Jun and the hermit, preparing for a fight.
Shinji bent down and took the arrow from the ground, examining it. Smirking, he said, "Alright, we're not looking for trouble. We're just here to pick up a friend."
The person who threw the arrow came out of his hiding place with another arrow at his bow, warning them not to get closer to him. As he got out of the few bushes, the others were able to see him better. He wore a red long sleeved shirt under a white hooded vest, and red gi pants. He also had a bag of arrows slung over his shoulder. He looked to be around the same age as Jun.
However, another man came out of his hiding place as well. This one was much more bulkier and older than the first though. His silver hair was back length and his most prominent feature was the metal rosary around his neck. He wore a blood red vest over a forest green flannel shirt, forest green samurai pants with a blood sash around his waist (A/N: I've decided to give you guys the liberty of imaging my OC's facial features since I figure it'll make them more personalized to you).
"Miguel, stop! They are friends of mine. I have invited them here." the man said in Latin.
"You invited them? Why?" Miguel asked.
"There is a mission I must accomplish aside from teaching you; they will be able to help me."
"Very well." Miguel said while lowering his bow. The man turned to face the others as Miguel stood next to him, a smile now adorning his features.
"My friend, it is food to see you again. My name is Augustus, and this is my pupil, Miguel." He said in semi-fluent Japanese now.
"Yeah, whatever. We better get a move on." Shinji replied turning toward the forest now.
Augustus ran over to Shinji, Found an empathic connection to him and asked, 'Do they know everything?'
'Just because I'm a blabbermouth doesn't mean I can't keep a secret, ya got that?' he replied as Augustus audibly chuckled at the comment.
'Very well. When should we tell them then?'
'After Jun passes her tests.'
'Who?'
'Kimiko's sister. She's the one with the blue hair.'
He nodded his understanding and half turned when he noted that the others were still rooted to the spot.
"Come on ya twerps! Ya've got legs to move around, not to stand there gawkin' like ya don't know what to do!" Shinji yelled.
"Shinji don't you think you are being somewhat rude with them? They at least know something…"
"I already gave them what I could. I'll tell them more after the tests."
"Come, we must go and complete our mission." Augustus said, finally talking to someone other than Shinji and Miguel after he introduced himself. They looked at each other dumbfounded; Shikamaru and Asuma just shrugged, starting to walk toward Shinji and Augustus. The others soon followed suit as well.