(A/N) We're following Sasuke this time, next time can be the other team and what they did. Thanks for the reception to NDSA, it's an amusing story to think about, huh? Dinosaur ninja…
Sasuke wasn't all that impressed with the so called 'Forest of Death' frankly, uncle Kakuzu was scarier. The one time they'd met the man.
"There are giant leeches twenty meters in that direction." Hinata said timidly, pointing off to the right.
Fuu, buzzing next to them, made an aborted move to head that direction.
"No Fuu," Sasuke said, exasperated and having grabbed her ankle. "We are not going to see the giant leeches!"
Hinata giggled softly.
Fuu pouted. "But I wanna see them! And besides, I can fly!" She did a backflip in the air to show off.
"We have scrolls to collect," Sasuke sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"I can collect them though!" Fuu insists.
"Fuu, for the fifth time! You can't go see the giant leeches, and you can't just pick pocket the scrolls and run off! We are supposed to be doing this as a team!"
Hinata's giggling went up in volume.
"Hinata!" Sasuke said, exasperated. "You're supposed to be helping me, not pointing out all of the dangerous creatures we might run across!"
Hinata snorted, and immediately covered her mouth and nose, blushing bright red. Fuu let out a snort of her own at the sight. "I-I'm sorry S-Sasuke-kun!" She squeaked, not sounding entirely sincere.
"Then stop doing it!" Sasuke complained, stopping and falling backwards to the underside of his branch.
Hinata giggled again, and Sasuke glared up at her from his position on the underside of the branch.
"Find a team for us to fight, and not a Konoha one, or I am hitting you both with my sword pommel and pretending an enemy team did it."
Fuu snorted, flying so she was hovering right in his face. "And what about getting a scroll?"
Sasuke snorted. "I can get one myself bug, I'm no jinchuuriki, but I'm not weak either."
Hinata leaned precariously over the branch to stare at him. "I found one, it's a Kusa team, only two members are there though."
"Third one must be out scouting," Sasuke muttered, walking back to the top side of his branch, Fuu following him up and landing next to him. "Find him."
"They're just barely inside my range, if we get closer, I might be able to," Hinata admitted quietly.
Sasuke nodded. "Alright then, we'll move closer. Hinata, if you make that self defeated miserable face one more time, I'm setting Naruto on you."
Hinata's face went cherry red. "P-p-p-please d-don't!" She squeaked.
Sasuke smirked.
Hinata nearly fainted.
Fuu groaned.
"Alright, let's get a move on," Sasuke said after a minute long stare off. They had an interesting dynamic, but it worked. He led, Fuu kept him in line, and Hinata blushed and stuttered a lot. Actually she kept both him and Fuu in line, but that was beside the point. Fuu had the dumb ideas, Sasuke fixed them, and Hinata made sure both of them weren't missing any stupid holes. Or overestimating her or themselves. Usually her, which made her blush when she carefully corrected them.
Kakashi mourned his free time when they teamed up to make him teach them something, but was otherwise managing fine.
"We should stop h-here for the night," Hinata said. Hinata always said when to stop. She had the least endurance, and while she was working on it, that wasn't actually why she was the one to say stop. "The sun'll be down soon, a-and we need light to see."
Sasuke acknowledged the order, and even if there was an hour left before sunset, and they could make a camp in less than a quarter of that time, Hinata wouldn't have stopped them if there were any better campsites closer to the other team. They were still a good few miles off, so they probably weren't in any danger of the other team stumbling across them. If they did, this was a wonderful place for an ambush. Wonderful for them, not for the team that attempted to kill them.
The lookout could be stationed in the branches of the freaking massive tree that was quite frankly, probably bigger than Sasuke's entire room. The others would sleep hidden in the roots, shadows masking where they were, and giving them ample time to wake up, get their weapons, and be ready for a fight should the lookout sound the alarm.
"Chomei says he wants final shift, so I'll take third," Fuu said, after a brief conversation with her biju. "Four tails should be plenty."
"Two would probably be fine," Sasuke muttered. "The genin in this exam are wusses. Giant bug, and they'll run in the other direction."
"Better safe than s-sorry," Hinata decided. "Four t-tails will be more than adequate."
"I'll take second watch," Sasuke decided. "You fine with that, Hinata?"
Hinata nodded. "I spotted the third member going back to the camp for the night, we should be safe, but I'll keep an eye on them."
"We can see about getting your range extended, if you want," Sasuke said to Hinata, moving off to the side to collect kindling and firewood.
"I'll hunt!" Fuu chirped, and was gone in an instant.
"O-Oh, that would probably be good, Sasuke-kun," Hinata agreed, ducking her head.
Sasuke nodded. "And please help me with my kenjutsu, if you wouldn't mind."
Hinata flushed, but nodded, before beginning to pull out her cooking supplies. Sasuke turned out eldritch horrors, and while Fuu turned out edible things, they weren't the greatest. Hinata was quickly voted as cook for the team.
Fuu returned a moment later, a bit scratched up, and with a massive rabbit with claws and fangs in her grasp. "This thing's freaking feral!" She said, once she was in hearing range. "Like, Tora type feral!"
Sasuke shuddered. Their encounter with the horrific feline was thankfully preceded by the other team's, and Sasuke and Fuu had been advised to find a cat carrier to borrow. They, unfortunately, couldn't find a cat carrier, so they used Chomei. The cat had not taken to the flying bug express well, but they brought it in intact, so they succeeded.
Apparently, Shisui's team had gone back to do it again so they had the fastest time. Sasuke wasn't feeling competitive that day, so he let it slide, and just ignored the mission from there on out.
"It'll do fine," Hinata reassured Fuu, taking the dead rabbit from her grasp. She moved away from the campsite, enough so the predators didn't follow the smell straight to their camp, but she could still be seen in case of an ambush.
Sasuke moved onto collecting larger firewood, hacking too large branches into smaller chunks with one of his kunai. It had been one of Kisame's, so it was much larger than his normal ones. It was practically half a sword on its own. Sasuke had been learning to duel wield from a mix of Kisame, who knew a little bit, and the Kakashi/Itachi/Shisui trio, who'd seen and fought a few dual wielders. He thought he was moving along perfectly fine, enough he should be able to severely confuse any other sword wielders and not cripple himself by not having both hands on his sword's handle. Dual wielding required quite a bit of precision, and the ability to split your attention between both weapons.
Hinata quickly skinned and cleaned the rabbit, bringing it back to rub assorted spices and seasonings into the meat while Sasuke got the fire lit. She had admitted she liked being in the kitchen, even as the clan heiress. It had taken a bit to build up a resistance to throwing up when someone skinned an animal, but now she could do it on her own, and not be bothered much. Much. She had problems with the more domestic looking animals, but that rabbit had clearly been feral enough, even with the long snowy white fur. Sasuke would have suspected it had been a pet at some point if not for the red eyes that looked as if it was plotting the best way to kill you.
Fuu helped gather more firewood, stuff that would ensure the fire was maintained through the night. While it created a lot of flickering shadows that were convenient to hide in, Sasuke and Fuu worked best with the element of surprise that could come from them springing from shadows. Shisui's team was very frontal assault, their team was a bit more subtle.
Sasuke lit the campfire with a quick Katon, learned from Shisui, who'd made it a hobby to pick up as many domestic type jutsu as he could get his hands on. The Uchiha clan library had a lot of them, hidden away in dusty corners. Mostly, Itachi had found them, now Hinata often went through and found some, learning them, and then giving the scroll to Shisui.
Hinata made wonderful food, even with just a fire and no kitchen. Sasuke and Fuu went to sleep with full stomachs. Hinata kept watch on a high tree branch.
Hinata's and Sasuke's watches passed without a problem, and Fuu's was mostly fine. Mostly.
(A/N) Haha, sorry, not sorry. Next chapter can be them getting their scroll and ending up at the tower. Plus Shisui's team, if I have time. There are still two new stories this week, and an update of Family Means Nobody Gets Left Behind!