The night felt long as the Chuunins and their teachers hurried to the Konoha forest clearing where they agreed to meet.
The darkness that blinded their way made it difficult for the ninjas to find their way, especially with plenty of wild ferns and prickly thorns.
The light breeze also turned a little chillier stinging their faces as they passed, they could see no light other than the faint glowing moon that seemed farther away than usual, following each other's footprints they traipsed across the trees.
So far the night was silent, with the eerie glow that cast dark shadows of trees and bushes as they passed, everyone stayed within the trees trailing behind the teachers for protection.
"Come on We're almost there!" Called Kakashi softly behind him as the weary Naruto traipsed in front of Sasuke with his head shoved as low as he could.
Sasuke followed without any sound smirking as his rival questioned shakily, "S-Sensei," He began with a gulp. "Are y-you certain there's nothing behind these t-trees?"
He lowered his head a little more so that all Sasuke could see was the tip of his spiky yellow hair that wobbled every time he gave a slight tremor, making sure no one saw him.
Sasuke grinned, "Naruto if you really want to know, why not check it out for yourself?" Again he shivered at the sound of a snapping branch. What an idiot, Sasuke thought provokingly casting a brief glance at Kakashi who ignored Naruto's comment taking no notice of their conversation, He acts tough against me, but really he isn't fit to be a ninja at all.
When an hour had passed they eventually arrived at the clearing in the center of the forest, Gai was there first gazing wildly at the rooftops as if though searching for something.
Beside him stood Lee who was enjoying a pleasant chat with Choji who was already munching on an enormous bag of chips and stuffing an entire handful into his mouth before Gai turned to glare at him.
The sat around the campfire that glowed with sparkly flames emitting in every direction, Gai looked extremely pleased offering a tiny pat on top of Lee's head,
"Great work," He beamed at Lee who smiled up at him proudly.
"Now we have the fire ready!" He clapped his hand as a group of ninjas emerged into the clearing. Kurenai glanced at the trio looking satisfied as well when she arrived.
The tents were all set up including everything that was need for the night. Following closely behind her came Neji looking rather surprised, then his timid cousin, they huddled close together when they saw the fire blazing. Ino came next with Tenten tagging along behind her holding firmly onto Sakura's hand.
Everyone began to seat around the blazing flames of the fire taking warmth against the bitter chill of the night. Kurenai stood up after a few moments,
"It's great to be here, and in fact I think your idea is rather interesting," She complimented as the girls looked vaguely back at her in awe, "Tell me," Ino blurted out at once cutting across the conversation. "Why are we even here? If this was urgent why would we be here relaxing?" She questioned indignantly as Sakura nodded along with her.
Gai smiled lightly at the blonde haired kunoichi and seemed to forget what to say next.
"Well," Kurenai began exchanging anxious glances back at Gai. "We are here on a mission." She finished plainly swinging her dark disheveled hair that looked appeared silver underneath the moonlight. Tenten immediately stood up causing Sakura to almost fall.
"Oh really it is, what kind of mission?" She said coldly not hesitating to glare at Kurenai. The teachers both seemed amazed; Lee too squirmed at Tenten looking particularly suspicious. With a quiet sigh she answered looking into the far off horizon, "We'll tell you when everyone is here."
Gai nodded in agreement as Kurenai finished her sentence, Neji however glared back at her patiently, looking quiet displeased. So all that was a lie, I'm not too surprised, he thought to himself not taking his eyes off Kurenai.
They stayed quiet for the next few minutes enjoying themselves around the fire while the teachers stood murmuring to each other a few steps away. It was strange, none of the teenagers ever talked, not even the conversational Ino, now gazing off at the sky scattered with millions of silver stars. It was getting pretty late, the night was completely quiet, usually quiet that made the evening more creepy than peaceful.
Everything seemed to be happening rather fast from being kidnapped out of bed to ending in the middle of a forest clearing without the least bit of idea what they were supposed to do.
Hinata didn't want to believe that her own sensei had lied to her, but it seemed odd to her that this was a mission, especially an urgent one. It was a while before they heard a snapping branch all of a sudden behind them, Choji let out a yelp, Sakura whimpered and Tenten almost fell over by the sudden movement of Ino. They all whirled around facing the dense pine trees at the corner of the clearing.
"Who's there?" Choji bellowed dropping his bag of chips by accident; his voice echoed for what seemed like a really long time, when it eventually stopped three shadows appeared out of the darkness.
"Well, it seems that we are not the only ones here." Came the muffled voice of Kakashi, and then behind him came the Konoha's-loudest-ninja, followed by his weary teammate, Sasuke.
Sakura at the sight of him muttered a surprising, "Oh." Naruto pushed Kakashi out of the way before he could say anything yelling at the top of his lungs, "Hey," He said deafeningly catching almost everyone's attention.
"What's the big idea of this?" Sasuke frowned thinking thoughtfully, this is not going to be cool, that moron!
Hinata blushed a bit turning her eyes away from Naruto trying hard to resist her flushing face. Ino gave Naruto a fierce glare now turning her back towards him; most of the Chuunins were used to his ear piercing shouting.
Sakura abruptly shot up, "Naruto, stop being such a fool, we are here on a mission," She pouted angrily staring straight into Naruto's eye, "If you really are a Chuunin, start acting like one!" Choji stopped to watch the two argue, while Lee looked a bit terrified by the look on Sakura's face.
Naruto scratched his head managing to offer her a smile, "Sorry, Sakura-Chan."
He added turning away, looking half embarrassed. Tenten shook her head thinking stiffly, it's amazing how loud he is. Gai watched the young pink haired girl stomp away with disgust, and then straightened himself looking determined to change the subject.
"It seems to me that my group made it here first," He said eagerly exchanging delighted glances with Lee who winked back at him. "I'll have to say we did a fairly good job better than Kakashi's, right Lee?"
He beamed doing his good-man pose while Lee did the same responding, "Yosh, Gai sensei."
Kakashi seemed to ignore their conversation, "Look over there," he stated calmly while the ninjas turned to see another group wander into the clearing lead by Asuma.
Kurenai looked relieved as more shadows came into view under the moonlit clearing; they all looked fairly well other than the fact that they were all rather tired. Akamaru let out a whimper of surprise when he arrived; Kiba too opened his eyes a little wider.
Shino came next looking as emotionless as ever peered through his dark glasses at the clearing in front of him, they couldn't tell if he was surprised or not for there was no expression.
At last Shikamaru trudged in giving his sensei an infuriated look but said nothing following closely behind Shino. Asuma hurried forward to greet the other teachers grinning, "Now that everyone is here," he affirmed solemnly.
"We shall begin." Kurenai gave him an understanding nod, she felt rather awkward to be here explaining the whole event to the Chuunins she once taught. What would they think of this? Maybe Gai was wrong, they have a different view of things now, and they are no longer what we think they are.
With a sigh, she alleged, "Hokage has sent a mission for us, as you can see we will be camping out in the forest for the entire week," She managed to look away from the students for a moment then continued briefly.
"It is not only a chance to get together but to learn to work as a team.
There will be many dangers for you to face in the forest, and you must all help each other out, the twelve of you will be working as one to survive." She finished exchanging anxious glances with Kakashi.
Now someone shivered, "But what about food?" Choji blurted out so loud that everyone turned their eyes to him instead. Kakashi let out a smirk, "No worries, you wouldn't starve, after all there's plenty of food you may find in the forest." He said patiently.
"One last thing, anyone who does not participate will be severely punished by Hokage herself, and then sent back to a ginin." Kakashi added glancing from Sasuke to Neji and back.
Several girls let out terrified gasps and Naruto whimpered having the thought of going to back to the first stage of a ninja. Giving a polite smile Gai beamed, "Well, now we may begin, it is getting late so I expect you all to be in your tents by now!"
One by one the Chuunins traipsed across the forest floor heading directly into the enormous white tent that stood in the middle of the clearing. Most of them complained on the way, while others said nothing but followed their teammates through the entrance.
So far no one seemed to be enjoying their mission, when the last Chuunin had entered, Gai poked his head into the tent, "Remember have fun!" He again did one of his delightful smiles.
"Hai, Gai-sensei, I promise it will be great." Lee added mimicking his teacher.
Everyone else glared at them looking more irritated than ever. It took a while for everyone to settle down on the emerald green grass that felt to them more like a thick comforting carpet.
Neji took his seat at the corner of the tent ignoring the murmurs around him, his eyes blank and his pale face white without the least bit of expression, he looked the same as before: emotionless.
Sasuke too seemed less interested in the event, he walked past the others taking no notice of his former teammates sat down also at the corner of the tent like Neji, except in a different corner. While their teachers left them everyone remained silent, it felt strange to them, not sleeping on their soothing beds and on a thick carpet of wild grass.
Shikamaru handed out the red blankets that were provided and the matching white pillows. The tent at first was completely still, it was getting late, and though all the students were tired, no one intended to sleep now that everyone was awake.