Hot 'N' Dangerous

Chapter 55: The Beast Era (Part 3)

We spent a week or so living in the tree, coming down regularly for provisions. Ino and Sakura had come back with two large flowers in their hands one day, claiming that it was to be their trophies to bring back to Konoha. Choji had found a fruit with an incredibly hard shell that only broke under a blade. He decided that he would bring one back with him and show everyone before he ate it.

"Should we go back for the portal today or tomorrow?" I asked Liz as we sat with our legs dangling above the ground, over five meters below us.

Liz looked up at the Sun, "I'd say... today, we still have quite a few daylight hours left, everyone is getting tired of sitting in a tree doing nothing anyways. Sasuke, Shikamaru and the two of us still need trophies to bring back," she counted the days in her head, "We have one maybe two days to be standing in front of the portal."

"That should be enough time for us to find a worthy trophy," I gave it some thought.

"I'd say we set off across the river in the evening, then we can still see through the waters but any marine predators like Deinosuchus should have eaten by then. Anatotitans usually go down to the watering hole at least once a day and that's usually in the afternoon when the day is at its hottest," Liz reasoned and then shouted to the rest of the chattering people in the tree, "We're leaving in an hour, pack everything up!"

Murmurs of excitement licked up the tree as fast as a spreading wildfire. I climbed back up to where Sasuke was still perched, looking out over the forest floor. I picked up a few items hanging around my perch and threw them into my bag.

"Let's go, Sasuke, we should go meet up with Liz," I beckoned to him and dropped down.

He followed quickly after me, landing on Liz's branch. We sat down to wait for everyone else.

A little more than an hour later, we were standing by the river that led into the lake we crossed a few days before.

"The water is the gentlest here besides the lake, this is the ideal location to cross," I said to everyone else.

I took only one step into the water when a bloodcurdling scream ripped through the air.

"What was that?" Ino sidled a little closer to Sasuke.

"It sounded like one of the others," Liz turned towards the woods where the scream came from.

"Should we go?" Shikamaru asked.

"I'll go, you guys can stay here," I couldn't help it.

"No, if one person is going, everyone is going. We have time," Liz said firmly.

I nodded and we led the party back into the woods. Every so often, Liz would stop and carve an arrow into a tree, pointing in the direction of the river. The sound of the scream had carried far, the kerfuffle didn't happen in the forest, it wasn't until we hit the plains on the other side of the forest did we see what the commotion was all about. The other team from the Sand were in a tight spot. The T-Rex we had fought on the first day here was cornering them against a wall of eroded dirt and sand, harder than a sand dune but just as tall with sheerer sides.

"Liz, I can't summon Excalibur again, this space is too enclosed. We could step on you guys by accident, plus, it eats up too much chakra," I bit my lip, "We'll have to resort to stealth and pure strategy," I frowned.

"That's why we're ninjas," Liz smiled, "Shikamaru! I need your brains for a minute," she whispered rather loudly.

We quickly discussed a plan, while Hana's team were still evading the T-Rex.

"Got it," Liz nodded and bit her thumb, "Summoning Jutsu," she murmured as quietly as she could.

Flame appeared in a wisp of harmless flames, "How may-" Liz clamped her long beak shut, preventing her from making any noise.