Turning of Time (Naruto Fanfic) [hiatus]

Tuning of Time: Chapter 30

__Sara Pov__


We travelled to the meeting point as quickly as could be expected. You know, with Choji eating the whole way, Ino fretting over this or that, Shika just being... Shika, Asuma with a mouth full of suckers and a pack of cigerettes 50 feet under the earth, and me just laughing at Asuma's face.


As to how one of his packs of cigrettes ended up 50 feet under the earth? Well we were passing a field full of steam gysers for whatever reason and he pulled out one of his packs. I had already stopped him 5 times from smoking and this time I grew slightly fed up. I immediately turned on my heel, ripped the pack out of his hands, and chucked it. It was actually pure coincidence that it landed in a gyser.


The whole sucker in the mouth thing? Well, lets just leave the reasons for that to your imagination, shall we?


Either way I managed to stop Asuma from smoking on the trip to meet the clients. We arrived a half hour earlier than they were planned to make it there, so we sat on the side of the rode waiting. Eventually a faint cloud of dust could be seen coming from the canyon approaching us. When they got near enough that we could verify it was them we stood.


"Hello," Asuma went and stood in the way of the caravan, "We're Konoha shinobi. You requested protection as you passed through the area, correct?"


An old man walked forward with a young girl at his side. The man spoke first, "We are the caravan Winged Tiger, we are happy to make your aquaintance. Could we ask your names?"


"Of course. I'm Asuma and behind me are my teammates Choji, Shikamaru, Ino, and Sara." he gestured to each of us as he introduced us. Somehow he had managed to light a cigerette and was smoking it.


"Ah! Smokey!" I flashed over to him, creating a clone to take my place. The clone reached up as if to grab the cigerette. Asuma went to block the hand, but his arm went straight through. He stood confused for a moment until I landed on his back quickly exchanging the cigerette for a sucker and running off to stomp it out.


The two people from the caravan stood shocked at the scene while Ino and Choji just burst out laughing. Shika stood to the side shaking his head.


Asuma accepted the sucker grudgingly and turned back to the two people. "You'll have to excuse that scene just barely. I'm afraid that we have a bet going on about my smoking habits."


"You know these things kill you right?!" I turned to face him in complaint.


He didn't respond, obviously.


"That's quite alright. We feel much safer in your care after witnessing that anyways." The young girl spoke up. She was about 5'8" and had seriously long green hair. Her eyes shone a clear crystal blue and held barely surpressed laughter shining in them.


I turned to them as well, bowing my head slightly in apology. "Sorry about the interruption. I'm sorry to ask, but we didn't get your names."


She smiled down at me warmly. "That's quite alright. This is a good friend, almost like a grandfather to me really. His name is Genji. I'm Sami, the leader of this caravan."


"Well them, we've delayed here long enough, shall we continue through the land of fire?" Asuma changed the subject completely.


"Of course, lead the way." Sami gestured with one hand.


"Excuse me," Shika finally joined in the conversation, "but how many wagons are in your caravan?"


"We have about 15 wagons all told. Might I ask why?" She seemed genuinely perplexed by the question.


He didn't answer and instead looked at me, I nodded knowing we were thinking along the same lines. Asuma was too surprisingly, and as we walked off he explained it to Sami for us.


"Sara and Shikamaru are two of our smartest genin, they'll each take a side and stand a few carts back from me. I'll be in the lead, protecting the first 5 carts, then Shikamaru and Sara will protect the left and right sides respectively of the next five, lastly will be Ino and Choji protecting the last 5. Shikamaru and Sara will be able to relay my orders to the other two clearly."


"Oh, I see."


I walked over to the right side of the wagon train, "Ino, come with me to the right side."


"Then I'll go with Shikamaru," Choji announced and followed after him, snacking on chips.


Ino stood there for a brief moment before realizing and following me, "Right."


We positioned ourselves on the sides. In case of an attack Ino and I would work as a two man cell. Choji and Shika would do the same. Asuma was Asuma so he got both sides in his own team.


"Well then, let's head out." said Asuma, and the walk began.


-_-|8=(O.) punch denied


It was way more difficult to stop Asuma's smoking when we were on the road, mainly because he was a good 45 feet in front of me and he altrenated between sides. I had the advantage of being able to smell the smoke though as I was walking behind him. The instant I smelt smoke from the other side I would pick up a rock, jump, and launch it at his hand. This happened several times during the first day, much to the entire group's enjoyment.


We also fended off a couple stray attacks from bandits. There was never a group bigger than 5 or 6 and they were foolish for thinking that they could take us down with that manpower.


Eventually we reached the point where they decided to make camp. The lead wagon blew on a whistle three times and after a short pause there was an answering two notes from the last wagon.


They pulled up into a clearing forming a rough circle with the wagons. people started to busy themselves with preparing the camp for the night. Children began to gather the wood for the fires, woman and girls began to prepare the food, and the men left on a small hunt. Asuma went with the hunters to protect them and the four of us set up a loose defense around the camp.


That night we all sat around small fires that dotted the area. it had been an easy going day and we had gotten through a fifth of the journey. The wagon train had already been moving then though and I estimated it would take about 2 more days to see them on their way.


Asuma and Shika set up a gaurd schedule and we all went off to bed except Shika and Ino.


The night was uneventful and no one attacked the camp that night. I hoped that Kakashi and my team had gotten those bandits taken care of, it would make my job a lot easier.


_-_