Cheating Destiny

10; The Mission

"Hello team 11" Said the Hokage with a warm smile.

"Hello Lady Tsunade." Said Ten-Ten and Lee in unison. Neji nodded towards her and I gave a small wave.

"So, do you all know what your mission is?"

"They know the basics, but nothing really detailed." Said Guy Sensie. "I thought I'd leave that part to you." Lady Tsunade rolled her eyes as Guys Sensie flashed one of his signature smiles.

"Well, earlier yesterday evening, the Land of Keys had contacted us, saying they needed help discovering a new trade route around the land of bears because of obvious reasons. Your team is in charge of protecting the surveyors of the land and making sure the road is safe. The mission will take right around 4 days so pack lightly. Stay safe." She said in almost a motherly tone. Everyone nodded and we all went back to our respective houses and packed.

"Hey (Y/N), what are you up to?" Asked Naruto, popping his head in past the crack in my door.

"Packing for my first Mission," I said, stuffing an extra shirt into my tiny backpack

"Woah, you're already going on a mission? You've only been here for like 2 days!" He said loudly.

"Yeah. Guy Sensei thought it would be a good Idea to go on an easy mission as a form of practice and team bonding.

"Makes sense, Guy Sensei is always pushing people to be friends and to make strong bonds with others. Well, I hope you have fun!" He said with a smile as he left my small apartment. I double checked that I had everything and met the rest of my teammates at the main gate.

"Hey (Y/N)!"

"Hello (Y/N)" Said Lee and Ten-Ten, rather excitedly. 

"Are you ready to go on your first mission?" Asked Guy Sensei with a rather cheesy grin.

"As ready as an untrained ninja can be." I said, glancing around. "Aren't we missing someone?" I added.

"Yeah... Now that you mention it, where is Neji? He's Never late."

"I'm not late. You all just so happened to come early." Said a familiar static tone. With a quick glance across my shoulder, I saw Neji walking towards the group with a bag hanging at his side.

"Hey, Neji!" I said with a small smile.

"Now that we're all here, let's get going. The land of keys is waiting." Said Guy Sensei. With that, we were off. The giant gates to the city closed as we headed down the path in the early morning light.

"It should take up about a day and a half, depending on our speed, to get to the land of keys. Since the route passed the land of bears hasn't been made yet, we have to go through it. So remember to be alert." said Guy. Several hours passed and soon the sun had begun to set. 

"Sensei, The sun is starting to set. I'd say we have about 2 1/2 hours or so until its fully dark. We may wanna begin setting up camp soon." Said Ten-Ten.

"Alright. We'll keep going for another hour at a slightly faster pace, then set up camp." We all agreed and continued onward for another hour. It soon became dusky and we all stopped.

"Alright. Everyone start gathering supplies and setting up the tents. We'll sleep in shifts. Every two hours for eight hours, we'll switch out people for lookouts. I'll set up the tents. Lee and Ten-Ten, you go look for some food. Neji and (Y/N), you two go look for firewood." We all agreed and left on our separate ways doing each assigned tasks.

"Where do you think some firewood is?" I asked Neji, trailing behind him a couple paces, looking around the terrain. We were currently at the edge of the land of stones and the Land of Earth. There was not a lot of trees or wood around.

"We don't exactly need wood to start a fire. We can use kinds ok kindling, like dead grass, leaves, and some forms of moss." Said Neji, hunching down near a bush. I followed what he did and looked for a similar plant. After finding one and crouching down, I saw a pile of dried leaves and dead grass. after had both found a solid armful of kindling and twigs, we headed back to the campsite.

"What do you think we're gonna have for dinner?" I asked Neji, trying to start a conversation.

"Probably some berries and maybe a small rodent."

"Eww" I said with a squirm. For some reason. I found eating squires unsettling.

"Don't worry. If Ten-Ten and lee caught anything, It will already be skinned and cooking. It won't even look like a rodent anymore." Thanks? We arrived at our small campsite. A fire started, two tents, and a pile of berries.

"See, they don't even look like squirrels." Neji said pointing to the 4  pieces of meat leaning against the fire. I took a wobbly step back and sat down.

"I think I may have lost my appetite." I said, trying to busy myself with something else. I opened up my bag and checked my supplies. Some Kuni, a few energy bars, a spare set of clothes, and the mask. Good. It's all here.

"Alright. Now that we've all had dinner, lets head to bed. Lee and I will be in one tent and Ten-Ten and (Y/N) can be in another. Neji you  take the first shift tonight." Said Guy Sensei. I crawled into the small tent after Ten-Ten and lied on my side facing the screen door.

"So, (Y/N)" I rolled over to see Ten-Ten talking.

"Yeah?"

"How do you like the team so far?"

"It's nice. You guys seem like you really get along"

"Yeah, sometimes it's a little hard to deal with the buys, but I'm happy there's another girl on the team." She said with a soft smile.

"Well," She said, "We should probably get to bed soon. We have to get enough sleep so we don't get tired during our watch."

"Y-Yeah." I said rolling over. Not feeling tired in the slightest

"Night (Y/N)."

"Good night Ten-Ten." I faced the tent door in silence and began to listen to the night. There was Ten-Ten with her soft and steady breathing, the slight rustle of the leaves from the wind, and the light sound of footsteps pacing around outside.