Another path

The Swamps - 6th day

< Hi sweeties ! It's been a rather erratic month so there's some delay, sorry about that. I'm working on a regular schedule, I'll tell you soon about it.
Pic is Team Kakashi from Uzushio, can be found on my insta.
Anyway, I don't own Naruto but all the OCs in this fic are my property, so is the drawing (you may find it on my insta : ookami01_yu).
Hope you'll enjoy! >
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Early hours were Harubana's favorites. All the animals were at rest, be it after a long night of hunting or sleeping. It felt peaceful, so different from the usually bubbly and busy atmosphere of the Swamps. Everyone was huddled in their own little nest, it reminded her of birds. The thought of shinobi covered in feathers crossed her mind and it took all her willpower not to let out a giggle. She was currently hiding and giving away her position like this just wouldn't do.
Any time the wind would blow, the leaves would fall, the branches would crack, her heart pace spiked to unhealthy levels and she was worried it would slowly kill her. After all, Harubana - or Haru as most of her friends called her - was known as a gentle, calm, pretty slow-paced individual. Higure often she lived at the pace of the earth and that was surprisingly on point. Her moods, her behavior, even her metabolism seemed to synchronize with it. It made even more sense considering her ability to make flora grow.

It was precisely what she had done here : after days of studying the wildlife inhabiting the Swamps, she had been able to reproduce it quite accurately and grew a kind of vegetal chamber hidden amongst the rest of the forest. She knew the Kitsune had great memory so they could remember the slight change in the environment. However, it would be difficult for them to conclude that it was a shinobi that had done this since the flora here was very dynamic, never remaining in the same state for more than a few minutes. As far as they were concerned, it could be nothing out the ordinary.

She still prepared a few escape routes in case something went wrong but she was confident she wouldn't need them. Being prepared never hurt though and for people like her who aren't stress-drived like Kayô, Arashi, Enma or Sakuya, it was better to do so as thoroughly as can be.

***

Temari enjoyed the relative peace she sensed in the forest. She was trying not to indulge in the feeling but after five days and nights of constantly running, she felt like she deserved a break. She went into hiding after gathering her last ressources for the upcoming days and she hoped it would be enough, at least it should be. You never know when it comes to things like this, accidents occur so easily...
All in all, this entire trial had been a huge bother. The number of times she'd almost died was astounding and she feared for what was to come. Indeed, things went only tougher and tougher so what would be next ? It was just more stress to add to the pile...

She watched from behind leaves and branches how the animals kept living at a normal pace. They didn't seem overly curious about the place she hid in, which was a good point as they wouldn't give her position away. She guessed that the summons were now looking for the shinobi's hideouts. If anyone still hadn't hidden by now, they ever had the stamina of an Uzumaki (and she wouldn't bet even them didn't go into hiding) or they had a death wish. She was neither of those and so she resolved to waiting for the last two days to go by.
What was truly nerve-wracking was that she had to remain focused and alert at all times despite how boring and tiring the whole thing would be. But least she wanted to fail, getting distracted wouldn't do it. How troublesome...

Wait, what did she just think ?

***

Dark bags contrasted with fair, almost white skin. If you took in account the equally black eyes and hair, you might believe it was an antic photo. But no, Sasuke just had an unusually colorless completion and the lack of sleep didn't help. Muscles strained and face tired were signs of yet another sleepless night.
To be honest, it wasn't anything new for him : nightmares of the Uchiha massacre plagued his rest, and Itachi's intervention seven years ago when Sasuke tried to confront him (and protect Suzuka) had only worsened them.