The night passed uneventfully, and before long, morning arrived.
The instant Sasuke woke from his sweet dreams, he seemed to realize something and hurried out of the tent.
"I forgot about taking turns on watch last night."
That was right. The last shift had been Sasuke's.
"Don't worry. I covered your shift." Naruto jumped down from a large tree.
"Hmph, I told you to wake me. Who asked you to stand watch for me?"
Seeing that Sasuke was still unhappy, Naruto brushed a finger across his nose and laughed. "You think I covered your shift out of pure kindness? How naive. See all this clutter? Who do you think gets to clean it up?"
Sasuke pouted angrily at that. "Hmph, I knew it."
Forced to stomach this public display of affection first thing in the morning, Kakashi, Tazuna, and Sakura, who were brewing their morning tea, practically ground their teeth in irritation.
"Ahem. You two, watch how you behave!" Kakashi couldn't help saying.
"Exactly!" The sight had completely ruined Sakura's good mood for the day.
"Yare Yare, youngsters these days are much more open than we were back then." Tazuna rubbed his forehead.
Hearing the complaints from nearby, Sasuke shot Naruto an embarrassed, angry glare, then fled into the tent to start packing.
About half an hour later, Team 7 set out again.
The Land of Waves was a small coastal island nation. Although it lay near Konoha's border, reaching it on foot from Konoha still took several days.
Of course, the reason it took days was Tazuna, an ordinary old man. He couldn't leap or bound along, so the group had to walk.
The farther they traveled from Konoha, the taller the trees ahead grew and the denser the undergrowth became. It was practically the perfect spot for robbery