Baki looked at the yellow sand filling the sky outside his window and sighed.
These chunin ninja exams would probably be far livelier than he had imagined.
He needed to have people prepare more rooms, food, and water right away.
Sunagakure might be poor, but it couldn't lose face when hosting the Five Great Nations.
After some thought, he added another instruction: prepare more alcohol, too. He had heard that the First Hokage could really drink.
The journey from Konoha to Sunagakure was hardly short.
The group traveled for two days, passing through forests and over hills as the scenery gradually shifted from green to dusty yellow.
The air grew dry, and the wind carried fine grains of sand.
Hashirama walked at the very front, brimming with enthusiasm.
"A desert! It's been ages! Genya, look-is that a camel over there?"
Genya followed his pointing finger and saw nothing.
"Old man, you're seeing things."
Hashirama didn't believe him. He stared for quite a while before finally admitting his mistake, but the distant dunes soon caught his attention instead.
After more than a day of walking, Naruto's "bad feeling" gradually faded beneath the fatigue of the journey.
He began to get excited, discussing the opponents they might face in the exams with Sasuke.
"I hear lots of people in Sunagakure use puppets. Sasuke, do you think my Rasengan could smash their puppets?"
Sasuke remained expressionless.
"Talk about that once you can do the Rasengan with one hand!"
Naruto opened his mouth, then fell silent.
He still hadn't mastered it.
Listening to their conversation from behind them, Sakura couldn't help sighing.
Kakashi walked at the rear. He had switched to another little book, this one with a red cover.
His dead-fish eyes occasionally lifted to check on the group ahead before returning to