River

"You never know when you might need one is what my mother tells me." Shizuko pulled out a lighter from her tool pouch to prove her point.

Chie barked loudly while jumping over to Shin's feet.

Another sweatdrop graced Mitsukai's forehead, but she then nodded and jumped up to a higher branch, only to make it snap under her weight since it was too thin. When she landed, she held the stick out for Shizuko to light on fire. "You ready?" Mitsukai smirked.

"W-WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?!"

Mitsukai annoyed the paranoid Shin.

Shizuko flipped the lid off the lighter. "Yep.", she said while turning it on watching as the flame appeared. She then lit the end of the branch and flipped the lid back on the lighter.

Chie barked again as her tail wrapped itself around her and she hide behind Shin's leg.

"Boom!" Mitsukai exclaimed as she threw the stick towards the throng of explosive tags and mines, and it all lit up in a magnificent fire, right before exploding all at once, opening a path staight to the wall of fire. The path behind them however, still kept Shin out of reach. Mitsukai wasn't thinking about that though. She immediately jumped down, landing on the forest floor, and started making her way towards their destination, still making sure they're weren't any remaining surprises.

Shizuko turned around then broke off a nearby branch and did the same thing as before but this time she threw it behind her and cleared the way for Shin and Chie. She didn't blink as the tags and bombs went off.

Chie barked and tugged Shin's pants leg then jumped to catch up with her owner.

Shin flinched from the explosion, but then slowly started following after his teammates, making slower progress than Chie. He had to walk in a straight line, and couldn't go to fast either, as he was still keeping hold of his jutsu.

Mitsukai reached the wall of fire before anyone else, but she had to keep a safe distance from the instense flames. She glanced up and down, back and forth, but saw no end to the massive wall.

Chie stopped and barked while she looked at Shin, she was watching for him to caught up to her and when he did, she went back to running towards Shizuko.

By now, Shizuko was making her way towards the giant wall of fire.

As Shizuko started getting closer, Mitsukai glanced over her shoulder and called out to her, "I don't know how to get through!"

Shin continued making his way towards his team, occasionally checking to make sure Chie was still in sight.

Shizuko stopped beside Mitsukai as soon as she caught up and she looked at the wall of fire and replied, "Then let's figure it out."

Chie barked while still running towards the girls.

Once Shin caught up, he called out, "Sensei!!!"

Mitsukai glanced between her teammates, rolled her eyes and covered her nose to block out the smell of burning.

Chie rushed over and jumped into Shizuko's arms which Shizuko lets her and they both stare at the wall of fire. Shizuko held an expression of curiosity and Chie held one of fear.

Mitsukai glanced around all the tags, but then barked at her teammates, "You guys are the smart ones, what are we supposed to do?"

Shin jumped to ahigher tree branch to get a good look at each of the tags from a bird's eye view.