Kazuo looked over Goro, who was now wide awake, with a small frown.
"I'm surprised he wasn't sent to us…" His frown turned into a smile though.
"But at least he was lucky enough to find you, neh?" The Inuzuka climbed to his feet and leant backwards, stretching out his back and arms with a loud groan. Koji went to move as well but Kazu just shook his head and waved the dog off. With a little more than a huff of annoyance at being brushed off, Koji went and curled into a ball by the fire, putting his head down to go to sleep. He was glad to be out of the village, Koji was far more relaxed out in the wilderness than he was in the village and Kazuo enjoyed it as well.
"You've really never slept under the stars before? Wow." Must be a Hyuuga thing.
"I used to sneak out of the house as a kid at a night, just to run about the woods at night, yaknow? Mum used to find me fast asleep in the most random places." With a chuckle and one final stretch, Kazuo offered Aina a wave.
"Give it a sec, you'll fall asleep in no time. I'm gonna go run the perimeter."
By the time the first rays of light could be seen breaking the horizon, the night had rolled over without incident and the group would be on the road once more. Once more they were travelling at speed, having to put everything into reaching the capital before the first of a series of meeting the Lady would have to attend over the course of the next five days. The information in their scroll gave the duo the location of a Konoha-maintained safe house where Yuzuki was currently being kept safe. The main roads that cut across Fire Country were littered with caravans and traders, growing more and more frequent as they got closer and closer to the capital.
The first thing Kazuo noticed was the massive wall extending off as far as the eye could see in either direction, connected to the even bigger gatehouse. The Inuzuka slowed his pace a little and let out a slow, impressed whistle.
"Those've gotta be as big as the walls back home. Maybe even bigger." Of course once he got over his awestruck state, he started sweeping the area with his eyes.
There was a line that went almost half a mile back of horse drawn caravans and farmers on foot, bringing their wares and foodstuffs to the capital to sell. The constant din of the chatter among the people, the occasional whinny or braying from horses and donkeys, and the crunching of the compact dirt road under foot and hoof and wheel was almost overwhelming to Kazuo's senses. Sure, Konoha was a busy little village, but that was mostly ninja constantly flying around with barely a whisper and a smaller number of civilians. And the forest surrounding the village was filled with animals, the constant hum of insects. The sounds of civilization were something one could call new to the Inuzuka.
As for the scents; they were coming from everywhere. All different kinds, it was impossible to pick out a particular one unless he was right up close to the source. Even Koji, whose nose was better than Kazuo's, was visibly having trouble dealing with so many people in such an area. Kazuo couldn't help it. He started grinning so wide it threatened to split his face in two.
"This place is awesome… I can't wait to get inside!"
Being shinobi lent the group a certain amount of privilege over the merchants and farmers. Bypassing the long queue, they could make their way to the massive gatehouse and simply needed to show their identification to the samurai guarding the gates to gain entry into the city. Inside the walls gave way to mile upon mile of roads and buildings and so many sights that Kazuo had seen back home but somehow seemed new and exciting. He was practically vibrating with the excitement he was trying to suppress when he turned to Aina.
"Alrighty then, which way was the rendezvous point?"
[OoC: Using this as a visual reference.]
