"I'd listen to them," Asuma said, voice turned wry even as his eyes sharpened on the horizon, "they have a very smart creator."

Tsume made another one of those noises, like a snort dragged through barbed wire; repeated strangling did nothing good for the voice. Asuma gave her half an automatic smile, caught the railing with his free hand when they reached it, and tried to get a navigational fix on a world with no landmarks and no stars.

At least the sun hadn't made it up to midday yet; he could get a rough idea of East.

Behind their shoulders, two clones hovered. Asuma didn't have to look at them to know they were trading significant glances. Carefully, he felt his way through raw and ravaged pathways until he could pick out the chakra links that connected him to his doppelgangers. They were faint and faded, weak after so many hours. He debated wasting more chakra to strengthen them, but decided against it. He'd already taken enough soldier pills.

"You want to sleep, darlin'? Looks like we've still got a few hours to go." And no plan beyond that. He squinted, trying to pick out anything identifiable on that distant coast. Beneath his arm, Tsume's whipcord body bled heat into skin that still wasn't entirely convinced it was awake. "Plus it's probably my turn to terrify our sailor buddies."

Quietly, one of the clones chuckled.