These masks were wonderful. Natsumi didn't even have to school her features to something approaching soldier-serious; she left the path and drifted whisper-silent up the wooded hill on Asuma's right flank, grinning ridiculously to herself. Just another of his cheesy lines, of course, but...

No one else could see her smile. She didn't have to justify it.

She had to concentrate, instead, as the path twisted its way up to the crest of the hill and the forest thinned. Genjutsu had never been her strong suit, but the unseen sniper worked best when he stayed unseen, or at least unnoticed. The lightning-struck bole of a massive pine gave her a moment's cover; she paused to unseal her longest bow, the powerful two-meter yumi, and to work one of her few effective genjutsu. When she ghosted into the open again, only someone staring directly at her would see more than fallen pine needles rustling in the breeze.

That was still no excuse for over-confidence. She hung back with an arrow to the string as Asuma crested the hill and strode through the dwindling trees onto an open plateau. The rising wind ripped gleefully at his embroidered robes; he bent his head and trudged on, silly hat bobbing. Natsumi followed him to the edge of the tree-line and hesitated again.

Fifty meters of bare, wind-torn rock, with no more cover than a few scrubby shrubs and stunted trees, stretched between the forest and the rim of the gorge. She could hear the river thundering below now, deeper and rougher than the wind tearing through the trees; it would be swollen and angry with melting snow. Thirty-five meters beyond the broken rim of the canyon, the other cliff reared up in grim granite. Only a thin thread of ropes and slats, swaying in the fierce wind, bridged the gap. A tall red torii gate bracketed the bridge on each side of the gorge; the old shrine crouched on the far side, humbled by its surroundings.

Natsumi bit her tongue. If Asuma was heading out on that bridge, she didn't blame him for not talking about it. How far below those weather-warped slats did the river run? Some falls even a ninja couldn't survive. And it only took one knife to cut four ropes...

"All right," she whispered to the broad shoulders bent against the wind. "You go out, and I'll make sure you come back." She squared her own shoulders, anchored her genjutsu, tested her bowstring, and set out for the canyon rim.