Hope you enjoyed chapter 3!
4: Come to me now, slowly
Sakura stepped out of the hokage's mansion and bumped into Kakashi. She looked up at her former sensei who lowered his book to see her.
"Oh, hello Sakura," Kakashi greeted, waving a hand. "We thought we'd meet you up here so we can get going."
"Oh ok..." Sakura answered, straightening out her black gloves. "Did Sai and Naruto meet up with you also?"
Kakashi nodded. "And we all came to see you. Are you ready to go?"
Sakura could still remember the sadness in Tsunade's face and almost felt guilty about leaving her. But, she was the hokage and could handle herself. "Mhm. I'm ready now more than ever."
Kakashi gave a nod before turning to face Sai and Naruto, who had been leaning against a wall nearby. "Let's go find Sasuke."
Naruto grinned as Sakura joined his side.
"Let's do this, dattebayo!"
Team 7 set off as fast as they could.
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Sasuke turned to face the wind as the leaves were torn from the branches. He smirked as he tied chakra strings round two trees. This was a basic trap that would set off a herd of kunai to come flying at the one who stood on the string. It would at least slow them down so Sasuke and his team could capture them. By rank, Sasuke had figured Kakashi would be leading the squad with Naruto close behind. 'And Sakura will be the one scanning the area for gen jutsu as she can spot them the easiest, apart from Kakashi.' Sasuke was unsure of Sai's strengths for the team, but he assumed that Sai's specialty was sensing traps as he was part of the ANBU once.
"Juugo, you need to be faster than that," Sasuke scolded.
Juugo nodded as he hastily began setting up more traps. "Sasuke, the net is set up, are we done?"
Sasuke activated his sharingan before scanning the area. "That should be enough. Any trap they set off will alert us and we'll know they're here." Sasuke's eyes turned to their usual shade of oynx. He turned round to face the earthy shadows. 'Hn...they're coming...'
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Sakura flipped onto a tree branch and swung over another as she caught up with Naruto and Kakashi. Sai remained silent, hanging somewhere near the back, looking around him suspiciously.
"Sakura, I'm going to go ahead to scan the area for any gen jutsu traps, can you search the area for any other traps?" Kakashi asked her, sliding his headband onto his forehead so that his sharingan eye was visible.
Sakura nodded as Kakashi went off ahead. Sakura began searching the area, jumping off to the side and scanning quickly with her bright green eyes. Nothing yet. But she felt a slight unease about the area.
"Naruto!" She said suddenly, jumping to his side. "Do you feel that?"
"Yeah, the air has changed, I'm sensing a lot of chakra ahead," Naruto said, gazing at his pink haired friend.
Sakura gave a nod as she looked over at Sai. "Sai? What do you think?"
Sai stared at Sakura for a moment, before averting his gaze ahead of him. "We will be bumping into other shinobi soon."
Sakura also looked ahead of her, her pink hair blowing around her face. 'Is it...Sasuke?'
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Karin opened her eyes wide. "Sasuke, they're close."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he leapt up on a branch. 'So...it is team 7 for sure...' "I'm going for Naruto, you go for the others. Watch for Kakashi and remember to capture one for information. But I warn Kakashi will not be easy to get ahold of."
Suigetsu grinned as he clenched the hilt of his sword.
"Suigetsu, are you well enough to do this?" Sasuke asked.
Suigetsu grinned. "Don't worry about me Sasuke, that ain't your place. I'm thinking of going for that Kakashi guy...he went up against Zabuza. It will be nice to look into the eyes of Zabuza's killer..."
Sasuke frowned. "Kakashi was not responsible for his death, merely for his defeat. A mob killed Zabuza in his weakest state, that's all."
Suigetsu raised a brow at Sasuke's reply. "Hm, don't tell me you're defending the old man?"
"I'm merely stating the truth. Kakashi is skilled, don't underestimate him," Sasuke warned. "Kakashi seems to be further ahead than the rest of them. Watch yourself Suigetsu. Let's go guys."
Karin and Juugo jumped off in different directions as Sasuke hunted down Naruto.
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The rain fell heavily, flooding the abyss below.
"Pain..."
The leader turned round to face Konan, his hypnotic eyes narrowing. "What is it?"
"Has Tobi come back yet?"
Pain was about to reply when a shadow appeared behind him.
"I am back now," Tobi said, the hood covering his face. "But I will be making my way out, I need...to test something."
Pain nodded to this as he turned to face Tobi. "We're not ready for him yet, remember that."
"You don't need to tell me that...but we are ready for the Uchiha's power," Tobi said, his sharingan eye like a burning garnet behind his mask.
Pain widened his eyes a fraction at this. "You think so?"
"That boy has power, and we need it now."
Konan pursed her lips. "We're not ready for the kyuubi yet..."
"It's better we have Sasuke before he knows what we're up to, hn..." Tobi turned to face the rain. "I make my leave now..."
Pain gave a nod. "Come back with the necessary information."
"Oh...don't worry, I will..." Tobi leapt off into the rain, leaving raindrops smashing into the ground where he once stood.
"Sometimes he can be so ruthless-you sure he won't end up killing the kid Pain?" Konan asked.
"No, Madara knows what he's doing..." Pain glared at the grey sky in front of him. The earth was getting darker. He smiled...
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Sakura stared upwards in the huddle of trees in front of her. 'What is that?' A glimmer of silver caught itself in the sun and she gasped before grabbing ahold of Naruto's collar and pulling him back.
"Naruto, wait!" She released his collar as he stared at her in surprise.
"What is it?" Naruto asked as Sai caught up with them.
Sakura frowned. "There's a trap up there, we should make our way cautiously through this area. Try and avoid the ground as much as possible."
Naruto nodded in agreement as they set off once again, this time more slowly. Sakura could only wonder if Kakashi had fallen into any traps.
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Sasuke watched from a distance, his expression showed amusement. They had avoided the trap, all thanks to Sakura. He smirked. 'If I am to catch Naruto I need them to be separated...well, the most important trap of all should help with that one.' He leapt off.
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Sai sniffed the air, before wrinkling his nose. "I detect smoke in the air..."
Kakashi appeared from the left of them then, joining Naruto's side. "No gen jutsu traps in the area, but I've got several weaponry traps set up in the forest, but some I can't detect. I think the hunters have just become the hunted..."
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.
"Hey Sai, that smoke you smelled, is it a campfire?" Naruto asked.
Sai shook his head. "No, it's..." They all stared down and widened their eyes.
"Paperbomb!"
The paperbomb exploded, sending team 7 in different directions.
Team Hebi's plan was a success. The team had come to them.