Last time:
"Runners! Take your marks!" the door in front of them slowly opened to reveal the ocean and some boats, "Go!"
Now:
Idate and Fukusuke take off immediately and Hanara whipped out her fan to follow from the air.
She stared at Team Seven, "What are you guys waiting for? Follow him! I'm going to be following from the sky so I can see traps."
Without a word, Team Seven ran off after Idate. And then they started screaming.
Hanara hurriedly flew to where they were running.
"You idiot! You were supposed to turn right! Not left!" Naruto yelled.
"Dobe, he wasn't supposed to turn at all!" Sasuke said.
Hanara scanned the area from above using her Kekkei Genkai.
"Actually," she told them, "He's taking a shortcut. Let's follow."
Their eyes widened and then they followed.
Hanara and the rest of her squad continued to chase after Idate, except now Team Seven was jumping on trees, while Hanara still was flying in the air. Soon, Idate was in a normal human's sight.
"Hey, Idate!" Naruto yelled, "The ocean's the other way!"
Hanara facepalmed, 'He doesn't listen to me at all!'
"You can forget about it! I'm not turning around!" Idate called back.
"Uzumaki! What about shortcut do you not get?" Hanara yelled.
"There isn't a shortcut! It wasn't on the map!" Naruto screamed at her.
"Of course it isn't on the map!" Sakura screamed, "Otherwise it wouldn't be much of an ace!"
Hanara sighed, 'This is Naruto we're talking about. He won't get it until Idate says it.'
Finally, all four of them caught up with Idate.
'This sucks. I can't go full speed because of them.'
"Hey! Wait up, will ya?" Naruto called, still running, "I know you want to win and all, but how will you if you go the wrong way?"
Hanara and Sakura facepalmed. Even Sasuke looked disappointed.
'I really want to punch Naruto...'
"NARUTO! HANARA TOLD YOU IT WAS A SHORTCUT TWICE!" Sakura screamed.
"Will you just shut up?" Idate growled, "I need to run and you guys aren't helping."
"What's with the attitude, pal?" Naruto asked.
"Shut up!"
"Watch out!" Sakura screamed suddenly.
Hanara focused and found the foreign chakra surrounding them.
'Genjutsu.'
"Release!" Hanara and Idate said in sync.
'How can Team 7 not see it? Two signs that Idate's got ninja training!'
"No! Don't go that way!" Sakura screamed.
Hanara scanned her surroundings and her eyes widened, "Release!"
'Double Genjutsu? That's seriously hard to pull off! We're up against some really skilled ninjas.'
"Sakura? What the heck is going on?" Naruto asked.
"We'll explain later!" Hanara yelled, creating some chakra threads, "Don't run after him, Sakura, I got this."
Idate fell off the edge of the cliff just as Hanara connected her chakra threads to him. She hurriedly pulled him onto the cliff beside Naruto, then got off her fan, and put it away.
'He's heavier than I thought he would be.'
"Man, I'm glad you learned those, Hanara," Sakura sighed.
"Yeah. The Sand's got some useful techniques." she nodded.
"Someone set up one Genjutsu on top of another." Sasuke muttered, "That's not easy to pull off."
"Our competition is skilled," Hanara agreed.
Beside them, Naruto glared at Idate, "You're not going to even thank us? You could've died!"
"Look, I didn't need your help, okay?" Idate snarled.
'Maybe not the best idea to leave him beside Naruto. We're wasting time like this! If we stop, it should be to make a game plan. All we know is that our enemy uses senbon and Genjutsu. Two very subtle things. I'm guessing that they suck at frontal attacks and prefer to spring traps. Well, from what I can tell, it's the opposite for this team, but we don't know what their rank is, what village they come from, or how many of them they have. They have the advantage, but once they engage us, it'll be easy for us to turn it on them... as long as they don't use Genjutsu on Naruto or Idate.'
Hanara turned to her team and Idate, only to see them in the middle of a fight.
'I can't leave 'em alone for one second!'
"Everyone, continue running, we're wasting time. From what I can tell, these ninja prefer to spring traps rather than confronting us outright, so stay alert. Naruto, for the last time, Idate is using a shortcut, let him be." Hanara said, "We need to hurry!"
Idate and Naruto glared at Hanara but complied. Hanara smiled, deactivated her Byakugan, and started to walk beside them. She can't be wasting too much chakra.
'At least they listen to me. Although, with Naruto, it's only after logic smacks him in the face three times.'
Soon, they make it to the port.
"I smell salt on the wind," Naruto said, inhaling.
"It's the ocean," Hanara informed him, remembering this port from the map.
"What's that out across the water?" Sakura asked.
"The halfway point," Idate answered, "Modoroki Shrine, over on Nagi Island. We can probably get there in an hour or so. One sec."
Idate ran over to the tiny hut on the edge of the forest, exchanged some words with the old man that answered, and got them a boat. Everyone got on the boat and Sasuke and started to steer after Hanara and Idate set up the sails.
A little while later, they were completely surrounded by blue. Idate stood at the front of the boat while the four ninja worked the ship.
"Pst, Naruto, Hanara. What do you think?" Sakura whispered to Naruto and Hanara.
"About what?" Hanara asked.
"About Idate," Sakura said, looking at said boy.
"I mean, he's not an ordinary guy." Sakura started, "His speed is extraordinary. He probably received some training from a shinobi village."
'Huh. I guess she wasn't top kunoichi for nothing. At least someone here is using their head. Still, I feel bad for the guy. Obviously, something horrible must have happened that made him leave the village. His brother is Ibiki Morino, an extremely loyal Leaf shinobi. Idate's loyalty to Jirocho is unwavering and Jirocho is something like a Hokage for this village. Idate was likely once as loyal to the Leaf. No one defects without a reason. His hatred of ninjas is proof that something happened.'
Naruto broke the silence once he realized that Sakura wasn't joking.
"Get real! There's no way that blockhead is a ninja!" he laughed.
Sakura growled, "Like you have room to talk! Last time I checked, you were the reigning king of stupid, Naruto!"
"Well, yeah, but come on! I did make it to the final round of the Chunin Exams! That has to count for something!" Naruto said, "If it weren't for Orochimaru, I would have won the tournament and gotten a promotion!"
Hanara sighed, "For you to become Chunin, you have to smarten up a bit. Look, there's a reason Shikamaru and I were the only ones promoted. Every round counts. It's not about beating your opponents, it's about showing your thinking skills along with your fighting skills. You need to prove that you're good enough physically and mentally, like that motto on the second exam said."
Idate snorted, "If that blond made it all the way through, your proctors must have been real pushovers. Sounds like the Chunin Exams have lowered their standards."
'Something happened to him then? It would make sense.'
Idate covered his mouth in shock.
'Even more likely.'
Sasuke joined the conversation, "I remember now. Idate Morino."
"Took you long enough," Hanara said.
Sakura growled, "You knew from the start, didn't you"
"Well, of course I did." Hanara laughed, "I mean, it was obvious. Ibiki Morino was our proctor for the first exams and Ino knows him because her father the head of the Analysis Department of the T&I, which Ibiki is the head of."
"I-Ibiki Morino?" Idate asked, "My brother's alive?"
'I covered for you, dumbass!'
"Yes, he's alive, Idate." Hanara sighed, "Although now he has some scars and burns."
Idate flinched.
'So Ibiki must have gotten them around Idate. Maybe when he defected?'
"He threw us such a curveball," Naruto laughed, "That tenth question."
"Seriously?" Idate asked, disbelievingly, "He's alive?"
"One would think you'd be happy," Hanara grumbled.
She heard something coming at them and pushed Idate out of the way, turning on her Byakugan without hand-seals.
'Shouldn't have lowered my guard.'
"Now what?" Naruto groaned.
"Ambush," Sasuke growled.