Chapter Three: The Pursuit
Sakura, meanwhile, had been having a terrible time.
No sooner had they graduated and Naruto ran away with Hinata. The whole village started scrambling. Soon they were fast-tracked to their assigned Jonin sensei and brought before the Hokage with another team of genin. And they were told they would begin searching for Naruto.
Why Naruto?
It turned out he was the Nine-tailed Fox, which would explain why he was so immature and reckless. But then there had been the other data on his file. Sakura realized he'd been the son of Minato Namikaze the whole time. And she'd always been berating and hitting him.
Then it got worse
Neji Hyuga volunteered to go search farther afield for Hinata and Naruto, just in case they had run away. And his team had agreed, and then Kiba and Shino had volunteered. Shikamaru and Ino had done it too, and Sasuke had wanted to go too. At first, Sakura thought she'd just be taking a short trip.
But Team Guy, who had been genin for a year, stopped for nothing. They moved over rock and tree at a relentless pace. And it was all they could do to keep up. As Sakura followed, she quickly realized she was the physically weakest. Ino, her rival, was keeping up just fine, but Sakura could hardly stay at the back.
Soon she was drenched in sweat, her hair was a mess, and nobody said anything to her beyond telling her to keep up. So she ran and ran, and every so often, she'd have to run harder than the others to bridge the gap. The only reason she hadn't been left behind was that Kiba would, now and then, stoop low to check for tracks.
"They came this way. Come on," said Kiba, grinning.
"You're a pretty good tracker, aren't he?" asked Ino.
"I'm an Inuzuki, and I'm not letting Hinata get caught wilderness without any help, now come on!" said Kiba. "Anything, Shino?"
"Nothing," said Shino, long coat slowing around him as his insects entered his body. "They must be very far away from us by now. The trail is cold."
"How are they so far ahead of us?" asked Choji, who was just ahead of Sakura.
"Naruto must be drawing on the power of the nine-tailed fox," noted Kakashi Hatake, tall with white hair and a mask. "It manifests in times of high stress."
"Why is he under high stress?" asked Sakura. This was just a stupid prank, right? "I mean, he can't know we're following, can he?"
"Hinata may be observing us with her Byakugan," noted Kurenai-sensei. She was a tall, beautiful woman with long brown hair and long legs. "Neji, did she see you?"
Neji narrowed his eyes as he scanned for his cousin. "I don't know.
"But I do know that if this assembly had not been arranged. Tenten, Lee, and I would have overtaken them long ago." He'd been more annoyed than anyone at them tagging along.
Why were they out here? They hadn't even had a field training exercise yet.
"No need to be anti-social, Neji!" said Rock Lee. "There is no challenge we can beat alone that cannot be done better with companions!"
"With companions like as Sakura, who needs a challenge?" said Ino. "Sakura, will you hurry up! You're dragging us down!"
And Sakura realized she'd been lagging behind and kept on running. It was getting harder, though. Meanwhile, the others didn't seem to be slowing at all. So it continued for the rest of the day and the day after that. All hopes that they'd overtake Naruto, or he'd come back apologizing were dashed.
When Sakura had learned she'd been assigned to the same squad as Sasuke, she couldn't believe her luck. Better still, they were together except for the Jonin. But she'd had no time to gloat, nothing but the briefing of introductions to her sensei, and then off they went. They'd hardly said two words to one another, and Sasuke hardly said anything at all normally.
Instead, there had just been this.
Endless, grueling travel, and where the others talked among one another, none of them talked to her. Not except to tell her to hurry up. Sasuke was at the front, and Kakashi-sensei was running the place. Shikamaru could be seen talking with Ino and Choji about capture strategies. Neji, Tenten, and Lee were clearly well-coordinated. And Kiba and Shino were relentless together, and everyone talked to them.
"This isn't like Hinata at all, Kakashi," said Kurenai-sensei. Then Sakura realized she could have said that. "She'd never have rushed ahead like this on her own if Naruto had asked him to come, maybe.
"But why is he so deadset on leaving the village?"
"Yeah, I'd have expected Naruto to give up by now and find something better to do," noted Ino. "He doesn't exactly have a long attention span."
"Yeah," said Choji. "Why is he so deadset on leaving?"
"It does seem contrary to his character," noted Shino.
"You're his schoolmates, you tell us," said Asuma-sensei, who was a bearded man.
"...Asuma-sensei, I don't think this is going to work," said Choji, who had been thinking. "Naruto is keeping way ahead of us. We've been going as fast as we can, with no breaks except for sleep and meals. Not even snacks. Even if we manage to catch up to him, he might just slip by."
"Do you think the kid is smart enough for that?" asked Asuma, in surprise.
Sakura could have told him that.
"Naruto is smart enough to pull a lot of pranks," said Kiba. "And with Hinata, he'll always see us coming.
"The Byakugan has a limited range, and when Hinata sees Neji, Neji sees Hinata. But if they were to circle past us, they could get us to overshoot them. It's a trick I was taught for fooling the Byakugan."
Sakura pumped her legs and reached near Sasuke, wanting to be heard. "Sasuke, what do you think?"
"I don't care how fast he runs," said Sasuke. "Naruto is not going to keep this up.
"Why did you have to volunteer us for this, Kakashi?" Shouldn't he call him Kakashi-sensei?
"Well, Neji volunteered; the other teams wanted to help," said Kakashi-sensei. "I thought it could make an excellent training exercise. Sakura, are you holding up okay?"
Sakura knew this was her moment to impress him. "Yes, yes, Kakashi-sensei. I can... keep up."
"Good to hear," said Kakashi, and then he looked to Shikamaru. "Shikamaru, what were you saying?"
Shikamaru paused. "I'm thinking here.
"Choji is right; it's no good doing a direct pursuit anymore. If Naruto was going to give up because he got tired, he would have done it by now. Right now, we have four teams.
"But we're only covering a fraction of the terrain we could.
"If Naruto and Hinata veer off like this, we'd miss them. But if a team was nearby when they did so, it could be a good opportunity to catch him."
"Shikamaru is right," noted Kakashi. "But to make this work, we'll have to rearrange the teams a bit. Neji, you should be reassigned to my squad. Guy, you and your team should rush on ahead as quickly as you can and see if you can overtake them."
"No problem, Kakashi. We know a thing or two about tracking, even without Neji," said Guy-sensei. "Students, show the power of your youth with your wilderness survival training!"
"YES, GUY-SENSEI!" said Tenten and Lee.
And then they shot off like a meteor.
Except they had all been moving at top speed, and Sakura felt all the weaker.
"Good," said Kakashi. "Asuma, your team should take a position in the leftmost position; my own will take a right. Kurenai, Shino, and Kiba should be sent to the right or the left; we need a tracker in each one.
"We'll create an encompassing net. Remember what you've been taught. Even if this doesn't pan out, it should be good practice."
"Where do you want me?" asked Sakura.
"Where do you think you'd be best placed?" asked Kakashi.
Sakura thought about how she could help with this, but she was so tired that she couldn't think of anything. Distantly, she remembered picking flowers with Ino. They'd been best friends for a while, but Ino had liked Sasuke too. So they had to become rivals.
"I'll go wherever you say," said Sakura.
"Oh good," said Kakashi. "Fall in with Sasuke and Neji."
And off they went on their own mission. Sakura had hoped things would get easier, but they actually got even more difficult. Neji and Sasuke were two of the strongest people in the group. Before they'd checked their pace for Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji, those three, in turn, had checked their pace for Sakura.
Now though, she found herself running faster and faster in exhaustion. And Sasuke sent her several demanding expressions, which prompted her to go faster. By now, her clothes were covered in mud from days of breakneck pace. Her hair was a mess, and she had no energy to comb it when they slept.
Neji, though, kept quite neat, and his hair remained as lustrious. He seemed quite used to this kind of operation. But he and Sasuke hardly paid her any heed, and Kakashi rarely did more than order a slowdown now and then. Sakura made a point never to ask.
"So, um, you're a member of the Hyuga Clan, right? Hinata's cousin," said Sakura, trying to distract herself.
"That seems a statement of the obvious," said Neji.
"I guess you must be worried about Hinata. I'm sorry Naruto put her up to this," said Sakura, trying to make conversation. Apologizing for Naruto was a job the class as a whole had given her.
Only something was different now that he was gone.
"What makes you think it wasn't Hinata herself?" asked Neji, seeming annoyed.
Sakura, before she could stop herself, started talking. "It's always Naruto. He's always causing trouble and problems, and everyone knew he'd never make it fairly. That's why he made a run for it and took poor Hinata with him."
Neji seemed to be irritated by this statement, but Sakura didn't get why. "Were you friends with Hinata?"
"Well, I guess, sort of. We were in the same class," said Sakura, pleased at the attention. "You know, I think the problem with Naruto is that he doesn't know what he is doing. He doesn't have a family, y'know, you teach him right from wrong.
"He's all alone."
Dead silence overtook the group, and Sasuke nearly missed a step as he halted. Sakura halted, and he stiffened. "Alone. Isolated. You have-"
"Enough," said Neji, backtracking. "Sasuke Uchiha, we are in the middle of a mission. We have no time to waste on childish bickering. Settle your personal grievances when you are not being paid to do a job."
Sasuke looked at him, then glared at Sakura. "Fine."
Oh, right, Sasuke had his entire family murdered when his brother went psychotic. Okay, that had probably been a misstep but-
"Smooth Sakura," said Kakashi in amusement. "Very smooth.
"You've managed to insult everyone on your team while punching down at the person you are trying to rescue."
"What do you..." began Sakura.
"Well, Sasuke's backstory ought to have needed no introduction," said Kakashi. "Itachi Uchiha went insane one day and killed his own family, everyone except Sasuke. My Father committed suicide when I was very young, and my Mother died in childbirth. I eventually found a new family before most of them died horribly.
"At the same time, Neji's mother died in childbirth. All while the Cloud executed his Father as a sacrificial pawn to avoid a war. He was then branded with a tattoo on his forehead, which doubles as a slave brand.
"And you, ordinary girl, have managed to hit every single sore spot for every person on this team. It's quite impressive, really."
"I didn't know!" said Sakura.
"I know," said Kakashi. "That's what makes it so funny. Let's go."
"Why do you find it funny?" asked Sakura.
"You don't get called 'Friendkiller Kakashi' easily. It takes having a black sense of humor," laughed Kakashi. "Might want to keep your mouth shut for a bit."
For the next few days, Sakura kept her mouth shut and stayed toward the back. She found that she did not have as hard a time keeping up. It was miserable, bitter work, but she was becoming used to the labor. Contact was kept between the teams by Shino's insects ferrying messages between them.
Soon enough, they came out of the trees and onto the road. And here, Neji led them to six unconscious, scarred men. Kakashi kneeled by them. "These look to be bandits, still living. Someone defeated them.
"Two people, I think.
"See here, no marks, or bruises. These were defeated by gentle fist. And these ones' by something much less gentle. These tracks are those of a cart, and there are footfalls here.
"Yet only here.
"I guess, so far as I know, that Naruto and Hinata hitched a ride with a caravan. Bandits then attacked them and were defeated. They then moved on."
"Then whoever is in charge of this caravan knows they are ninja," guessed Sakura.
"Why help them?" asked Sasuke.
"I doubt an ordinary person would question their business," said Kakashi. "You don't ask questions of a heavily armed ninja who asks for help."
"So they've hijacked it?" said Sakura.
"I doubt it," said Kakashi. "Both are capable of henging. Or do you think Hinata and Naruto the kind of hijack a caravan?"
Sakura considered how to answer it. "Well, I mean, I think Naruto might if he was under bad influence. But not Hinata.
"I mean, he did manipulate her into leaving her family and abandoning the village."
"You seem to think you know a great deal for someone who saw nothing," said Neji.
"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Sakura. "I mean, Naruto did do all that, didn't he? Convince Hinata into abandoning all her friends? And he was always a troublemaker.
"He was constantly vandalizing property, and Hinata would never-"
"Enough, you three," said Kakashi. "Sasuke, you may want to observe what I do next here. It concerns your heritage." Then he put a hand to one of the thugs, pulled him up, and the man opened his eyes.
"What the..." began the man.
Kakashi pulled a headband up. "I want answers."
The man's eyes widened as he saw the red eyes. "Yes, of course."
"Your group, what happened here," said Kakashi.
"Tried to ambush a merchant, get his stuff back to the boss. He'd reward us big," said the bandit.
"Where is this boss? How many of you are there?" asked Kakashi.
"Dozens of us," said the bandit. "We make good work hijacking caravans from foreigners. Local lords don't care, so long as their own merchants don't get rubbed out. Cuts down on the competition."
"Which direction?" asked Kakashi.
"Out that was, near the peak of the hill," said the man.
"Who leads you?" asked Kakashi.
"A samurai named Akas. He's very strong," said the man.
"I see," said Kakashi. "Thank you." Then he snapped the man's neck and let him fall dead to the ground.
"You..." Sakura stared at a corpse where once there had been a human being. "Killed him."
"Yes," said Kakashi, standing up. "And it will not be the only death today—ordinarily, ninja work by commission. But a bandit gang this large is something we ought to deal with. I will signal the others.
"You three, finish these off."
"You want us to kill them?" asked Sakura. This was happening so soon and suddenly.
At the same time, Neji's kunai flashed, and two throats were cut, spewing out blood.
"Of course," said Kakashi. "These are murderers and criminals, Sakura. If they are allowed to continue operating, they will kill others. A ninja must sometimes end life.
"This is an opportunity to get rid of your hangups before things get bad."
"Right, of course," said Sakura, drawing her kunai and halting.
But by then, Sasuke had already killed two of them quite efficiently. Sakura shuddered and moved over to the last living one. "I..."
"Sakura, imagine that this man has just killed all your friends and family," said Kakashi. "Then remember that he and his friends have probably done just that for somebody. And they'll do it again if you don't strike."
"Yes," said Sakura, gulping.
Then she plunged the knife into his throat. She'd known that ninja killed, that she'd have to kill someday. She hadn't expected it to happen so soon. Drawing out the knife, she stared at the kunai sadly.
"You did that very easily, Uchiha," said Neji.
"I saw more death than you ever did when I was eight," replied Sasuke.
Neji laughed at this statement, and Sakura saw Sasuke's eyes go cold. "I've spent the last year hunting these kinds of criminals. Guy-sensei gives us practical work. I've seen far more of them and their victims die than everyone who lived in the Uchiha complex.
"You do not know what you are talking about."
"Maybe I should kill your entire family and see how you like it," said Sasuke.
"Go right ahead," said Neji instantly.
And he walked on past, pausing only to wipe his kunai on the ground. Sasuke stared after him, eyes wide. It was the first time Sakura had seen Sasuke genuinely shocked. Neji had openly dared him to do the same thing.
But something was up; Neji had said that instantly. It didn't seem like a comeback or bluff calling. But then why had he been so deadset on coming after Hinata? He'd seemed pretty upset when everyone else volunteered.
Yet now, he wasn't in a hurry at all.
What was up here?
"You really mean that..." said Sasuke. "You actually-"
Whatever response Sasuke might have had was never said. Out of the trees came the others.
Kurenai was in the lead, and Asuma was bringing up the rear. Team Guy came a little later.
"Kakashi, you signaled?" asked Kurenai.
"Yes, we've found a large group of bandits that need wiping out," said Kakashi. "Ordinarily, I'd just file a report, but this also seems like a good opportunity for some practice.
"We also know which way Naruto and Hinata have gone. They are in the company of a merchant and are taking the roads. So we might just be able to overtake them."
"Shouldn't someone head on the road after them, though?" asked Kiba. "We don't want to lose the trail."
"There's no need, Kiba," said Asuma. "I know this road; it winds. I found a major engagement up on this hill. We can cut off a large leg of it by cutting across the path."
"My team ought to keep on the path and circle around," said Guy-sensei. "We might find signs of Naruto coming off it."
"Neji should stay with us," noted Kakashi. "A Byakugan could be of invaluable use against the bandits and will help find them anyway. And I've been finding his interactions with my students very amusing.
"Kiba, you're with us too."
"Hard luck, huh," said Kiba.
"It's of no consequence," said Neji. "This kind of job is routine."
And off the road, they went, following Kiba's nose uphill through the trees. This part of the forest was old, very old. Sakura saw the trees reach higher than anywhere she'd been in before. There was a kind of earthy scent, and several streams were descending.
She'd have liked the place, but the memory of killing that man bothered her. It had happened so easily, once she'd tried to do it.
"Kiba, can you smell anything?" asked Shikamaru.
"I smell a lot of people, up this way. Follow me; their trails go this way often," said Kiba.
"Neji," said Kakashi. "Keep an eye out and tell us when you see them."
And up they went, further and further. Sakura followed once again at the back, no longer struggling to keep up. Only, instead of getting mocking commentary from Ino or the others, now there was just nothing. No one said anything to her.
No one said anything to each other, either. But there were glances between them that showed a kind of bond. Now and then, people looked to her to make sure she was keeping up, and that was it.
"Anything?" asked Kakashi as Neji stopped.
"Yes, I see them," said Neji. "It's a fortified settlement, ringed by a wooden wall. There are a few archers and also a man with a katana. He carries himself like a trained fighter, but his men seem to be former militia at best."
"Not all samurai went to the Land of Iron, it seems," noted Kurenai.
"I hope it's not someone I know," said Asuma. "We holed up in a place very similar to the one ahead and thought it would be good for a long-term camp."
"What now?" asked Choji.
"Kurenai, Asuma, I want you and to take your team up that way," said Kakashi. "Ino, you'll take out the sentries with kunai. Choji will use his clan's human boulder attack to level the wall. Once done, Shino will send his insects in to devour the bandits while they try to plug the breach.
"Once that is done, you'll retreat, and Shikamaru will cover you with his shadow possession.
"My team will be on standby in case anything gets out of hand."
"Why am I being kept out of the action?" asked Sasuke hotly.
"Because your skills are best suited as a reserve force," said Kakashi. "Besides, you've already made your kill. Let the others get theirs."
"What about the Jonin?" asked Sakura.
"Asuma, Kurenai, and I will be providing moral support," said Kakashi. "And also intervene if things get too out of hand. Neji, you're on the lookout."
"Of course," said Neji.
"Are you sure about this Kakashi?" asked Kurenai.
"They received all the same training we did, and they are older than we were," said Kakashi. "Besides, they've come a long way without complaint. Let's give them a chance to show their stuff."
And most of them hurried up. Kakashi-sensei walked up a tree branch and hung from beneath it by his foot. Sakura shifted as Neji stood by, and Sasuke was staring at him.
"You were serious before, weren't you?" said Sasuke.
"What are you talking about?" asked Neji.
Why be evasive now?
"Um, maybe-" began Sakura.
But both of them just looked at her, and Sakura fell silent, wilting. Neji then kept focused on the area above. Sasuke, meanwhile, checked his kunai. Sakura checked her gear and confirmed she had anything, then raised a mirror. Her hair, carefully combed, was tangled and a mess. Her outfit was mud-stained from nonstop travel, and she had many minor bruises and scrapes.
She looked worse than the others. So she put the mirror away.
And then they got back, and the others looked a bit ill.
"...Well?" asked Kakashi.
"Mission accomplished," said Asuma. "We won."
"You don't sound happy," noted Kakashi.
"I knew the samurai," said Asuma. "Old war buddy who fell on hard times. Had to put him down."
"Well, that is a risk we take," said Kakashi. "Good job, everyone."
"But we didn't do anything," said Sakura.
"Yes, well, that sometimes happens in war," said Kakashi. "Every so often, you end up in a reserve force, but nobody ever needs the reserve. Other times you get posted in someplace that never gets attacked.
"But somebody has to man the post, or the enemy could just walk in unopposed."
"Come on, Team Guy should be waiting for us on the other side," said Kurenai.
"Right," said the rest.
And they all hurried off.
Choji looked noticeably upset, as did Shikamaru. Ino seemed bothered, and Sakura wondered if she should approach her. After all, they were rivals, and they'd been friends before. "Um, Ino, did things go okay?"
"I don't see how it's any of your business, Sakura," said Ino flatly. Then she put a hand on Choji. "Choji, you okay?"
"I crushed a man to death, Ino," said Choji miserably. "I felt him break beneath me."
"I know, but..." said Ino. "These guys were bandits Choji, and we are ninja. We're supposed to do this kind of stuff.
"I mean, I got two of them with my kunai. So I'm more guilty than you."
"Ino, are you okay?" asked Shikamaru.
"Yes, I'm fine," said Ino.
Sakura noticed the difference.
It was a clear double standard but why. Ino noticed her expression. "Sakura, what are you so upset about? You weren't even in the fighting."
Sakura felt anger bubbling. "Shut up, Ino! I had to kill a helpless man!"
"So you had to do half the work," said Choji. "So what?"
"Ino, Sakura, not now," said Asuma. "It gets easier. First, you have to will yourself to do it the first time, but it gets easier."
"Kakashi, are you sure this was a good idea?" asked Kurenai.
"They are ninja, and we're going to be having a war sooner or later," said Kakashi. "Death is going to be a big part of their life. Better to let them get the hangups out of their system now against an easy target when we can save them.
"Or would you rather their first kill happen in some dark wood, far from help, where we aren't around to bail them out."
"No," said Kurenai. "But this was too soon. We didn't even have the chance to give them the bell test.
"Kiba, are you alright?"
What was the bell test?
"I... I smelled their blood everywhere Kurenai-sensei. We completely destroyed them; they didn't even put up a fight," said Kiba. "We might as well have been tailed beasts for most of them.
"That guy who tried to take Ino captive. I could smell his fear."
"My insects ate well today," said Shino.
"How can you be so calm?" asked Ino.
"Things die all the time," said Shino. "My insects devour them often.
"I'm more used to it than you."
"Well, I've read-" began Sakura.
"Not now, Sakura," said Ino in irritation.
What was going on here?
Nobody had ever treated Sakura like this before. And they didn't know about her blunder with Sasuke and Neji. She hadn't done anything to deserve this kind of treatment!
"Ugh, at least Hinata wasn't around here," said Kiba. "Though I guess she did make Sakura's kill for her, so maybe she was. Hey, Neji, what was it like for you?" Why was everyone acting this way?
"I don't remember," admitted Neji.
"You don't?" asked Ino.
"It was a bandit, or an assassin or something to that effect," said Neji. "I believe that Tenten, Lee, and I were tasked with clearing out a forest of brambles near a town around here. While we were at it, we spotted three wanted men. They'd been robbing caravans and were quite feared.
"But they forgot to set a watch that night.
"Guy-sensei had us seize them in their sleep, and we escorted them back to the Lord for judgment. On his orders, we executed them and were rewarded with the bounty."
"That doesn't seem like the sort of thing your sensei would do. He seemed so goofy," said Ino.
"Looks can be deceiving, Ino. A ninja must see through deception," said Kakashi.
"Kakashi is right, you know, Guy is the greatest taijutsu master in the Leaf, and he is a veteran of many battles," said Asuma. "There are very few people out there who could survive in close combat with him."
"Could you?" asked Shikamaru.
"I think I'd hold my own decently," said Asua. "But seven times out of ten, I'd probably lose in a fair fight. I'd probably have to get creative and surprise attack him or something."
"Did you get any of them, Shikamaru?" asked Sasuke.
"I uh, held a bunch of them in place, but I didn't exactly have time for hand-to-hand combat," said Shikamaru.
"Well, maybe next time, kid," said Asuma. "Something to work on."
But...
But Sasuke hadn't done anything more than Sakura had what had come over everyone! Yes, Sasuke had better grades, but Sakura had graduated fairly. She had better grades than Shikamaru and Choji. Although she supposed they were of noble lineage, as was Ino, and the others. Sakura was of common stock, a second-generation immigrant from Suna.
So what had changed? No one ever treated this way toward her since before she met Ino? Were they working through the stress of the mission? Why had she gotten set with the role of the dumping ground for everyone's frustrations?
"I don't even know why Naruto ditched this place," said Kiba. "Hinata probably left with him. But he's obviously got some skills if he's kept us running like this.
"If he'd put this much work into the academy, he'd be rivaling Sasuke."
"Yeah, it does kind of seem like this is a lot of unnecessary work," said Shikamaru.
"Maybe he felt like he needed a vacation," said Choji.
"Typical Naruto," said Ino, but there was no real anger in it.
Rivaling Sasuke.
As opposed to Sakura, who had equaled Sasuke's accomplishments on this mission, but no, the moment Naruto leaves, everyone starts singing his praises. And Sakura was here, following at the back, being run ragged.
"Sakura, will you stop staring into space with that stupid look on your face," said Ino. "You're slowing the group-"
"You can't do this!" shouted Sakura. "You can't treat me like Naruto!"
The shout came out of her mouth before she could say it.
Dead silence as everyone stared. No one said anything or came to any sudden revelations about their treatment of her. Eventually, Ino considered it and shrugged. "Well yeah, what do you expect? You're a really unlikable person."
"Kinda," said Choji.
"This is kind of a drag to say, but, yeah," said Shikamaru.
"Totally," said Kiba.
"Absolutely," said Sasuke.
"But... why?" said Sakura.
"Fine," said Ino. "I'll tell you;
"You were nothing before I met you. Everyone was always bullying you, and you were a total pariah. I took you under my wing, helped you learn to talk to people, and introduced you to everyone.
"You repair me by breaking off years of friendship to pursue your crush on Sasuke. You used me as a stepping stone to climb socially."
"That's not true. I..." Sakura halted.
"And then when Naruto got exactly the same treatment you did," said Choji. "You treated him worse than everyone else. I mean, yeah, we found him annoying sometimes but only when he pulled pranks. We had to stay after school because of him sometimes.
"He never actually did anything to you, and you hit him several times."
"You never said anything about this before!" said Sakura.
"We didn't really think of it," said Kiba. "I mean, you're rivalry with Ino was never actually important. Realistically speaking, you don't stand a chance. All you've got is academic learning, and you've slacked on the physical aspect."
"None of which would be relevant if you weren't dragging down the mission," said Neji. "We would have made considerably better time had you washed out. Your determination to never give up has slowed us down a great deal. If you had just backed out, we might have been done by now.
"And unlike the others, you don't bring anything to the table. They've been using this mission to put their training to the test. You've been using it to retrain in skills you ought to already have."
"Also, Naruto is the Nine-tails Jinchuuriki and the son of the Fourth Hokage," said Shikamaru. "Which means the way you've been treating him could have gotten us all killed years ago. And, it's no stretch to say that if you'd been nice to him, this never would have happened."
"But... none of you ever treated him any better," said Sakura.
"Sure," said Choji. "But he wasn't approaching us every single day like he was you. And Shikamaru, Kiba, and I got on just fine with him most of the time. I mean, we weren't close, but I didn't dislike him.
"And we never physically hit him."
"It's very simple, Sakura," said Ino. "Naruto was at the bottom of the social hierarchy for stuff he didn't do. Now that he's gone, you've taken his place for the stuff you did do.
Sakura stared and looked to Sasuke, hoping for some kind of vindication. But he just shrugged. "You're nothing to me but another vapid fangirl."
Sakura felt her dreams shatter and felt utterly dead. Silence reigned.
"...That was brutal," said Asuma.
"I should-" began Kurenai.
"Maybe we should just move on and handle the emotional later," said Kakashi. "We are on a mission."
And they did move on.
Sakura followed mutely behind, trying to give up. She imagined she could have given up; no one would have stopped her. But she was not slowing down the mission any further, and she might be of help. It was the only way she could redeem herself.
Sasuke hated her.
Everyone did. They just hadn't realized it until now.
"Hey, Neji! We've got a plan!" said Tenten.
Neji looked up. "What is it?"
"My students and I have been thinking things over," said Guy-sensei. "And we've decided that the real problem is that when Neji sees Hinata, Hinata sees Neji. As soon as we get there, they speed up."
"True enough," said Kakashi. "So, what do you have in mind, Guy?"
"Our idea is that we track them using our other senses. But they always stay far enough behind, so the Byakugan isn't in range," said Tenten. "That way, we can just keep tracking them until they get sloppy or stay the night at an inn."
"Indeed," said Rock Lee. "If they believe they have shaken us off, they will slow down."
"Well, the plan seems like a better one than what we've been using," noted Kakashi. "Alright then, Shino, Kiba, you're on point."
"What if we split up?" asked Sakura.
"Hmm?" asked Kakashi.
"Our fastest people can go on ahead and rush after them," said Sasuke. "The slower members can bring up the rear and form a net." By which she meant her.
"By that standard, we might as well take care of the mission ourselves," noted Asuma. Drawing out a lighter, he lit a cigarette. "Is that what you want?"
"Sasuke, I think you are viewing this mission as a higher priority than it actually is," said Kakashi. "If Naruto had truly disappeared, we'd be in trouble. But we've got his trail now, and we're on it, not to mention within friendly territory.
"If anything happens to endanger him or Hinata, we can head in quick. And in the meantime, we have an extended training exercise we're getting paid by the day for. A professional soldier shouldn't be in such a hurry to end a lucrative contract."
"That's a bit unprofessional, don't you think?" asked Kurenai.
"Look, Kurenai, all I'm saying is that we're in peacetime," said Kakashi. "If not this, the kids would be painting fences. So let's take it slow, hunt some bandits and use it as a field training exercise.
"If we have to hurry up, we can hurry up.
"Let's go."
"What if Hinata figures out what we're doing?" asked Kiba suddenly.
"What do you mean?" asked Ino.
"Hinata is smarter than most people think," said Kiba. "She knows all about hunting and stuff from me, so she might figure out the tactic. Remember, we were probably going to be on a tracker squad."
"Well, then the question becomes," said Shikamaru. "What tactic would they use to divert us? And how can we use that against them?"
Sakura listened and stayed out of the way.