Chapter Three.
A/N: Hi! Sorry it's been a day or two longer than I expected to update this chapter! I will try to be more consistent in my updates in the future. I'll try to update every week or so from now on. Thanks to anyone who read, reviewed, faved, or followed! -Lizzie.
Sakura stole a quick glance at Sasuke, then immediately turning her head the other way. It was like she just couldn't get the courage to apologize. It was maddeningly frustrating to her. To the average onlooker, it looked easy. But to Sakura, it was going to be very difficult.
Of course, she wanted to apologize, the problem was that she just couldn't get enough courage to apologize to him. Kakashi interrupted her reverie by saying, "Okay, we will split up into two groups to search for clues that may lead us to the gang. The groups are me and Naruto, and Sasuke and Sakura."
It didn't take long for Sakura to guess why Kakashi put her with Sasuke. He obviously wanted to have them make up. It's not like picking daisies you know. She thought. The four-man squad then broke up into their assigned groups and started to look for clues.
"What about this? Is this something?" Naruto asked curiously. "No, it's just a rock." Kakashi replied. "No! Not the rock don't you see what's on the rock?" Naruto exclaimed. Kakashi took the rock and looked closer at the small stone, his eye that wasn't covered looking at every crevice that he could see until it hit him.
On the rock was a small piece of fabric, most likely from a gang member, swaying gently with the breeze. "Good job Naruto." Kakashi said. Naruto beamed at the praise before setting off their signal.
Sakura and Sasuke had so far found nothing. Sasuke was carefully searching through the grass, his eyes missing no detail. Sakura was also searching, but she was searching in the rock piles near them. "Why?" Sasuke asked suddenly. Sakura's head flew up in surprise. "What?" She replied. Before Sasuke could answer her question, they saw the signal that Kakashi had with him and Naruto.
"Sasuke?" Sakura asked. "Let's go." Sasuke replied. When the signal was fired, it meant they found something or something happened. With no verbal cues, they both started running towards where the rest of their squad was.
"You're finally here! You guys take forever!" Naruto remarked. "Well anyways," Naruto continued, "look what we found!" Kakashi tossed them the small piece of material that Naruto had found on the rock. "I should be able to summon Pakkun and have him track the scent and have us follow." Kakashi explained.
As quick as a flash, Kakashi summoned Pakkun. "Hey, what do you have for me to do this time?" Pakkun asked. "Smell this." Kakashi instructed while giving the small clothing material to Pakkun. The ninja hound took it and curiously studied it before putting his nose against it, sniffing deeply.
"I found the scent matching this one, it's a little far off though. Follow me." Pakkun said.
As they trekked through the thick trees, Kakashi pondered the states of his three students once again. Naruto was still bummed out, but Kakashi could tell that he wasn't as upset as he was. Sasuke, was well, Sasuke, and Sakura was still the same.
So, nothing to different than before. Kakashi thought. Suddenly, there was a big noise up ahead to the east. To Kakashi it sounded like an explosion. "Kakashi sensei…" Sakura pleaded quietly. "Exactly what I was thinking, let's go." Then they started heading towards the sound of the explosion.
The scene they arrived on was one word, horrific. The buildings were ablaze with fire, people were screaming and running, the wounded were collapsed on the ground, various amounts of blood pouring from their wounds, sinking into the soil staining it red.
Naruto was the first to react, activating his shadow clone jutsu, the many duplicates of him and the original were picking up the wounded and bringing them to a make-shift medical tent that was located on the other side of town. Kakashi and Sasuke were both using water style to eradicate the many fires, and Sakura was going into buildings on fire and saving those who were unfortunate enough to be trapped inside.
After a while, they were finally able to stop the fires and get everyone evacuated to a safe spot of the town that was lucky enough not to be completely destroyed. Luckily enough, there were no casualties, but many who lived in that side of the small town, were injured badly.
Sakura volunteered for the job of trying to ask some of the villagers about what had occurred. She volunteered because she felt she was best suited to this situation. Naruto was just too loud and overbearing, Sasuke was intimidating, and Kakashi was intimidating and scary as well.
She walked to a small tent, where the person she was going to talk to, was, thinking about how she would approach this. She walked into the tent and peered in, looking at the preteen girl sitting in the chair with a cast over her arm. She had shoulder length blonde hair, with brown eyes.
"Are you Sakura Haruno?" She asked politely. "I had heard that you were coming to interrogate me so ask away." She said. "Well first, what's your name?" Sakura asked. "Hayame." She replied. "Okay, how old are you?" Sakura quired. "Eleven," Hayame replied.
"Can you tell me what happened?" Sakura asked gently. "Well, I had just left my house because I was going on an errand. I walked to the nearest flower shop because I wanted to purchase some flowers for my cousin because he fell ill with a bad cold a little while ago." She took a deep breath before continuing.
"But when I walked into the shop, I started to hear screams like someone was being murdered or something so I immediately started to run toward where the screams were coming from and I saw a bunch of people in black robes, all making fire handsigns, setting fire to all the buildings in the surrounding area."
Hayame shivered at the memory before continuing. "Then I saw a big piece of debris coming down about to hit a little girl so I ran in front of her and that's how I got this." She motioned toward her armcast. "The last thing I remember before passing out completely was a member of the gang saying something like, "This is the first fire." Does that mean anything to you?" Hayame asked curiously. "Well, I'm not sure but I have an idea. Thank you for talking with me. I hope your arm gets better soon. Bye." Sakura said as she left the tent. Hayame was waving with her non-injured arm. One thing's for sure, I need to tell Kakashi sensei this as soon as possible. Sakura thought then started running towards where the rest of their squad was waiting.
Kakashi sent a messenger dog to Konoha to tell Hiruzen about the small town so that they would be able to send a team to deal with this situation. After that, they waited for Sakura to join up with them again. "Kakashi sensei!" Sakura exclaimed breathlessly. "Woah, calm down. Tell me what you found out." Kakashi instructed calmly.
Then Sakura relayed everything she learned. After that, she stole another quick glance at Sasuke before looking away. Still not having enough courage to ask what he meant by "why?" she wasn't a hundred percent sure but she was almost certain it had something to do with the chunin exams.
"Kakashi sensei what does this mean?" Naruto asked. "It means that this gang probably intends to set more fires after this one, the last one targeting Konoha." Kakashi replied bluntly. "What?! We have to stop them! We need to!" Naruto exclaimed vehemently.
"Once again, calm down." Kakashi instructed. "I was just saying a potential outcome, I don't know for sure." Kakashi added to calm his distraught student. Naruto did calm down, but only a fraction. That didn't really surprise Kakashi. No one could get over a shock like that so fast. Not even Naruto.
They were on their way once again, following Pakkun. The whole scene was eerily silent, no one bothering to break it. Sakura was once again looking at the trees, Naruto was looking straight ahead with a determined look in his eyes, and Sasuke was going ahead silent with an unreadable look on his face.
"Wait." Kakashi abruptly stated. They all stopped, awaiting his orders. "There might be traps ahead, let me go ahead first. Stay here." Then Kakashi set off.
About thirty minutes later. They all heard footsteps coming from the direction where Kakashi had gone. A figure emerged from the thick grove of trees. "Hey, traps are disabled. Let's go." Kakashi said shortly. He had dirt and dust deeply embedded in his clothing. I wonder. Sakura thought.
"Their scent is getting closer, if we go faster we should be able to catch them." Pakkun informed them. Without verbal cues, they all started to go faster.
Five minutes later. "Kakashi they're straight ahead." Pakkun informed them. "Okay, guys, don't take any risks, we don't know the skill level of them, they could be easy to apprehend or they could be a challenge for me even. So be careful." Kakashi told them.
Once they got there, Naruto asked, "Where are they?" "We were duped." Kakashi said shortly, holding up a small bird with a small piece of material tied to one of its' small talons. Gently, Kakashi took the material off and the bird flew off.
"Their gang must have someone that is good at sensing chakra. Which means that they might have a ninja with them. Pakkun, can you track their scent?" Kakashi asked. Pakkun sniffed deeply before answering, "yes, I can, their scent is in the exact opposite of here." "Okay, let's go, lead the way Pakkun." Kakashi said.
Five hours later. It was getting late, the sun had already set, Sakura was exhausted. But Sakura doubted they would be stopping. If they did stop and rest for a while, they ran the risk of losing their scent completely. With that reasoning in mind, Sakura forced herself to keep going. She wasn't going to ask for them to stop, she ruined enough for them.
Kakashi noticed that his students were tiring. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were still going, but if they burnt themselves out by the time they got to the gang, they would be killed in no time at all. "Let's stop and rest for a few minutes." Kakashi suggested.
They stopped in a thick grove of trees. Naruto was sitting on a high branch, swinging his legs carefree as he looked at the sky set with beautiful colors as the sun disappeared. Sasuke was sitting on a branch too, shutting his eyes as if in deep thought.
And Sakura? She was leaning against one of the trees, leaning her head on the firm trunk, relaxing. About ten minutes later Kakashi said that they needed to keep going. They obeyed and started to run again. "Their scent is staying in one place right now." Pakkun informed them.
They were trekking through the woods when suddenly Kakashi stopped. "Kakashi sensei? What's-" Sakura couldn't even finish her question.
A/N:Hi! Sorry if this was a little late! I'll try to update every week. I just am really busy so yeah. Also, if you're wondering how Sasuke was using water style earlier in this chapter, it's just because of his sharingan. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Thanks to anyone who read, reviewed, faved, or followed! -Lizzie.