A week had passed since the Genin test? Two weeks? Was it even a week at all? Sakura didn't know nor care at this point.
So, adding to the list of things weighing down on her conscious, there was:
Not getting on a team with Sasuke-kun.
Getting on a team with Dog Breath and Bug Boy.
Passing the Genin test basically because sensei felt bad…
Or at least, that's what Sakura has thought, as she really didn't see any potential with her team at all. It would be logical to put a Hyuga with the only two potent trackers in the class, but NOOOO, Ms. Perfect Hyuga had to always get her way!
And now she was walking with her team to get another torturous D-ranked mission.
Oh yeah, add that to the list of things weighing on Sakura's shoulders…
The damn D-ranked missions.
She had expected the life of a ninja to be more exciting and worthwhile, not just doing chores and working like dogs for hours on end. And it ESPECIALLY doesn't help that she has to be with Kiba, the guy whom Sakura is pretty sure smells the worst out of everyone she has met in her life.
Outside the Academy building, on the way to the Mission Assignment room, they ran into five people. The pink-haired Genin chose not to pay attention, but when she heard the familiar outgoing voice of Naruto Uzumaki, her features lightened significantly.
"YOOOOO! Sakura-chan!" Naruto greeted with a wide grin on his face as he ran up to her, only to be pushed to the side as Sakura ran up to the other male Genin on the team…
"SASUKE-KUUUUUN!" Sakura cooed as she embraced Sasuke in a tight hug, much to his annoyance and discomfort, while Ms. Perfect Hyuga sweat-dropped along with Kakashi and whoever the old man with them was.
Sakura chose to ignore the smell of sake rubbing off of the acquaintance of Team 7.
Sasuke let out an annoyed grunt as he struggled to shove Sakura off of him, but the girl's hug was too tight.
"Now now Sakura, don't get so excited, we have to go get another mission." Kurenai reprimanded the pink-haired girl, a silk appearing on her face as she dropped her head, feeling her forehead hit Sasuke's shoulder lightly.
Finally, the Uchiha managed to get Sakura away from him.
"Sucks to be you guys!" Naruto stuck his tongue out, squinting his eyes tightly, "We're going on a C-ranked mission!"
Sakura then heard Hinata excuse herself, leaving the group and heading to who knows where. She had every instinct to go chase her and question her, but she couldn't do that with everyone else around, especially with two Jonin.
"A C-ranked mission? You?" A look of disbelief made its mark on Kiba's mug before boasting out in laughter. "HAHAHA! Don't pull my leg! A dead last like you getting a C-ranked mission, unbelievable!"
"Well you better believe it!" The blond Genin yelled as a response.
"Kurenai-sensei, why are they getting a C-ranked mission after about only a week of missions?" Shino turned to his sensei, "Fresh Genin should not be getting a C-ranked mission already. Why? It's because at least a couple weeks' worth of D-ranked missions is required to build team relations and to nurture one's skill."
Sakura shuddered at the mention of a couple weeks' worth of D-ranked missions.
"Well…" The man wearing a mask with his headband covering his left eye spoke, "After some persuading from our knucklehead ninja Naruto, the Hokage had no choice but to give us a C-ranked mission."
"My my, it looks like you've got a tough one on your hands, Kakashi." Kurenai joked with a smile, to which Kakashi merely eye-smiled before pulling out a book…
Icha Icha Paradise...Sakura read mentally, blushing madly while Kurenai gained an irritated look on her face.
"Kakashi! Put that damn book away!" The female Jonin commanded, as the sight of the book sickened her deeply.
This guy is a perv! Sakura thought to herself out of rage, looking around to see Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba, and Shino with blank expressions on their faces, not giving a care in the world for the fact that Kakashi was reading adult content in public. Though, Sakura guessed that Naruto didn't even know it was something not to be read in public.
"Oh, sorry." Kakashi apologized nonchalantly, sounding like he didn't actually mean what he said.
Sakura scanned Kiba's face again to see him boiling with rage internally. She let out a small sigh, knowing what he was probably thinking right now.
'How did Naruto Uzumaki, the dead last of our class get a C-ranked mission before us?!'
Kiba jabbed a finger towards Naruto, "So? Just because you got a C-ranked mission doesn't mean you're anything special! You're still the dead last! The loser from our class in the Academy!"
"Do you want to repeat that again?!" Naruto inched closer to the other boy, a menacing look in his eyes.
"Kiba! Uzumaki! Control yourselves!" Kurenai demanded, prompting the two boys to shake their heads away from each other. Kurenai sighed, turning her head to Kakashi, "Well, we shouldn't keep you guys waiting then. Come on, Shino, Kiba, Sakura." And with that, Kurenai, Shino and Kiba began to walk towards the building.
"But Kurenai-sensei!" Sakura whined out loud, "I wanted to spend time with Sasuke-kun!"
Annoying. The Uchiha thought to himself. It looks like he couldn't escape fangirls no matter how hard he tried. He could have sworn that for the past couple of weeks old fangirls from his class were stalking him, but it could have been his imagination. At the very least, Sasuke found Sakura to be the most bearable out of all his fangirls.
Of course, he wouldn't openly admit that. Saying something like that would get the girl's hopes up and make her even more annoying.
"Sakura!" Kurenai spoke in a threatening tone, getting impatient with Haruno's constant infatuation with the raven-haired boy. That was definitely something she was going to have to fix later.
"Yes, sensei!" Sakura obliged as she ran towards her team, "BYE, SASUKE-KUN!"
She had heard and ignored Naruto's loud farewell to her, but her mood fell when she heard nothing from her crush.
In the Mission Assignment Room
"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THE TEAM WITH THE DEAD LAST ON IT GOT A C-RANKED MISSION BEFORE US?!" An angry Kiba bellowed rudely, prompting Kurenai to grab his ear and Sakura wanting to smack him on the head, as the Hokage was literally right in front of him along with other Chunin and Jonin.
Hiruzen let out a sigh. Not even ten minutes ago he had to deal with Naruto shouting about the D-ranked missions. And now, Kiba was doing the same AND complaining about how Naruto got a C-ranked mission.
Naruto and Kiba were actually similar in some ways when it came to personality, Sarutobi had found out after witnessing it first-hand.
Both were brash, impulsive, and never thought things through. Albeit Kiba was rasher and harsher than Naruto. If one didn't know better, they might have suspected that the two were really good friends.
Which was another thing, Hiruzen knew that Naruto had no friends and about his ostracization from the village. However, Hiruzen could clearly remember that Naruto had gotten along with at least three of his classmates.
Shikamaru Nara, Akimichi Choji, and Kiba Inuzuka.
But at some point, Hiruzen noticed that Kiba had started to see Naruto as a failure, and probably started to look down on him due to the Uzumaki's poor academics and ninja skills. Sarutobi knew that deep down inside though, Kiba harbored at least some bit of respect for Naruto.
"Please excuse the rudeness of my student." The voice of an apologetic Kurenai said after scolding Kiba about being rude while in the presence of the Hokage. Sarutobi also noted a bump on the brunette Genin's head along with him caressing the bump slowly, wincing as he did so. Sakura probably caused the bump.
"At ease." Hiruzen replied calmly, seeming to not be bothered at all, maybe even slightly amused. "You know, Naruto acted very similar to you not that while ago. Very well, if you really think that a C-ranked mission will be more your style, so be it. After all, the three of you are such promising Shinobi. Perhaps a C-ranked mission will be better suited to test your skills."
He couldn't help but smirk when he saw Kiba's face light up.
"ALRIGHT!" Kiba shouted to the ceiling, so loud that Sakura had to cover her ears.
A tic mark formed on her head, a signal of her losing her patience with her teammate.
"Hokage-sama, with all due respect, my team is not ready to take on a C-ranked mission. We still need more time to develop and get comfortable around each other." Kurenai spoke her part.
Hiruzen was already aware of the team's performance on the Genin test. After all, on the day of the tests he had the Jonin senseis report to him on who passed and failed.
"It will be fine, Kurenai. They have a Jonin sensei in the form of you on the team."
Despite the praise from the Hokage, Kurenai's worries did not ease that much. Shino, Kiba, and Sakura were just starting as a team. And Sakura hasn't really shown to be making an effort at being a ninja at the moment. In fact, even then, she doesn't really have a good place on the team. And Kurenai could only teach what she wanted to Sakura, if the girl was actually willing to be a real ninja and not a fangirl.
"Besides, I have the perfect mission for you. In fact, you will not be the only team on the mission." Hiruzen revealed to the team, much to their surprise.
Team 7 was going out for a different mission, so were they being put on a mission with Team 10, or some other Genin team they didn't know about?
The team, especially the Genin, would never have expected what would come out of Sarutobi's mouth next.
"It is a joint mission with a team from Sunagakure."
Kiba's lips parted as a confused expression covered his face. Why were they having a joint mission with Suna? How do they know nothing bad is going to happen on the mission? Can the team from Suna be trusted?
"I can sense your uneasiness, Kiba. Don't tell me you want to back out now?" The Hokage asked with a small smirk on his face, which was concealed as Sarutobi had his hands in front of his mouth.
"No way!" Kiba shot back with determination. Who cared if he was teaming with some people from Suna! They got a C-ranked mission, and he was ready to kick some ass!
"Now, let me explain the mission details. A group of bandits had somehow managed to steal some of the Fourth Kazekage's Gold Dust."
Hiruzen paused to let this sink in before continuing.
"Not long ago, the group entered the border of the Land of Fire, our territory. We have given the team from Suna permission to cross over to deal with their situation, and we have decided to send a team with them to assist and help stabilize our relationship with Suna." Hiruzen finished his explanation.
Sakura nodded her head, understanding what the point of the mission was. In order to make sure that Konoha has one less target on their back, the Hokage wants to form an alliance of sorts with the other nation. The team from Suna really only needed permission to cross the border into the Land of Fire, they really didn't need help with the bandits, this second act was just to improve relations.
"Now, I will let the team know that there has been a team who have accepted help and they will be right on their way. I recommend grabbing some last-minute things before heading out to the rendezvous point. Go as soon as you can." The Hokage commanded.
"Yes!" The team responded, all of them, even Kiba, taking a respectful bow to the leader of the village before exiting the room, going their separate ways to prepare for their mission.
Later
"Hmph! These are the people who are going to be supporting us? They look like a liability!" A tick mark formed on Kiba's head as his brain absorbed the insult from one of the people on the team from Suna they were now facing.
The Hokage had given Kurenai the area for the rendezvous point. It was some secluded area in the forest. Apparently, the group of bandits had taken camp somewhere close by the area.
As expected, the Suna team they met up with consisted of four people. Three Genin, presumably, and a Jonin sensei.
Sakura couldn't help but stare aimlessly at one in particular out of the four.
The team looked like the average Genin team.
The tallest one out of the four was a man. He had distinct markings on the right side of his face. Albeit he might have had the same markings on the other side of his face but there was a sheet hanging down from his head, covering the left side of his face.
One of the two shorter men wore a completely black, baggy bodysuit while wearing a black hood with cat ears to cover his hair. He had purple face paint markings plastered on different parts of his face. The Sunagakure forehead protector was on his forehead over his hood. Oddly enough, he had something strapped to his back covered in bandages.
The person next to him, being the only female on the team, had blonde hair, sporting a single light purple-colored garment cutting off at her shoulders and extending halfway down her thighs. She had a scarlet sash tied around her waist and had fishnet worn over her shoulders, upper body, her right calf, and her left thigh. Unlike the black-clothed person, this girl lumbered around a big fan. Finally, similar to how Hinata worn hers, this girl had her forehead protector around her neck.
Finally, the last one of the group, standing in front of them all with an emotionless expression on his face and a cool and mysterious demeanor, with a hint of malice flowing around him, was a boy with spiky auburn hair.
This boy had green eyes and oddly enough, dark rings around them to which Sakura could only associate with insomnia, meaning that for some reason, this boy had trouble sleeping. But why? From what she was taught at the Academy along with having common sense, a ninja should get a good amount of sleep, so they remain alert and vigilant.
Also, to Sakura's horror, the boy didn't have EYEBROWS!
Sakura also noted that he wore a very long and wide leather band, with which he uses to carry a big gourd on his back. Due to the color of the gourd and along with the fact that the team comes from Suna, she assumed that the gourd had sand in it.
"Care to say that again, cat ears?!" Kiba grinned at the insult he cooked up with his little brain, which also caused a tick mark to appear on the black clothed man's head.
"Cat ears?! Do you wanna go, little man?"
"Enough, Kankuro! Focus on the mission and stop messing around!" The only female of the Suna team scolded the man with the cat ears, now known as Kankuro.
Said man let out a sigh, "Alright, if you say so, Temari."
The tallest of the group walked forward, his gaze set on Kurenai in particular.
"Excuse Kankuro's rudeness." The man apologized with a slight bow as he introduced himself to Team 8, "I am Baki, the Jonin sensei of Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara."
Gaara was the quiet, stale one with the rings around his eyes, Shino noted. He couldn't help but feel like something was wrong with Gaara.
"Pleased to be of your acquaintance." Kurenai replied with an equal amount of respect, "I am Kurenai Yuhi, the Jonin sensei of Sakura Haruno, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka." As she said each name, she pointed to each of her Genin.
"So why is this Gold Dust so important to retrieve anyway?" Sakura asked curiously, making sure to keep her cool and to be polite, especially in front of ninjas from another village.
"Other than being a very powerful tool when it comes to battle, it is also very valuable in trade. Once, when Suna was facing economic issues, the Gold Dust was used in trade to support our village." Baki explained patiently.
That confused Shino.
"Why does it matter if some bandits took some Gold Dust? It should not make much of a difference. That's because you should have a large quantity of Gold Dust in your village."
"Like all other resources that us humans use, Gold Dust is limited. It is not easy to produce and, should Sunagakure fall into an economic depression once again, we will have to rely on Gold Dust to pick us up from that depression. In fact, our village is suffering right now, and we may have to use the Gold Dust yet again. And judging from the state of our village, we will need a lot of it." Baki said, directing his attention away from the Genin.
"Can we just get on with the mission already?"
All three members of Team 8 froze up when they heard the calm voice. It was so small that any normal person would have shrugged it off, but they could definitely feel a lust for blood oozing out of Gaara's voice.
Kiba and Akamaru began to quiver in their place, with Akamaru trembling uncontrollably and whimpering. Unlike the others, both could literally smell the bloodlust emitting off of Gaara. It was a sign. They couldn't mess around anymore. And also, that they better stay on the good side of this guy.
Kurenai glanced at her team before looking back at Gaara, seeming unphased by his bloodlust, but internally shocked that someone at his age could show some just from the tone of his voice.
Hmph, there is no need for reinforcements. Temari thought to herself with a smirk on her face, After all, Gaara…
Baki cleared his throat, grabbing the attention of everyone present, "Alright! As you should know, the enemies have set up camp not far from here. From the looks of it, multiple gangs of bandits formed up into one gang, so give or take there are more than thirty of them. However, I wasn't able to confirm an official number."
Over thirty scents would certainly be too much for Kiba to focus on, so Shino was the perfect person for the job.
The Aburame knew this, so he willingly took a step forward. "With the utilization of my kikaichu and the insects in the surrounding area, I can easily check how many people there are."
Baki nodded his head as the group began to run in the direction of the enemy camp.
Kurenai once again turned her gaze at Baki, who was leading the group and the one in front, with his team not falling behind, followed by the female Jonin herself and, of course, the rest of Team 8 trailing behind her.
Something wasn't right here, Kurenai knew that much. How could a bunch of bandits just sneak into a major village like Suna and take something that is precious like Gold Dust? She knew that the village was struggling...but was it really that bad?
Even at the stage it was in, bandits should still have little chance of successfully robbing the village. But here they were. The female sensei decided to keep these worries with caution and to proceed carefully.
Eventually, after a minute of jumping and running through trees, the group came to a stop. They had reached the location of the enemy. Kurenai gave Shino a nod, giving him consent to do his job.
He got down to his knees, putting his ear on the ground as Kiba and Sakura looked at him out of confusion. Meanwhile, Kurenai and the team from Suna looked at the insect user with neutral expressions. In fact, Gaara wasn't even paying any attention.
He had a blank look on his face, void of any emotion whatsoever.
"There are forty enemies in total."
Kiba felt Akamaru's trembling quicken at an astronomical rate. And he felt it too. When Shino revealed how many enemies there were, he could practically smell the lust for blood from Gaara rising. If the Inuzuka could see the look on the auburn-haired boy's face, then it was probably a grin of sadism.
"They're just bandits! This shouldn't be that hard!" Kankuro let out a smirk.
Baki drifted his attention to the direction of the enemies, "As there are forty enemies, the Genin on Kurenai's team will take three each, due to the fact that they are fresh Genin. Kurenai will take on seven bandits, while the rest of us will take on six each."
Kurenai narrowed her eyes when she heard the last part. Each member of the Suna team was going to take on six Shinobi? Are the Genin on the team even powerful enough of such a feat?
She turned to her team, "The three of you remember, this isn't a game. Even if these are merely bandits, you are merely fresh Genin. Letting your guard down can lead to a fatal injury. Stick together, and don't worry, I will be looking out for you."
Sakura's worries eased after hearing that. What did she have to be worried about? There were two Jonin in this team, and three of the Genin on the team seem to have quite a bit of experience. Even if she, Shino, and Kiba were the underdogs, nothing should happen to them!
"Come on Akamaru, you need to stop acting scared." Kiba told his ninken, who was still shivering in place out of absolute fear. Despite this, the pup obeyed and jumped off his owner's head. Kiba formed a hand sign, "Juujin Bunshin!" With a poof of smoke, a more feral replica of himself appeared in Akamaru's place.
Kankuro looked at the dog user with an amused look on his face, interested to see what the kid could do.
"Come on! Let's go!" The young Genin shouted, jumping out of their hiding spot and into the enemy's campsite, setting his sights on two bandits who were talking to one another, only for them to look up in shock after hearing Kiba's voice.
That idiot blew our cover! Sakura thought to herself out frustration as she saw the others jump out of the hiding spot as well. With no other choice, the pink-haired Genin did the same.
"Gatsuuga (Fang Over Fang)!" Kiba yelled out the name of his attack as he and Akamaru began to spin rapidly in the air, their bodies turning into blurs before appearing like spinning vortexes.
They managed to nail one of the bandits in the stomach, but to their surprise, the other one leapt out of the way like a ninja would.
The duo rebounded, ending the attack, turning around their bodies and skidding across the ground.
The bandit who was now in the air was glaring at the two, with his cheeks puffed out as if he was just about to exhale. He did exhale, and when he did, a stream of fire erupted from his mouth towards the duo.
The fire was coming so fast that Kiba and Akamaru thought it was the end for them. Fortunately, Kurenai came just in time, pushing both of them out of the way as the stream whizzed by, eventually dissipating.
"Are you okay, Kiba?" Kurenai asked with her attention focused on the oncoming bandits. The young Genin made a sound of confirmation. "I told you that brash recklessness was a liability! You need to think things through!" Kurenai lectured her student, pulling out a kunai, slashing an approaching bandit across the chest before kicking him in the stomach, causing him to roll onto the ground, unconscious.
She turned her head to see the bandit, who fired the stream of fire, dashing at her with extraordinary speed.
How can a bandit move so fast and use ninjutsu so proficiently?! That would explain how they would be able to sneak into Suna! Some of these guys aren't bandits at all! The brunette kunoichi noted as she caught a punch from the oncoming opponent, throwing him at another bandit, knocking both of them out.
"Kiba! Get back together with Shino and Sakura!" Kurenai commanded and said boy had no choice but to obey as he rose to his feet, running to his teammates who were currently fighting off their own bandits.
The sensei watched Kiba, making sure no one was going to attack him when she sensed someone behind her. She jumped upwards with a burst of chakra, seeing a spear thrust to where she originally was.
The Konoha Jonin landed on top of her attacker, using her feet to push him down to the ground, lying on his back before delivering a punch to his face, knocking him out cold.
Kurenai then found herself surrounded by three bandits, two of whom were forming hand signs at an incredible speed, one took a deep breath while the other shoved his hands to the ground.
"Katon: Karyuudan (Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bomb)!"
"Doton: Doryuuheki (Earth Style: Mud Wall)!"
A wall from the earth erupted from the ground, restricting Kurenai's options of escape while a stream of fire flew out of the other bandit's mouth, heading straight for the female Jonin.
She leapt into the air, only for the remaining bandit to do the same. Much to her surprise, she felt a punch graze her hair as she moved her head to the side, chucking her tightly gripped kunai at the bandit who breathed fire, striking his shoulder and causing him to cry out in pain.
Blood began to pour out of his wound as he clutched his shoulder.
Kurenai quickly redirected her attention to the one in front of her, grabbing his arm with both hands and throwing his body right into the earth-created wall, taking him out of the fight.
The ninja who initiated the Doton Jutsu leapt up on the air, kunai in hand, ready to throw it and critically injure Kurenai. However, when he scanned the area for her, she wasn't there. He landed on his earth structure before jumping down to the ground.
Suddenly, he found some weird brown things which looked like the branches of a tree wrapping around his entire body, restricting his movements. He then heard the voice of Kurenai saying, "I got you right where I want you." while a tree grew behind him.
Kurenai then sprouted out of the tree above him, kunai in her hand held towards the enemy's neck.
The female Jonin knew that this guy wasn't going to answer any of her questions. So, the best thing to do was to just kill him so he doesn't become a problem later. Besides, she could just take the other person who he she injured with her kunai.
She slit the ninja's throat, killing him with the tree disappearing and him collapsing to the ground. She turned her attention to the last one, who was still grimacing, gritting his teeth as he glared at her when she started approaching him.
He pulled the kunai out of his shoulder, putting in the hand connected to his good shoulder, swiping it at Kurenai, who responded by holding up her right hand that a kunai grill tightly inside.
CLANG!
The sound of two kunai smashing against each other was heard, with a continuous grinding sound following that, as Kurenai slipped under the ninja's arm, moving her arm so that her opponent's arm whizzed right over her.
And then a punch to the cheek finished her batch of enemies.
The brunette kunoichi sighed out of frustration. This was going to take a lot of explaining to the Hokage when her team gets back.
Speaking of which, Kurenai turned her head to see how her team was doing. To her horror…
She saw Kiba crouched over with a pained expression on his face along with blood dripping cuts on his body, holding something white in his hands.
Earlier
"Gatsuuga!" Kiba used the move again in conjunction with Akamaru, taking out a bandit who was face to face with Shino. He came to a halt right next to the Aburame, with Akamaru in tow as Sakura leapt backwards to reunite with her teammates, sweat pouring down her face due to the intensity of the situation and her current lack of stamina.
"We need to work as a team." Shino stated calmly despite now being surrounded by multiple bandits.
"I hate to admit it, but you're right." Kiba admitted with a sigh, "So, what's the plan?"
"I currently have my insects making their move." The bug user spoke quietly so the people surrounding them couldn't hear, "They are surrounding them as we speak. Until then, we will need to hold them off."
There are seven of them against the three of us...can we really do it? The jade-eyed girl began to tremble in place, fearful for what would happen. We're just kids! We're only fresh Genin! Why would they want to kill us?
Sakura glanced at her pears in sheer amazement. How could they be so calm about this? Even in a situation like this where we could die...how can they do this?!
If this was how a C-ranked mission was, then how hard was a B-ranked mission, or an A-ranked mission, or even worse...an S-ranked mission.
I can't do this! I can't… The exhausted girl shut her eyes, hoping that when she would open them, that it was all just a dream. Too bad she knew that it wasn't the case.
"Sakura. I can feel that you are troubled. Don't worry, we will be fine. It's because Kurenai-sensei said that she would protect us." Shino tried his best to comfort Sakura, all the while keeping his attention to the people around them.
Sakura nodded her head, but Shino has his back turned, so he did not see it.
Kiba punched his open palm with a fist, "Alright! Team 8, let's do this! Come on, Akamaru!" Said pup, who was transformed into Kiba, gave a growl of acknowledgement as he ran in front of his owner, going after the person in front of him. Eventually turning into a spinning vortex spiralling right for the bandit.
Sakura whipped out a kunai and rushed alongside her energetic teammate. The bandit, to their surprise, jumped to the side in front of Sakura, who froze momentarily at the prospect of killing someone. After a bit of doubt, she threw the kunai and kept on running towards the guy in front of her.
The bandit merely pulled out his own kunai and smacked Sakura's kunai away as if it was trash. He glanced to the right to see Kiba throwing a punch at him, followed by a swarm of insects from Shino coming from above.
He leaned backwards, dug his fingers into Kiba's extended arm causing him to let out a howl. The bandit heaved him into the air, before jumping himself and kicking the brunette Genin hard in the side with a kick, throwing the boy towards Sakura, who didn't react fast enough, and as a result, was thrown back as well with Kiba's body on top of hers.
At this moment, the other bandits began to rush as well. Two of them went for Shino while the other four went for the other two Genin.
Kiba and Sakura recovered, with the former immediately using Tsuuga (Passing Fang) to bulldoze into one of the bandits, knocking him out immediately.
Sakura gasped as she ducked under a swipe from a spear coming from another bandit. She felt her feet leave the ground and her mouth opened to release a yelp of surprise as she felt her back hit the cruel ground.
She rolled to the right to avoid a strike that would have stabbed her heart if she hadn't moved. Sakura returned the favor brought to her by performing a sweep kick on her attacker, flipping him off his feet and dropping him to the ground.
Sakura quickly stood up, only to have one of the bandits hit her head hard with a wooden staff. She let out a cry, clutching her head as she crouched to her feet.
Meanwhile, Shino dodged oncoming attacks from the two bandits with relative ease. He sidestepped a jab from a spear and grabbed onto the weapon. He heaved and lifted up his arms, bringing the spear to his backside with great strength, causing the bandit holding the spear to be flipped over Shino's body, hitting the ground hard, losing consciousness in a second.
Shino thrusted his hands out, allowing his bugs to swarm out and assault his final opponent. The bandit used his spear to cut through the wall of insects, but Shino, with great speed, appeared behind him and delivered a chop to his neck, knocking him out cold.
"Shino, help!"
Said boy's ears perked up at the sound of Sakura's voice. He turned in the direction of the girl to see her struggling against her three attackers while Kiba was getting thrashed around by the remaining bandit himself, unable to help her.
What intrigued Shino in that moment was that the bandit was using chakra to his advantage. Normally, bandits like these don't know how to control their chakra. So, were some of these bandits actually ninjas in disguise? If so, then from what village? It couldn't be Suna or Konoha, unless Suna actually planned this mission to kill the Konoha Genin, but he couldn't see it. Killing ninja from Konoha right now would put Suna in a worse position than it already is.
The Aburame snapped himself out of his quick thoughts and rushed to help Sakura, picking up on the spear of one of the bandits along the way. Sakura, meanwhile, managed to deliver a powerful kick to the groin of one of the bandits, followed by a hard uppercut to the chin to knock him out.
As he ran, Shino noticed that the jade-eyed Genin seemed to be distracted still. Was she shocked about how she was thrown into a fight like this? Was she scared that the life and job of a ninja was much worse than this? Shino didn't know, and at the moment, all he cared about was helping his teammate.
"Sakura!" He called out the girl's name out. He caught her glance for just a moment before chucking the spear in his hand toward the girl.
Sakura reached out her hand and clutched the spear before dodging another strike from the sharp spear that one of the bandits were using. She let out a small cry of pain as she felt the spear nick her cheek, drawing blood from her now open cut.
She gripped the spear she now had with both hands and thrusted it forward, clashing with the bandit with the wooden staff, then leapt backwards, flipping the spear over and shoving the sharp end into the ground.
Sakura jumped into the air and spun around the spear, using it like a pole, kicking her legs out to strike her two enemies. She managed to kick both of them hard in the face as she swung around her spear.
They were knocked backwards, blood spewing from their noses as they didn't make a single sound or any sign of movement.
Sakura turned her attention to Shino, giving him a thankful look before hearing a yell from Kiba. It wasn't out of pain, it sounded like one of worry. The thing that followed next made the two teammates arrive at the speed of light.
"AKAMARU!"
Shino and Sakura dashed over to Kiba, who was on the ground holding out his hand. Sakura helped him up as they saw their last opponent repeatedly kicking Akamaru in the stomach. The pup had long since poofed out of his transformation of Kiba, and he was now letting out loud whimpers and wails.
"Damn it!" Kiba cursed himself for being so weak. Akamaru and him were the kind of pair that if separated, they were almost useless on their own. "GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU BASTARD!"
Kiba began to storm off towards the bandit/ninja who kept kicking Akamaru, leaping into the air with his leg cocked back, ready to deliver a strong kick.
The ninja merely smirked out of amusement, ducking down to avoid the attacking boy's flying roundhouse kick. He held up his arms and grabbed Kiba by the feet, bringing his arms down and slamming his body into the ground. The young Genin's body bounced up a little as his head jerked up, blood started to escape his mouth as the boy started to lose consciousness.
"Kiba!" Sakura found herself shrieking the name of her teammate out of concern, worried that someone she has known and been in a class with was actually going to die in front of her eyes. The mere idea of it all never bothered her before, but now the fear of having someone you know die came at her full force.
This was evident from the tears that began to form in Sakura's eyes as she witnessed the ninja pull out a kunai, pulling Kiba's head up so he could slit his throat with it…
Which was his plan if he didn't find himself encased by walls of insects, courtesy of the Aburame boy. Another wall of insects erupted from the ground, carrying Kiba and launching his body over to Sakura and Shino, the former grabbing his body, dropping to the ground on her bottom as she did so.
"What the hell is this?!" The ninja exclaimed out of shock as the insects began to crawl up his body, suddenly feeling his energy being drained.
"My kikaichu. As long as they are on your body, they will continue to suck out your chakra. And by the amount of my insects on your body right now, I'd say it won't be long until you are sucked dry.
"You little...I swear, when I get my hands on you I will-"
"Unfortunately for you, I cannot allow any more stalling. Doing so would endanger the lives of my comrades." Shino said, appearing behind the ninja, hitting him hard on the head, taking out the last enemy the Genin of Team 8 had to face.
At this moment, Kiba regained consciousness thanks to Sakura calling out his name. Immediately, the boy staggered to his feet and stumbled over to Akamaru's unconscious and beaten body.
He dropped to his knees, his eyes widening and pupils shrinking out of horror. His vision blurred as he found liquid now in his eyes. He reached out his hands and picked up Akamaru's stiff body, bringing him to his lap as he hugged the body of his partner.
It was this sight that Kurenai saw. The sight of Kiba despairing over his companion.
So this...is what the life of a Shinobi is like...Sakura thought to herself, a sad look on her face as she saw tears streaming down Kiba's face, This is what is at stake. The lives of people forced into fights...the lives of friends...loved ones…
Now, in the back of her mind, she worried for Team 7, who were also on a C-ranked mission.
"What happened?" The worried voice of Kurenai came rushing to the scene with the body of an unconscious bandit in tow. Although she was relieved that her team was alive, she was more concerned about the body of Akamaru cradled in Kiba's hands.
"Akamaru was beaten badly…" Was all that Shino said before going dead silent. Although he didn't show it, he felt bad for Kiba.
The female Jonin walked over and crouched down, slowly taking Akamaru away from her student, to which the boy didn't even react to. Kurenai checked the pup's pulse, looking for any sign of him being alive.
…
…
…
At Kurenai's sigh, Kiba feared the worst…
"Well, he's hurt pretty badly, and he won't be able to go on missions for a bit...but he's alive." The crimson-eyed kunoichi informed the team with a small smile on her face.
Kiba's face lit up with relief as he mouthed the words 'Thank goodness'.
It was at that moment that the Shinobi from Suna arrived, with the exception of one of them, having defeated their enemies already.
"What happened here?" Baki asked, getting straight to the point, with barely any hint of remorse or concern at all for what was clearly right in front of him.
"Kiba's ninken Akamaru got injured. He'll live, but he won't be coming out for missions for a bit." Kurenai stated bluntly.
"I see…" Baki mumbled under his breath, turning away, paying the pup no heed at all.
"Where's that Gaara guy?" Sakura enquired, noticing that the auburn-haired Shinobi was the only one out of the Suna Shinobi that wasn't there.
The Shinobi from Sunagakure turned their heads to the direction where they came from. The Konoha Shinobi looked in the same direction, where they saw Gaara, surrounded by his 6 bandits.
He was just standing there, arms crossed, eyes closed, no sign of panicking, no sign of fear, no sign of anything really. In fact, if there was an expression on his face, it was one of either boredom or disappointment.
"How boring." The cold voice of Gaara droned, opening his eyes as the bandits surrounding all attacked again at once, only for sand to burst out of his gourd to come to his defense, blocking all six attacks. "Your blood won't suffice for Mother's hunger...but it shall do for now."
He made a sign with his hands, connecting every finger except the pinky, he then shot both of his hands forward, "Sabaku Kyuu (Sand Coffin)!"
Upon the declaration of his technique, sand wrapped around and ensured two of the bandits' bodies, much to their surprise and horror. The other bandits froze as they looked at their two immobile comrades.
The sand wrapped around them completely, to the point where only their face could be seen.
Now Sakura was starting to get scared, along with Shino and Kiba, while Kurenai looked on in shock. They all could feel the massive killing intent that Gaara was releasing. To the three Genin of Team 8, it was suffocating, and it made them too sick to their stomach.
"What's he going to do to them?" Sakura asked the Suna Shinobi out loud, noticing that they had blank expressions on their face as if Gaara's massive killing intent was a normal thing.
Temari raised an eyebrow at Sakura and gave her a look like she had two heads, "What's he going to do? What else, kill them."
The other girl gasped out of shock, not only at what Temari said Gaara would do, it was how casually that she said it.
"Whatever you're going to do, please don't do it!" One of the bandits ensnared in Gaara's sand pleaded while the other one began to scream uncontrollably.
The cold-hearted Genin moved his arms upward, and as he did, the two bandits ensnared in sand rose up into the air. A neutral expression was on the auburn-haired boy's face as he did this.
"It's time...for Mother to have your blood…" Gaara muttered under his breath as he closed both of his hands into fists, "Sabaku Soso (Sand Burial)!"
BOOM!
The sound of bodies being imploded and crushed along with the sight of the blood of the now dead bandits being splattered on the ground would forever change Sakura, Shino, and Kiba.
No, correction.
This entire experience would change them forever.
The mission was a success... thankfully. The Suna Shinobi managed to retrieve their damn Gold Dust.
After Gaara killed the two bandits the other four tried to run away…
They didn't run fast enough.
Leaving the area and separating from the Suna Shinobi would have made Kiba feel very relieved…
That is...if Akamaru didn't get hurt on the mission.
They got him to a hospital, where he was treated. He recovered, but Kurenai recommends not having him undergo any vigorous activity for a bit. Probably a week or two at best, so it wasn't terrible.
But still...it could have been much worse.
As his owner, his partner, his friend, Kiba berated himself for not being able to protect Akamaru.
He felt weak, useless, while he was stuck lying on the ground, watching his ninken get beaten ruthlessly.
And it was because of him. Kiba, the one who is supposed to be Akamaru's trusted comrade. It was all his fault.
If he hadn't got worked up over Team 7 getting a C-ranked mission, they wouldn't have gotten one, and Akamaru wouldn't have ended up like he did.
And then there was a true, real fact.
The Shinobi world was dangerous. There was no room for games.
Akamaru was Kiba's best friend. He will never let him die or get hurt like that again.
And that goes for his teammates as well. He will not let them get hurt or killed by the Shinobi world. He will be there to protect them.
Even if it means getting himself killed…
If Kurenai were to make a list of things that she has failed at, this would be one of the things at the top of the list.
The inability to protect her students.
She had promised them that nothing bad would happen, and she went against that promise. She didn't help her students, and Akamaru could have died.
When going back to tell the Hokage about the mission in private, Kurenai mentioned how there seemed to be actual ninjas among the bandits.
Albeit, they weren't that strong and even her students, who were fresh Genin and didn't have much experience, were able to dispatch of them.
Still, there were ninjas in the group, and that raises suspicion. She turned the so-called bandit over to the T&I Force. Hopefully, they could get some answers out of the captured enemy.
But then again, it was pretty much guaranteed as Ibiki did his job damn well…
Better than how Kurenai could ever hope to be as a Jonin sensei.
Still, in the end, everyone survived, and that's all that mattered, right?
…
Wrong.
She couldn't do this anymore! She couldn't be a ninja! Sakura Haruno was never cut out to be a ninja!
She only went on because of Sasuke-kun.
She was so useless! Akamaru was in trouble and she couldn't do anything about it. He could have died…
And it was all because of her incompetence.
Come to think of it, her only goal as a ninja was to get closer to the raven-haired boy. There didn't seem to be any other reason.
All this time, and Sakura never noticed. How blind she must be in others' eyes.
"Alright everyone. Time to go home and rest up. Since we had an... interesting experience, I'll give you guys the next week off." Kurenai said as Sakura found herself back to reality.
She found her other two teammates leaving, probably to mope about the mission on their own.
They looked so disappointed on the way back. And mad.
Probably at her.
She failed. If she was only stronger, then Akamaru wouldn't have gotten hurt!
If only she was stronger…
A light bulb lit up in Sakura's head as her eyes filled with new found determination.
That's it. She would get stronger. Even if she didn't like the life of a shinobi, she will continue. Not to merely chase after her crush.
To protect her comrades.
Sure, she still had feelings for the Uchiha boy, but she couldn't let that get in her way. Rather, she should consider him as her wall. The wall she needs to climb over!
That's what she'll do. She'll show him she's not just a fangirl. She'll show that she can be strong too if she put work into it.
No, not just Sasuke-kun, she'll show everyone.
She turned around, changing her mind about leaving. She called the name of her sensei, who turned around to face her.
"Yes, Sakura?"
The tone of her voice sounded sad and disappointed. Probably at Sakura herself, she thought to herself.
She steeled herself, standing more upright with a straight face, masked with determination.
"Please... train me."
Alright! That marks the end of the Team 8 mini arc.
And yes, I am fully aware of the fact that Rasa's Gold Dust was never stolen in the anime or the manga for that matter. However, I decided to take advantage take if the fact that Suna was pretty weak at the time and was struggling as a village.
Anyways, the next chapter should mark the beginning of the Chunin Exams.
Now, before putting down the pen for this chapter, I would like to give a big thanks to Tiramisu, who revised and edited this chapter to make it better!
Anyways, that's it for now, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Take care, goodbye!