The four kunoichi were off in a flash once Ino had telepathically communicated to Shino, one of the few ninjas they could be sure was not intoxicated from the party, the information they had extracted from the traitor. As they leapt from branch to branch, Sakura made a point of diagnosing the condition of each of her friends and teammates.

Ino had finally managed to strengthen her resolve and was no focused on the mission ahead now that they knew the whereabouts of their four teammates, particularly Shikamaru. The fact that she was also able to determine that the boys were meant to be kept alive also helped in her determination to rescue them. Her blue eyes, which normally looked like the blue sky that Shikamaru so loved to stare at, now looked sharp like steel as she focused her gaze ahead.

Hinata too looked a lot better. Though she had not been covered in blood, the girl's emotional state had been touch and go within the initial moments of the attack. However, with the donning of her mission gear, Hinata's resolve too had been strengthened. Her lilac eyes, still rimmed red and puffy, no longer held any tears as the girl pushed onward.

In truth, Tenten was the one Sakura was the most worried about. Though Sakura considered the older girl a friend and comrade, he knew very little about the Weapon's Mistress. Tenten, like her stoic teammate, was far more reserved. Tenten was a tough girl to read, and though she had yet to shed a single tear, she was most certainly acting out. Never before had it been in Tenten's cheerful nature to torture another, enemy or not, both physically and psychologically. It was troubling to say the least.

As Sakura continued to contemplate Tenten's odd behavior, she noticed streaks of blood in the girl's dark hair flashing in the moonlight. Naruto and Neji's blood.

"Sakura." Sakura's head snapped away as she realized that Tenten was staring back at her. The girl's eyes looked like steel and it set Sakura on edge.

"You have blood in your hair." Hinata made a breathy gasp as her head shot to analyze Tenten's appearance more closely. Sakura was proud when all the girl did was look forward again, her hands clasped into fists.

Tenten on the other hand dropped her head, a hand slowly, tentatively, reaching up to touch her twin buns. The blood was dry now, but Sakura still noticed Tenten cringe as her fingers found their target.

Ino was the first to stop, forcing the others to jump back a few branches to see what the matter was. Ino reached into the pack at her waist and removed a flask. It sloshed with water as she undid the lid and gracefully jumped to Tenten's branch.

"We don't have time for…" Ino cut Tenten's protests off with a wave of her hand and gently poured the water over her head. The girls silently watched as the water turned pink and ran down Tenten's clothes. When Ino finished, Tenten pulled her shirt over her head and threw it as far from her person as she could manage.

She stood among the trees in only her wrappings for a moment, head down so that her bangs covered her face.

"I-I packed an extra shirt, Tenten." The Hyuga heiress silently stepped forward, a sheer black shirt with hardly any sleeves held out to her. The material was thin, like a nightgown, and as Tenten pulled it over her head she realized that the V-neck style only barely covered her cleavage.

Sakura stepped forward next in order to wrap some new white bindings around Tenten's hands and forearms. As she pulled off the soiled ones, she was amazed at the number of scars that lined the young girl's arms and hands. There were even some that looked old enough to have predated her years in the academy. Sakura wondered just how young the orphan was when she first fell in love with the cold steel.

As the thought crossed her mind, an image of Neji came forward, his eyes cold and his stance rigid. It was no wonder the Weapon's Mistress spent so much time with the cold prodigy. He resembled the weapon's she loved perfectly.

Once again, Sakura found herself pondering Tenten's true feeling for her teammate; the one's she was sure the girl had buried deep in her subconscious. Though the two showed no outward signs of affection, it wasn't unlikely that they showed some emotion between just the two of them, even if it was something simple like the meeting of eyes. After all, the two were always training, rain or shine, sick or healthy. Theirs was a relationship that was not reliant upon words, but rather on blows.

"We've wasted enough time here. Let's go." Tenten leapt across the branches, the three younger kunoichi close on her heels.

…

Neji's eyes snapped open as he felt something hard hit his leg. Raising his head slowly, he cringed from the pain in his shoulder. Glancing down to access himself, he admired the gaping hole in his shoulder. The precision was impressive. The only person he had ever met with such precision was her teammate.

As an image of Tenten covered in blood rose in his thoughts Neji's head shot up, causing him to grimace. He used the chilled wall behind him to push himself up into a sitting position so he could better survey his surroundings.

Along the wall across from him sat a very much awake, and very much in pain, Shikamaru Nara. He had a rock poised in his hand which Neji concluded was meant for him had he not woken up. To the left of Shikamaru was a sleeping blonde snoring softly. Neji could hardly be surprised when he saw that Naruto's shoulder had already begun to heal itself.

Looking to his left, Neji found a brooding Sasuke Uchiha glaring daggers at the only source of light in the room: a small crack under the door. Neji immediately attempted to jump to his feet, only to find himself toppling back to the ground.

"Analyze our chakra networks." Shikamaru whispered. Neji gave a nod of consent and activated his Byakugan. It was like opening your eyes under water. The images were distorted and fuzzy, but he was able to single out and concentrate on his chakra points. And that is where he found the problem, something he was sure the Nara genius had already hypothesized.

"The chakra networks in our hands and legs have been completely shut off. Our legs are too weak to stand and our hands too numb to form hand signs. They even attempted to distort my Byakugan by disrupting the flow of chakra to my eyes, though they were less successful in that endeavor."

Shikamaru nodded silently, resting his head back against the wall as he looked up to where the sky should be.