When Itachi stepped into the valley that led to Iron Country where Team 7 had been ambushed, he came to a stop for a few moments to take in the scene.
The place was a mess.
Jagged rocks jutted out every which way, creating a massive basin around a single point of impact. Saying that the small valley had caved in had been an understatement; it had been completely reformed after Sakura's devastating blow. A few kunai and broken chains still lingered between the crack of the newly formed arena, and a few charred residues tainted the ground here and there in black.
Even if 3 days had passed since the ambush, Itachi's Sharingan could still pick up traces of chakra from the members of Team 7. If someone else had tried hiding their presence, they would have left at least a little of chakra behind after such a fight against Konoha's strongest team, but Itachi couldn't find a single hint at another's presence, just like his little brother had said. And if he hadn't known any better, and if the smell of burnt corpses hadn't lingered in the air around him, he would have thought that the three Konoha-nins had just sparred to their heart's content and leveled the small valley for fun.
Not wasting anymore time, Itachi summoned a few crows, sending them in every direction in search of a trail. While his summons were on the hunt, Itachi made his way towards the edge of the ruined valley. There wasn't a single tree, small bushes, or even a single strand of grass that could be found. The entire area seemed dead, littered with dried rocks and ash. After a few minutes of searching, the ANBU Captain finally found the cave Naruto had told him about; the one where Sakura had taken her two teammates to for safety, before setting herself as bait.
The cave was small but cool; hidden behind larger rocks, making it hard to find if you didn't already know it was there, which made him wonder how she had found it in the first place. Storing that question in his mind for later analysis, Itachi didn't stay long in the cave. Sakura had managed to completely disappear after leaving the hideout, probably to keep her wounded teammates from coming after her, which only made his job that much harder.
He checked up on his crows that were flying over the mountains and towards Sound, and headed East when no trail had been found. Going West or South would mean crossing the battlefield they had just left, a stupid and suicidal move in his opinion. Heading North would mean heading towards Three Wolves Mountain, but there could have been more enemies stationed there, waiting to strike them down before they reached Iron's capital city. The smartest move, in order to lure the enemy away from Naruto's and Sasuke's location, would have been to head East. Moreover, heading East meant entering the mountains, which would have given Sakura plenty of opportunities to lose her pursuers.
Itachi didn't know how much his little brother's teammate had thought of, but he knew that she was smart, and had probably gone East. At least he hoped so, because as it was, he was running against time and didn't have the luxury to backtrack if she had taken another direction.