Chapter 60. Treasure hunt.

The leaves swayed, dancing to the gentle song of the wind. The birds chirped happily and the insects walked to and fro going about their business. Shino watched as the ants carried food back to their colony in a line. The Aburame enjoyed watching the insects interact with nature on calm days like these.

His sensei, Kurenai, said they would be training with another team, but the team was late and they were allowed to relax until they arrived. Hinata was pacing back and forth seemingly nervous, while Kiba and Akamaru watched her from the shade of a tree. Shino didn't know where his sensei was.

"I'll be fine Hinata," Kiba said with a sigh. "I don't know why you're so worried."

Hinata stopped her pacing and looked at the boy.

"You don't know who is coming, do you?" she shook her head before adopting a smirk which she swiftly covered with her sleeve. "You're in for it now."

Shino had a bad feeling. Not all of their classmates became genin as they were told. Aside from team 10 that was guaranteed, it was debatable whether the others passed or not. Even if an individual is strong they can't carry their team. He thought of all those who knew Hinata and had a decent chance of passing, there weren't many. Adding the factor of Hinata being afraid of them or respecting them and there was only one.

A pink butterfly landed on a flower near him. He looked at the creature and frowned, it didn't look like a normal butterfly up close. The wings were the only thing that resembled a butterfly and even then just barely, the body was nothing like a butterfly. It was thick and looked more like a dragon.

Shino reached out to touch it.

Tap.

A shadow cast over him and the rustling of clothes was close. He looked at his outstretched hand to find a sandal standing on his hand. He looked up and his eyes widen behind his shade. Pink hair and red dress dancing in the wind.

She stopped down to his eye level and smiled brightly at him.

"Hey, Shino how have you been?"

"Sakura…" he said. Right, she was friends with Hinata wasn't she.

In a whoosh of leaves, standing back to back Sasuke and Naruto appeared surprising Hinata and Kida.

"What the!' Kiba yelled jumping to his feet. "When did you guys get here!?"

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata cheered and ran to him.

"Hinata!" Naruto met her halfway picking her up and twirling her before. It was a lovey-dovey scene before Hinata suplex Naruto into the ground.

Silence rang out as Hinata let go and leaped away. She took a stance and activated her Byakugan.

"Don't think you can full me!" Hinata yelled at Naruto's limp body.

"Hinata what?" Kiba called out confused.

"Ho~" Sakura smirked and Naruto's body scattered into cherry blossoms. Kiba leaped back away from the body as butterflies like the one Shino saw flew around. Hinata didn't drop her guard watching the butterflies that suddenly froze and exploded in a puff of smoke. From the smoke leap several Naruto's.

"What the hell!?" Kiba exclaimed as the Naruto's closed in on Hinata.

"All direction shuriken jutsu!" Naruto's clones that surrounded Hinata, took out a hand full of shuriken and threw it at her. Hinata's eyes widened before they narrowed in determination.

"Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!" Hinata said as she began to spin. A charka dome formed around her and deflected the shuriken. When it was clear she stopped and the dome of chakra fell.

Her eyes looked up in time to see Sasuke coming down with an ax kick. She flipped backward away from it and into a barrage of Narutos.

Hinata disapearedf under a dogg pile of Narutos, a pile of Narutos?

"Gentle fist!" a small voice cried from the pile of orange and Naruto was sent flying. The world seemed to slow as Hinat to a stance.

"Eight trigrams 32 palms!" her pale eyes blazed as he stroked the clones that fell back down on her. Strike after strike, clones were thrown to the ground and poofed out of existence.

"Gah!"

"Ahh!"

"Ack!"

The clones cried out as they were defeated by the Hyuga heiress.

"32 palms!" she cried strike ng the last Naruto that also poofed after the hit.

Tap.

As silently as the wind Sakura appeared behind Hinata her leg raised high. Hinata's eyes widened but it was too late, her pale eyes looked back to see the kunoichi grin before the ax kick fell. destroying the ground.

Right, Sakura was stupid strong, he remembered his father's warning after the incident.

"Don't get involved with that girl. If you can't avoid her, don't engage in combat. she's not someone you can beat."

Abarames weren't combat specialists and only knew the basics, they relied mostly on their insects. Shino wasn't sure he could survive one of her hits. The dust settled and Sakura stood alone in her own crater.

"Tsk, you guys are no fun," she said with a pout. A distance away Kurenai sensei stood with Hinata in her arms.

"What the hell is this, Kakashi!" she glared at the grey-haired jonin that suddenly appeared. He rubbed the head sheepishly and gave a nervous chuckle.

"Believe it or not, that's how they greet each other," he explained and Kurenai looked down at Hinata. She didn't meet her eyes.

"Kyaa!" Hinata yelped as Kuranei dropped her. The Hyuga didn't reach the ground before she disappeared in a blur of orange.

"Yo!" Naruto greeted holding Hinata in his arms with a smug smile.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata said softly.

Shino flinched as the two stared at each other and slowly lend in!

Woosh!

Tack!

A kunai flew past the two and buried itself in the tree.

"You two are gross," Sasuke said toying with another kunai.

"I would say get a room but I don't want to see what Hisashi looks like pissed off." Sakura said walking up o stand with Sasuke.

"Hmph you're just jealous," Hinata huffed.

"Oh~ you think so~" Sakura cooed. "Hinata is so cruel, even though you knew I would get jealous you still did it," Sakura wiped a tear that wasn't there. "You're truly the worst."

She buried her face in Sasuke's chest, as everyone watched with exasperation.

"Isn't this fine, Sakura~" Sasuke smirked cupping her cheeks. "We'll just leave them for dead. If they're going to be ungrateful, then isn't it fine if we don't feed them."

"Hey!" Naruto cried.

"- are heal their wounds when their hurt~"

"S Sasuke kun?" Hinata trembled.

"Once they realize they can't live without us, they'll come crawling back," His black eyes turned red and Sakura's eyes glowed pink with… hearts?

"Sasuke-Kun is so amazing~," Said said with an unsettling grin. "Let's watch them suffer~"

The two began to grin unsettlingly as they leaked killing intent.

Shino's skin crawled as his bugs moved around restlessly.

"Eek!" Naruto and Hinata cried in unision. "They're monsters."

Kakashi sighed. "Now they've done it."

"Treasure hunt?"

"That's right," Kakashi smiled. "We have hidden 100 scrolls in this forest. Your task is to find them. Each team is required to have at least 15 scrolls by the end of the hunt."

"It was originally going to be a team verse team but since there seems to be inner conflict it's going to three teams of two." he looked at Hinata and Naruto pointedly.

"The team is as follows," Kurenai announced. "Team Fox, Naruto, and Hinata."

They nodded.

"Team Cat, Sakura and Sasuke."

"Nya~"

"Hmph."

"Team Wolf, Kiba and Shino."

"Alright!"

"..."

"The hunt will end at sunset," Kakashi explained.

"Scatter!"

The genin disappeared in a woosh.

Kakashi sighed as he sat down, took out his Icha Icha book, and began to read.

"What, you're not going to watch them?" Kurenai asked sitting beside him.

"I'd rather not, they're old enough to survive on their own," he said.

Boom!

"Probably."

Kiba leaped out of the smoke with a cough.

"What the hell! Isn't this suppose to be a treasure hunt, why are they leaving traps everywhere?" he whined as he leaped through the trees. Shino leaped after him silently cursing as well. They stopped on a tree branch and looked around.

Kiba sniffed the air and frowned.

"The others are up ahead, he told Shino. "It's probably best we don't go near those psychos."

"I'm a little confused," Shino admitted getting Kiba's attention. "During team announcements, weren't they all on a separate team?" he remembered the day well and they were on three different teams. So how is it that they are suddenly on the same team?

"You think they threatened the Hokage?" Kiba asked half-joking.

"The fact that I can't flat out deny it, is very concerning."

Bark!

"You're right Akamaru, we should hurry, those guys might be beast when it comes to fighting, but we're the tracking specialist," Kiba responded to his dog-nin. "Let's do this Shino!"

"Right…" Shino lifted his arms. Kikaichu, bugs specially breed by his clan, crawled from under his sleeve.

"We should follow, Kurenai sensei's scent, Kiba told him and Shino nodded, as his beetle-like bugs flew into the air.

Bark bark!

Kiba sniffed the air and turned towards a group of trees he leaped over to them and Akamaru leaped from his head. The pup walked over to some foliage and reemerge with a scroll in his mouth.

"Good boy, Akamaru!" Kiba praised the pup patting his head as he took the scroll.

Kiba sniffed the scroll and smirked.

"It has Kurenai sensei's scent," he explained. "So we can at least find those with her scent."

Shino's Kikaichu came back to him, carrying the scrolls they found. Five in total.

"Good work, he said, sending them back out.

"We have six now," Kiba smirked. "Nine more to go.!"

Bark bark!

The three leaped to their next scroll.

Hinata watched through her Byakugan as they ran deeper into the forest.

"Team Wolf has Six now," she reported. Naruto through the scroll up before catching it and smirked.

"We should get serious too," Naruto stood forming a hand seal. "Multi Shadow clone Jutsu!"

In a puff of smoke, numerous clones of Naruto appeared each wearing a smug grin. "We've already wone he said. "Hinata."

"Right," she replied focusing chakra in her eyes. "Byakugan!" her vision widened as did her sight range. She looked around her immediate area and spotted several scrolls. She revealed their location and the clones rushed to find them.

"With your eyes and my clones, we've already won," Naruto took a relaxed posture.

"I wonder if Sakura is having any trouble," Hinata said. "She might be a sensory ninja but, there's no one to track."

"Tch," Naruto tsked. "She has her way of seeing, trust me."

"But of course Naruto," I smirked. "You're very aware after all." I removed the visitors and grinned at the forest. Sasuke stood by my side, his Sharingan activated and a satisfied smirk on his face.

"They really underestimated us didn't they?" he said looking out on the horizon. It was still early so they had plenty of time to find 15 scrolls. A Springfly flew toward me and I offered my palm for it to land on. As soon as it landed I felt a pull of chakra and the springfly was replaced with a scroll. I smiled pleased.

Being a reincarnate of Indra was really something. Before I was almost chakra exhausted from doing a substitution and now I didn't even feel the difference.

"Overpowered bastard," I muttered.

"Hm?" Sasuke turned to me.

"Nothing," I smiled at Sasuke as I throw the scroll at him. "Let's get serious."

I ran a kunai across my palm and held it out. Blood dripped from it and fell to the tree branch.

Drip!

"Scatter Senbonzakura," from my blood countless, Harutobus flew before scattering like cherry blossoms in the wind. I lowered my visor and saw what they saw. Having bottomless chakra really was the best. Countless images surrounded me like a VR space, with this I wouldn't feel dizzy seeing from so many angles and I would be able to "put it away," without deactivating the jutsu.

"Should we head out as well?" Sasuke asked.

"Feeling restless?"

"Don't want to feel useless."

"Hmm…" I took off my visor and handed it to him. "Here."

He took it with a questioning look.

"You can be the watcher and I be the manpower provider." I shrugged.

He put on the visor and immediately took it off again.

"Ah, sorry, you'll get used to it," I forgot about the adjustment period there for a second. He glared at me and placed the visor on again only to puke over the edge of the branch.

"Motion sickness already?" I wondered. "Usually it takes a while to kick in."

"Is this what you see whenever you use them?" he asked leaning on the tree.

"You get used to it."

His face hardened.

"Right…" he paused before gasping. "They found a scroll."

"That's good…" I decided not to tell Sasuke that I could see what they say even without the headset.

The sunset was a beautiful affair, Sasuke and I sat on a high tree branch watching the sun go down without a care in the world. The visor was sealed away and was already gathered enough scrolls so we just sat and watched the beautiful scenery.

"We should do this more often," I said, pleased with the calm.

"Hm."

"With all the stress from missions we need to just chill."

"Hn."

I leaned against the tree trunk and closed my eyes absorbing the heat.

"We should bring Naruto and Hinata too," I muttered. "Maybe even team 10 and the rest of team 8. They should get to relax too."

"Okay."

I didn't catch the last bit as I dozed off.

"Let's do that."

AWOOO!

The howl of a wolf woke me. The sun had already hidden beyond the mountain and shadows swept the land.

"That must be the signal to head back," I muttered sleepily, taking the hand Sasuke offered. "Got all the scrolls?" he nodded.

"Right, let's go."

The world warped and suddenly we were in the clearing we started from. Cherry blossoms danced around us as Kakashi and Kurenai stared at us. I leaned on Sasuke fighting sleep.

"Yo," I said waving lazily.

"I can't believe you already taught them the body flicker," Kurenai glared at Kakashi.

"Would you believe me if I said I didn't?" he fired back.

The leaves rustled and Kiba and Shino returned. Kiba's smile dropped when he saw us.

"What!?" he pointed accusatively. "When did you guys get here!?"

There was a poof of smoke and Naruto and Hinata appeared.

"Aw man you guys beat us here," Naruto pouted. "No fair."

Kakashi closed his book and stood.

"Well since everyone is here let's have a count of your scrolls shall we?"

Kiba presented his pile.

"21 scrolls, we rock!" he declared.

"We found more than expected," Shino said adjusting his glasses.

"Hmph, is that all." Naruto undid his seal. "29 scrolls and we only got this little because you called us back."

"They were easy to find in the beginning but then we found some hidden by genjutsu," Hinata explained.

"Yeah we kept walking in circles so we gave up on a scroll covered by way too much genjutsu," Kiba looked at his sensei with a frown. "That was overkill sensei."

"Kakashi," Kurenai said ignoring Kiba. "Did you put in any effort, in hiding the scrolls?"

"Of course I did," he said puffing his chest. "There were numerous traps around the scrolls and I covered my scent so they wouldn't be able to find them using my scent."

"So that's why I kept dying to traps, I thought that was Sasuke's doing," Naruto said thoughtfully.

"And you team Cat?" Kakashi turned to us and Sasuke released the seal.

"25," Sasuke said.

Pfft

Naruto burst into laughter.

"Hah, we got more than you, haha~"

I yawned and a swarm of springflys flew into the clearing. They disappeared in a poof, leaving a pile of scrolls in their place.

"I left them behind, sorry," I said when Sasuke glared at me. "25," I informed them of the total.

"50 scrolls huh?" Kakashi sighed. "That means you got past my ultimate defense."

"If you call that your ultimate defense, I'm very disappointed," I told him.
"This is our win," Sasuke said and Naruto whined, only to be comforted by Hinata.

"Well this was fun," Kakashi said with a clap of his hand. Kakashi walked over and picked me up like I was a child. I was too sleepy to complain. "We should do this again, Kurenai chan."

Naruto pulled Hinata over to us quickly as my springflys closed in.

"See you tomorrow sensei," Hinata called as we disappeared.

Having lots of chakra really is the best~

Next chapter June 21

Until next time

Night song~

Five butterflies flew in the spot team 7 disappeared from. They only stayed a moment before puffing away.

"I can't believe we lost at our own game," Kiba whined as did Akamaru. "Oh, hey sensei. Why were those guys on the same team? Weren't they assigned to different teams?"

"They were," Kurenai confirmed. "But others didn't work well with them so the Hokage gave up and placed them on the same team. Or that's what I heard."

"Other people didn't work well with them?" Shino asked.

"You know how it is," She shrugged. "People don't really like Naruto and the girls overestimated Sasuke." she paused. "I heard that Sakura's team was fine though, but I guess it wasn't worth sending Naruto and Sasuke back to the academy."

"Huh. So they did threaten the Hokage after all," Kiba nodded satisfied.

Shino turned away from them and walked away.

"Where you headed, Shino?" Kurenai asked.

"Home," he asked simply. "It seems I need to train more."