“Teams 7, 8, and 10… disperse!”

Sakura took one sweeping look at the different teams before they sprinted into the forest. The jonin had limited their options to a specific section of the forest to the memorial stone’s right. She could see Choji and Naruto leaping after Hinata in the distance and when she searched around them, their hunters were nowhere to be seen but Team 7 continued straight ahead.

Team 8 could have been right above them or chasing Team 10, but there was nothing they could do about it. Their target was Sasuke, the strongest member of their team—so putting some distance between him and them was a must.

Sasuke ran ahead of herself and Shino, his pace slower than normal. It needed to be if he wanted to last for the entire exercise. With his chakra restrained by the prisoner seal stuck to his back, he couldn’t use it to traverse the treetops, forcing them to travel along the ground. They were the ones with the biggest disadvantage out of everyone—Sakura knew that.

Team 8 was going to come after them first and avoid Team 10. The question wasn’t whether they would but how long they had before Team 8 arrived. She chewed on her thumb while running behind Sasuke. It wouldn’t matter how far they ran, Team 8 didn’t have their chakra bound.

She blinked through the rays of sunlight spilling through the forest, drawing her gaze to where the sun met the horizon in a resplendent explosion of orange and red and then lower to the tall shadows dancing along the ground.

“Um… guys?” she called out.

Shino tilted his head to her and Sasuke grunted, doing the same.

“We can’t stay in the forest,” she said, gesturing at the shadows surrounding them. “Shikamaru’s hijutsu are going to be at their strongest when he faces us.”

They took her words in silence. Sakura kept her eyes on the two of them despite the urge to look away while she waited for a reply.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Indeed,” said Shino. “Sasuke is also a liability right now.”

Sakura’s stomach dropped.

Sasuke folded his arms, his dark eyes flickering like embers—but he didn’t refute Shino’s words. Sighing, he looked at her instead. “You’ve stated the obvious, Sakura. What’s your plan?”

“I think…” She looked away for a split second, fidgeting with her hair. “I think that we should move to the river. It won’t eliminate all the shadows, but it’s less of a risk than fighting here.”

“Why fight at all?” asked Shino.

She shook her head. “We shouldn’t fight them if we have the choice, but in case we do, the environment should suit us more than them. If we fight them, we’ll lose.”

“Because I’m what?” asked Sasuke, the heat returning to his eyes. “Helpless?”

“N-No, that’s not what I said!” Sakura waved her hands in front of her face.

“Yes—you are helpless by the very definition of the word, Sasuke. You cannot spearhead the battle because of the prisoner seal,” said Shino. “That role now falls to Sakura and I.”

Sasuke considered them, his offence retreating in the face of curiosity—as if he hadn’t considered that they could do it.

“Our goal is to protect you, not subduing Team 8,” said Sakura. “If we have to fight them we will—and when that happens, we’ll need your shurikenjutsu. Maybe Kakashi-sensei will give us a good mission if we win the exercise.”

His lips tugged down though he wasn’t frowning. “You said something about a river?”

“I did!” Sakura beamed at him. “If we keep going northwest, we’ll come out onto its banks.”

“And then?”

“We continue moving,” said Shino. “I’ve sent a small number of my insects back for reconnaissance purposes. So long as they are not discovered, we should have a steady stream of information on their whereabouts. At the very least, we won’t be caught by surprise.”

“That’s perfect, Shino,” said Sakura. “We might not have to fight them at all, right, Sasuke?”

Training with Kakashi-sensei in the morning had made the physical gap between them and Sasuke painfully obvious. It hurt to admit it, but Sasuke ignored their input, choosing to do what he wanted and expecting them to follow. It wasn’t like his decisions landed them in trouble, but it made Sakura feel ignored and unimportant—so, seeing Sasuke listening to her was a nice change of pace.

He cleared his throat and started running with renewed purpose; he angled his body to the left, making Sakura smile.