Struggle - 5

"Look Lee, I'm sorry, but there's just no sign of her!" Sato repeated, trying to keep their search going, "We can't waste any more time looking for her! We're losing ground!"

"All of these traps have made such a mess of things!" Lee howled angrily, "I do not know what I would do if something happened to Tenten…"

Sato grinned, "Hey, she's a tough girl! She can handle it, but right now we should really-" His tracking owl appeared and landed on his head, "Er…is there something you want to tell me, Joushou?"

"Num…there's a dead body up ahead, about 110 meters from here." The small bird replied, a strange accent making it difficult to understand its speech.

The young Hatake fell quiet for a moment and looked at Lee, hoping he wouldn't overreact. Lee merely stood there, anxiety written all over his face.

"Is it…is it a Leaf ninja? Did you see?" Sato asked softly.

"No. There was a music note on the forehead, num, num…" Joushou cooed, and Sato removed the bird from his head, relieved.

"You keep looking then, alright? Get going!" He tossed the bird into the air and watched it fly ahead, glad to hear that Tenten was still out and about somewhere, 'And maybe even took out a Sound ninja, it seems like…'

"Well, Lee? You okay?" Lee nodded to the younger boy and followed after him a moment later as they went on.

*

"Hayate, sir! There's someone ahead of us," A young chunin scanned the forest ahead of them with his Byakugan and reported it to his squad leader, "Should we stop?"

Hayate glanced over to him, considering it, "Yeah. Can you see who it is, Hikune?" His voice was no longer as hoarse as it had been during the Chunin Exam, at the time he had been suffering from a chest cold.

Hikune and the other two chunin beside him halted, and he peered ahead into the undergrowth, "I don't recognize her, but it's a Leaf ninja alright…there's someone with her as well."

Hayate frowned inwardly, recalling what Tsunade had said earlier about a number of reckless genin who had gone ahead to join Shikamaru's cause without her consent. He was told to keep an eye open for them, but his primary goal was to find Shizune's missing team, 'Hopefully it's one of the genin who went out after Sasuke and Haku…'

"We move out now, they may need help." Hayate decided, and his subordinates followed after him in their formation. Up ahead the squad leader caught sight of the aforementioned kunoichi and rushed to her, recognizing her immediately.

"Hayate!" Tenten addressed him with familiarity when he appeared. It was a habit of hers, especially since her father had been his mentor years ago. She stopped, kneeling down on the mossy ground to rest, and he peeled Neji off of her back who had smeared a considerable amount of blood on her.

"I take it things went unfortunately for you, or for your teammate at least?" He was frowning worriedly. His sensei would never forgive him if something happened to his daughter, dead or not.

"I lost Lee and Sato earlier. I don't know where they are…" Tenten turned to the Hyuga prodigy who was beginning to nod off again, "Keep it together, Neji, we're nearly there!"

Hikune knelt down beside the Hyuga heir, his eyes filled with concern, "Neji-sama! Who did this to him?"

"I don't know. I found him like this…" Tenten's voice cracked, and she pulled back on her ever-mounting emotions, "I couldn't do anything for him…"

"We don't have a medic-nin with our team and his injuries are very bad. He needs to get back to Leaf now," Hayate handed Neji off to his fellow Hyuga, "Hikune, take Neji and Tenten back to Konoha and make sure they get treatment. Make sure they stay there, too."

"But I'm fine, I can still fight! Let me go with you-!"

"No, Tenten, not this time," Hayate overrode her, "You've done good work so far, but right now your friend needs you. Just do as I say and go back now."

Tenten sighed and then nodded, knowing better than to go against his orders. He was a seasoned jounin now, and not the awkward chunin teenager she remembered from her childhood.

Hikune had pulled Neji over his shoulders as one would a lamb, and set out after Tenten had joined him. All the while she stared ahead, unable to bring herself to look at the Hyuga heir.

*

Dawn was approaching, but darkness still blanketed the forest with shadows. Tayuya and Sakon were huddled beside the barrel, trying to rest for the night while they still could. Exhaustion had slowed them down and they had realized it could take two days or more to deliver Sasuke and Haku, realistically speaking.

'Kidomaru has not returned yet and there are five or more Leaf ninja out there still following us,' Sakon's wit was as sharp as ever, 'Until Kabuto arrives, we won't be able to put up much of a fight if more Leaf ninja show up.' Something told him that Kidomaru alone would not be able to fend off against six, angry enemy ninja.

'Until the sun rises we can rest easy, though…' He thought, letting his chin rest against his chest, 'The Leaf shinobi are probably all huddled up around a fire at this very moment, licking their wounds…'

Tayuya gave a violent jerk and started from her sleep, her wide eyes settled on Sakon. He gave her a questioning look.

A thin metal wire had been tied to her hand before she had fallen asleep. It was connected to a network of other wires scattered across the ground surrounding them in the forest clearing. She had woken when the wire trembled, and something told her it wasn't just some passing deer, 'With all the traps we set a deer would be blown apart into a venison dinner…'

Something had evaded the traps and gotten too close for comfort, 'No dumb animal could do that!'

She motioned for Sakon to stand up but by then a number of ninja had already infiltrated the clearing and dove at them, forcing them to leap aside to dodge the attack.

Sakon was astonished, 'How can they navigate in the dark? There's no way they could get this close without us noticing!'

He then noted that things had only gotten worse once the entire team had them surrounded: five of them, much to his horror. It was a chaotic frenzy in the dark as kunai were tossed haphazardly and three forerunners wrestled with the unwitting Sound ninja who were guarding their barrel.

"Eh? Wait it's me!" Sometime during the confusion, Chouji had knocked into Naruto, being his sight and hearing was less than useful, but Kiba had kept up the assault while Hinata and Shikamaru prevented them from getting away.

A few blasts of sound had knocked them all back and Tayuya turned around, her eyes widening in shock before she let out an otherworldly screech, "It's gone! The mother fuckers got it somehow!"

Sakon turned about to see that the barrel that they had been so fiercely protecting had suddenly disappeared. Two ninja scuttled past him and he wheeled about, slashing at them with a kunai, and was surprised to see the team leader and the kunoichi of the team revert to puffs of smoke, 'Shadow clones!'

"There are only three of them that are actually here! The other two went ahead with the barrel!" Sakon concluded, hissing to his partner, "Let's go!"

He and Tayuya abandoned the clearing to follow the escaping Nara and Hyuga. After a moment of composing themselves Naruto and Chouji followed after Kiba who was following Shikamaru's scent. Naruto was troubled, "Shit! I thought those clones would fool them for a little while longer, but they still figured it out!"

"They would've noticed eventually so there's no use belly-aching over it!" Kiba answered, Akamaru agreeing from his place within his master's coat.

It was difficult navigating the dark without Hinata, and Naruto and Chouji stayed close to Kiba for fear of being lost in the inky darkness and having to grope around for their missing teammates.

Ahead, Shikamaru was grinning broadly that their plan had worked so well, "Great work Hinata! You're our secret weapon when it comes to an ambush!"

"Thank you, Shikamaru-kun, but they are getting closer," She replied nervously, "I think they've realized our doppelgangers are fake…"

"No worries," He reassured her, "With Kiba following our scent and Naruto and Chouji ready to pound the living daylights out of those two Sound ninja, we're the ones with the upper hand. I doubt they'll catch up."

Sunlight at last peaked over the horizon and illuminated the once impassable wood, and Shikamaru noted that if Sakon and Tayuya did catch sight of them, their chase would be much easier with visibility quickly increasing.

While leaping through the thick canopy together a shadow descended upon Shikamaru and his assistant, and Hinata gave out a cry of alarm as a third enemy ninja moved impossibly fast to Shikamaru, knocking him away from the barrel with ease and sending him crashing into the trunk of an old cedar.

Shikamaru popped his shoulder back into its socket and scowled, 'There's no way we could've been caught when we're so far ahead! How did-?'

Hinata threw herself at the unknown Sound nin, beginning to close off several vital tenketsu, and then reeled away in shock as she cut her hand on something, but couldn't tell what, 'I don't understand…I targeted only his abdomen and he is unarmed! So how is this possible?'

She held her ground, unwilling to surrender the barrel so easily after they had worked so hard to retrieve it. Hinata applied pressure to the gash on her palm, staring at the Oto nin and realized some other force was at work.

Akamaru leapt through the treetops, planting explosive tags on numerous tree branches where they'd be hidden out of sight for the incoming Sound ninja still pursuing their stolen barrel.

"Hurry up, Kiba!" Chouji called. He and Naruto were already moving ahead. Kiba went to follow them, but Sakon had appeared earlier than expected and drew out a wire from a failed trap that they'd set up the night before.

Before Akamaru could get away, the wire had wrapped him against the tree branch he had planted an exploding tag on. The sound ninja smirked, "Planned on blowing yourself up, little dog?"

"Akamaru!" Frantic, Kiba turned back to rescue his ninken and Naruto looked on in horror as the tags began to go off, "Kiba wait!"

Tayuya evaded the explosions and moved on without Sakon. Her partner rushed at Kiba who was busy prying Akamaru free from his snare. After a few seconds the tag detonated, and blew the two ninja and the small puppy out of the oak and over the side of the cliff at the tree's base.

Naruto watched helplessly as the Inuzuka disappeared into the gorge with Sakon, 'Damnit! Should I go after him? I don't know if he can handle that guy on his own!'

"Naruto come on! She's caught up to Shikamaru!" Chouji urged the blonde boy on, "Don't just stand there, we'll come back for him later!"

Nodding in agreement Naruto followed after Chouji, hoping Kiba would be alright until they returned.

Shikamaru had called Hinata to stand by him until he had devised a plan on how to take the barrel back from the unknown Sound ninja. She obeyed, and watched as Tayuya descended, looking reverently at the shinobi she had earlier attacked, "Kimimaro…"

The white haired man looked to the sound kunoichi, displeasure clear in his voice, "You're too late, Tayuya."

Her eyes were wide. From behind her, Chouji and Naruto came to stand beside Shikamaru, inquiring as to what had happened and who the new guy was.