A/N: Contains spoilers up to episode 135 (Chapter 238 of the manga). After that it's AU. This fic will eventually be Neji/Sakura.
Chapter One
The stillness of the forest only served to increase Haruno Sakura's uneasiness and the hammering of her heart against her chest. She glanced at each of her teammates in turn, but their expressions betrayed nothing about the situation they were caught in. Neji's face was impassive as always, though from the amount of time she had spent training with him, was able to deduce from his eyes that he was formulating of a plan of attack in his head. Lee was the polar opposite of their mutual teammate. Fire burned behind his eyes at having to sit still while the last of the precious time they had left ticked away.
Sakura turned back to the person who had been occupying most of her attention since they had stopped to hide and regroup. Tenten's left leg had a deep gash, running from her knee up to her thigh. She had manipulated the chakra flow in Tenten's body to repair the damaged blood vessels and stop the bleeding. The wound itself was not life threatening and she had witnessed far worse during her training with Tsunade, but unless she healed it fully, the quickly repaired blood vessels would not hold if she had to fight.
"We're running out of time," said an impatient Lee. "The scroll has a timed explosion note on it. If we don't find it quickly all the information on it will be lost."
Neji regarded him carefully. "What would you have us do, Lee? Make a quick, unplanned attack and be ill-prepared for what the enemy will throw at us?"
"A quick, decisive strike would be more useful than hiding and contemplating what we should do next," Lee shot back.
"I've been pinning down their position," said Neji calmly. "They've stopped moving and are waiting to see what we will do next. If you had the ability to sense chakra you would be doing the same."
"Guys, stop," Sakura said to them both. Lee's eyes were narrowed dangerously at Neji who was wearing a placate smirk. She didn't know what had gotten into them lately. Since Tsunade had made Gai-Sensei's squad a four-man team, Lee and Neji, despite their differences functioned as a superior pair, and were able to trust each other's abilities on missions. But lately, Neji, who had passed the Jounin exam a few weeks earlier, seemed to be going out of his way to provoke Lee and the two of them were constantly battling about something.
The two of them seemed to obey her plea – for now – and focus on why they were in one of the many thickly foliaged forests of Leaf Village in the first place.
"Sakura," Neji began, "stay and heal Tenten. Lee and I will go ahead and get the scroll. Follow us quickly if you can, so that when the enemy moves from you'll attack from the blind spot."
Then he and Lee leapt to their feet and in seconds were gone.
Lee and Neji raced from tree branch to tree branch. It didn't take long before Neji was signaling for Lee to stop. The area was clear, but that didn't mean anything. Their opponents were lying in wait, staying hidden as long as possible.
"It's about time you caught up to us," a voice said, safely hidden from sight. "I was starting to think this task was beyond a Chuunin's ability to handle."
"As well as a Jounin's," a second voice mocked.
"We've known your position for awhile," Lee responded. "We thought we'd give you a chance to recover before we take back what's ours."
"Never show pity for your enemy. It will only get you killed," the second voice said.
"And never give away you position. It will only get you killed," said Neji, using his Byakugan to reveal where they were hiding. He reached into his back pouch and pulled out a set of shurikens which he threw effortlessly at the two seemingly empty bushes.
Two tall masked figures jumped out from where the shurikens had hit.
"You've run out of time," the closest figure to Neji said.
Neji just smirked as Lee disappeared behind him, only to reappear behind one of their enemies.
"You're the one who's out of time," Lee said confidently and then attacked.
He used his Leaf Spinning Wind move to try and take out his opponent's leg from behind. Though his enemy was caught off guard by the impulsive attack, he recovered quickly and caught Lee's kick. Lee lashed out with his other leg this time, which was blocked with ease.
With incredible speed, Lee struck his attacker in the face and when he stumbled from the force of the impact, loosened up on his grip just enough that Lee freed both his legs and kicked out with both, using his strength to send the man head first into the trunk of a tree.
Instead of a body slumping to the ground, a thick tree log appeared in its place and hit the forest floor.
Lee's eyes widened in shock. Kawarimi no Jutsu?
"Looking for this?" A voice said from behind him and Neji.
Both ninja's whirled around to see the real masked enemy holding a small scroll in his hand. "You're out of time,"
As the last words were said, the scroll erupted into a small ball of flames, which the man let fall to the ground.
"But we found something else you might be interested in," the other masked enemy spoke. He had Sakura and Tenten in front of them with a kunai pointed at each of their backs.
Both boys lips curled into a snarl but they wore the expressions of someone who had been so clearly outsmarted by the enemy.
"You got careless," Gai reprimanded them, removing his mask and pocketing the kunai's he had been holding against Tenten and Sakura's backs.
"Neji, you relied too heavily on your Byakugan," said the other masked figure, Kakashi. "We put enough chakra into our shadow clones that you would think they were the real thing, while slowing our own charka flow to remain hidden."
"If on a mission, as a team you decide to split up, strength should be evenly distributed. Tenten and Sakura were vulnerable and you left them because you were too concerned about retrieving the scroll," Gai continued. "If this were a real mission, I could have used both of them as hostages or worse."
"Sakura, what was the first rule of healing that Tsunade taught you?" Kakashi asked her.
Sakura lowered her head, knowing she had screwed up as badly as the others. "You can't help someone if you're dead."
"It seems like you forgot that today. Tenten was hurt, but not badly enough that you should have been so focused on her and not notice Gai's approach. If he were an enemy, he would have killed you without remorse." Kakashi sighed and scratched the back of his head. "It seems like teamwork is at an all time low these days. Perhaps Gai and I have been working you too hard."
It was true, since returning from their last mission in the Country of Fire three weeks earlier, they had been training non-stop. Sakura was observant enough to notice most of the other teams had been doing little else but training lately. It made her wonder if Konoha was expecting some kind of danger soon.
"Take tomorrow off," Kakashi told them. "On Tuesday morning, you'll meet with Tsunade and she'll give you your next mission."
"A day off?" Lee cried. "How can you tell us to relax after the way we failed today. We should be – "
"Lee," Gai interrupted gently. "Kakashi is right. You made mistakes today because you're all exhausted. Remember, even shinobi take days off," he finished, flashing his protégé a grin.
"Use your day off wisely," Kakashi advised. "Your next mission is important."
Sakura took her Sensei's words to heart. Kakashi was not one to exaggerate – except when it came to excuses for his lateness. But even knowing she had a mission coming up, would not cause her to take her day off lightly. She would still train, even if it was on her own because for the last two years training and missions seemed to be the only things she lived for anymore.