__3rd Pov__

The group slowly approached the camp of bandits. They had sent a hawk out about an hour ago, informing the Hokage of the situation.

The original two man cells had been rethought and now the teams were as follows: Sasuke with Naruto, Sakura with Choji, Ino with Asuma, and Kakashi with Shikamaru. They all had their orders and at a signal they dispersed.

Kakashi and Shikamaru went to one of the walls that was less gaurded. Once they arrived Kakashi used one of his earth style jutsu to dig under the wall. They silently stole their way through the camp, dodging torches and men who sat outside talking in the night. There were few senetries and they managed to make their way to the base of the tower without incident.

They began scaling the tower and weren't even halfway when they heard a shout from below. Someone had finally spotted them, and that was what they were hoping for. At the shout the entire camp went into a panic, running toward the tower. This also triggered something else, the signal to the other three groups to start their distractions.

Choji began his human boulder jutsu and broke down the wall that Kakashi and Shikamaru had been at no more than 10 minutes ago. At the same time, Asuma released a jutsu on the opposite wall completly breaking it into pieces that went flying. Naruto and Sasuke, who didn't know their rasengan or chidori yet, were at the front gates and kicked them in.

The men on the ground paused, confused as to where to go. They turned from direction to direction until finally, forgeting the two on the tower, they went to face the outside threat.

Kakashi and Shikamaru were, by now, almost at the window described by Ino. There were bars on the window, but Kakashi pulled out a kunai and cut through them. (Don't ask how, I'm saying he put chakra into it)

Kakashi was the first through the window, ready for any attack. There were 5 men on that floor total and Kakashi quickly took them all out. Shikamaru appeared through the window only seconds after Kakashi, but was unable to join in the fight. They wasted no time on conversation and headed off to the right, where a flight of stairs leading up could be seen. Two men stood gaurd at one of the doors and they assumed that to be where Sara was held.

In a flash Kakashi knocked both of those men out as well, causing them to fall limp to the floor. Then they turned their attention to the heavy wooden door. They heard a grunt of surprise from behind it, and at that instant Shikamaru kicked the door open.

They stood face to face with Sara, who was still tied to the post and a man who held her up in front of him like a shield. Sara saw them and registered who it was, but then a flash of pain crossed her face and almost fell to the floor. The man, unprepared for the sudden movement was caught off gaurd, clutching at her he leaned down too.

Using the moment of distraction Shikamaru quickly formed his handsigns. His shadow stretched out and stopped the man's movements. Kakashi ran over and stopped Sara's fall before she hit the ground.

"Kagemane no Jutsu seiko(Shadow paralysis jutsu success)," he stated happily.

The man, though unable to move, still shot a glare in his direction. He didn't speak at all however, just kept the poisonous look in his eyes.

Sara looked at him from her position on the floor, "no shit Sherlock. Where's Watson?" There was a certain amount of venom in her voice. Shikamaru didn't respond.

Then Sara coughed and Kakashi noticed the bandages that were slowly being dyed red around her torso. "Sara, you're hurt," he stated in worry.

She rolled her eyes dramatically, "guess I just found Watson." She subsided into another fit of coughs after saying this however.

"Don't speak Sara, you're just going to make the wound worse," Kakashi said to her gently. He looked at her with a filial sense of love. He wanted to kill the man who had hurt her.

"You don't have time for this, tie up that man. I don't think Shika will be able to hold the jutsu for much longer," she stated, turning attention away from her.

Sure enough there was sweat beading down Shikamaru's face from the effort of keeping the jutsu going. Kakashi quickly released Sara from the rope bonds and placed them on the man. Once the last knot was finished Shikamaru released the jutsu thankfully. Kakashi pushed the man away to the other side of the room.

Kakashi picked up Sara and they headed down the stairs. When they reached the landing with the window they hesitated. The original plan had been to leave the way they had come, and avoid all the fighting. Now with Sara injured there was the worry that they would put undue stress on the wound and make it worse.

Sara, sensing their hesitation and guessing the reason spoke up, "Just carry me on your back as you walk down. It can withstand the pressure, just try not to jump around unnecessarily alright?" She joked, even though she was in no condition to do so. Sweat beaded on her forehead in the effort not to cry out in pain as they readjusted her position.

She gripped Kakashi's shirt as they climbed out the window. Then they began their slow descent down the side of the tower. From where they were they could see the fights raging below them. Of course it was better put as fight. Singular. The three groups had been pushed in their battles, finally ending up with them being in one group near the front gates.

Kakashi reached up and pressed on the radio. "Asuma, what's the situation?" He asked briskly.

"We're holding them off, but only barely. It would be appreciated if..." there was a pause and some clangs of metal, "you could help us down here."

"Right, I'll send Shikama-" He stopped as Sara reached and put a hand over his mouth. Taking the receiver from his ear and the mic she attached them to herself.

"Kakashi? What happened? Are you there?" Sara heard as Asuma, sounding slightly worried, called out.

Finishing attaching the mic to herself she spoke. "He's fine, don't worry Asuma."

"Sara!" His voice instantly filled with releif.

"Kakashi will join you here shortly. Shikamaru is going to take me to a safe spot away from the fighting, then he too will help," she ordered briskly, no place for arguement in her voice, "when the fighting is done, you can come and get me."

"Wait, why are yo-" she cut him out by turning off the earpiece.

"Sara, we aren't just going to leave you in some tree." Kakashi argued.

"No, you are going to leave me in a specific tree, which you will then remember and come back to get me," she said in a mock dry voice. When she saw that he would argue she went on, "look, this is a fight. You need to be able to think clearly. Forget I'm injured for just a moment. In a fight who would you send out first? A rookie genin with little fighting experience or a jonin with years of fighting under his belt?"

Both of the guys let that sink in and had to admit that they would send out the jonin. "Sara..." Kakashi began, but stopped when he looked back and saw the steel in her eyes. He sighed, and somehow knew that once she set her mind to something, nothing would change it. "Fine, but don't do anything reckless."

"Me? Reckless? Who are you talking to here Kakashi?" She said in an offended voice.

"The girl who went and made a hostage exchange for herself," Shikamaru stated bluntly. Sara didn't have a reply to that, so she simply shut up.

It was awkward as they made the swap from Kakashi's back to Shikamaru's. They almost dropped Sara as she crawled across the two and settled onto his. After making sure they were both fine Kakashi jumped off to help in the fight still raging below.

Sara tucked the radio reciever that she took off of Kakashi into her skirt. Then relaxing slightly she laid on Shikamaru's back.

"You know pinapple, your back is actually pretty comfy," she said sleepily.

"Oi! Sara, you aren't allowed to fall asleep," Shikamaru turned to face her worried. If she fell asleep in her current condition there was no telling if she would wake up.

"Yeah yeah, I know Shikamaru. I'm not stupid enough to fall asleep," Sara said.

"With you, it wouldn't be a surprise sometimes though."

"Well sorry for being me," She huffed and hid her face in his back. Maybe not the best hiding spot from him, but you make due with what you've got.

"I never said that you were a bad thing," if Sara had raised her head at that moment she might have noticed a slight blush tinting his cheeks. But she didn't, so the moment passed.

No more was said until they were almost level with the other rooftops. Then Shikamaru grabbed on to Sara a little tighter and she stirred.

"Hey, hold on, we're going to start jumping a little," he informed her.

"Ugh... I almost forgot we'd have to do that," she groaned.

"I'll try not to move to much. Just hold on." Once she had he jumped to the nearest roof. He ran in the direction opposite the fighting, leaving the camp in less than a minute. He got to a tree and set Sara in a forked branch gently.

"Thanks Shikamaru. I'll owe you one later," she said looking up thankfully. Her posture was normal enough for someone with a wound to the stomach, and he reasoned that even if she became worse the branches would support her.

"Yeah. Stay here until we get back," Shikamaru ordered before jumping off.

"Where would I be going with this wound?" she muttered after him. Once she was sure he had really gone she curled up even more, holding her stomach as she felt blood pulse from the wound. By now the bandages, which they had given her more to replace the old ones with the day before, were soaked completely though.

She pulled her hand away from the wound and stared at her scarlet stained hand. There was no doubt in her mind that where the wound had been set on both Kakashi and Shikamaru there was blood staining their clothes as well.

There were dots dancing before her eyes again, but instead of letting herself pass out she fought it off. She had had enough of the nightmares that sleep wrought upon her. Her head fell back to rest against the tree and she stared at the stars, the same stars that shone upon her friends as they fought for her sake.

"Maybe one day I won't be so weak," she mumbled out loud.

__At the fight__

When Kakashi arrived at the fight it was mayhem. Besides a few scratches however it appeared the nobody was seriously injured. He didn't hesitate when he jumped into the fight, knocking out one of the bandits as he fell upon him. Soon he was swarmed with enemies of his own, but before they had seen that he was there he had thinned them out quite a bit.

"Nice to see you're here Kakashi," Asuma said at one point when they were next to each other.

He nodded, kicking on of the men back. "Yeah, losing your touch a little?"

"Nah, I totally had this." Kakashi didn't respond to Asuma's comment, but gave him a look of 'yeah right.'

A few minutes later Shikamaru arrived. He landed next to Choji and punched the man who had been about to hit him in the face. Ino also noticed the Shikamaru had returned and without another word they began formation Ino-Shika-Cho.

Though they all fought hard, they couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the numbers. Most of the bandits were just plain fighters, picked from fields and villages. Just the basic ruffian. As the fight wore on however, there were some who were obviously rogue ninja. Though most weren't above a chunin level, they put up a fight, until one of the two jonin took them down.

Finally they were left with the inner circle of the thieves. All of them were ninja, chunin and even some jonin that Kakashi could remember from his bingo book. These bandits had been severely underestimated in their skill level from the report.

Just when things were looking bad however, there was a hail of kunai shot into the enemies. Taking the chance of confusion amongst them the group descended upon them, injuring, and even killing in the case of the two jonin, the men in their way.

The fight subsided with the group winning. Though they had scratches all over their bodies, mostly the genin, none of them sustained life threatening injuries. Facing the group that had sent the kunai into the midst of the enemy they saw four figures.

"Well, well, Kakashi. I had never imagined that you would need the help of your eternal rival," Gai bragged as he stepped forward into the torchlight.

The rest of the four followed, and Kakashi and Asuma made out the figures of Gai, Kurenai, Izumo, and Kotetsu. Kurenai looked around the group as Gai went up to Kakashi to challenge him to a battle.

Kurenai interrupted the little reunion, "before that, where is Sara? Weren't you here to save her?" She asked.

Aware of this everyone then looked around, as if she might suddenly appear and the first to spot her won a prize. Then their gazes drifted to Kakashi and Shikamaru.

"Well, you see..." Kakashi started, scratching the back of his neck.

"She's in a tree," Shikamaru finished lazily.

"Why's she in a tree? That's weird, believe it!" Naruto(Duh) said.

"When we got there she was injured," Kakashi said, his look was dark, murderous even.

"Where is she! We have to go get her right now!" Naruto began running in circles in a panic. Sakura went up and hit his head. He faceplanted into the dirt, then looked back up at Sakura as she began yet another of those famous lectures.

While she did that Kakashi looked to Shikamaru. Getting the message that the look implied Shikamaru nodded. He ran off in her direction. Hearing footsteps behind him he looked back and saw Gai running behind him. Shikamaru was smart enough not to question it, and just hurried off to the tree.

There was a slight buzz in his earpiece and he turned up the hearing on it. "Are you guys done with your fighting yet Shikamaru?" Sara's voice came over the radio.

"Yeah, we're headed to your location now," he responded.

"You aren't bringing everyone are you?" her tone was slightly worried. She didn't want them to see her like this and worry.

"No, right now it's just me and some guy in a green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers."

"Gai?" she said in a questioning voice.

"Yeah, some guy. I don't know who it is, do you?" He asked her interested.

There was a chuckle on the other side of the radio, then the sound cut off for a moment as she coughed. After her fit of coughing Sara turned her mic back on.

"Sara, are you there?" Shikamaru's voice was worried, after all the sound had cut off in the middle of her laughter.

"Yeah, my hand just slipped. When I said Gai I was referring to who it was, not their gender." She said, you could hear the smile in her voice.

"Oh," was his only reply. Not much you could say to that after all. Trying to cover his embarrassment he changed the subject, "we're almost at your location. Could you shake a branch or something?"

"Don't tell me you forgot my tree," she said exasperated.

"No, it's just easier to locate if you do that. Remembering is a pain."

"You're so lazy," nonetheless she reached out and feebly shook the branch. There was a rustling of leaves to Shikamaru's right and looking he saw her in the tree. He jumped up, as did Gai.

When Shikamaru saw her, he knew her condition was a lot worse then she was letting on. She was pale and there was sweat running down her face in little beads. He was instantly concerned.

"Sara are you alright?" She just shook her head in response. Looking at her abdomen he finally noticed that her bandages were soaked though completely and began to stain her skirt.

"What happened to her? What happened to my youthful daughter!?" Gai cried out, running over to her, but knowing better than to glomp her into a hug.

"I don't know, but we need a medical ninja. Is there one on the team of reinforcements?" Shikamaru looked to Gai.

"No, there should be one that followed us less than a 6 hours travel behind us." Gai said.

"She might not last that long," Shikamaru looked at her in worry. When he did he saw a movement of her hand, it looked like it was gesturing for him to come closer.

When he had bent down she spoke, "Gai is the fastest jonin, have him carry me to them." Her voice was stronger than a whisper, but it was hoarse and full of pain.

He looked down at her like she was nuts. There was a very low possibility of her surviving the journey, but it was better than the chances of waiting 6 hours at most for them to arrive. There were greater chances if she went he decided and nodded.

"Gai, Sara and I want you to carry her to the medical ninja. Right now." There was no arguement as Gai gently lifted Sara off of the branch bridal style. He jumped lightly off of the tree and took off at a run. A moment or so after he took of a cloud of dust appeared where he had stood.

Looking after them he sent up a silent plea that she would be alright, then returned to the group.

__At the group campfire__

Shikamaru slowly walked into the firelight and sat down. He leaned back and sat with his hands resting behind his head. Immediately he was bombarded with questions. Sitting there he let the clamour wash over him, until finally is faded off.

Then one voice rose above the others. "Where's Sara?" Kakashi spoke. It seems like he had been elected spokesperson for the group.

"With Gai," was his response.

"And where is Gai?" was the next question.

"Running to the group of medical ninjas that were going to get here in about 6 hours," he yawned at the end, almost passing it off as unconcern.

Kakashi of course knew that it wasn't. "Shikamaru, could you come talk with me a moment?"

"What a pain," he got up and followed the older man however. Until Naruto let out a shout of surprise.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Kakashi turned to look at his student who was pointing at him and Shikamaru.

"You... there's..." he trailed off. The others then saw what Naruto was pointing to.

"Kakashi! There's blood on both of your backs!" Kurenai stated worriedly.

The two's eyes widened considerably and the looked to make sure. Exchanging a glance they both knew exactly where the others thoughts were headed.

"She didn't say a word..." Shikamaru started.

"...and she was bleeding this badly?" Kakashi finished in a tone of both worry and wonderment.

Izumo caught on to what the two were saying, and when he finally realized he went slackjawed. "You mean that... that is Sara's blood?"

The others all gasped as if they hadn't seen it coming. They all had of course, but once it was out in the open it seemed more real.

There was a silence, as well as a tension, that you would need a machete to hack through. Sasuke just happened to be that machete. "What will we do?"

Kakashi thought it over. None of them were seriously injured, and could all make the trip. He turned to the other Jonin and saw a light of agreement in both of their eyes. They were both willing to let him take control for a while, after all it was his student.

"We go meet up with the medical ninja as well," he finally decided.

"Then let's get going!" Naruto stood up, full of energy again at the thought of his hurt friend. It brightened the mood considerably from what it was, and there were even a few cheers of agreement.

They packed up and headed off to see the medical group.

__Time skip because nothing happens when they're traveling__

When they arrived at the camp of medic ninjas in the predawn light they were met with quiet. Hushed voices and commands were spoken throughout the group. There was a tent, large enough for about three people to fit inside, set off to one side. As they watched one man left the tent to grab something and another entered with a bowl of steaming water.

The camp was abuzz, but their entrance did not go unnoticed.

"Are you the group that was sent after the bandits?" One of the medics approached them asking.

Kakashi stepped forward to speak for the group again, "yes. How is she?" From the stump he was sitting on Gai noticed them and came over. After his 2 hour run to meet them, Sara had been briskly taken into the tent. Since then he had heard no word.

"She is much better than she was originally. You made the right choice in sending her here. Without medical attention she wouldn't have lasted until we made it. She has a chance of recovering," the medic, a girl, informed them.

"What do you mean a chance?" Sakura let out in a worried tone, interrupting whatever Kakashi had been about to say.

The girl looked down sadly. "Though none of her internal organs were ruptured, her wound is deep. Too deep to be sewn together. The blade was also assumed to be dull and so the wound is jagged. Right now we're doing a procedure to stitch the two sides together with medical ninjutsu, but it will be touch and go here for a while. Not to mention the loss of blood."

The group let this sink in. Slowly all of their faces turned downfallen. "What can we do to help?" Naruto burst out. The thought of his friend dying was too much for him to just sit and wait.

"Well..." The woman thought a moment, "we could use a few extra hands here and there. We also want to give her some chakra to help with the production of blood cells. To do this it is best if they have the same chakra nature. Do any of you happen to have earth, fire, or wind element chakra?"

"She has three types of chakra?" Kakashi asked in slight alarm.

"Yes, luckily for her. So do any of you have them?" She said in a brisk manner.

Kakashi, Asuma and Sasuke all stepped forward. Well, Sasuke was dragged forward, as he didn't yet know that using Koton: Gogakyu no Jutsu, put him as a fire chakra user. "Great! The rest of you can go ask other medical ninja what needs to be done."

They dispersed and the three chakra donors followed the woman to the tent. (Can I just say I love the term chakra donor?)

When the three entered the tent and saw Sara they gasped. No, it wasn't because of the wound. No, it wasn't because she was practically shirtless (though it may have been one reason). No, it wasn't because of anything else you might guess. It was because when they looked at her they saw her face, without the mask.

He face was completely even and beautiful, but marred by a single scar that slid along her cheek. It was thick, as if it had been done delibrately, and stretched behind the ear. To say the least, it looked painful.

The medical ninja whose hands were over her stomach looked up at them. He saw the shock on their faces and looked back at what their gaze rested upon. He said nothing and turned back to his work.

The woman led them over to her bedside and they all sat. Upon inspection of her side they could see the lines of a few more scars that seemed like they would stretch farther across her back. Ignoring those for now however the each placed their hand on top of the womans outstretched one. She looked at the other doctor, who was still focused on stitching the wound up, and after a few more minutes he nodded.

The three focused their chakra into the palms of their hands. They felt it sucked up into the medical ninja and saw her hand glow green over Sara's limp body. The wound was nearly closed due to the other medical ninjas diligent work, but blood still pooled a little in it.

"Mitzuko," was all he said and another medic entered the tent. Seeing the blood he came over and began to dab at the wound and soak it up. Eventually he was dismissed after helping bandage the wound properly.

The wound wasn't fully healed yet, but the man was completely exauhsted after the work he had done. The woman stopped the flow of chakra and the three sat back a little tired as well. Being a chakra donor was hard work.

Soon the woman shooed them out of the tent to let Sara rest in peace. Kakashi only left however, after the woman promised she would be alright.

"She should be fine. With any luck she will wake up within the hour, so don't worry," he leaned in closer at the gesture of the woman, "I wouldn't mention the scars. If she was hiding them, I'm almost certain there was a reason. I won't tell her you saw them either." After that he was roughly pushed the rest of the way out of the tent.

Kakashi passed the message on to Sasuke and Asuma, who both agreed to the request as well. "After all, she'll most likely tell us when she wants to. It could also be that she just doesn't remember," he reasoned to both of them.

The camp was more relaxed when word was spread that Sara was out of the danger zone. The medical ninja who hadn't been working on Sara went to the others and healed whatever wounds were deemed necessary to. They bandaged the other ones and then everyone sat down. Some dozed and others kept watch, but it was a considerably calmer state of affairs than was seen when they arrived.

__time skip~__

A half hour later there was some shuffling heard in the tent. The entire group sat up in anticipation and looked over. The medic who had been inside with her exited slowly and stood up. "She's awake, but give her a minute before you visit her," He ordered, stretching.

They all clambered to get up and stood just outside the entrance. There was a rummaging coming from inside the tent, then some more shuffling. After a while of this there was a quiet, "Alright fine. Only three of you at a time though, I don't want to be trampled."

The group looked at eachother then Sakura, Shikamaru, and Kakashi were all pushed forward. The three looked back at the others, but they looked away, some whistling and others finding great fascination in their nails. The three weren't allowed to argue and they entered into the tent.

When they walked in they saw Sara with bandages wrapped around her face, as her mask was dirty from the blood she had coughed up at one point in time. She also wore a simple white T-shirt over her body that was way too large and stretched down to the below her knees. They had seen a rather large medical ninja walking around earlier and assumed it to be his.

"Ohayo!" She greeted cheerfully, yet in a dry, scratchy voice.

"You feeling alright?" Sakura asked her.

"Psh, yeah. What's a big gash in my stomach?" She joked. The three didn't laugh however and just stood there with stoic faces. "Wow, tough crowd."

"Well that big gash did lead to you almost dying," Kakashi stated bluntly.

She rolled her eyes in mock horror. "Please, like that's never happened before."

Shikamaru looked at her quizzically. "So it has happened before?"

"Well duh. You don't live my life and not come close to death at least once or twice."

"You sound as if you remember those times fairly well." Kakashi's voice dropped low.

Sara nodded sagely, as if finally remembering. "Well yeah, now. I don't know why, but something about the whole wound brought back a few of my... more life threatening memories."

They all stared at her as if she grew a second head. She looked back at them and snapped her fingers after a while. They jumped back in shock.

"It makes sense if you think about it. If something happens that's closely related to one of your memories, doesn't it usually trigger them?" She said in a voice that held no doubt she thought she was stating the obvious.

"So... how much do you remember?" Shikamaru asked, him being the first to snap out of the shock.

"Let's see... I got back about... A really bad year?" She nodded after adding all the memories she got back.

"Total? Just a year?" Kakashi said in some shock.

"Hey, believe it or not pinecone my life before Konoha wasn't complete trash. So far as I remember. Actually, not a good comparison, because now most of my memories are pretty bad... you get the point though."

The only thing that seemed to catch Kakashi's interest was the new nickname. "Pinecone?" he repeated quizically.

"Right! I decided to give most of you knew nicknames. Yours is now pinecone."

"Dare I ask why?" He spoke the question with a great deal of trepidition.

"Ah... Well your hair remindes me of snow, cause of its color, but it's super spikey, like snow covering pine trees. Ya with me so far?" he nodded, a little unsure, "It was going to be pine tree, but that sounds a little too cool, so pinecone."

"I... see..."

"Are you going to give me a new nickname?" Shikamaru asked lazily.

"Nah, because I know that deep down, pinapple annoys you." She stated. The bandages covering her face crinckled and the assumed she was smiling, the light in her eyes however was slightly malicious. "Oh! Before you ask, Sakura. Your new nickname is Sakura."

"Eh? That's my real name though..." She was startled by Sara's 'nickname'.

"Yeah, but I like you so much that I'm willing to drop it. You have my respect," Sara answered honestly.

"So I don't have your respect?" Kakashi asked in a monotone voice.

"Of course you do pinecone, but well... how to put this... I really love messing with you." She gave him his signature closed eyed smile.

"I'll assume that's the same for me," Shikamaru said looking to the sky. Well, more the top of the tent...

"Bingo! Now then, could you send in the next group? The doctor guys said I'll be good to go in an hour, and I don't want to be here longer than that."

"Right, right," Kakashi said, and he led the group outside the tent.

The next group went in and had a brief conversation, much like the one with the first three, minus the whole memory thing. Most of them got new nicknames as well. Sasuke changed to kitten-chibi, Gai to hippie, and Ino to zuno.

Izumo and Kotetsu were dubbed thing one and thing two. When the question of which was which came up it was said to be irrelevant. "After all, you're always together," was her reasoning.

Choji stayed captain underpants and Asuma retained the nickname smokey.  Kurenai was forced to change to rose. Naruto's was to remain spikes, she stated, until a later date.

After some depressed expressions around the camp at their nicknames, mainly Sasuke, Izumo and Kotetsu, and Choji, they packed up the camp.

Sara insisted on walking, but after the first mile the doctors told her she would reopen her wound if she kept going. Glumly she was carried bridal style by a rotation of Kakashi, Asuma, and Gai. They had given her a pair of Sasuke's shorts to wear, much to his irritation, and one of Ino's tops. It was a very mismatched pair, but as her pack was burned by the bandits and her other clothes soaked in blood, she didn't have a choice.

At the third rotation, namely Gai's, things went a little haywire. Gai walked like normal for a while, then a realization seemed to dawn upon him. Almost anticipating this Kakashi reached out to grab the collar of his vest. Alas, he was too late and Gai went running off.

"Traaaaaiiiiniiiing!" could be heard from Gai as his figure faded into the distance. There was the overlay of Sara's scream as the man sped off to Konoha.

They all looked at eachother, then back at the disappearing figure of Gai and Sara. With a few shouts from the genin they went racing after the two, as did most of the medical team, Izumo, and Kotetsu. Shikamaru, Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai stayed behind with a few of the medical ninja and finished the trip to Konoha at a leisurely walk.