( Can I be Sakura since you have Hinata and Sasuke? Oh and Sakura is still helping Sasuke right? P.s: You know that you can use any of the minor characters too right?)
Sakura rubbed her eyes,"I-I-know!" She bowed her head low as if she wasn't useful enough. "J-J-ust promise to bring Sasuke back! Please! NARUTO! Bring Sasuke back to me. This is a once in a lifetime thing, please...."Sakura said frantically rubbing tears, but they just came falling back down. Shikamaru sighed and looked at the time as if waiting for Naruto to hurry up and say something so they can get along with the mission. Naruto was about to say something until Hinata came towards the group with her ninja gear on. Neji stepped forward.
"Lady Hinata?"He said. Neji was surprised that Hiashi let Hinata go on to the mission. Shikamaru scratched his head. "You're accompanying us in the mission to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha?"Neji asked. Hinata fiddled with her two index fingers and nodded. Naruto was about to say something until Hinata came along. "Hinata's coming! Guess we'll have someone else from the Hyuga clan to balance out Neji's big ego,"Naruto slipped. Neji turned his head towards Naruto who slowly backed away and went behind Choji.
"Hmm, I guess Hinata coming along would be our advantage. Two Byakugan users and then we have Akamaru and Kiba's noses, we should be able to track Sasuke in half the time before." Shikamaru then counted the group and closed his eyes again forming a curved rectangle with his fingers. "Alright, I can change the formation into including Hinata." Then he sighed and realized Sakura was there.
Her eyes were widened. "Hinata Chan's coming to the mission?"she said once her voice stopped with the hiccups after her cries. Neji nodded. Then she raised her eyebrows. "Can I come with you guys? Can I come and retrieve Sasuke with you!"she cried out.
"Sakura..."Naruto said. "Err, I'll make that promise to you. I'll retrieve Sasuke so you don't worry about it!"he said. Sakura's eyes widened and she felt comforted by his promise, but she wanted to save Sasuke too. She saw the big goofy grin on Naruto's face and a thumbs up sign towards her.
"I want to come! Please include me,"Sakura said.
Shikamaru sighed loudly and went to the front realizing how much time they wasted and that the conversation was getting nowhere. "Listen Sakura, we can't include everyone in the group got it? We already have more than enough members of the team and everyone has their own role to play in the mission,"Shikamaru said in a tone that meant he was done playing around and that he was dead serious. "No offense or anything, you have nothing to contribute to the team,"Shikamaru said firmly. Those phrases brought Sakura to tears. Shikamaru was now getting annoyed. "Sakura, we have to go now."
Sakura nodded, but ran after them crying. "Sakura, I made that promise and I'm going to bring Sasuke back--to all of us!"Naruto said. "And I never go back on my word, thats my nindo: my ninja way,"he said pointing a thumb to his chest. Hinata smiled once again. Those words were all the confidence she needed.
"Let's get going Lady Hinata,"Neji said.
All of them set out on the mission and finally went outside of the Hidden Leaf Village.
******
Sakura wiped her tears and walked back to the village with her shoulders slumped. "You have nothing to contribute to the team."Shikamaru's voice was still ringing through her ears. Was she really still that useless? She couldn't even stop Sasuke. She did something even worse. She had no part in this village. She wanted to go with Hinata and the others so that she could erase the mistake she did the night that Sasuke left the village. She was still so in love with Sasuke knowing that he never even liked her that she did something so horrible that even Naruto wouldn't even look at her. She took a seat in the nearest bench and just cried more. "Even Hinata is going,"Sakura thought to herself. "That girl who was always so shy and whose father always looked down on her has now just begun to bloom after the Chuunin exams. What have I done? I'm still the useless Sakura." She felt a hint of jealousy towards Hinata.
*****
Naruto was still walking behind Choji when he said Neji had a big ego. Surprisingly, Neji never went out and beaten the crap out of him. Instead, he smiled a little bit and kept walking, muttering the words ego over and over again. Naruto was sure it had something to do with when he fought against Neji in the Chuunin exams and beat him, proving that a failure like himself can stand tall. In fact, he felt the need to beat Neji because of Hinata. When Hinata was put against her powerful cousin, she chose to stay and fight bravely, almost killing herself. Neji told her something that angered Naruto: "People can't change." He wanted to prove Neji wrong and that people can change. Even though Hinata lost the match, even Naruto could see that Hinata changed as well.
"Lady Hinata,"Neji said suddenly turning towards his cousin. "Are you sure that Lord Hiashi approved of this?"he asked one more time to make sure. Hinata nodded once again. Neji then nodded, being reassured. "Byakugan!"both of them said as they activated their visual kekkei genkkai. Kiba and Akamaru were sniffing Sasuke's trail as they walked through the forest.
"Anything yet?"Naruto asked confidently and eagerly. "Hold on! We can't just magically track him! But...his scent is getting stronger with every step we take." Neji nodded. "We both have our Byakugans ready."
Shikamaru nodded as they all got into their planned formation as if things were going the way they were supposed to. The thing on Naruto's mind was the promise he made to Sakura. He nodded confidently, he was definitely going to bring back Sasuke. They took a swift left with Kiba's scent's direction. They were moving at top speed and Kiba's scent was getting stronger. "We're still not in Sasuke's range yet Shikamaru. Our Byakugan can see up to 10 kilometers. We'll have to double our speed and we can reach Sasuke within a day,"Neji informed him. Hinata nodded, adding in more information.
"Alright then. Once the moon's in sight we'll have to rest up,"Shikamaru said abruptly looking at the clouds in the daylight sky. Naruto stopped suddenly. "ARE YOU FREAKING CRAZY!"Naruto asked. "No I'm not,"Shikamaru said brushing off dirt from his shoulder as everyone stopped to hear what Shikamaru had to say. "My justu won't work in the night, shadows are best in the morning sky,"Shikamaru said. Choji nodded understanding. "Yes that makes sense since Shikamaru relies on his Shadow Strangling Jutsu. Resting up also gives us plenty of time to replenish all our chakra,"Choji said pointing to his chip bag. Naruto grunted and then sighed, understanding Shikamaru's clever way of thinking. "Alright then, we'll still keep moving. We've got plenty of time til its night."