"Finally," said Naruto, as they walked out of the Hoshikage's office. "I thought that guy would never stop talking, y'know."
Akahoshi, still well within earshot, clenched his teeth in frustration at Naruto's inconsiderate words. He had swallowed his pride to ask the Hidden Leaf for help— and who had they sent? A loudmouthed idiot, a male idol, and a gravure model— all Genin, no doubt. How dare Konoha not give him, the (acting) Hoshikage, any face? One day, he'd show them all, those arrogant Five Great Shinobi Villages…
"Well, that's true," said Sakura, "but that's no excuse to be ru… de?"
An alarm had just started blaring loudly, cutting her off mid-sentence.
"That alarm!" shouted Sumaru, losing his cool for the first time since they'd met him. "The training ground is under attack!"
"Ouch!" yelped Naruto, as Sumaru's ponytail whipped him in the face when the boy spun around and bolted down the stairs. "Hey, wait up!"
…
Barely a minute later, Sumaru, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke stood at the edge of the massive crater left behind by the fallen star. At its centre lay three buildings: the training ground that usually housed the meteorite, the trainees' dormitory, and a small outhouse.
"Outsiders aren't allowed past this point," said Sumaru, stopping halfway down the crater. "Stay here."
"This isn't the time to be quoting rules," said Sakura sternly. "Every moment counts— for all we know, the star might have already been taken."
Sumaru hesitated for a brief moment before nodding, and they flickered to the training room's entrance.
"Door's been left open," said Sasuke, pointing at the hexagonal building's doorway.
Either the thief had left the door open after killing everyone inside and stealing the meteorite, or the trainees inside had left it open to chase after the thief. Either way, the meteorite had already been stolen, and Team 7 had failed their mission before it had even started…
"Hokuto!" cried Sumaru, anguish in his voice, as he dashed into the hexagonal building; with Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke close behind. "Everyone!"
"They're still alive— unconscious, but alive," noted Sakura, kneeling at Sumaru's side to take a freckled-face girl's pulse. "Heartbeat's a bit weak…"
"Lucky!" said Naruto, clapping Sumaru on the back.
Wordlessly, Sakura continued performing her medical examination on the freckled-face girl, while Sumaru went around the room, awakening his fellow trainees one by one, by connecting his special chakra to theirs. They would need their testimony if they were to have any chance of finding the culprit, because for now, they had absolutely nothing to go on…
Moments later, Sakura heard several sets of footsteps creaking up the wooden stairs.
"Is the star secure?" said Akahoshi as he entered the room, flanked by two Star shinobi.
"It's gone," said Sakura, a hint of anger in her voice, "but your shinobi are fine— thanks for asking, by the way."
It was exceedingly obvious where Akahoshi's priorities lied. More shinobi could always be trained, but there could only be one radioactive meteorite.
"Hokuto," said Sumaru urgently. "Where's the star?"
Fist of the North Star was a bit before her time, but thanks to Sumaru, Sakura now had the first opening song of the anime stuck in her head; Hokuto being the Plough constellation (the Big Dipper).
"I think a more appropriate question would be," interjected Sakura, "what happened here, and did you see who took the star?"
Hokuto, the cute freckled-face girl, stood up unsteadily with Sumaru's support.
"I didn't see their face," said Hokuto shakily, "but they used the Mysterious Peacock Method to knock us unconscious. That's all I know…"
"Pathetic," spat Akahoshi. "Seven against one, and you failed to protect the star?"
"I have no excuse…" said Hokuto pitifully.
Sakura couldn't help but feel a twinge of anger.
"Let's look at the facts, shall we?" said Sakura coldly, drawing the Hoshikage's attention back to herself. "Although there aren't many clues, there are a lot of things we can deduce from them."
Now, everyone in the room was looking at her.
"The first clue is that the thief not only managed to easily defeat seven Genin, but they also managed to knock them unconscious without even needing to harm them," said Sakura. "The obvious conclusion here is that they're incredibly skilled, but we'll come back to this point later."
"Duh," said Naruto.
Sakura ignored him.
"The second clue is the thief's use of the Mysterious Peacock Method, which can't be learned without the star," she continued. "As far as I know, the stolen star is unique, which means the culprit must be one of this village's shinobi— or someone who used to be."
"Enough of this, we're wasting valuable time," snapped Akahoshi. "Sumaru, take the others and go search for the thief. As for you, Leaf shinobi, why don't you make yourselves useful and—"
Sakura winced— her eyes were stinging, as if they were covered in ants.
"Hang on, I'm nearly done," interjected Sakura. "The third clue is the rumours I've heard about this village… as well as the tumours I've found all over Hokuto-chan's body, which tells me that this star training method is actually killing your trainees. I would know, I'm that Tsunade's disciple."
"What!?" exclaimed Naruto. "Then, you've gotta stop before it's too late, y'know!"
"Hmpf," snorted Akahoshi. "Merely a coincidence. Are you certain your diagnosis is accurate, little girl?"
"We knew the training would be difficult and painful," said Sumaru hesitantly. "And we've made our peace with the fact that not all of us would make it through this training, but this..."
Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke… they were all child soldiers just like the Star Genin, but this… this was just wrong. It was more than sad, it was tragic.
"This isn't how a village should be," growled Naruto. "I don't know anything about running a village, but I know it's not like this. How can you just sacrifice people's lives like this!? Forget about becoming the Sixth Great Village in the future— at this rate, there won't be anyone left in the village for you to share a future with!"
"For the sake of Hoshigakure, no sacrifice is too great," said Akahoshi coolly. "At the end of the day, you're still outsiders— I wouldn't expect you to understand the pain of a small village like ours."
Sakura's anger flared.
"One last thing," she snarled. "If we put all the clues together, the thief's motives become clear— if they stole the meteorite without hurting anyone, it's because they care more about this village than the so-called Hoshikage ever did!"
"Think whatever you like," said Akahoshi coldly, as he turned on his heel and left the room. "Sumaru, you and the others have your orders. Shisō, Yotaka, you're with me— we're going to the archives."
Within moments, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were left all alone in the training room.
"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto in concern, reaching out to touch her arm.
Sakura was breathing heavily, her shoulders and chest heaving with rage. She couldn't understand why she was feeling so moody, all of a sudden— her period was still a week away, so that couldn't be it. While Akahoshi's cold disdain for his subordinates' lives would have angered her under normal circumstances, it shouldn't have emotionally affected her this much. What was wrong with her?
"At least now, we've got somewhere to start looking," said Sasuke, who was being uncharacteristically nice. "Even at the academy, you were always the smartest girl I knew..."
Sakura's anger gradually faded, and the prickling sensation in her eyes disappeared.
"I always did want to be a detective," she said, smiling faintly.
"Since when?" asked Sasuke.
"Since a few minutes ago."
…
'I used to want to be a giant robot when I grew up,' Inner Sakura chimed in. 'And also, to be Sasuke-kun's bride.'