COTE x Naruto: New Beginnings

Chapter 19: Traitor

After 3 entire days spent sleeping outside and collecting as many spots as she could, Sakura came back into the Class D camp with a staggering amount of 97 points and having probably single-handedly caused all of the classes to not make more than 40 points.

It was with pride she walked into the camp and announced this. She'd still be able to make some more later in the evening, but it would probably be like 8 points maximum.

"Hey, guys," she greeted her classmates warmly. Some of them stared as if she was crazy, likely because she looked like she'd just come from a war, but a few of the girls rushed up to her.

"Sakura-chan! You're so cool, how did you survive by yourself for three days?!" Maya exclaimed.

"Right? I would've returned back to the camp within one hour," Shinohara added, to which Kei hummed in agreement.

"Same, it must've been tough for sure."

Sakura nodded with a smile. The class had ended up spending some points on food and tents, so they were at 205 points total. With her 97 points added in, that would be 302. However, Kouenji had decided to withdraw for whatever reason, so they lost 30 points thanks to that. In total, Class D had 272 points.

The girls started telling her all about the horrible things that had happened at the camp - "Someone stole Karuizawa-san's underwear!" - which she'd all heard about from Hirata already, but she listened to them with a smile nonetheless.

Then, her eyes fell on Ibuki, who was sitting alone, isolated from the rest of the class.

"Hey, guys, I'll go talk to Ibuki for a moment. I'll be right back," Sakura told the girls, before walking off towards her.

Ibuki looked surprised to see her at first, before her eyes narrowed.

"You're the girl that's been gone for days, right? What were you doing outside the camp for so long?" She asked, to which Sakura giggled.

"I'd really rather be known as Sakura, if possible," she told Ibuki, sitting down beside her and also not really answering Ibuki's question, which only made her look at Sakura with more suspicion.

Subconsciously, she reached one of her hands into her pocket where her leader keycard was and held it, as if guarding it.

"You're Ibuki-san, is that so?"

Ibuki only shrugged, her expression one of annoyance. Sakura got the feeling that she was a loner, kind of like Horikita from Class D.

"It's so hot outside. I hate how we have to wear these long sleeves..." Sakura muttered to herself, the heat starting to get to her. Despite having heard her, Ibuki said nothing. Feeling the awkwardness getting progressively worse, Sakura decided to leave Ibuki alone.

"Ahh... I'll go talk to some of my classmates and then I'll go wash up in the stream. See you later, Ibuki-san!" Sakura called, getting up and heading towards where the majority of her classmates were located.

To her surprise, she was blocked by Horikita and Ayanokouji, two classmates to whom she'd virtually never talked. Trying not to let her surprise show, she gave them a polite smile.

"Horikita-san, Ayanokouji-san, is there anything I can do for you?" She asked, to which Horikita glared - actually glared at her.

"Sakura-san, can we talk to you in private?" She asked in such a tone that Sakura got the feeling that if she refused, she'd get stabbed or something similarly crazy.

She nodded and followed the two of them, choosing to walk closer to Ayanokouji since unlike Horikita, he didn't look like he was about to stab her.

"Sakura-san, do you have a strategy, or were you gone from the camp for days for nothing?" Horikita asked her directly, and Sakura felt surprised. She'd thought that the rest of the class knew at least something about what she'd been doing these past three days.