With daylight rapidly fading after a long day spent searching for the thief and the missing star, the search parties had no choice but to return home empty-handed. Whether the culprit was a foreign shinobi drawn by the promise of the star's power, or a well-meaning missing-nin from the Hidden Star, they were already long gone.
"It's no good," sighed Denka, Sasuke's summoned cat. "I've managed to isolate the thief's scent, but since the trail goes cold at the crater's edge, there's nyat much more I can do. Sorry, nya…"
While a ninneko's sense of smell wasn't as good as a ninken's or a ninton's, cats were still excellent hunters, trackers and stalkers. By sunset, Team 7 had traced a thousand circles around the training ground— but if even Denka couldn't pick up the thief's scent beyond the crater, then…
"The thief must have been reverse-summoned away, which means they have a partner," Sasuke deduced. "They could be anywhere in the world, by now..."
"That's true," Sakura said thoughtfully, "but if that were the case, then we might as well pack up and head home. Why don't we consider the alternative? Let's say our thief has the ability to fly."
True teleportation (not the Body Flicker) was much more common than flight among shinobi, funnily enough. Besides gliders and the Hidden Rock's Earth Style: Light-Weight Rock Technique, there weren't many ways for a shinobi to take to the skies.
"A flying ninja?" said Naruto dubiously. "Are you sure? Never seen one before, y'know."
'You're one to talk, Naruto,' said Inner Sakura snarkily. 'I'm pretty sure you could fly, by the end of Shippuden.'
As the sun disappeared behind the horizon, the first stars began appearing in the sky. The planets Venus, Jupiter and Mars were already shining brightly against the beautiful backdrop of stars hanging in the twilit heavens…
"That red star… Mars, maybe?" Sakura murmured to herself. "Natsuhiboshi…"
"What'cha talking about, Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto curiously.
Sakura scratched her head in annoyance. It was no good, she couldn't remember any important plot details…
"What if we asked that cute girl about the Mysterious Peacock Method?" offered Naruto. "Maybe she'd know if you can fly with it, y'know!"
"Even if she knew anything worth hearing, I doubt she'd tell us, "scoffed Sasuke. "The Hidden Star's unique techniques, especially the S-ranked ones, are probably Hijutsu— top secret."
Which meant that the only way for Team 7 to see any Hiden techniques would be to pick a fight to the death with the Star shinobi— but obviously they couldn't do that, since their villages were allied.
"It might be worth asking, all the same," said Sakura, chewing her bottom lip. "We could ask the other Genin if they've got missing relatives who've finished the star training, while we're at it."
"Let's split up and ask around," said Sasuke seriously. "Let's meet back up here at the training grounds in an hour— and if something happens, send up a flare."
"If there's nyathing else," meowed Denka, "I'll be taking my leave. See ya later, master! Nya!"
Poof! The little brown cat disappeared in a puff of white smoke.
And so, following her woman's intuition, Sakura went off on her own to look for Sumaru. As he was the first person they'd met in the Land of Bears, she was fairly certain that he was plot relevant.
Sakura's first law of filler: in case of a random encounter, the first person Naruto meets is the filler arc's supporting character!
Sakura's second law of filler: only ugly people are bad guys!
She was making these up as she went along, but so far, these rules of thumb had served her well.
"Now," said Sakura, thinking out loud, "where could I find the best spot near the village for stargazing?"
The answer, naturally, lay in one of the two hills between which Hoshigakure was nestled. Squinting, Sakura quickly spotted a plateau on the westernmost hill, which was facing the low-hanging red star. Gathering chakra beneath her feet, she flickered from branch to branch, and as she crested the hill, she began hearing a boy's low singing voice:
"Natsuhiboshi, why are you so red…"
Hidden among the tree leaves, Sakura stood on a branch, silently waiting for Sumaru to finish singing his haunting lullaby (though his voice cracked a few times).
"That's a beautiful song," said Sakura once he was finished.
She slid off the branch and performed a totally sick flip, landing gracefully at Sumaru's side.
"My mother sang it to me when I was a child," said Sumaru quietly.
Following Sumaru's lead, Sakura gazed up at the night sky— though her thoughts were mostly occupied with how to tactfully ask whether Sumaru's parents had died and if he had seen their bodies. Talk about awkward…
At any rate, judging from his general demeanour and the way he sung lullabies to himself, Sakura thought it was safe to assume that Sumaru's parents had kicked the metaphorical bucket. Or at any rate, he thought they had…
"Were their bodies ever recovered?" Sakura blurted out.
"Actually, never mind…"
Mortified by her Naruto-esque act of indelicacy, Sakura began walking away as fast as she could manage without making it look that she was running away— but upon hearing the familiar whooshing sound effect of the Body Flicker, she glanced back to find that Sumaru had vanished. With her only lead gone in the wind, Sakura began climbing down the hill, but halfway back to the training grounds, she saw a thin stream of wisteria-coloured chakra erupting in the distance…
So, this was the chakra enhanced by the star, so powerful and dense it could be seen and felt from such a distance… it was just a shade pinker than Sasuke's Susanoo, and the chakra didn't seem any weaker than that of the Susanoo Nanashi had produced!
"Sakura-chan!" shouted Naruto breathlessly.
Naruto and Sasuke flickered to her side, joining her as she ran through the forest towards the source of the chakra.
"I know!" Sakura shouted back. "Something big is happening at the border!"
The three burst out of the woods, only to find they had arrived too late, once again. Seven trainees had collapsed on the edge of the precipice filled with poison gas, but Sumaru was nowhere to be seen…