Eight Man Squad




 * Name: Eight Man Squad
 * Leader: Kakashi Hatake
 * Members: Yamato, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Sai, Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka
 * Affiliation: Konohagakure
 * Status: Disbanded

The Eight Man Squad was formed after news of Sasuke Uchiha's victory over Orochimaru reached Konoha. Upon realizing that Sasuke still wouldn't be coming home, Naruto asked the Fifth Hokage to send a squad out to hunt down Sasuke's target, Itachi Uchiha, before Sasuke can get to him and use him as bait to bring Sasuke back to Konoha. Kakashi added that a small but elite squad of shinobi would be needed to take down a member of Akatsuki, and enlisted the members of Team Kurenai for their tracking skills. With this, Team Yamato and Team Kurenai formed a single squad for one purpose: hunt down the Uchiha.

Hunt for Itachi arc

 * Status: Failed; Itachi dead and Sasuke's trail lost

Starting out as a mission to capture the missing-nin Itachi Uchiha, it called for the squad to split up and search the area for any sign of Itachi. However, upon seeing Deidara's suicide explosion, the team regrouped, with Kiba finding Sasuke's scent. With Sasuke so close, the squad's primary mission of finding Itachi was replaced with finding Sasuke instead. While being stalled by Akatsuki member Tobi, the team learned that Itachi had died in battle with Sasuke. They tried to reach Sasuke before Tobi could, but failed and were unable to rediscover Sasuke's trail.