Orochimaru Search Team

The Orochimaru Search Team is a Konohagakure unit sent to look into one of Orochimaru's bases. It begins as a compact force built around Kakashi Hatake and the members of Team 8. As the operation grows more complicated, it receives two waves of reinforcements: first the remaining members of Team 7 arrive to help handle Team Guren, and then an assortment of other Konoha personnel join to seal away the Three-Tails.

Because the mission balloons in size and juggles several objectives at once, the force is broken into three smaller squads, each with its own assignment. Divisions of the slug Katsuyu keep the squads in contact and top up their chakra reserves. The first squad, dubbed the Fighting Team, falls under Kakashi and includes Shino Aburame, Sai, and Naruto Uzumaki, tasked with battling Guren and retrieving Yūkimaru. The second squad answers to Yamato and gathers Tenten, Rock Lee, and Kiba Inuzuka with Akamaru, charged with tying up the rest of Guren's fighters so the sealing effort can succeed. The third squad, the Sealing Team, is led by Shizune with Hinata Hyūga, Ino Yamanaka, and Sakura Haruno, and its job is to apply the Four-Corner Sealing Barrier on the Three-Tails, a feat that demands exact chakra control.

Three shinobi share command across the divided force: Kakashi Hatake heads the Fighting Team, Yamato leads the support squad, and Shizune oversees the Sealing Team. Their subordinates span much of Konoha's younger generation, including Naruto, Sakura, Hinata, Shino, Sai, Kiba, Rock Lee, Tenten, and Ino.