善狐・ZENKO

１１章・Chapter 11

After travelling by boat under the cover of the mist, the six of you had finally reached the Land of Waves. Boarding a pier, Tazuna thanked and dismissed the ferryman, before turning to face your group with newfound vigour, "Okay! Get me home safely."

"Yeah, yeah." Kakashi exhaled in resignation, leading the group into the woods. You kept to the rear behind Tazuna, keeping keen eyes and ears out for a possible second ambush.

"Over there!" Naruto suddenly declared, throwing a kunai into a nearby bush. You flinched at his outburst, with the rest of the group reacting in similar states of shock. You narrowed your eyes towards the area, attempting to sense what Naruto had.

... There's nothing there.

"Heh," Naruto stood up from his crouch, running a hand through his hair. "Just a mouse."

"Are you out of your mind?!" Sakura screeched, "Quit trying to show off, there's nothing there you moron! No animal alive would even come anywhere near us because Inarinomiya-senpai is here!"

"Haha, that is true." You beamed.

"Naruto please don't throw your kunai around recklessly, they're really dangerous!" Kakashi chided, noticeably frazzled at his wayward student's actions.

"You brat!" Tazuna shrieked, "Don't go scaring me like that!"

Naruto ignored all of their protests, instead focusing on something over in the distance. "Hm? What's that? I sense a presence there! No, over there?!"

... There's nothing there either—ah, wait.

Ensuring not to make any sudden movements, you slid your gaze over to your left, seeing nothing but deep green foliage yet detecting the faintest traces of a living presence within them.

"There!" Naruto suddenly swung another kunai to the bush you were eyeing, startling you slightly.

Did he actually detect it or was he just throwing kunai aimlessly again? You ambled over to the bush curiously, pushing the leaves aside as your superior came over to join you. You could faintly hear Sakura admonish Naruto in the background.

Within the shrubs lay a snow hare with his back against a tree trunk, completely frozen in shock. Just millimetres above its head was Naruto's kunai, dug deeply into the base of the tree.

"Ah, Naruto! Look at what you've done!" Sakura berated, pointing to the traumatised animal.

Naruto gasped in alarm, cradling the hare in his arms and rubbing his cheek against it as he spouted apologies. While you eyed the hare intently, Sakura noticed your gaze and brought her hands behind her back, tilting her head at you.

"Hey, this one didn't run from you!" She exclaimed, "Well, I guess because it's too shocked to move, thanks to Naruto..."

"Hm? Ah, you're right." You nodded absentmindedly, thoughts elsewhere.

That's not the presence I sensed, your eyebrow twitched in agitation, But I can't detect the other one... This is troublesome—if I'm experiencing this much difficulty in locating their whereabouts, then it's very likely we're being targeted by a high-ranked shinobi.

You tried to catch your superior's gaze, silently asking him how to proceed but he had been occupied with something in the canopies above. You saw his visible eye widen, before he whipped around to face the group.

"Everyone, get down!" He commanded just as a spinning blur of silver burst from the dense forest, spiralling towards the six of you.

You moved quickly, appearing at Tazuna's side in an instant and placing a hand on his back to bring him into a crouch on the floor. The whizzing object flew over your heads before embedding itself into the trunk of a tree, the impact causing a loud 'THUNK'. After assessing your client for any injuries, you brought your gaze up to the tree curiously, to see that the silver object thrown had been a large sword with a hole near the tip of the monstrous blade. It was huge—you surmised that the blade itself was taller than you, and it resembled more of a guillotine than a sword.