Child of the Moon

That was easy

The girls were following Aki closely when Nanami suddenly stopped, tipping her head curiously.

"What's wrong?" Aiyanna asked as Aki kept an eye on the bird they were supposed to follow to their target.

"I feel... someone..." Nanami's brow creased as she tried to focus on whatever it was she was sensing. "Over there!"

She pointed straight to thin air. Aki went to investigate and flinched.

"Well, something was there," she said, rubbing her nose. "Whatever it was, it stung my nose briefly."

"The exact moment was when there was a sudden release in chakra," Nanami explained. "Whatever that technique is, and whoever is using it, it seems to have a few telltale faults."

"Like the fact that you can sense it implies that someone with the ability to sense chakra would also be able to sense it," Aiyanna realized. "Then when the technique is released, there is a whiplash-like effect that can be sensed by normal ninja in close range."

"Indeed," Nanami agreed.

"Think they'll be a problem, or should we get back to tracking our target?" Aki questioned.

"Let's resume for now," Aiyanna said. "Nanami, stay aware in case they come back, and immediately let us know. Quietly, since we don't want to give away that we're on to them. If you sense it at all while we're moving, we'll switch targets."

"Alright," Nanami and Aki said, as Aiyanna signaled for them to move out again.

֍

They soon found their target, only to discover that Team 8 had already taken them down.

Well, they were swinging from a tree, but it was the same general idea.

"There ya are," Aki said, grabbing the scroll from one of the struggling ninjas as she hung onto the outside of the net.

"Hey, that's our target!" Kiba yelled from the ground.

A leech sat on Aki's shoulder, it's mouth sort of pointing at him. Aki looked over and held up the scroll. "Smell ya later!"

A bunch of beetles suddenly shot forward to try to stop her, but the leech jumped from Aki's shoulder and took the hit, while Aki leaped away from the captured ninja. A tree branch shot out, and she landed nimbly, as a fresh bunch of leeches fell towards Kiba's team.

"Don't die!" Aiyanna called, as her squad disappeared back into the forest, as a fresh round of screams filled the forest.

"That saves some trouble," Nanami commented. "Now we just need to make our way to the tower at the center of the forest."

"Tori will lead the way," Aki said, as a little blackbird flew around her head, then up over the trees. The girls climbed the trees quickly.