Chapter 47 Teasing and Tracking

After that little sparring fight where I accidentally scored a critical hit with my words, things were a tiny bit awkward between Koji and me.

I did my best not to mind it, but damn, I hadn’t realized that to them, partner was a big deal. But once I thought about it, it did make a bit of sense. They were a very emotional clan after all.

Very tightly knit together.

But
 also wild and free?

I spent the next three days, keeping us back at camp to rest and recover, thinking about what I had seen from inside the moon regarding the Inuzuka clan.

They stuck together, never allowed anyone to bully them, fiercely protective, and wild as fuck.

And by that, I meant they fucked wildly, their love burned hot, and they had a lot of it. They didn’t hide their instincts; they lived by them. If they liked someone, they would be up front about it.

They never denied their own desires. I had seen a lot of bad stuff they did when they let their passion take over.

For a bit, I even suspected that Koji was crushing on me, but given what I knew of their clan, I figured it was true, or I would know it.

He’s been looking at me weird, sure. But maybe there is just something I’m missing there. Maybe some kind of alpha instinct? Like, he wants to challenge me, but knows he can’t? Because if he really liked me—like, Inuzuka liked me—he’d have already jumped on it. Literally, maybe. And he hasn’t. So, case closed.

So, with all that settled in my head, I decided to do the natural thing.
I started calling him partner.

The first time was when I handed him a fresh water flask.

“Here you go, partner,” I said with a grin that was maybe a little too wide.

Koji froze mid-reach. His hand hovered just short of mine, like I’d offered him a live snake instead of a drink.

“
What?” he asked, cautiously.

“Water,” I said, tilting the flask toward him again. “For you. My partner.”

He took it slowly, eyes narrowing with suspicion. “
Are you messing with me?”

I shrugged, all innocent. “Just acknowledging our team dynamics. You and me, we work well together. Don’t you think so
 partner?”

His ears turned red. I didn’t even know human ears could do that. He muttered something under his breath and walked off to drink—alone—while Kuro looked between us like he’d just been served the best gossip of his life.

Naturally, that only encouraged me.

By day two, I was really leaning into it.

“Hey, partner,” I called casually as I walked past him, tapping him on the shoulder. “Want to go over the patrol map together? You always have such a great nose for logistics.”

Koji dropped the ration he was eating. Just—plop. Straight out of his hand like I’d hit him with a genjutsu.

“I—uh—what?” he stammered. “You—you mean, like—what kind of map are we talking about?”

“The one with red ink,” I said sweetly, like that clarified anything.

Kuro sneezed. Loudly. Suspiciously. I was pretty sure it was a laugh.

Haruto noticed Koji’s dazed look and elbowed Arata. “That kid looks like someone rewired his brain mid-chew.”

“Don’t tell me Yuki finally figured it out,” Arata murmured.

“Figured what out?” I asked, turning innocently.

Koji nearly choked on air.

“Nothing!” he shouted, a bit too fast. “Nothing. Everything’s normal. Business as usual!”

“See?” I smiled. “That’s why you’re my partner.”

He nearly walked into a tree.




The lazy playing atmosphere didn’t last all that long. After I allowed the team some rest to recover from those hellish two weeks, it was time to get back to the mission.

So far, we have only found and eliminated one team and one puppet user. That just wasn’t enough. We needed to perform a lot better, but at least we had some information. A large section of our map of Rivers now had markings.

“Alright, it's time we get back on the road. We have a lot of confirmed hostiles, but it's not enough. I want, as much as I hate to say it, I want us to map the rest of this stretch.” I said, pointing to another section of the map that bordered not just Wind, but also Rain.

“Rain territory’s unstable,” Haruto said. “Last war messed it up big time, and Hanzo is there. Going in there is dangerous, Rain shinobi are likely to be hostile.”

“So we could face two enemies in there.” Arata added, voice flat.

I nodded. “True, but it's also likely to be a battlefield, both Suna and we want Rivers, so fighting here risks damaging the prize, which means Rain will be the most likely place to fight.”

“Tell that to the hundreds of Suna shinobi hiding here in River.” Koji added.

“You're not wrong. There will be fighting here as well, but Rain will see plenty, too, so here.” I tapped a rough trail marked by shallow river forks and a treeline that looked deceptively quiet. “This will be where we start our search. I want to know if there is anyone there.”




We set out at dawn the following day. Koji and I planned a track that should take about two days, slowly making our way through Rivers, zigzagging to check a few other points of interest.

Koji and Kuro took point again. He led out around big distractions such as towns and villages. Those were places shinobi were meant to leave alone, and when I scanned them with my Byakugan, I never saw any real shinobi presence.

Suna might be the bad guy, but they still mostly played by the rules. Kumo was the one most likely to break them. Or rather, they enjoyed playing by their own set.

“Woof!” Kuro barked, drawing us to a stop as he and Koji talked and sniffed about.

Koji held up a hand, crouching low. “He’s picked up something. Blood. Burnt oil. Scorched stone.”

I activated my Byakugan and scanned the treeline ahead. At first glance, nothing. Then—there it was. Small disturbances. Ash discoloring leaves. A faint scorch trail leading away from a collapsed ridge.

“Good find, partner. Someone seems to have fought up ahead. It's calm now, so let's check it out.” I said, enjoying Koji’s reaction. He just made it so funny I couldn’t stop myself.

Koji twitched at the word—partner—but wisely said nothing. He nodded, motioned for Kuro to stay low, and slipped forward without another word.

We advanced slowly.

The air here felt
 off. Like it had been burned clean and was still trying to remember how to carry scent again. The forest was quiet. Birds had moved on. Bugs had stopped singing. Even the breeze seemed careful not to disturb whatever had gone down here.

Koji crouched near a tree where the bark had been half-shredded by some kind of blast. Kuro sniffed once, then growled low in his throat.

“Definitely a fight,” Koji murmured. “Heavy jutsu use. Maybe fire-style. Kuro says he smells three blood trails, maybe more. Most of them human.”

I swept my vision wider. “No bodies. Plenty of chakra in the air, but whoever left it, they have already moved on.”

“They?” Haruto asked behind me.

I nodded. “There are a few different signatures, though, who fought and why is hard to say, Koji? You two got any clues?” I asked.

It was possible to determine the nature of the chakra and ninjutsu that was used; the Byakugan could do that. But it wasn’t very useful, just because someone used Earth-style ninjutsu didn’t mean they had to be Iwa.

Koji didn’t answer right away. He and Kuro moved like one unit, sniffing in opposite directions, scanning the ground, the trees, the moss where blood had darkened and dried.

“Scattered trails,” Koji muttered. “But not panicked. Someone fled here, badly hurt. Not fast enough to leave no scent, but careful. The others
 more methodical. Pursuers.”

“That many?” Haruto asked, crouching near a charred root.

Koji nodded. “Two went after the target. Two circled back. Kuro says they looped around the ridge again before heading east. That’s the odd part.”

“East?” I frowned. “Away from Wind, away from Rain. That’s not retreat, could they want to get ahead of their target?”

“It’s possible,” Arata murmured.

I checked the directions. “Given the information, it’s like a Suna team was involved, and that they won. However, their target didn’t die, or at least part of the opposite force didn’t die, fleeing, but hurt badly, making the Suna team take it slow, cleaning up here and then following.” I gave my working theory.

“Well, what do we do now, boss?” Haruto asked.

I didn’t rush my decision. They were going towards Fire, so they could be friendly, or just hoping to drag any Konoha forces into a conflict so they might be able to escape. It was a risk, and it was away from our target in the northwest.

“I don’t like it,” I finally said, eyes still scanning the fading chakra residues with my Byakugan. “It feels like bait. If we follow, and it’s a trap, they’ll spring it on terrain of their choosing.”

“But if we don’t,” Arata pointed out, “and those were allies fleeing from a stronger enemy, we’ve missed a chance to help.”

“Or gather intel,” Koji added. His tone was clipped, all business now. “Even if they’re enemy survivors, wounded ones can still talk.”

I nodded slowly. “Fine, it's not like any possible enemy camp is going to run away, so we can follow, but we might be a day behind, so I don’t have much hope we will find anyone alive, though maybe we can find the Suna team returning.”

We moved fast but careful.

Koji and Kuro kept to the lead again, following the blood trail with sharp eyes and sharper instincts. The trail was old—too old for a rescue. But not too old for answers.

The deeper we pushed east, the more signs we found. A patch of blackened bark here, kunai gouges in stone there, half a boot print in the mud. And always—always—Koji’s growing unease.

“Something’s wrong,” he muttered an hour in. “They weren’t running for safety. They were leading. Or luring.”

“Still no chakra traps,” I said, eyes sweeping the forest. “And no motion in the trees ahead. If they placed a trap, it’s one with a long fuse.”

Kuro stopped dead at the edge of a shallow gulley and let out a low, sharp bark.

Koji dropped to a crouch. “Burnt leather. Blood. Rope fiber.” He glanced back at me. “Someone was restrained here. Recently.”

I scanned around, pushing my Byakugan’s range to its limit, seeing everything a few kilometers around us. If someone were near, I would know, but there was nothing. “Still nothing in range, so they have moved, and far.”

We all paused. I didn’t like it; we were tracking a dead trail. We could follow it, but we didn’t seem to catch up.

Whoever was before us, they moved fast, and not towards us yet. “Could they have entered Fire?” I couldn’t help but ask, as I brought out a map, showing some dots and codes, reading through all the information.

Koji crouched beside me as I rolled out the map across a flat, dry stone.

“They could’ve,” he said quietly, eyes not on the parchment but scanning the wind. “The signs get messier up ahead—rushed, like they had less time to cover their tracks. Kuro thinks someone was being carried.”

“That means they were alive,” Haruto muttered. “At least then.”

“They were moving fast,” I agreed. “Too fast for someone wounded to move on their own. If they made it to Fire territory, they may have gotten aid.”

“Or disappeared completely,” Arata said. “You know how Fire’s interior lines are set up. If they passed into friendly territory and got picked up, we won’t find them without coordination.”

“Or they’re not friendly,” Koji added.

“There is a Konoha camp in their general direction, but as Arata said, if they reached it, it’s a done deal, and if not, well, we won’t be able to do more for them.” I hesitated, unsure if we should continue, or give up and return towards the Wind/Rain border.

I tapped the map again, fingers lingering over the curved path of their movement. “We’re stretched thin. I don’t want to go further east unless I know we’ll get something from it.” I mumbled.

Haruto looked up. “Think they knew we’d follow?”

“Impossible,” I shook my head. “They never entered my range, so there is no way they could find us.”

“We’ll mark the site,” I decided at last, voice firm. “And double back. If this were real, someone at Fire’s outpost would have seen them. If it was bait, I’m not stepping into a trap that far off our line for maybe intel.”

Koji nodded, though tension still clung to his shoulders.

“Back to the northwest, then?” Arata asked, already brushing moss from his gloves.
“Yes,” I said. “Our real target hasn’t moved.”

(End of chapter)

A sign of others, including other fights happening. I’m sure plenty of other fights are happening inside the Land of River, leaf and sand are at war, but well, it’s a entire nation, that’s not a small place, meeting someone not wanting to be found isn’t easy, all depending on luck.