A brown, blood covered dog bounded through the forest. It wore an orange vest. Kakashi squinted at it from a dark treetop. The writing on the vest was romaji. He didn't recognize it as belonging to any group he knew of.
The dog slowed, then froze underneath his tree. Its ears pricked and it lifted its nose into the wind. Then it turned its head and looked up into the branches, straight at him. One eye brown and the other ice blue.
Damn it. He pulled out a kunai. This wasn't a Konoha nin-dog. He wavered between killing it outright or capturing it alive to see if he could find out where it came from.
The dog sat. Its head drooped and it let out a warbling half sob.
The area was infested with mist ninja, and they'd gotten into a fight with someone nearby. He'd heard that much happening and came to investigate. As far as he knew, there was no one else from Konoha in the area. Which meant they'd fought someone else.
Any enemy of the mist was a potential ally.
Besides, this was an information gathering mission. He'd already acquired what the Hokage sent him for, but the dog's presence compelled him to investigate further.
He launched himself off the branch. The dog's eyes widened. It skittered backward, growling and shaking.
"Eh, come on. It's all right."
The dog wasn't convinced.
"That's fine, I'll just follow your trail." He turned in the direction the dog came from and inhaled. A brisk wind carried the sharp tang of fresh blood and... pepper? The dog followed him at a respectful distance. He reached out with his senses, searching for traps as he went. Simple trip wired explosives lay here and there, but nothing serious.
He moved swiftly. Three bodies came into view. Corpses.
Two mist ninja, badly mangled. Dog bites. The third he didn't recognize. A giant, strange looking hound lay curled up next to the body.
It lifted a slender, bloody head, wailed, then licked the corpse's hand.
From where he stood, it looked like a civilian. A black haired woman. The hound whimpered again, licked its lips, and gave a feeble tail wag.
It was injured too. He knelt beside it and pulled the kunai from its shoulder. Sighing, the hound nosed his hands and butted its forehead against his chest. There was a leash attached to its collar. And tags. He couldn't read those either. One though, was plain copper with a picture of a tree etched in it. He unclipped the leash and let it drop to the ground.
The brown dog's tags jingled as it trotted up behind him. These had to be civilian dogs. A ninja would at least have muffled their tags.
But why were the three of them all the way out here? And how did they make it this far before they were attacked?
He rolled the girl onto her back. Between the cuts, swelling, and bruises, her face was mangled beyond recognition. Clothes were torn and dirty, and her arm looked broken in several places.
The hound licked her face and whined again.
She breathed.
Startled, Kakashi put a hand on her neck. A faint pulse throbbed under his fingers. She won't last long without a hospital. He gingerly picked her up, and slung her limp form onto his back with her arms hanging over his shoulders. He cringed inwardly at the way her wrist flopped. Be glad you're not conscious, lady.
The brown dog balked and growled.
"It's okay. We're going to help her. Follow me. "
With that he set off toward home, jingling tags of the two dogs trailing behind him.