Faint Echoes chapter 3; Loud Roars

A/N: HAI, GUY-SENSEI!

Once again, credit is due to the lovely Tragedy Bunny, for being my unofficial Beta Reader.

Naruto and its characters are not mine. If so, Sasuke would have long ago been given several long, slow beatings, for being such a douche. (No offense meant to all the Sasuke lovers out there.) ;-)


A few days later everything had finally returned to (relative) normalcy.

It was a beautiful day on the training fields, the smell of grass and blossoms in the air. Tenten and Neji were participating in rounds of sparring. Guy-Sensei had been called away on a mission, and Rock Lee wasn't watching today due to having a physical therapy appointment. Thus, it was just the two of them.

They were so into their matches that they were both surprised when Team Kurenai showed up.

"Hey Neji! Hey Tenten!" Kiba exclaimed. "We came by to see if your "watcher" was around."

Neji, his Byakugan already activated, pointed a little south.

"He is right over there."

"Thanks." Kiba grunted. "Now to find out why we were left out."

Proceeding south, a wind blew by. This caused Akamaru to growl.

"What is it Boy?" said Kiba as he looked to his companion.

Suddenly, Kiba stopped and started sniffing…

"What the?!?"

"What is it Kiba-kun?"

Kiba just ignored her, continuing to sniff the air.

"Where have I smelled that before?" Kiba wondered to himself.

Suddenly his eyes widened considerably.

"HIM! IT'S HIM! That black clad Shinobi we ran into a few weeks ago!"

Instantly Shino, Kiba, and Hinata went into their fighting stances and leapt southward. Tenten and Neji were left just standing there with confused expressions on their faces.

Activating her own Kekkei Genkai, Hinata quickly located the child. It was especially easy as he was the only other presence in the area.

"Kiba-kun, are you sure?"

"Positive. Nose doesn't lie, remember?"

Hinata gasped suddenly. As they closed in, she saw the child quickly stand. His Chakra network suddenly flew into a flurry of activity as he formed a one-handed hand sign.

"Watch out! He's up to something!" was all Hinata had time to say as there was a sudden and very slight ringing noise. All she saw was the child's Chakra network waver strangely and disappear.

"The teleportation Jutsu" Kiba grunted.

"Not something your average Academy student should know."

"I know Shino! It was HIM!" Kiba roared as he swiped a devastating blow to the nearest tree trunk. "This is what he must have done last time!"

Shino looked to his teammates. "I think this is something the Hokage should know."


"WHAT!?! THERE WAS A STRANGE NINJA IN THE VILLAGE AND YOU DIDN'T REPORT IT???"

Team Kurenai and what was left of Team Guy found themselves in a very unpleasant place to be at the moment.

The new Hokage's office.

"Sorry Hokage-sama." Kiba said sheepishly. "It was part shock at what he looked like. We thought that maybe he was one of the recent Academy graduates…maybe."

Tsunade took her fists off of her desk and sat down.

"That's no excuse. *sigh* Any other odd occurrences lately?"

They told her about the Academy student "watchers".

Now unfortunately for those before her, her temper flared.

Now she needed a new desk, being as it was that her old one lay through the broken window in pieces on the stone below.

Boiling with rage she continued; "Did any of you think it was a little odd that these "students" weren't in class?"

"Umm…" Kiba piped up, "Me and the guys used to skip all the time"

"But not every day, correct? And your teachers would look for you, right?

"Umm… yep"

"Then how could these kids be skipping class so much and not be having people look for them?

"Umm…"

"Enough! So let me get this straight. A strange ninja was wandering around the village only to disappear. Then, what were thought to be Academy students started showing up to watch practices every day, correct? And when finally noticed by you three, the student disappears using the teleportation Jutsu?

"That's about the size of it" Kiba said with his head down like a dog with its tail between its legs.

Pacing at this point, the new found Hokage lapsed into thought.

"I think I heard about something like this a short while back…"

A few minutes passed in silence before she triumphantly raised her fist.

"That's what it was! There were stories of a young Sound Shinobi being found in two villages! It was about six months ago. He was discovered disguising himself as an Academy student in an attempt to learn Jutsu. He managed to escape both times and was never seen or heard from again."

"You five, go and search the village. Pass this along to any of the others you see. Try to keep this quiet, as he may still be around. I want him captured!"

As she looked at each of them, they stood there with blank expressions on their faces.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!? GO!!!" she bellowed.

And with that, they wisely fled.

Sighing, the newfound leader of Konoha put her head into her hand.

"Shizune… mobilize the remaining ANBU in the Village."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama!" she said as she left.

"AND GET ME A NEW DESK!"


Extended A/N: Hope you enjoyed this! The next chapter might take a little while. Ugh, fight scenes… Maybe I will find out that I enjoy them. Here's hopin'!

:D