Alright, here's the next chapter. You know what to do :P. Next chapter may not be up for a little because I'm most likely going to be busy with school (but if I get a lot of reviews I'll get it up a lot sooner :D).

Chapter 9: Face-Off

Kiba jumped cautiously from tree to tree, trying to sense anything that may be out of place. It was just about midnight now and it was pitch black outside, the only light showing being from a crescent moon overhead in a nearly cloudless sky. He was in the northwestern woods of Konoha, searching for any sign of the person that had left the note.

Although he knew it could be risky to come out here alone, Kiba had to know who had given him that note. He figured it may be one of his friends trying to play a joke on him but when he thought about it, none of them would do something like this. Shikamaru would be too lazy, Naruto would be too dumb and would have left his scent on it, Shino and his teammates wouldn't do something like this, Kankuro had left for Suna earlier and everyone else he could think of would have no reason to do this. So because of this, Kiba came to the conclusion that this person most likely would be an enemy. Meaning that this was most likely a trap.

So Kiba moved on cautiously. He wouldn't get caught in a trap this time. He had the advantage here. If it was an enemy, they wouldn't know the environment as well as Kiba did, and plus, because of Kiba's superior sense of smell he could track down the enemy easier.

The note had been vague. It had just said the northwest woods, nothing more. The woods to the northwest covered many miles before turning into mountains and lakes. It could take days to cover the entire region if you didn't know what you were looking for. So Kiba worked on, weaving through the woods, trying to cover as much area as possible while still being careful not to fall into any traps.

And then it happened. That bitter scent that had been on the note caught his nose. Kiba stopped on a branch. At first he thought it may be the note that he had originally gotten, but he then remembered he had left it back at his house on the table. The smell was dim right now, still fairly distant. But now Kiba knew where to head. He made his way towards the smell now, more cautious then ever. The smell got stronger and stronger, Kiba didn't know exactly what it was but it smelled sort of like the oil in one of the lamps Kiba had back at his house.

And then Kiba saw it. A very dim light in a clearing: where the source of the smell was. Was it just an oil lamp? No, it couldn't just be a lamp; this smell was much stronger then that of the lamp.

Kiba approached the light now, almost at a crawl, making sure there were no traps. Strangely there were none and Kiba made his way to the edge of the small clearing where the light and smell came from. He crouched high in a tree looking down at the light, trying to distinguish what it was. The strong smell of the oil was making it impossible to distinguish any other smells, and if anyone was near by, it would be impossible for Kiba to determine who or where they were. This worried Kiba, now thinking that this may be the trap.

So Kiba sat up in the tree, examining the scene. He realized now there was a person holding the light, brining it up and down every now and then. Kiba couldn't make out who it was due to the low light and distance. He couldn't pick up their scent either because of the overwhelming smell of oil. Kiba looked harder, trying to make out any distinguishing features of the person. Based on what he could make out, whoever it was appeared to be male, a little less then six feet tall and was…smoking?

Kiba dropped down to a lower branch trying to get closer, but couldn't make out anything else even from the slightly closer distance. Kiba tried to look for a better vantage point but could find one. The only way he could get closer was to drop to the ground and enter into the clearing. If he did that, he would easily be noticed.

Pulling out a Kunai, Kiba put into action the only other plan he could think of at the moment. Crouching down Kiba placed his hands on the branch to give himself more power. Then concentrating his chakra in his legs, Kiba lunged as fast as he could at the man. The man detected Kiba's presence, but too late. Before he could do anything Kiba had the knife at his neck and one of his arms twisted behind his back.

The man laughed, cigarette still in his mouth. "So you actually came, eh?" The man said in a very familiar voice.

Once Kiba had gotten this close, he immediately know who it was. "I should have known it was you.." Kiba growled, tightening his grip on the mans arm and pushing the knife closer to the mans jugular. "I can't say that you were very smart to come here, but it's a good thing for me, because now I can get my revenge. I just thought I would have to try a little harder to find you. Do you have a death wish or something?"

Akamaru's killer laughed again, inhaling and exhaling some more smoke from the cigarette. "Don't think I'm that dumb. Do you know what your standing on?" The man said, spitting the cigarette out of his mouth.

Shit! Kiba panicked, letting go of the mans arm and removing the kunai from his neck. At his feet was a thin layer of the oil he had smelled before...and the cigarette was slowly falling to the ground, about to ignite the fuel. From the tree, Kiba hadn't been able to see the ground, and hadn't thought the man would do something like this.

Noticing Kiba'a distraction, the man threw an elbow into the Inuzaka's chest sending him flying backwards. Kiba landed on more oil, sliding backwards on the slick surface towards the edge of the clearing, oil soaking his jacket.

The cigarette now landed on the oil, instantly igniting the entire clearing, with only a small circle where the man was standing being free of fire. The fire had spread almost instantly and Kiba barely had time to spring to his feet and jump to the nearest branch, narrowly avoiding being completely engulfed in flames. Kiba hadn't acted entirely quick enough though, and some of the fire had caught onto the oil on his jacket and his back was lit on fire. Kiba quickly tore off the jacket as quick as possible, throwing the ignited garment down into the sea of flames below.

Being too busy trying to prevent himself from burning to a crisp, Kiba didn't notice the four shuriken flying in his direction. Kiba dodged as quick as he could but wasn't quick enough. He winced as two shuriken tore gashes in his now bare arm and a third one embedded itself in his shoulder. The last shuriken flew just millimeters from Kiba's neck and flew off into the darkness.

Kiba let out a cry, the pain from all the injuries he had just sustained hitting him all at once. His back was now burnt in several places and his right arm was torn and had a shuriken embedded in it. Since he had removed his jacket, now all he wore was a fishnet shirt and a thin kevlar chest plate. Kiba cringed as he removed the shuriken from his shoulder with one swift pull. His entire right arm was now covered in blood, which was now freely flowing from the two gashes in his arm as well as from the gaping hole the shuriken had left.

Kiba cursed himself for being so dumb. He hadn't analyzed the situation well enough and had been caught in a trap he should have easily seen. On top of that, he had been badly injured by attacks he would have easily been able to avoid had he been in shape now. But because he had not been training regularly for almost a month his reaction time was slow and he wasn't as fast as he used to be.

This could be bad. This man was obviously smarter then him, and he also was not as injured as Kiba was at the moment. The only thing Kiba could think of that could be considered an advantage was that the man had been in captivity for at least a month and had to be out of training as well.

The man was laughing again. Kiba looked at him, examining him closer now that the area was completely lit up by the fire. The man was standing in the middle of the giant circle of fire. The flames were just inches from engulfing his entire body. His face was still badly bruised from being imprisoned and beaten but other then that he didn't appear to have any injuries.

"You really aren't very bright are you?" the man jeered, "To fall into a trap like this. Although I guess I should have expected that, seeing as how easily you fell into those other even more obvious traps way back when."

"I'll kill you," Kiba growled, "You're the one thats not bright, because now you're going to die. You should have just stayed in your damn village, what reason do you even have to be here?"

"Heh, you should know that. Do you not think of the consequences to your actions ever?" The man asked, while simultaneously forming a hand seal. The ground rumbled as the ground turn to mud and the fire was slowly sucked down, extinguishing itself.

"What the hell are you talking about...?" Kiba muttered, getting into a fighting position.

"You think you're the only one that lost someone on that mission?" The man yelled, this was the first time the man seemed to show any anger at all, he had remained so cool and calm before. "You killed three of my friends that day! I deserve vengeance as much as you do!"

Kiba relaxed from his fighting stance. He had never thought about that incident in that way. He had almost completely forgotten about the three other rock nin that he and his teammates had killed. He must feel the same way about his teammates dieing that Kiba felt about Akamaru's death.

"That doesn't change anything," Kiba growled in response, "You killed Akamaru so now you're going to die. "

The man started to laugh again, he had recomposed himself and was now calm and collected. "I didn't kill the damn mutt of yours. You don't even remember what happened do you?"

"Shut up!" Kiba yelled, "Just because I don't remember doesn't mean I don't know you're the one responsible for his death!"

"Heh, I guess it is true I'm responsible for his death in some ways, but I didn't kill him." the man was a little still. "But I know you're the one that killed my friends. Unlike you, I remember what happened."

Kiba stayed still, starring down the man in front of him. "This talk is pointless. If you're all done now, it's about time you die."

xx

Shino ran towards the northwestern corner of Konoha, towards the woods. It was nearly midnight now and Shino went as fast as he could, praying that Kiba didn't do anything stupid. If Kiba got into a fight, he would lose, there was no way he could win in a fight when he was so out of training.

Shino reached the edge of the woods and cursed to himself. He just realized how big the woods are and how long it could take to find Kiba. Chances are if something did happen, it would happen before Shino could locate him. Shino let some bugs escape from his body, ordering them to spread throughout the woods to find the Inuzaka.

With that Shino jumped into the trees and took off into the woods. Even though he wanted to find Kiba as quick as possible he still had to move cautiously. If it was an enemy that had written Kiba the note he would have to be careful to avoid any traps. The best result that Shino could think of right now was that he would find the enemy before Kiba did or find Kiba before Kiba found the enemy.

After 10 minutes of searching Shino was starting to get worried when nothing had turned up. It had to be past midnight by now, and with every minute that passed the chances that he would find Kiba in one piece were decreasing. Just when Shino was starting to loose hope that he would find Kiba, he saw it…

The dark forest seemed like it lit up. Shino looked on in horror as he saw a giant flame erupt not to far off in the distance. This was bad. Had Kiba activated another trap? There was no way Kiba could have survived that if he had been directly hit. Well, at least he knew where he was.

Shino took off, jumping from tree to tree as fast as he could. Strangely the fire had gone out completely almost instantly. If that fire he had seen was just a jutsu then that could potentially be worse then a trap. Shino picked up his speed even more, praying Kiba was still alive.

xx

Kiba assumed a fighting position and growled viscously. He was sick of talking. He was going to finish this now.

Akamaru's killer stayed still in the middle of the clearing, still laughing lightly. "So, are you going to attack me or what?" The man taunted, pulling a kunai from his pouch in the process. "I'm kind of tired, so if you'd just be a good mutt and attack me, I'll kill you quickly so we can all go home. I hope you like your new home by the way, although I heard hell wasn't the most pleasant place."

That was it, without any more hesitation Kiba lurched forward, fangs bared. Before he even got close to the enemy he was pulled back, something stopping him from moving forward.

"Shino!" Kiba cried angrily, "Let me go, I have to kill him."

"Kiba, stop. You're in no condition to fight." Kiba replied calmly.

"What the hell are you doing here anyway," Kiba yelled, trying to force his way out of Shino's hold.

"I found a note in your house. And since I'm your teammate and your friend, I came to stop you from getting yourself killed." Shino replied calmly.

"Damn it! You're not doing anything but getting in the way! If you're my friend then let me kill this bastard! I have to avenge Akamaru!"

"Kiba, I can't let you do that," Shino calmly stated, still trying to hold back Kiba.

"Why the fuck not!"

"Because you will get yourself killed. And if you do kill him, you will start a war."

"He attacked me! How would me killing him start a war?" Kiba said, he had stopped trying to get out of Shino's hold and calmed down a little.

"He is one of their top officials. Killing him would be the last straw," Shino replied, letting go of his hold on Kiba now that he had calmed down.

"It doesn't fucking matter! Everyone already knows a war is going to start anyway. Just let me kill him. I can't let the one that killed Akamaru just walk away!" Kiba quietly said. He was defeated right now. If Shino didn't want him to fight, he wouldn't be able to.

"Kiba, he didn't kill Akamaru…" Shino said slowly, hoping Kiba wouldn't get mad at him for saying it. What he really didn't want was Kiba to ask what did happen. This wasn't the time of the place for him to explain that.

"See I told you," The man said, finally entering the conversation. "I told him that too and he didn't seem to believe me. You should really listen to you're teammate mutt, he's telling the truth on all of this. If you kill me, you are going to start a war. Although I guess the war is inevitable like you said, although that's only so because of what you did you damn mutt."

"What I did?" Kiba growled, "What the fuck did I do? I let my dog die and now I start a war? And if you didn't kill Akamaru, then who the hell did?!"

"Again, never thinking about the consequences," the man said, shaking his head. "What do you think is going to happen when you kill one of our top negotiators and his son?"

"What are you talking about…" Kiba stammered.

"You don't remember that either?" The man sighed, "Do you have amnesia or something? I think you'd remember stabbing someone to death and tearing apart some poor child with those sharp claws of yours. Do you really not remember? It was only like a week before that mutt of yours died."

Kiba tried to retort but couldn't. Had he really done this much to push the war forward? Was it really this much his fault? He remembered who the man was talking about now. The mission that Shino had asked about a long while back. The one that, in a way, had caused all of this.

"But even if you can't kill me. I'm still going to kill you." The man continued. "I'm going to kill your little friend too mutt. Don't think I don't remember you, you bug freak. You're just as responsible for my teammates deaths as the dog boy."

It seemed as if the rock nin was done talking now as well. He clapped his two hands together to form a seal and he mud on the ground started to churn again. Little licks of fire started to pop up from the earth, lighting up the scene again. The fire started to intensify, growing larger then it had been when it was lit the first time. The mud and fire started to climb up the tree towards Shino and Kiba.

"That's pointless," Shino said calmly, completely un phased by the rock nins show of power.

Almost on cue, the rock nin released the jutsu, the fire retreating and settling back down. The man crouched over, breathing deeply, body shaking slightly.

"Wh-what the hell?" The man stuttered. "I don't have any more chakra. What the hell did you do!?"

"It's your fault for talking so much," Shino responded. "I sent my bugs to slowly eat away at your chakra. By the time you started to fight you only had enough to start that jutsu."

"B-but, I would have noticed if they were stealing it," the man said, trying to make sense of what just happened.

"Not true. My bugs can numb you where they bite you so you would never know what was happening. On top of that, I only attacked you with a small amount so there was no way you could notice them."

"Heh, so you beat me. Bravo," the man said, laughing again now.

"What's so funny?" Shino calmly asked.

"What are you going to do now? You said it yourself, you can't kill me. If you capture me again it would be the same as killing me, you would start a war." The man said, laughing still.

Shino remained quite. He had to think what the best course of action was. He looked over to Kiba, who was still standing next to him. Surprisingly, Kiba had remained quite. He looked over Kiba, noticing finally his condition. He had been too busy dealing with the enemy to check up on Kiba's status but now that he had the enemy beaten he finally got a chance to look over Kiba.

Kiba's jacket had been discarded and he wore only his fishnet shirt and armor. His back where his skin wasn't covered by the armor was burnt pretty badly and his right arm was covered almost completely in blood with two large gashes and a hole in the shoulder. Whatever he decided to do, he had to do it quick. Kiba had to get medical condition or he could bleed out or his wounds could get infected.

Looking at Kiba, Shino started to wonder why he hadn't tried anything again yet. It wasn't like Kiba just to give up because he was told to do so. Would Letting Kiba kill this man help him get better. Although Shino had a lot of problems with Kiba, he was still his teammate and his friend and he really wanted to see Kiba go back to normal. Would killing this man allow Kiba to at least take a step towards that?

Kiba glanced over at Shino now. Before he had just been starring down at the man who was now on his knees, trying to remain conscious. "So Shino, what are we going to do," Kiba said weakly.

Shino looked at Kiba again. He was breathing deeply and his eyes were half closed. He must be getting tired from the blood loss. He didn't seem angry anymore, of anything, he almost looked confused. He had a look similar to the time when he had returned from the mission when he had killed the negotiator.

"Kill him."

Kiba gave Shino a shocked, questioning look. The man also made a shocked sound and gave an equally surprised look.

"But you just said we couldn't…" Kiba said, not moving from his position.

"Don't you want to kill him?" Shino responded, "Like you said, the war is going to start anyway. This is the man that killed Akamaru. Wouldn't killing him make you feel better?"

"I guess…" Kiba responded weakly again. "But you just said he didn't kill Akamaru."

Shino cursed himself for saying that before. It would only do Kiba harm if he knew what really had happened. "Look, Kiba. He is the one responsible for Akamaru's death. Kill him and you will have avenged Akamaru."

Kiba looked angry now. "Damn it! You guys have always been saying that!" Kiba cried, tears were now falling down his face. "He's 'responsible' for his death. What the hell is that supposed to mean! Who killed Akamaru? Pleas, tell me. I just want to know what happened to him…"

Shino remained quite, starring blankly at his emotionally drained teammate. He didn't want to tell Kiba what happened but it looked like he may have to. It would be better he told him then Kiba finding out from someone else, after all.

Noticing a chance to maybe save his own life, the one responsible for Akamaru's death spoke. "Tell him. Tell him how I'm not the one that killed his damn dog."

"Shino…please…"Kiba pleaded. He didn't care if what Shino told him was painful, he just wanted to know what had happened to his best friend.

Shino hesitated. He didn't want to do this. He was worried what Kiba would do if he remembered what had happened.

"Please…"

"Kiba…" Shino started slowly.

"Please…"

"Kiba, you killed Akamaru."

Hope that didn't get too predictable towards the end. Tell me what you think about what happened in this chapter. Next chapter is a flashback chapter that will explain all of this better. Hope no one thinks that this got a little too random and over the top.

REVIEW! Next chapter will be up soon if I get lot's of reviews :).