Author's Note: Ahh, it's finally the weekend. Who else is relieved? :P
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Day one on the hunt for the twin bandits! Wonder if they'll find anything...
Haha, anyway, thanks so much to Angel42497, BlackRose723, and Echo Uchiha for the reviews! You guys are great, as always. :D
Reviews on this chapter would also be greatly appreciated. Your feedback is always awesome to hear!
Oh, and we're at the double-digit mark! Woot! Haha. Not that you couldn't tell for yourselves or anything... :P

Ten: A Trail to Follow

We traveled quickly through the treetops to our destination. Naruto and Sakura were behind me, and Kakashi was in the back of the formation. My eyes were constantly darting around our surroundings in search of any sort of clue, but so far I had not seen anything. I tried not to get frustrated, considering it was so early in the mission, but that proved to be somewhat difficult.

I glared against the bright sunlight; even the millions upon millions of leaves in the trees could not properly shield us from the blinding light. Luckily the wind-chill from our high speed of travel managed to keep us cool on this hot day. For a second, I found myself wishing that I hadn't worn my Jonin uniform, but I quickly caught myself and refocused on the mission at hand.

On the ground, I noticed an area with great chasms on the forest floor and pieces of shattered earth scattered all around. I immediately attributed it to my use of earth style jutsu the previous day. "There," I said to my teammates while pointing my finger at the ground, "That's where I ran into them."

My comrades followed me as I gracefully lowered myself to ground level. "I see you used your earth style jutsu," Kakashi nonchalantly observed.

"Really?" I rolled my eyes, "How ever did you know?"

"Kaeda Sensei!" Naruto shouted, "You have earth chakra? I have wind chakra!"

"Kaeda Sensei has wind chakra as well, Naruto," Kakashi told him.

"Whoa!" Naruto grinned, "That's so cool!"

"Naruto," Sakura called from a distance, "stop bothering Kaeda Sensei and focus on the mission."

"Oh, right," he sighed, "I'll go look over here!" He ran into the opposite direction, searching around a group of bushes that were surrounding a very large tree.

I turned on my heel to search a different area. I ran my fingers across the rough bark of the trees I had circled as my eyes scanned the ground. As I walked, I kicked a chunk of rocky earth out of my path, and I furrowed my eyebrows when a glob of dirt that was tinted red was revealed. After a split second, I remembered the kunai that I had stabbed through the hand of the twin that I had held captive. Of course, I thought to myself. The answer was obvious.

"Hey, guys," I called to my teammates. Each one of them immediately stopped what they were doing to lift their gaze to meet mine. "I figured out a way to track them."

"How?" Naruto asked. The three of them began jogging in my direction to see what I had found.

"Well," I began, "I managed to hold one of the men captive for a small amount of time. To help Toshiro and Nikko get out of trouble, though, I kind of stabbed a kunai through the man's hand to keep him situated while I was away."

"I'm guessing that's what the red stain in the dirt means," Sakura noted.

I nodded. "He obviously freed himself and got away, but his hand was still bleeding profusely. I was thinking that we could follow the blood trail until we found the two, or at least until we find another way to track them down."

"Good thinking, Kae," Kakashi said. I could tell that he was smiling underneath that mask of his.

"Wait a second," Sakura interrupted, "the trail doesn't go very far. It stops only about twenty feet away." She pointed her index finger, and we each averted our eyes to the direction that she aimed. Sure enough, the spots of bloody earth ended with a larger pool of blood at the end of the trail.

I racked my brain, trying to remember what exactly had happened. I recalled the man sprinting to his suffering brother's side and then throwing him over his shoulder. That was when he said that they had "found what they're after." But what did they do after that… which direction did they go?

As the memory resurfaced, I allowed an unintentional gasp of excitement escape my lips. "The trees," I whispered.

"What?" Naruto inquired, raising his eyebrows at me.

"They leapt to the treetops. The trail on the ground disappears, but there's got to be more of his blood in the branches."

"Of course," Sakura said, "it's so obvious."

"It's most likely that they first jumped to the tree that's closest to that pool of blood on the ground," Kakashi observed, pointing his finger to a large tree that was only a few feet away, "That one."

"We should examine each of the branches for any trace of blood," I decided. The rest of the team agreed with me, and each of us climbed to different heights of the tree to check for any sign of a continuation of the trail.

Kakashi concentrated his chakra to his feet and began sprinting up the tree's wide trunk to investigate the top of the tree. Naruto then followed behind him, stopping a bit lower than Kakashi did. Sakura stopped a bit lower than Naruto, leaving me to examine the lowest branches. I crouched down, the balls of my feet balancing skillfully on a very skinny limb and my left hand resting against the trunk for support. My eyes focused on the bark, looking for any sort of change in color or texture.

Leaves fell from above me as my comrades continued searching. I couldn't help but gaze at them. Their bright green color matched that of Toshiro's eyes as he unleashed his clan's kekkei genkai. Exhaling loudly, I moved to a different branch as I tried to push the thoughts of my student's potentially dangerous situation out of my mind.

Minutes passed, and still I had found nothing, nor had I heard anything from my teammates. I started to fear that my plan wasn't going to work, but, luckily, my negativity was diminished by the sound of Sakura's voice calling out, "I think I found something!"

I leapt higher and higher above the ground until I was at Sakura's level. Naruto and Kakashi descended as well. Sakura pointed toward a small spot that was stained a slightly darker color. The tree limb also had tiny scuffmarks along its length, probably from the man's shoes as he hastily tried to escape. I smiled at the pink-haired girl. "This is it. Good job, Sakura."

"Now we just have to find out which way they went," Kakashi told us, "Let's each search the surrounding trees for any signs of blood or wear-and-tear from travel. Stay at this altitude."

We each headed different directions, and, much to my surprise, it wasn't long at all before Naruto was able to confirm that they were heading south. We traveled together, finding more broken tree branches and bloodstains along the way. As the sky became a soft gradient of burnt orange and dark purple, however, the blood trail had begun to disappear, and there was no detectable sign of travel to guide us. We lowered ourselves to the ground to talk over the next step that we would take, and when we did, we noticed that where the trees cleared in the distance, there was a small village. It had a few small houses, a couple merchants trying to sell their goods, and a… hot spring resort?

"Do you think the those guys could have passed through here?" Naruto asked.

"It's possible," Kakashi answered him.

"We should ask the villagers if anyone has seen them," I suggested.

"Right," Kakashi agreed, "Why don't you tell us exactly what they looked like. That way, we can split up and cover more ground in less time."

I described the men exactly as I remembered them. Twins that looked exactly alike. Short, spiky black hair, bulky, wide mouths, ragged clothes, and bandages limbs. They were certainly a memorable pair. It wasn't likely that, if someone were to have seen them, they would have easily forgotten them.

Before the four of us split up to interview the village's people, we resolved to meet back at the hot springs just before the sun had disappeared for the night. Looking towards the sky, I figured I didn't have much time left, so I immediately set off to talk to as many villagers as I could.

The first person I found was a middle aged woman who was carrying two bags of groceries in her arms. Her graying hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and her glasses sat low on the tip of her nose. "Excuse me, ma'am," I said to her, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions."

"You're a leaf ninja?" She immediately asked, squinting her eyes as if trying to see me better.

"Yes, ma'am," I answered, wiping away sweat from underneath my forehead protector, "We're investigating suspicious activity that has been going on in the forest." I described the twins for her, and then asked her if she recalled seeing them.

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear," the lady apologized, "but I'm afraid my vision just isn't what it used to be. I have a difficult time telling apart apples from oranges, nowadays."

I thanked the woman for her time before offering to escort her back to her home. She politely declined, but wished me luck on my mission. The next person I managed to find was the produce merchant. He stood behind his table of fruits and vegetables, fanning himself with his hand for some relief from the hot sun. "Good evening, sir," I smiled at him.

The man looked young, probably in his mid-to-late-twenties. His short brown hair was damp with sweat and his bright green eyes looked exhausted from a long day of sitting in the sun. He forced a smile onto his face before greeting me respectfully.

I described the men for him, but also did not recall seeing them. I thanked him before continuing on my way. Before sunset arrived, I managed to question an adolescent child, an elderly man, and a young woman, all of whom never saw the men that I described. Sighing dejectedly, I trudged along the dirt path until I arrived at the hot spring resort. Sakura had already arrived and was sitting on a bench waiting for her teammates' arrivals.

"Any luck?" I asked her as I took a seat beside her.

She shook her head sadly. "No, you?"

"Nope," I sighed.

"Well," Sakura said, "maybe Naruto and Kakashi Sensei managed to find some information."

After a few minutes of waiting, Naruto and Kakashi both appeared from separate directions. The looks on their faces suggested that they, too, had no luck. "Well, this day was a bust," I rolled my eyes.

"I guess they never passed through here," Kakashi shrugged, "They probably just passed over this village."

"It is pretty small," Naruto agreed, "I mean, I didn't even see it until we were standing right in front of it!"

I smiled. "You're right. I'm just being pessimistic."

"You know what will fix that?" Kakashi asked. He didn't even wait for me to answer before saying, "A stay at this lovely hot spring resort. What do you guys say? It'll be my treat!"

Naruto and Sakura immediately began cheering in approval, and they raced up the porch steps while repeatedly expressing their gratitude towards Kakashi's nice gesture. I, however, wasn't quite as excited. Furrowing my eyebrows, I asked him, "What about the mission?"

"It's already dark out, so we're going to have to set up camp soon anyway. This will be a hell of a lot better than sleeping on the ground."

He could tell that I was still a bit unsure, so he continued, "Toshiro's in good hands, Kae. You've got to stop worrying so much."

I raised my eyebrows at him, unable to control my growing smile. Kakashi treating us to a night at a fancy resort? It was sort of… unbelievable. Kakashi extended his hand toward me, and, after hesitating a moment, I obliged and placed my hand in his. He helped me to my feet and then put his arm around my shoulders, leading me toward the entrance. "Treating the four of us like this… I'm impressed," I grinned.

"What can I say? I'm a giver," He responded. The modesty that was evident in his voice made me snicker.

I ruffled his silver hair affectionately before wrapping my arm around his waist. "I don't think you realize how expensive it is to stay at one of these resorts," I laughed.

I could feel Kakashi's muscles tense a bit. "How much?"

Without answering his question, I broke free from his grasp and bounded up the porch steps. "Thank you, Kakashi! You're such a giving person!" I laughed as I ran through the doorway, leaving a very confused and frightened Kakashi behind me.