Author's Note: Okay, maybe I lied, and the update will be same-day… I kinda got caught up in writing this part. Warning: It's a little graphic… Not as graphic as other chapters, in my opinion, but I'll still warn you. Hopefully the next update after this will come around Christmas…

Jiraiya had spent all night skimming past reports of missing villagers and looking for anyone with an alias of 'Bari' with the help of Shizune. The results weren't good- there was no mention of a 'Bari' anywhere in the files they looked through.

There was, however, a report of villagers not showing up to a summer festival near Kirigakure. Since the village was out in the wilderness, no one in the area had gone to investigate. He figured they should send a team there, if only to ensure that it had no relation to what had happened to Tsunade. He figured it would be a good idea to send out Team 8, since he could give them an item that belonged to the chuunin that tried to kill Tsunade and they could use it to track him down if he were there. He heard a knock on the door.

"Come in", he said, cracking his neck. It was Team 8, minus Kurenai since they needed all the experienced ninja in case of another attack.

"So, what are we doing?", Kiba said, absently rubbing Akamaru's head.

"You four are going to a village just outside of Kirigakure known as Mizumi Village. There are reports that none of the 500 or so inhabitants showed up for a local festival that usually draws out most of the village. The rogue chuunin that tried to assasinate Lady Tsunade may have ties to this. I have a shirt that he left at his apartment for you to track him with. If you come across his scent, don't hesitate to follow it, even if you haven't reached the village yet. The priority at the moment is to find him, if possible, and to investigate the village if there is no trace of him. Understood?"

Jiraiya was met with a set of nods. "Good. I expect you to gather your things and supplies and to leave within two hours." They nodded again and left.

'Hopefully they find the bastard that did this...', Jiraiya thought to himself.

Kiba, Akamaru, Shino and Hinata met at the village gate fifteen minutes before their two-hour packing time was up, and set out shortly after. Kiba had already given the chuunin's shirt to Akamaru to smell, just in case they ran across his scent.

They made good time, arriving in Kirigakure just before sunset. They planned to get a room at a local inn, and set out for the village in the morning. Mizumi Village was approximately two hours travel from Kirigakure, so the mission would only last two more days if it was uneventful- one to investigate, and another to travel back to Konoha.

The night was uneventful, save for the couple in the room next to the ninja having an all-out screaming match for an hour in the wee hours of the morning. When they woke, everyone was somewhat well-rested, but a bit tired from the fight next door keeping them up. They grabbed their stuff and headed out after a quick breakfast in the inn's dining room. About an hour and forty-five minutes into the journey, Akamaru started whimpering. Kiba stopped to check on him.

"What's wrong, boy? Do you smell that guy?", Kiba said, trying to figure out why Akamaru was upset. Akamaru just whimpered again and shook his head, then buried his nose under his paws.

"That's not good- I've never seen him like this before. It's not that guy's scent, but something's bothering him... Hinata, is there anyone around us?" Hinata activated her Byakugan. She focused for a minute or so, but then shook her head.

"N-no, there's no one that I can see.", she said. "Well, let's keep going. There's no point in just sitting here.", Kiba said, starting out on the path again. They traveled for another five minutes, until Akamaru started whimpering again and refused to continue.

"Come on, boy! We're almost there- don't stop now!", Kiba said, trying to convince the nin-dog to continue. Akamaru just whimpered louder than before. "Look, it might just be something off in the trees... Come on, let's keep going!", Kiba said to Akamaru, trying to sound convincing. Akamaru whimpered again, then stood up and looked ready to follow Kiba again.

"What was that about?", Shino asked. "Akamaru says he smells something dead, but it's probably just an animal out in the woods or something... If I can't smell it, it's probably not big enough to worry about.", Kiba said, again heading for the village. His teammates joined him, and they headed for the village for nearly ten minutes before Kiba stopped.

"What is it this time?", Shino said annoyedly, just before Kiba fell to his knees and vomited. "Kiba!", Hinata cried, rushing to his side. Kiba shivered, wiping his mouth.

"Akamaru was right about smelling something dead- it's all over... From the smell of it, I'd say that probably the entire village is dead... I can't pick out one live scent from here, so if there's anyone still alive, there aren't many that are. I'd tell you to try not to breathe through your nose, but it's so bad, it's probably better to just not breathe at all... Let's just hope whatever killed them is long gone. Come on, we should at least document this, since we came all this way...", Kiba stated, shakily pushing himself off the ground.

"A-are you sure you'll be okay?", Hinata asked him. Kiba nodded, moving forward again. As they spotted the town through the trees, Shino and Hinata could both smell the rotten scent of decay. Walking into the town was like a real-life horror movie- there were bodies lying everywhere. Men, women, children- no one was spared. The dirt of the main road running through the town was literally dyed a brownish-black with blood. Scavengers must have already gotten at the bodies, since parts of the corpses were missing. Shino and Hinata were looking quite pale, while Kiba was looking positively green with nausea.

"Hinata, is there any way you could examine a few of them with your Byakugan to see what killed them? If you move them, it'll just get messy and probably make the smell worse...", Kiba asked, gagging on the scent. Suddenly, he heard a bark. Akamaru had been sniffing around to see if there was any scent from the rogue chuunin in the village. Kiba hurried over to where Akamaru was.

Akamaru barked again, and started pawing at the ground, scraping at the blood to get at the dirt beneath it. After he had broken through, he nuzzled Kiba's cheek and barked again. Kiba leaned over the dirt, sniffing it.

"What is it you want me to...", Kiba said, trailing off as he picked out a scent that made his blood run cold. A very familiar scent...

"Holy shit!"

Hinata, who had just finished figuring out the cause of death for most of the villagers, heard the yell and ran towards where she heard it.

"Kiba! Are you okay?", Shino yelled, running toward where Kiba was crouched.

"You guys are never gonna believe this, but..." Kiba broke off laughing like he didn't even believe it himself.

"But what?", Shino asked pointedly.

"I... We just found Naruto's scent...", Kiba stated. Shino barely had any time to catch Hinata as she fainted from the shock of it all. Kiba continued talking, long since used to Hinata's fainting spells. "He must've been here not long before the massacre, because it wasn't mixed with any other scent and it was sealed in by the blood. He... He might still be around here somewhere!"

"Let's go back to the inn to rest. We'll send a report back about this- it's not like this won't be here tomorrow." They headed back to the inn for some much-needed rest. Kiba could barely sleep that night, thinking of how they might find Naruto.

'He... He could really be here!', he thought, just as he fell asleep.