Warning: While the violence that occurs in this chapter is offscreen, there are still descriptions of violence done unto animals and humans. If you're slightly squeamish on this, please do be aware of this warning.

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Sakura awoke to a hurried scratching on her window.

She had been enjoying a rather comforting dream before she was slowly pulled away from it. Coincidentally enough, the scratching on her window was confused by her within her dream before it became so loud that she noticed she needed to wake up: Dream Akamaru had been scratching on her desk, surreptitiously giving Kiba and Chouji the answers to the newest history test they were taking. But the more time went on, the louder the scratching got until, eventually, Sakura awoke.

The first thing she noticed was that her room was completely enveloped in darkness. The next thing she took stock of was the fact that was on her bed, rather than hunched over her desk with the map of the Forest of Death pressed against the side of her face. It seemed that her father had found her snoring in such an uncomfortable position and had tucked her in and turned off her lamp so she could rest easy.

Sakura knew it had been her father to have been so permissive of her bad habits. Her mother would have slowly shrugged her awake so Sakura could properly brush her teeth and wash her face before she allowed her to go to sleep.

After a few seconds of blearily blinking at the darkness around her, the sound of scratching to her right pulled her attention once again. And when she turned to look at her window, it was to find the tiny form of Kiba's canine partner clawing at her window.

Immediately the girl opened the window and made to pull the creature within. But as soon as her hands wrapped around his still-rather-fragile body, a cold chill swept through her body.

"Akamaru, why're you wet?"

There was a small whine from the pup and Sakura made sure to have a good hold on him before she moved him inside. Once she was sure that she wasn't about to accidentally jostle any unknown injuries, the girl softly moved him from the windowsill onto her bed. And once there, she made sure to place him down as gently as she could.

Once Akamaru was on the bed and wasn't about to acquire any further accidental pain, the pink haired girl leapt out of her bed and just about crashed into her desk, fumbling around in the dark to turn on the light switch. And once she did, she turned with widened eyes to puppy and was allowed to breathe a sigh of relief.

No blood. Mud caked his paws and stomach, while there was water lightly coating his forehead and back. But there was a clear lack of red on his stark white fur and she knew that he was fine. Just cold and wet.

Once he was sure she was fine, Akamaru began to bark at Sakura, stamping his right front paw before motioning for the window.

"You want me to sneak out?" she asked him, incredulous. "Is something wrong with Kiba?"

The puppy nodded and immediately Sakura lost any trace of tiredness she may have felt after the shock of thinking the pup may have been injured. Without asking for any more information, the young girl dove towards the foot of her bed, scrambling to grab hold of the emergency pack the old man had instructed them to always have near in case of any unforeseen emergency.

"Rations, water, and medical supplies are the first things you need to make sure are inside of your emergency pack. What's the point of surviving a harsh battle if you're only going to die from sepsis, starvation, or dehydration after it's all said and done?" Yes. She had all that. If anyone was injured, she could at least dress their wounds after having cleaned them up. "Kunai and shuriken are important just to have some kind of weapon with you. Just like explosive tags and any other easily carried weapon of choice."

She had all of that, just like she had money wrapped up in a paper envelope just in case someone needed to buy anything. And she also had a book filled with notes on the few ninjutsu the old man had taught them, just in case they needed such information in the middle of a heist.

Once she had her backpack secured tightly around her waist via the straps on its side, Sakura crawled out from beneath her bed and looked at Akamaru. He looked tired, possibly from having to run all the way from the Forest of Death to her house without stopping. But he also looked alert, as if he was prepared to take on the world even though he was still catching his breath.

"Alright. Did you send word for Chouji?"

The pup nodded and then yipped, looking at her backpack. Sakura blinked at him for a moment, attempting to decipher what he meant, and then asked, "Want me to carry you in here?"

With one more nod, the pup clambered towards her and allowed her to grab him. And so Sakura grabbed him, helped him- even as uncomfortable as the position was- to get into the backpack, and finally she jumped on her bed. Without a second's hesitation, she jumped through the window and began to run in the direction of the Forest of Death- heart pounding because of a mixture of anticipation, worry, and exhilaration.

He had not been able to sleep. The only time he had managed to slip into the realm of unconconsciousness, he had been awoken because of a brutal nightmare in which he was abandoned by all of his friends... and.. he didn't really want to think about such a nightmare anymore.

Luckily and unluckily enough, he was pulled away from his lack of sleep and abundance of fears by the appearance of his father at his doorway, informing him of the pack of rowdy dogs calling for him at the front of their house. Chouji had immediately apologized for the animals, but had quickly run out of his room and his house to be able to find out what the dogs wanted so late in the night.

He had found the group of stray dogs they had managed to form a close partnership with through their contracts for heists. The animals were incredibly alert and seemed absolutely worried. The leader of the strays, a large and sturdy dog that was missing a good chunk of his left ear and had a harsh series of scars running along his snout, had an emergency pack clutched tightly within his jaws.

"Dad, Kiba needs some help with homework! I'm gonna head out now!"

The lie was lame, he was aware. But he was moving before he could think of just how bad the lie was.

Or, at least, he attempted to move. He was stopped by his father's heavy mitt falling over his shoulder, holding him back from moving forward. "Chouji. It is ten at night. There is no school. Where are you going?"

The strays began to bark once more, causing the clan compound to fill up with the cacophonous racket that was their synchronized barking. Chouji's heart began to pound in a rapid pace, suddenly feeling hyper aware of the danger Kiba and Fū might be in. If they had sent this group of dogs to search for him, it undoubtedly meant that Akamaru was getting Sakura. And the fact of the matter was that this group of dogs were warriors within their own right. Kiba wouldn't have called on them if he wasn't in any danger.

"Forest of Death!" he blurted out suddenly, only to immediately feel ashamed within himself.

What if he had misunderstood the danger of the situation? What if Kiba had just called for him because he had found a new adventure he wanted to go in- even though it wasn't really all that urgent in the grand scheme of things? What if he had just endangered the Old Man and Fū by just telling his father where it was that he needed to go?

Closing his eyes, Chouji allowed his head to hang and face the ground.

Could he do anything right?

"These dogs wouldn't be here unless something big was happening." his father conceded after a few seconds were spent in tense silence. "Kiba would have sent Akamaru for you and then you two would have gone to get Sakura- you've done it many times before when you thought no one was aware. If these strays are here, it means something has happened to the boy."

"Wait, dad, how-"

"I am your father, Chouji."

The younger Akimichi silenced himself after hearing this.

The alpha of the strays growled at him and Chouji opened his eyes to find the dog glaring directly at him. In his own language, he was telling Chouji that they needed to move now.

"Alright. I will accompany you."

"Dad, there's no-"

He couldn't allow his father to go with him! What if this wasn't a big emergency? What if Kiba could handle the situation with just the rest of his pack? What if Chouji was accidentally blowing things out of proportion.

"Either I go with you or you don't go along."

There was no room left to argue and no time left to stall.

Chouji didn't fight his father any more and instead moved forward and grabbed the pack from the maw of the alpha then nodded at him. The strays began to run off at this, more than aware that both humans would follow them now that they were done arguing.

They had managed to get out of the treehouse by surprising their enemies with a flurry of thrown objects they had not expected... but there would be no treehouse to return to anymore.

It was a good thing they had moved when they had. The treehouse they had built with blood, sweat, and tears collapsed in only a matter of a minute after they had run.

He would never forgive the Aburame.

"Kiba. I'm scared."

Kiba couldn't blame her. He was terrified. The Aburame had managed to utilize bugs that had eaten through the wood of their home in a matter of minutes... and Kiba hadn't heard them! He didn't know how he couldn't, but now he knew that these were enemies that were exponentially more dangerous than he had initially thought. These weren't regular run of the mill chunin. They were something more. And they would be in over their heads if they tried to fight them directly.

"Suppress your chakra. Akamaru is getting reinforcements. If those two don't run away when they notice others are coming, we could at least take them together."

Fū was shaking like a leaf. Undoubtedly, it was from a mixture of the absolute terror she was feeling, along with the water that they were now soaked with.

He was sure that the old man would scold him for not moving now that he had caught his breath. He could just hear the old man's surly growl telling him that when it came to an enemy like this, keeping a long distance was imperative. They were still too young and inexperienced to know how to take them down- they needed to get away.

But Kiba couldn't force his legs to move. His body was refusing to move.

He was terrified.

But it's not like he could tell Fū. She trusted him to be the leader between them. Not only was he the expert of the Forest of Death, he was also the only one between them with precise control of many of his jutsu. He was much better at taijutsu and his clan techniques, while rudimentary, were ones he could use in a pinch... could have. He had sent Akamaru away to acquire their reinforcements.

He hated when the old man was right... but the guy had told him that he would need to think of techniques that wouldn't require his partner in case they were ever separated.

Their attackers had never shown themselves. During the whole time they had been running, all Kiba had been able to see had been clouds of bugs that moved like lightning. It had taken all of his wits and evasion tactics to be able to put a sizeable amount of distance between them. Luckily, he had been traipsing through the Forest of Death for most of his life at this point and those two had clearly not. So he had been able to utilize the natural hazards of the forest to make the bastards trip up.

Remembering the tactics he had used, Kiba winced.

There were symmetrical gnarly gnashes all along his left forearm that was bleeding profusely. He hadn't looked at it, but he just knew it was bleeding a lot. And he didn't want to look at it, in case it was infected.

The tiger had aimed for Fū. He had pushed her away and taken the hit instead. But it had been worth it to piss the feline off- it had then turned its attention on their attackers when Kiba had thrown his jacket away and in their direction. The den of killer bees that had then been disturbed had been enough to freeze the Aburame bug cloud in its tracks.

"We should wrap that up."

Kiba frowned and hissed, "Don't move."

The Yamanaka was a sensor. Undoubtedly, he was the one telling the Aburame where they were going. But now that they were safely hidden within a cave inside of the riverbed, he wouldn't be able to feel them unless they moved more than the water around them.

"But-" Fū shifted, moving her right hand so she could clutch at his injured arm.

"Don't!" he growled, eyes narrowing as his voice took on a demanding and threatening tone it had never taken before.

Fū froze.

Kiba continued to glare at her, even as guilt began to gnaw at his heart.

"We have to stay put."

They barely knew anything about their enemies other than the fact that they, for some reason, wanted to get them. Aside from that, they knew those two were dangerous and had no qualms about hurting children.

They needed to wait for Akamaru to bring reinforcements.

The rest of their pack would save them. Kiba knew it.

"We have to leave."

Fū frowned, eyebrows creasing as he felt through the perimeter of the Forest of Death.

"Why? We know the children's location. While entering through the river will not be easy, if I have enough time, I am sure-"

"Chouza Akimichi hasaccompanied the reinforcements. We were told we could get rid of Sakura Haruno, Chouji Akimichi, and Kiba Inuzuka, along with their mutts. But I am sure that eliminating the Akimichi Clan Head will cause consequences our leader will not be happy with."

Torune frowned back down at him, but soon the buzzing of his kikaichu ceased. No longer was the Aburame attempting to dig through the soil that led towards their target and her protector.

"More trouble than they're worth, those damn Inuzuka."

They had been outsmarted by the child. He didn't know how they had managed to get the Clan Head's attention, but they had never even thought of the possibility of him appearing. Their boss would not be happy to hear that they had been caught off guard by developments that they, in hindsight, should have been able to foresee.

Their punishment, he knew, was going to ensure they never overestimated their skills ever again.

"We did not think Kiba Inuzuka would be able to evade us for so long. We took too long catching him; even more finding him once he and the target disappeared."

He should have been able to tell where they had gone. But he had taken too long figuring out that they were utilizing the water's current to hide their movements. It was the simplest trick in the book of sensing- yet he had allowed himself to be tricked by it. He had been overconfident in his sensing skills. Torune had been overconfident in his bugs being able to catch the target and the Inuzuka.

These kids were no older than twelve years old- none of them had the skills to be genin... but this Kiba Inuzuka... his evasion skills were much more refined than a simple genin's. His knowledge in suppressing chakra and hiding scents was akin to that of a chunin. The files they had been given on the boy had been faulty due to lack of information.

The chakra signatures of the children were simple to sense, although he was taken aback by how developed the signatures were. Chouji Akimichi, the weakest of the signatures, had his pathways developed enough to at least be able to complete simple genin tasks. This too had been missing from the files they had been given.

Chouza Akimichi's own signature was loud and clearly strong- a set of pathways thick enough to handle the surge of power the Akimichi clan tended to rely on during battle.

The stray dogs, the puppy, and the rest of the children would have been easy to deal with. It would have been simple to make them disappear- making Konoha believe they had finally runaway had been their initial plan of attack, after all. But Chouza Akimichi was a worthy opponent in his own right and he knew they would not be able to attack and get rid of him without endangering their mission.

In the end, if they chose to engage, it would have to be a choice between capturing their target or eliminating Chouza Akimichi. If they chose to capture the target, Chouza would see them and people would believe him. If they eliminated Chouza instead, their target would slip from their grasp.

"I will not allow this failure to become a rule. It will be an exception."

Fū nodded at his partner as he stood up from the ground. "We will have another opportunity to capture the girl. She will not be comfortable within Konohagakure for long. We will get our chance when she leaves the city's limits."

There were some dogs heading in their direction, running much faster than any regular animal. He didn't think much of them, though, knowing that they could be disposed of quickly if the need arose.

This night had spiraled out of their control in a manner they had not foreseen... even though they should have.

The files were faulty.

They needed to be updated immediately.

Kiba Inuzuka was a threat. He would recommend eliminating the boy as quickly as possible. After all, he wasn't the heir to his clan. He was expendable.

She had not been expecting to see Chouji's father when she met up with her friend. She hadn't been expecting to find all of their stray dog partners with him either.

The fact that so many people were here meant that this issue was bigger than just Chouji and her. And, even though she knew that it was very likely Kiba wouldn't be happy to see Chouza with them, Sakura was relieved to have him with them. There was an adult with them. They would be fine. She was sure of it.

"Sakura, Akamaru." Chouza nodded at them in greeting as they all met by the entrance of the Forest of Death. "Exciting night."

Akamaru climbed out of her bag and made his way up her shoulders and neck. Eventually, he settled on top of her head, then barked over at the strays. The alpha of the strays growled as he nodded his answer to the puppy. Then the scarred animal began to growl and direct the rest of his pack. Sakura watched on in amazement as the rest of the strays began to run off and separate from them until only the alpha and his two strongest enforcers were left.

Chouza blinked at the synchronization displayed by the animals, but didn't ask about it. Sakura then glanced up at Akamaru, "What's going on, boy?"

The dog barked three times at her, in a specific intonation that let her know it was his way of telling them to follow him. So Sakura nodded, grabbed him from the top of her head, and set him down on the ground. He turned to look at the Akimichi, as if to make sure that they had understood what he had instructed them to do. Chouji nodded and told his dad that they were going to follow the puppy.

And so they set off deep into the Forest of Death, following Akamaru into the unknown.

Sakura wasn't sure what was going on. But she could tell that it was serious. Akamaru and the strays had been all business. The alpha of the strays- whom Kiba had appropriate named Alpha- had only stared in complete severity, with a harshness to his body that Sakura could not deny. When the dogs got like this, it was only when something heavy was going on. And the only times Sakura had ever seen them close to being this serious... she had never seen them looking like this.

"Sakura, do you know anything?" Chouji asked eventually, most probably attempting to break the silence that had fallen over them.

Quickly, the girl shook her head. "Not at all. Akamaru woke me up suddenly and told me there's something up with Kiba. But... I can't speak dog, unfortunately."

Someone should really make a jutsu that allowed them to speak freely with animals. It wasn't going to be easy, she was sure, but there was a sort of pattern to how they would speak. But she was incredibly sure that someone should be able to translate between their human language and the one that the dogs spoke... but those were thoughts for another time. Right now they needed to focus on helping the last members of their pack.

"Is there danger?" Chouza questioned, and Sakura suddenly remembered that Chouji's father was with them.

She was sure she was supposed to have worried more about that... but right now, all she could properly think about was in just how much danger Kiba and Fū could be if they had sent for the strays and Chouza.

Akamaru barked once, harshly, and there was no need for them to translate for Chouji's father. The intonation was clear. It was dangerous.

Sakura's stomach dropped to her feet.

Akamaru took them down the path Kiba and Fū had traversed in their long run. Chouji, Sakura, and Chouza were not able to take a moment, though, to stare at the remains of the treehouse they had all worked so hard to construct... shattered and destroyed on the ground before their favored tree.

"Dad..."

"This is much more serious than I ever thought it would be. We must find Kiba immediately." Chouza instructed them, ushering Akamaru to hurry and take them to his owner.

The puppy complied without a moment's hesitation and forced his body to move quicker. Chouji struggled to keep up with his father and Sakura, but he managed.

He... was worried.

The energy within the Forest of Death... it was damp. Normally, at night, the Forest was alight with energy and the crooning of the large insects that called it home. It was not an inviting place, but Chouji had slowly come to see it as, at the very least, alive.

But it wasn't tonight. It wasn't alive.

It was as if the whole Forest... was worried.

He was training to become a ninja. He was supposed to not allow himself to be so affected by this sort of thing. He needed to be professional in case Kiba needed him.

But Chouji couldn't help but have his hands tremble with the all-encompassing worry that had taken a hold of his heart... admittedly, he was relieved to know that Alpha and his enforcers were flanking his behind... at least he knew that as he was watching the backs of his father, Sakura, and Akamaru, someone else was watching his own.

When they came across a dead tiger, his father wasn't fast enough to yell at him and Sakura to look away. They had seen the bloodied carcass laying on the ground before his dad had even managed to turn to speak to them.

Chouji's eyes welled with tears.

Sakura began to sob.

His father didn't say a single thing.

There were droplets of blood on the ground, beside dirt that seemed to have been kicked up. Akamaru completely ignored the dead tiger on the ground and instead barked at the drops of blood- letting them know that it belonged to Kiba.

They all picked up the pace after this.

Chouza ran at the very front, keeping the distance between him, his son, and the rest of the children rather small. Chouji appreciated this immensely.

When they came across the torn apart carcasses of killer bees, Chouji wasn't able to stop himself from crying. Sakura began to dry heave. Chouza now picked them both up and continued to follow after Akamaru, shielding them both from any further horrible sights by pressing their faces deep into his chest.

He didn't know what had happened... but he knew one thing... monsters had attacked Kiba.

After seeing those corpses, Chouji wasn't able to worry for the fate of his best friend and their charge.

Eventually, they stopped moving. His father let them know that there were no dead creatures near them and instead, there was only the beginnings of a hole close to a riverbank.

After they had been set down on the ground, Sakura hugged him tightly. And Chouji hugged her back, just as tightly, as she began to cry into his shoulder. Tears fell down his own cheeks... but he was much too numb to feel sad over the animals that had been killed.

He didn't know what was wrong with him... but it was as if he wasn't even within his body at the moment... he knew that what he was looking at was real and he knew he was alive... but it was as if he was swimming through a haze...

Akamaru barked, signaling him having found Kiba. And Chouza moved to help the strays and Akamaru find the boy... Sakura and Chouji were much too... within their own minds to be of any use.

Great, Chouji thought as he watched his father help dig into the hole that had been signaled by Akamaru. Yet another thing he was too useless to help with.

Panic began to fill his heart when he heart the scratching of the ground above them. It was much too quick to be a dog- the damn Aburame was using his bugs to dig to them!

Kiba shifted, grabbing the only kunai he had left after their mad dash through the forest, to be able to fight the bastards off. He would instruct his charge to swim into the river and attempt to get away as he distracted them both.

There was a moment of tense silence in which he just listened to his surroundings, waiting for the Aburame and Yamanaka to eventually get to their pocket within the river. But... there was silence, suddenly. Nothing happened. He heard nothing.

His heart stuttered, suddenly beginning to wonder if the noises had all just been a distraction and he had missed something- could his inattentiveness have gotten him and Kuzu's grandniece killed?

Then the digging began once again... but this time, it was slow and heavy. The clumps of ground being moved were large, not miniature. And after a few minutes, he was able to hear the telltale sound of dogs paws digging into dirt. Various, of different sizes. Akamaru and the strays had arrived!

Kiba breathed out a sigh of relief he hadn't known he had been holding in. Then he allowed the kunai he had been holding to fall onto the cold ground below him, then relaxed against the uneven, rocky walls behind him.

"We're saved."

He didn't notice how tired he actually was until his eyes closed shut and refused to open once more.

He had watched the whole chase. In all honesty, he could have stepped in at any moment, but he had been too invested in rooting for the two runts to actually intervene.

Although, he had needed to make himself stay away from the Yamanaka sensor's range when the Aburame bastard had begun to brutalize animals.

Sure, he luxuriated in death and murder. Of course, his Lord's ways were violent and so his were as well. But killing a human as a sacrifice for his one true god was one thing. Killing an animal because there was a need for self defense was one thing. But sadistically torturing a creature through flesh eating poison and absolutely unnecessary limb ripping?

Even Hidan had morals, believe it or not. Few would believe it, but it was true. And an animal had no soul. There was no gain in their pain. There was no need to torture them. They would learn nothing before their death. And for a ninja, a regular animal was no match. There was absolutely no need for those two to waste so much time in hurting those creatures.

Although, the methods of killing did give him ideas for the torture he would enact on the Aburame and Yamanaka that had decided to torture children... he would have to wait a bit, though, and find out just why in the world Fū of Takigakure was in Konohagakure with an actual group of friends that were willing to protect her. Oh, he should also try and figure out why those two were chasing after the Inuzuka and Fū, of all people, before he sent their disgusting and perverted souls to the great maker.

"Well, the leader told me to find the Takigakure monstrosity. And I did... but he didn't tell me when needed to get back to him with this information." he conceded to himself as he watched three dogs, a puppy, and the Clan head of the Akimichi Clan work together to pull out the unconscious body of the Inuzuka that had put up all the fight during the chase.

The kid was a scrapper. Hidan liked that. His target had mostly followed along with all of his orders, most probably because she had never actually been forced to put her ninja knowledge into play ever before in her life.

Kakuzu the bastard had never said it, but Takigakure had gotten weak and soft... probably, that was the reason why their best weapon against other, stronger, villages had managed to runaway and arrive in Konohagakure before they had even managed to notice.

Leaning against the scythe he had impale into the tree trunk below him, Hidan began to ponder on the exact connection between all these humans.

Inuzuka weren't known for being people-people. They dealt better with animals than other humans. And the Akimichi were somewhat snobbish in their choice of friends- the pink haired civilian had no point of being here. And while all the stray dogs he had seen running around were probably allied with the Inuzuka, it made little sense for them to put their tails in danger to save some human.

Konohagakure was a strange village, essentially.

"Good thing those two were sloppy." he smiled to himself as he looked down at the blade of his scythe. He had managed to trap two pieces of cloth between the blade and the branch. One from the Aburame, one from the Yamanaka. "Let's see just how far those four can get with this."

Moving away from the scythe, he grabbed the handle and yanked the blade out of the tree. Both pieces of cloth fell to the ground below, immediately sniffed out by one of the smaller strays that had been canvassing the Forest. The creature glanced up at the spot where they had fallen from and Hidan smiled down at the creature.

"I'm just your friendly Forest of Death ghost, bitch. Now take that to those blundering buffoons."

He didn't really know what was going on or what kind of mystery surrounded everything he had seen... but if there was one truth to Hidan, it was that he never passed up the chance to ruin some bastard's plans.

The dog left quickly, seemingly not even trying to figure out who he was. Hidan smirked.

"Fucking bastards; brutalize a human and share their pain. Don't take out your limp micropenis on an animal that can't understand shit."

Still, he remained in the shadows and watched as the civilian and child Akimichi began to tend to the rather ugly looking wound on the Inuzuka's arm. His target was much too busy running around, screaming about everything that had happened to the only adult with them, to be of any use in healing the kid.

Good news was that even though they might walk out of that river with pneumonia and an infected arm, the Inuzuka and the Jinchūriki would walk out alive. The better news was that Hidan had a new mystery to unravel. And the best news of all was that he now had time to plot out a slow, painful, and beautiful torture plan for the Aburame and Yamanaka that had attacked those two.

He had no idea what was going on... but he would find out completely before he told that heretic bastard of a leader of the Akatsuki that he had found the location of Takigakure's Jinchūriki.

For once, he was happy Kakuzu-bastard wasn't around for him to insult.

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