Several genin gathered around the nose and stared at it confused. On the other side of the room Seiun's mom had woken up but quickly remembered why she fainted in the first place and pulled her son into a hug.

Naruto rubbed his chin in thought before getting up and walking towards a window. He opened it, reached through the bars and broke of a twig from a tree that grew in front of it and walked back next to the other genin which were crouched around the nose. He kneeled next to it and stuck the twig into one of the nostrils.

"Ew! Stop it! What are you doing?" Ino backed away from him.

Naruto rolled his eyes slightly before lifting up the nose and turning it around. "You guys see what I see?"

Chouji looked at it closer. "Uhhh…"

Naruto sighed. "It's flat on the back, see? It doesn't look like it broke off to me."

"Yeah, it's like it just fell off." Choiji answered. "Like that piece of skin we found."

Suddenly Naruto's eyes widened. "Yoooo!"

"What?" Ino asked still disgusted.

"Do you think this guy might be like a Frankenstein monster? Ya know, like he's just made out of a bunch of body parts stuck together." He suggested.

"Wait…" The wife of the man who was found spoke up. "My Senshi… the skin on his chest was cut out, but I thought it was just an injury."

"That's why this guy is kidnapping people…"Shikamaru realized. "So he can take their body parts for himself."

"So who does this belong to?" Naruto pointed the nose on the twig towards the jonin, but Hinata happened to be standing in front of them so she squealed and backed away, almost getting hit by the nose. "Oops, sorry!" Naruto apologized. "I didn't mean to get my nose in your business." He grinned.

Some of the people there stifled a laugh, except Sasuke who spoke up. "Ok, not the time for stupid jokes, we need to figure out how this guy got in here."

Naruto snarled and walked up to him annoyed. "Hold my nose, will ya?" He shoved the twig in Sasuke's hands who looked at the nose wordlessly.

Naruto walked up to the window he took the branch from and took a deep breath before kicking the bars on it with all his might making them fall off completely. He turned back around and shrugged.

"So he entered this room the same way he entered the baby's nursery." Kurenai concluded. "How did you know?" She looked at Naruto.

He half-smiled. "I didn't."

Kurenai blinked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I'd have looked like a nutjob if this thing hadn't fallen off." Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

"Alright." Shikamaru interrupted. "So I'm guessing he cut these bars around the same time as the other ones but waited for an opportunity to enter this room."

"A little nosey, isn't he?" Naruto joked while others just shook their heads at him while the kids giggled.

"Wait…" Kiba mumbled sniffing the air. "But I don't smell anything… didn't we say that the guy is behind the stench?"

Naruto raised a brow before taking the nose from Sasuke and twisting it around. Then he put it really close to Sasuke's face who ducked it swiftly. "What the hell are you doing you idiot?"

"Just hold still." Naruto said squinting at him before he turned around and walked up to Hinata. "Hold still."

"W-what?" She paled.

He put the nose next to her face and shifted his glance between them while others just looked at him in confusion.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked irritated.

"Isn't this too small to be a guy's nose? It looks kinda little, like Hinata's." Naruto suggested while color returned to Hinata's face.

"Hold up, you think that might be why I don't always smell something? Because there might be two of them and only one of them smells?" Kiba said.

"Well we never proved that there's only one of them, did we?" Kurenai added.

"So we've got the bride of Frankenstein now too?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi took the nose from him. "Could be." He examined the nose. "Or our Frankenstein has a female nose."

One of the men gasped. "It couldn't be Ginga's, could it?"

Kakashi walked up to him and showed him the nose. "Is it hers?"

"The man looked at it and shook his head. "No… Ginga's nose is narrower. Exactly like her mothers'."

Kakashi handed the nose back to Naruto who looked at it awkwardly.

"So it must belong to one of the other missing people." Asuma concluded. "So far seven people went missing. We retrieved the baby girl and Senshi which makes five including Ginga. If the kidnapper's motive is to gather body parts, one person would be enough which makes me believe that there are more reasons and that there might be more of them. Another reason being that if one was missing limbs, kidnapping someone wouldn't be the easiest thing to do so he probably has help."

"And if both of them needed body parts?" Ino asked.

"May I?" Hinata asked and everyone's attention went to her.

"We found an empty grave which we believe to have belonged to Lord Saigai, the leader of the Hisan Clan. It was dug up with the same jutsu used to cut the window bars so surely the same person was responsible for both. It is possible that this person might have a way to bring Saigai back to life, so they are collecting body parts to put onto his skeleton, and we know that it is all that is left of him because there were bone impressions in the grave." Hinata said confidently.

"Excellent theory, Hinata!" Kakashi exclaimed. "And I completely agree."

She blushed as others agreed with her as well and Naruto gave her a wink.

"But who could that person be?" Shino added. "And why would they want to bring back a man who caused decades of chaos?"

"Why don't we think about that after we bring Ginga back?" Sasuke said walking out of the room. "We shouldn't be standing here anymore."

Everyone started to leave while Naruto looked at the nose. "Hey! What the heck am I supposed to do with this?!"

Kakashi sighed and took it from him. "Can you put this somewhere cold? We want it preserved in case we need it for identification." He said handing it to Kyojin who nodded.

Once everyone was outside they agreed for the same course of action as last lime, and that is to separate into their teams and look. However, this time they decided that they cannot come back unless they find something because the more time passes the less hope there is for Ginga and the others. It was also decided that this time they will not come back before sunset but they will camp in the forest and keep searching the next day, and the next, going deeper and deeper into the forest until they find what they are looking for.

"So why do you think the guy was tied high up in a tree?" Naruto asked while him and his team crawled through some stubborn bushes.

"Probably so that vultures would spot him easier, to get rid of the evidence." Sasuke answered.

Naruto shivered at the thought then quickly looked up and all around.

"There are no bodies around." Hinata answered.

Naruto looked at her and saw her activated byakugan. "I've got this." She said and he nodded. "Right."

A fair distance from them, team 10 scrimmaged with the nimble twigs that seemed to purposely bend down to block their way. They were forced to walk as jumping on branches wasn't an option since the trees were so dry and fragile.

"Partial Expansion Jutsu!" Choji yelled as his hands grew massively in size and crushed all the twigs in front of them as he ran forward in annoyance.

"Heh." Shikamaru shook his head and followed his teammate along with Ino and Asuma. That is, until Choji, whose hands had now shrunk back to normal, ran back with a trembling squeal.

"A body!" He whispered. "There's a body!"

They looked amongst each other and quickly but carefully walked towards where Choji came from and saw another corpse tied to a tree. There were branches covered in bright green leaves growing from the corpse. The first appearance of healthy leaves in the forest they had seen. It seemed that the tree was feeding off of the body.

Asuma climbed up the trunk to inspect the corpse. "I don't know how we're going to separate it from the trunk, it doesn't help that I feel bad cutting these branches."

"Is it a male or a female?" Shikamaru asked.

Asuma pulled back some of the branches and his eyes widened at what he saw. "Female." He answered with a somber tone.

"Are you sure?" Ino asked.

"Yeah… there are fetal bones in her abdomen."

"She was pregnant?!" Choji exclaimed.

"That's so sad…" Ino closed her eyes.

"No one told us that the woman who went missing was pregnant." Shikamaru realized angrily.

"Maybe they didn't even know." Asuma replied. "The baby looks to be about four months old, the skull is far from developed. The kidnapper might have not known either. "

"Did they take something?" Shikamaru asked.

"She's way too decomposed to be sure but… based on the damage I see here… I think they took her eyes, and the nose the guy left behind is probably hers too."

"I feel sick…" Ino looked away.

"I do to…"Choji agreed.

On a different terrain, team 8 were walking down a cliff they had just inspected. After they had found nothing they decided to climb back down and take a rout in the opposite direction. They stumbled around wordlessly as the ground was covered in sharp rocks which were half way sunken into the dark and moist earth. Suddenly, Kiba stopped in his tracks and sniffed the air.

"Is the smell back?" Kurenai asked.

"Yeah, and I think I know where it's coming from." Kiba answered gesturing for them to follow as he ran in the direction they were going towards. The rest of them followed as Akamaru barked and ran in front of them. Soon they came across a large boulder which Akamaru sniffed and barked at before he tried to climb it. He was too small and he kept slipping so he gave up and sniffed the air but this time the pup shook his head and whined.

"What is it, buddy?" Kiba asked and looked at the boulder. He climbed to the top and looked behind it. There was a small crater in the ground that seemed to be the effect of the aforementioned flood which affected the land. In the middle of the crater was a tall plant which branched out into shriveled up black flowers which were covered in dark red pollen. Kiba got closer and sniffed the flower and immediately backed away and coughed before a feeling of dizziness made him fall back onto the boulder. "What in the…?!"

"What's wrong? Are you ok?" Sakura asked from atop the boulder. She then sniffed and covered her nose. "Gross!"

"You can smell it?" Kiba asked surprised.

"I believe we all can now." Shino added, his face seemed to be a bit deeper inside his collar than usual.

"You guys, I think the stench is coming from these flowers." Kiba said getting back on his feet.

"Well, now we know how the kidnapper attracted his victims." Kurenai concluded.

"Yeah, it wasn't him that smelled, it was the flower." Kiba added. "That's why I couldn't always smell him."

"We should bring back one of the flowers for evidence." Kurenai suggested.

Sakura approached the plant to pick a flower from it. Captivated by its unusual appearance she got even closer, she picked the flower which caused the pollen to shake off of it into the air, she involuntarily inhaled… and promptly fainted. Kiba rushed behind her and caught her before she fell onto the ground.

"It seems that now we know how he subdued his victims too." Shino remarked.

"But I smelled it too. Why didn't I pass out?" Kiba asked confused.

"It appears that Sakura had inhaled the pollen." Shino deduced. "Did you?"

"No, I just got dizzy and fell over."

"It seems that the pollen has the power to incapacitate." Shino concluded. "May I test its effects?" He showed Kurenai the bug on his finger.

Receiving a nod from his sensei he stepped forward and the bug flew into one of the flowers and ingested some of the pollen. Almost immediately, the bug fell out of the flower dead onto the soil.

"No! Amumaro!" Shino screamed running towards the poor bug and picking it up.

Kiba stared at him in disbelief. "You name your bugs? You have a billion of those things!"

"You were so brave and jubilant."Shino grieved.

Kurenai signed and shook her head, debating whether she should say something to that or not. In the end she decided on a whisper. "We… have to go… now."

"Yes." Shino whispered back. "We do indeed."

Kiba looked towards his sensei and whispered. "I think he said that to the bug…"

After finally pulling Shino away from the little bug grave he made, the team proceeded back to the meeting spot where team Ino-Shika-Cho was already waiting. However, team Kakashi were not waiting with them.

"How long have you been wai- oh, my Goodness…" Kurenai interrupted herself after she saw the corpse wrapped in a shroud.

"We found her soon after we left." Asuma answered.

"So it's a female?"

"Yup…" Asuma sighed. "The people identified her as Mukimei, she went missing two months ago and no one knew she was five months pregnant."

"Oh, no…" Kurenai lowered her head.

"Also, the man who they think is the child's father… was the person who went missing after her." Asuma continued. "But they think that he went to look for her and fell into the kidnappers trap since he hasn't returned."

"So that makes four people who are still missing…" Kurenai said still looking at the ground.

"Hey, is she ok?" Ino pointed towards Sakura who was being carried by Kiba.

"Yes, she's fine. She's just been knocked out by this." Kurenai answered showing them the flower. "Do you happen to know anything about these, Ino?"

"There is no way…" Ino approached the flower but kept her distance, aware of its abilities. "This is the Mayonaka flower, but I thought it was just a myth. No one I know has ever seen one of these before. If you inhale the pollen it will knock you out for a few hours but if you ingest it, it will kill you." She stopped for a second and glanced towards Shino whose head slumped down for some reason then she continued. "I heard that you can make deadly potions and gas bombs from these but you have to do it as soon as the flower blooms, otherwise it refuses to be crushed and it won't mix into the potions. Also, when it's fresh, it can hypnotize people and animals with its disgusting scent."

"Thank you, Ino." Kurenai smiled at her before turning towards Asuma. "This is what we have been smelling all along. The kidnapper carried this around with him. The time he managed to hypnotize Ginga he must have done it with a fresh flower."

"Let's just hope he didn't feed it to her." Kiba added as he lowered Sakura onto her feet as she had woken up. "What happened?" She asked rubbing her forehead.

"Ino will explain it to you." Kurenai said. "Then we will explain it to the others when they get back."

"Speaking of the others, I wonder if they found anything yet…"Choji asked as his stomach rumbled. "And I need to find some food!"

Asuma sighed."How am I not used to this happening every hour yet?"

Meanwhile, team 7 were way further away than they have ever been. Hinata's ability to see miles and miles away enabled them to cover a great distance. However, this was concerning as they haven't seen anything for such a long time so it was difficult to decide whether they should keep going or change directions, due to their agreement to not come back empty handed, returning to town was not an option.

"Man, I feel drained and I didn't do jack but run around playing hide and go seek with this guy…" Naruto complained.

"We need a change of plans. Thanks to Hinata we already know there's nothing anywhere." Sasuke interjected.

"Alright, well, I would suggest splitting up and going into other directions, but if someone does find something we need a way for them to summon the others." Kakashi looked at his students expecting them to come up with a solution. And the solution came from the one he was least expecting.

"I've got an idea." Naruto responded hesitantly. Everyone looked at him so he continued. "I found out from Pervy Sage that when my clones disperse all of their memories come back to me and my clones if they channel more chakra, so I can make a clone to go with each of you so if you find something you just disperse my clone and the memories will come back to the others so that everyone can get to you."

Hinata nodded at him proudly.

"Not bad…" Sasuke admitted.

Kakashi blinked. "Not bad, indeed. Let's do it then, but be careful after the sun goes down."

"Alrighty! Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Once they separated they all headed in different directions. Sasuke flowed behind the clone glancing at him in thought. "Hey…"

"Hm?" The clone responded.

"So if all the memories from your clones come back to you… do you feel their injuries too?"

The clone grinned back at him. "You're talking to me like I'm the original." His smile decreased some. "But yeah, it does hurt somewhat… not the clones though, just the real Naruto."

"But you make hundreds of clones in battle…"

"Yeah, but the pain passes quickly so I'm used to it." He stopped. "Uhhh… I think we ought to get back…"

"Why?" Sasuke walked up to him in confusion and lifted some twigs in front of them to reveal a pitch black ravine.

"Damn, it got really cold all of a sudden." The clone commented.

Sasuke looked around and found a large rock, picking it up he threw it in the ravine. Then they waited to hear it land at the bottom… and waited… and waited… and waited… They looked at each other.

"What now?" The clone shivered.

Sasuke sighed. "That's way too wide to jump over and I don't even see the other side. Plus, a limbless freak wouldn't bother crossing this so I think we should get back."

Further to the west, Hinata and her clone stood on a large stump while she scanned the surroundings with her eyes.

"Sasuke's clone just dispersed but he didn't find anything…" The clone informed her. "I saw sensei too so I think they met up."

"Do you know where Naruto is?" She asked.

"No, but no need to worry about him."

"It's not that, it's just…"

"Yes, it is." The clone smiled. "I may be a clone but I'm still Naruto, I know you."

She smiled… and then gasped.

"What?"

"I see Ginga, she is tied to a tree but there is heat resonating from her, I think she's alive!"

"Ok, let's go!"

A few minutes later they finally got to her and released her from the ropes. They put her on the ground and Hinata took her vitals. "She has a pulse but it's weak."

"Isn't the guy taking body parts from people? She looks fine." The clone looked around her limbs.

"There is no internal damage but there is a gash on her leg." She pulled up her pant leg and discovered an oddly shaped piece of missing skin. Hinata quickly got bandages and medicine out of her backpack and started to treat the wound.

"We need to let Sasuke and sensei know, but that means you'll be alone for a bit." The clone said. "Do you think you can handle it?"

"Yes, just hurry and lead them here."

The clone nodded and kissed her cheek. "Be careful." He dispersed sending an immediate signal to the real Naruto who gasped and started running towards her in full speed.

The signal got to the clone who was with Kakashi and Sasuke and he suddenly yelled. "Wait!" The two stopped dead in their tracks and looked at him. "Hinata found Ginga! She's alive! This way!"

The two stared at each other for a second before running after the clone.

Once they finally got to Ginga, Hinata talked them through her condition and Kakashi lifted the bandages and took a look at the unusual wound.

"The skin was cut out along with the nerves, but the shape is rather specific, isn't it?"

"It looks almost like a puzzle piece…" Hinata deduced. "What if it's the last puzzle piece?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"The pieces of skin missing from other bodies were rectangle shaped, this one is not geometrical at all." She explained. "What if this piece was cut in such a way as to fill the gap left by the other pieces, to finish the whole body?"

"That would mean that the guy won't kidnap anyone else, right?" Naruto asked.

"Maybe, but if he does he'll definitely kill them this time." Sasuke added. "What's more, he might attack the town now. And if there are others, the town could be in danger. And we don't even know what type of techniques or weapons they use."

"Sasuke's right. Let's stitch up Ginga's wound and go back, time might not be in our favor." Kakashi commanded.

They all nodded and hurried to help with the wound before the darkness… and maybe something else… got to them.