Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto. Too bad.

Chapter 2: A Strange Smell

Two figures stood on a hilltop, scanning the forest below them. Both were men, and both had white masks on, marked with the symbol of a leaf on their foreheads. One was tall and lanky, with a short crop of black hair. The other was shorter but more muscular, built like a brawler. He had a shock of dark-brown hair that encircled his face like fuzzy mane. Both wore overcoats and their breath steamed in the cold morning air.

The taller man spoke first. "Well?"

"I'm getting something from over there," the shorter man replied, pointing towards a clearing in the distance. With a flash, the two shinobis were off, bounding through the trees, the shorter one still finding the breath to talk as they wove their way through the forest canopy. "It's been quite some time since we've had a mission like this, hasn't it?"

"…" His companion nodded, not needing words to express himself to his partner. Their level of rapport and understanding had long ago exceeded the bounds of normal speech, after a decade and a half of working closely together. Besides, he rarely spoke when on a mission like this, unlike his garrulous teammate.

"I wonder who it was who dared to steal the scroll of Kinjutsu again…" the shorter man mused. "Nobody's been able to do that since Naruto pulled that prank back when we were little. The 3rd sealed it up so tightly and laid so many traps around it, I thought that nobody could ever have gotten in."

"…" the tall man agreed, then asked a question. "…?"

"No, I've never come across this scent before. It's… strange," the shorter man shook his head in puzzlement. The taller man arched an eyebrow at him. Noticing it, the shorter man shrugged. "I can't explain it. It's like nothing I've ever smelled before."

"…" The tall man was slightly worried.

"Damn. I wish he were here," the shorter man said sadly. "His sense of smell was much better than mine. If he was stronger, or younger, he would have come. It's not that far."

The tall man thought back to his last sight of the third member of their team. An ancient white dog in a kennel back at the Hidden Leaf Village lifted his head feebly and whined slightly, blinking weak, bleary eyes.

"All living things grow old with time," the tall man said softly, putting as much sympathy into his voice as he could. Which wasn't a lot. But it was enough to convey his condolences to his companion, who understood and appreciated the gesture. The short man let the wind of their passage brush away a tiny tear that had been forming in one of his eyes and refocused his thoughts on the mission ahead.

"We're coming close. The smell is very strong around here," he said. His partner nodded and stretched out his arms in preparation.

Abruptly, they burst out into the clearing, and split in opposite directions almost immediately. It was one of the tactics they used. Konoha's best hunter-nin team often capitalised on their reputation and gave their prey a brief glimpse of them before vanishing again into the forest. The shock value added to the fear that normally would have already accumulated in their targets. After all, everyone knew what Hunter Team 2 did to those who had the misfortune of being the missing-nin that they were after. That alone was enough to keep a lot of people away from the temptation of betraying the village. Most people shuddered at the thought of being eaten alive by ravenous bugs. Nobody knew where that little bit of information had come from, but all believed it.

The two men hid themselves in the trees surrounding the clearing, and then finally had the luxury of examining the site closely. A young man sat huddled beside a tree stump in the clearing, chanting something in a low voice and making no move to defend himself, or even react to the Hunter-nins. The Kinjutsu scroll was nowhere to be seen. After a brief interlude, both shinobi emerged from the trees warily.

"My insects do not detect anyone within a hundred meters from here," the taller man said quietly to his partner. "They also warn me that there is something strange about this man."

His partner scrutinised the young man closely, then did a double-take. "Wait, I recognise this ninja! Isn't he…?" He was interrupted by a confirmatory nod from the taller man. "This doesn't make any sense! There's no way he would betray the village!"

"At least we now know how he bypassed the 3rd's security measures."

"Yeah. But wasn't he supposed to be on a mission, anyway? Where's the rest of his team?"

The two glanced around the clearing, but could see no sign of any life other than the young man in front of them, nodding his head and chanting to himself. They could faintly make out his words, "Must bring scroll to clearing…must bring scroll to clearing...must bring scroll to clearing."

"Damn, this is weird! The scroll's nowhere to be seen, he's alone in the woods when he should be out on a mission, his team has disappeared, and worse of all – he's either lost his mind or been drugged!" the shorter man cried out in frustration.

"We seem to have come too late," the taller man commented. "Whoever it was that was controlling him seems to have departed a long time ago, leaving him for us to find."

The shorter man was pacing around the clearing, sniffing. "Yeah. And that doesn't make any sense. The scroll was only stolen last night. We were dispatched in less than an hour, and we've been chasing him almost non-stop. He would only have had a very brief time to pass the scroll over to whoever it was."

"…"

"BUT I CAN'T SMELL ANYTHING!! There's no way that a person could have been here less than an hour ago and leave no scent. It's impossible!" the shorter man was coming close to pulling out his hair in frustration. He pointed a finger accusingly at the mumbling youth. "And what's more, I should know his scent by heart. Something is seriously screwed up around here."

The shorter man went closer to the huddled figure and took a big sniff before the taller man could stop him. The strange, sweet-sour smell that he had been following all night was almost overpowering. This smell… It was… it was as though… someone…

The shorter man fainted. The young man stared down at him with blank eyes and told him, "Must bring scroll to clearing… must bring scroll to clearing."

The tall man watched carefully behind his blank mask. He let no sign of his surprise show in his posture. So that's how it was done…

"This is not good," he said to nobody in particular. A bird chirped as if in agreement.

Author's Notes:

The special talents of Kiba and Shino always appealed to me as the perfect combination for long-distance search-and-destroy missions, such as chasing down missing-nins. So, I decided - why not make them the most feared Hunter-Nin team in Konoha? After all, it's true - nobody would like being consumed by bugs. Dedicated to Link and Luigi, the first people to really bring Shino's character to life for me.