Team Kakashi made good time, darting through the forest, hiding their fluid movements with the shifting shadows of the trees. Moving from the ground to the treetops and back, in a three dimensional path that took them in the fastest, if not the straightest, line. They didn't use stealth, or any other means to mask their presence. In Fire Country at least, three Leaf Shinobi who were clearly going somewhere, would attract little enough attention.
A few miles from the border Kakashi signaled for them to stop, where a shallow stream molded the growth of trees into a line along its banks, forming a natural barrier. Naruto and Sakura dropped into place, each taking up a defensive stance beside him.
He pointed to a line hanging from a limb a hundred yards ahead. "Cut."
They all moved closer to inspect the tangle of attached wires, woven through the trees like the work of an extremely large and exceedingly demented spider.
"Very carefully done, but it doesn't look like the work of anyone from Stone."
"Why not Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, always anxious for any opportunity to learn.
"Because it must have taken hours to work out which was the main line and sever it like that, and… they wasted their time. This kind of trap is designed to detect infiltration, not prevent it. By cutting it they set it off just as surely as if they'd just walked right through. We've been using traps similar to this along the border for as long as I can remember, I'd be very surprised if Stonedidn't understand how they work by now."
"Oh, so if you don't think it was Hidden Stone, who do you suspect?"
Kakashi scratched the back of his head. Where to begin?
"Well there are several possibilities. Of course it could still be Stone, investing a few hours to throw us off the track. Slipping in a few spies or a raiding party and hoping we'll assume they're just renegades passing through. Or it could be spies from another country. Cloud is the most likely, they're particularly good at this kind of careful work. Their traps are a nightmare to dismantle. But they might have infiltrated Fire Country from the Stone border, not their own, so that we'll suspect Stone, not them. Or again to make us suspect renegades, but to throw our investigation in this direction so we won't be too tempted to check out what's going on over where they are, in the East. Or, of course, it could actually be renegades passing through.
Naruto scratched his nose. "Well shit, that narrows it down a lot. So it could be anyone from anywhere. I'd have thought the Old Lady knew that much before she sent us out here."
"Mmm, maybe. Let's see what other information they left behind."
Kakashi parted a patch of ferns revealing a large muddy footprint. "Sandals, not boots."
He glanced around and then touched a smear of mud on the trunk of a nearby tree. "Leaf ninjas. Or at least one of them is."
Naruto took a leap from the fern to the tree. "Yep, that's just what I would have done, and then… over here." He jumped onto a horizontal branch thirty feet away.
"Yep. There's mud up here too."
Sakura clasped her hands together. "Naruto, that's really good." Then, unwilling to be outdone, she looked around too.
"There were more of them, look the ground is scuffed up just a bit."
Kakshi crouched and eyed the forest floor where she'd pointed, very closely. "You're right Sakura. They were trying very hard not to leave tracks, and walking single file, but they're used to walking on harder ground. Three or four of them by the look of it."
He pulled himself effortlessly to his feet. "One Leaf nin in the trees, pointing the way and others from somewhere else, on the ground. So… shall we follow? They seem to be going our way."
All signs of disturbance in the soil vanished a few feet from the stream, as the ground became dryer and firmer. But Kakashi seemed completely unfazed. He set off towards home, then looked back, his eye curved into a smile. "Coming?"
It took them more than twice as long for the return trip because the trail they were following, or rather that Kakashi was following while the others followed him, backtracked and detoured constantly. About ten miles from the village he stopped, pointed to a tree fifty yards ahead, and disappeared into the shadows. Almost immediately Naruto and Sakura saw it too, the barest movement of its leaves, almost indistinguishable from the flutter of the evening breeze. They took up attack positions on the ground, primed for action. Kakshi was already in the tree with a kunai pressed under the man's armour, poised to slash his right kidney.
"H… Hatake-san?"
Kakashi took in the disheveled mop of black hair and the smell of ink and paper. "Kotetsu?'
They leapt from the tree together. "What the hell are you thinking of, creeping up on us like that?"
Naruto's welcoming grin froze as he saw the expression on the chuunin's face. "Kotetsu-san, what…?"
Kotetsu gave the two teens the briefest bow of acknowledgement, then turned back to Kakashi.
"Hatake-san, there was a… an attack, on the nursery. At first it seemed completely random, I mean it's not exactly a strategic target or anything. No one realised who they were going for until…"
Kakashi felt his blood run cold. "They took Keshi!"
The messenger nodded silently, either disregarding or unable to prevent, the way his anxiety was flooding the area.
"Does Iruka know yet? Where is he?"
The pained flavour of Kotetsu's chakra changed almost imperceptibly. He was a good shinobi and had excellent control over his outer emotions, the muscles in his face stayed frozen. But behind his eyes it was clear that he had withdrawn to a safer place inside himself. Kakashi could read men well enough to know exactly what that meant.
"Shit."
The chuunin averted his gaze to the ground.
"Where was he when he was last seen?"
The mop of dark hair rippled as Kotetsu shook his head.
"Shit. He'll get himself killed."
Kakashi was about to take off when Naruto called out to him. "Kakashi-sensei, do you want us to keep following this trail?"
His voice came out harsher than he'd intended. "Don't bother, go back with Kotetsu-san. We know where they were going. What I have to find out is where they are now."
A moment later there was nothing where he'd been standing but a cloud of white vapour and a swirl of leaves.