Chapter 2. Here it is. I tried to buy the rights for Naruto on Ebay, but lost at the very last second. I haven't given up though.

As they ate breakfast, a knock sounded at the door. Kakashi rose, grudgingly, to answer it.

A young man stood there, gasping for breath.

"My (wheeze) name's (hack) Kuna!" he looked as if he had raced to the little house. Swallowing to calm his breath, he continued. "I'm Tanza's son. There's been another attack. Four people dead. Found 'em just inside the forest early this morning. Came to get you." The leaf village jonin were already out the door.

The scene was a mess. Tree limbs were hacked away, and scrub and moss had been dug up in the fray. As the morning mist rose, it seemed to turn crimson with the blood scattered around the clearing. Four bodied, or what remained of them, were piled in the middle. Had it been hot and sunny, the smell would have knocked a pig dead. Luckily, the rain kept it down a bit.

The bodies themselves were hacked limb from limb, their eyes wide with surprise, forever frozen in time. Kakashi saw Kurenai swallow in horror, and Asuma's disguised attempt to comfort her. Gai was too busy examining the bodies to notice.

"They were killed about an hour ago," once again, the situation had shaped the normally cheery ninja's voice into a thin, dry utterance, "by stab wounds to their torsos."

As they finished the examination, Kakashi felt someone's eyes on his back. He made an excuse to glace in the direction of the gaze. A short, old woman with long gray hair and a sturdy walking staff was looking over the scene. She carried a basket of healing plants and looked to be heading towards the village. Herbalist. Her eyes were filled with sorrow and a knowing look, as if she had seen this before. She sighed and turned back to the pathway with her head held low. Poor lady, thought Kakashi, watching her entire village slowly disappearing out from under her feet. No wonder no one lets their children out to play. He turned back to help load the bodies onto wagons to be taken to the village morgue.

After all was done, the four set out to complete their tasks. The good weather had come at last, and Kakashi wished he could enjoy it as he moved through the forest. He stopped by a stream and took a drink. He was about to enter Okami and her wolves' territory. He took a vile out of his pocket and rubbed it over his skin. No trace of his scent left, he re-corked it and stood up. From now on, he would stick to the shadows, silently moving towards the center of the forest, in the hopes of finding Okami. He didn't have to go very far.

After a few minutes of silent tracking, Kakashi came across a big clearing. In the center stood a massive white stone, surrounded by small white flowers. Squatting in the soft grass before the stone was Okami. Kakashi peered out at her from behind a tall oak.

She was dressed as she had been in the sketch, with the long sleeves of her beige shirt covering her hands. She had her forearms on her knees, and her hands hung limply form the wrists. She tilted her head back and gazed up at the white rock. She did not move for a long time, and a gust of wind blew towards her. She sniffed the air and stood slowly.

Kakashi felt anger rising in him. Here was the murderer of innocent people, quietly enjoying a spring day. He resisted the urge to grab a kunai from his pouch and throw it at her.

Okami suddenly snapped to attention. She turned in Kakashi's direction. Could she have sensed me? She turned the other way. She knows something's here. She turned to the center of the woods and disappeared with a slight puff of chakra. When her scent had bully gone, Kakashi stepped into the clearing. He saw a small broken twig on the opposite side of the clearing. So, she ran back to her den, thought the jonin as the walked to the place she had formerly occupied.

The slight worn place in front of the stone revealed that she had been visiting the spot for some time. He could still feel trace amounts of chakra from her departure. He smiled, thinking how much the village must have been humiliated by asking for assistance with her case. He had recently learned that no woman was allowed to become a ninja in the valley. It was one of the reasons Konoha was not easily made an ally; many people did not like the concept of a female Hokage. How it must have hurt to have a lone woman defying them right outside their own homes. No matter. He shrugged and went about, searching the ground for any useful information. He bent to pick up a small rock in front of the footprints, and frowned.

What's this? Has our little wolf been crying? There was a small, wet smudge on the center of the rock, and no clouds were in sight. He could not tell for sure, as her eyes had been hidden by her mask, but he decided to consider the odd possibility. Maybe guilt. Puzzled, he turned back the way he came and headed for the house.

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"There's not much to tell," explained Asuma as he put out the butt of his cigarette in the ashtray, "no one wants to talk."

"And when they do talk, it's always the same thing. Okami certainly has her enemies around here." Kurenai had a concentrating frown on her face as she relayed her findings. "We didn't even find one crazy with conspiracy theories. That's odd. There's always one person blaming the government. Not true with this case."

The four jonin were sitting at the table and had just finished their meal.

"Well, the mortician doesn't have much to say about it either. 'She's strong.' But that's about it. He's a man of few words." Kakashi could sense Gai's superiority and enthusiasm slowly coming back. Damnit. "Something fishy is going on though," he added, with a hopeful glint in his eyes, "I think there might be something going on behind the scenes."

"Care to elaborate?" Kakashi hated to encourage him, but he had the same feeling deep in his gut.

"In my studies of his behavior," oh boy, "I noticed that he continuously glanced at a cabinet when he thought I wasn't looking. He seemed to be hiding something from me when he spoke, too. Very suspicious." He ended with stroking his chin thoughtfully a dramatic, shifty-eyed look. Kakashi rolled his eyes. Gai had the habit of making something out of nothing and vice versa, but still…

"Well, Okami herself didn't really seem like a killer when I saw her. More like some lost pup. And I have to agree. Things seem a bit too perfectly placed here. We'll all go into the forest tomorrow and try to follow her around. Get some sleep." He directed the last bit to Asuma and Kurenai, who didn't seem to notice.

I'll find out more tomorrow.

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"We'll go straight in until we find something. Remember, if it's possible we want to find Okami and follow her without her knowing. Got it?"

"Right!"

"Good. Minimum noise from here on in. Follow my lead."

With that, the squad moved silently through the woods. When they came to the big clearing, Kakashi checked the base of the white stone. Sure enough, there was a new set of footprints in the grass. He gave a silent command, and they continued on. After a little while, they came upon a well-beaten trail and followed it for about a mile. A noise from around a corner sent them to lie and wait in the underbrush.

Okami trotted down the path, towards them. The carried a large pack on her back and there was a certain air of purpose about her. When she was about 100 feet from them, Kakashi noticed the slightest of falters in her stride. Her eyes flashed to his and his comrade's positions. He grinned under his mask. Impressive. She could sense us even when we have no scent, are making no noises, and are hidden from view. This might prove difficult.

Nevertheless, he gave the signal to follow. Judging from their expressions, the other three had not noticed her glance. When they rounded the next corner on the winding path, Okami was gone. Kakashi had expected as much.

They tore after the woman, steadily gaining. She had probably expected to be able to double back and lose them, but leaf nin were better than that. It was evident that the large pack was slowing her down considerably.

One more step and she's mine! But he was never given the chance. Okami gave one final surge foreword and twisted in midair so her feet landed on the trunk of a tree. With tremendous power, she sprang at them. Her head hit its mark dead on, right in the middle of Kakashi's abdomen. The wind was immediately knocked out of him, and be flew back. As he staggered to his feet, he saw that the other three had surrounded her and begun to fight.

She had excellent from, made for fighting when outnumbered. She could dodge, counter, and strike as fast as most jonin, even with the large pack on. Unfortunately for her, they were not 'most' jonin. Kakashi entered the fray and delivered a kick that sent the smaller fugitive flying. Unable to flip over with the pack on, she grabbed a kunai from nowhere and cut the straps. Rolling safely to her feet, she launched back at him. He caught the punch she sent to him with one hand and the follow-up kick with the other. Unable to block the second kick she sent, he flung himself away, towards the abandoned pack.

His eyes went wide with shock as he saw its contents. No wonder she had a purposeful air.

"Gai! Let her win!"

"What!?"

"Let her win! She has…"

But that was enough of a distraction for the girl. She jumped back a step and performed a sequence of hand symbols.

"Air type! Sleep seal!"

Never heard that one before, thought Kakashi as he felt his body go limp.

When Kakashi woke, there was a very angry Gai standing over him.

"What," the furious ninja hissed, "was that for? You do realize that we had her right when you started screaming at us to let her win, don't you?"

"Bandages," murmured Kakashi, still groggy from the jutsu.

"What?"

Kakashi sat up and rubbed his head.

"Bandages, antiseptic, splints and gauze. That's what was in her pack. That's why her first choice was to try to lose us rather than confront us when she sensed us on the path. That's why she was running a long distance with a heavy pack. That's why she wouldn't take it off when we started chasing her. She has a hurt pack-mate out there who needs medical attention. Probably some wolf stuck in a trap."

He got to his feet. Man, my head hurts, he thought, looking at the trail they had made crashing through the woods. I hope she got there in time. No one deserves to lose a comrade because they couldn't find help in time, and those who do won't go back anyways.

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Chapter 2 done! See, not soo much boring talking in this one.