A/N: Be warned as this chapter contains gore! ... OK, you may proceed now. :P

"There's a brutal murderer probably coming our way," Tsunade had told Kakashi. "This has been going on for years and now he's headed more and more towards Konoha. We need more teams to figure out where he is."

"Did they get any clues of whoever it could be?" Kakashi had asked her.

"No," Tsunade had answered. "The victims were killed in a way no one's ever seen before."

"What do you mean?"

"The victims were slaughtered into pieces… and no signs of weapons or physical violence were found. So how the culprit did it, is a mystery to us all. It might be a new Bloodline Technique."

A picture of an open spot in a forest, covered with blood, flashed before Kakashi's eyes.

"And you want us to find out who it is?"

"Yes. Take Naruto, Hinata and Kiba with you. Hinata's scouting abilities are amazing and Kiba could track the scent of the culprit. However, no one has ever found any traces at all. But I faithfully believe in you."

"Yes, Hokage-sama. But… why Naruto, too?"

"Because a mission will keep him sharp, and more importantly: distracted from his Rasen Shuuriken training. He refuses to stop trying to master it, so I'll have to keep him busy."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Hurry!"

Naruto was a little grumpy after leaving the village. "That Granny Tsunade … I'll master that technique anyway…" he mumbled. Hinata was running behind him.

"Stay alert," instructed Kakashi. "Hinata, do you see anything yet?"

Hinata used her Byakugan technique.

"All is clear," she said.

After two hours of running, they reached the spot where the last murder had taken place.

"Be prepared for what you're about to see," said Kakashi. "This isn't anything like what you've seen so far. Are you ready?"

The two Chuunin enchanged looks before nodding. Naruto took a step forward, a determined look in his eyes, though nerves were crossing his features.

Kakashi nodded and led the three teens to the exact spot. A terrible sight it was indeed. The body parts were still there. Five researchers were already investigating the spot.

Hinata closed her eyes and turned around.

"The man who was killed here, has still not been identified yet," one of the research men told Kakashi. "This killer had left him with no face."

"T-this is…" whispered Kiba. He felt sick, as did Hinata. Even Naruto didn't feel well, seeing this.

"You're Konoha shinobi, right?" asked the researcher.

"Yeah," answered Kakashi.

"We've had other Konoha shinobi here and on the other sites where murders like this happened," said the research man. "They're probably guarding the areas around your village, right?"

Kakashi nodded. "Kiba, did you pick up a scent already?" he asked.

Kiba kept his eyes firmly closed while trying to pick up any other scents. Akamaru was also sniffing around.

"No," said Kiba. "All I smell here is blood."

"And no signs of weapon usage, right?" asked Kakashi the research man.

"Right," he answered. "This is the strangest case we've ever had."

"Could you tell me when the first one was?" asked Kakashi.

"First one of this guy? Let's see… first one was about… 10… no, 15 years ago. But it moved away from here, but now it's coming back our way."

"15… years?" repeated Kakashi. "Do you know where?"

"Near that old orphanage, not so far from here," said an elder research man. "I'd investigated that spot myself. Quite a blood bath."

He knew it. It was the same spot where Kakashi was brought after Kaede had disappeared all those years ago. But that would mean… Could Kaede, by any chance, know anything about the killer?

"Thank you," he said to the men. "That's the information I needed." He turned around and looked at his team. "Let's go," he said.

"What?" protested Naruto. "But we just got here!"

"I may know a way to find out more about the killer," said Kakashi. "Let's check that first, then come back."

Naruto sighed in irritation.

Back in Konoha, Kakashi went to look for Kaede. He found her pretty quickly. She was walking with Iruka. When he saw Kakashi coming their way, he stopped talking.

"Kakashi?" he asked. "Weren't you on a mission today?"

"Yeah, well… something came up," said Kakashi. "Kaede, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Umm… sure," said Kaede. "Excuse me, Iruka-san."

"That's ok," replied Iruka with a smirk. "See you later."

After they got out of Iruka's sight, Kakashi asked softly: "Did I interrupt something?"

Kaede merely chuckled in response. "So, why are you back so soon?" she asked.

"I figured something out," said Kakashi. "And now I need your help."

"My help?" repeated Kaede. "What could I possibly help you with?"

Kakashi stopped walking and looked straight at her. Kaede looked at him more seriously.

"At that time…" started Kakashi, hoping he didn't need to elaborate on which time. She seemed to understand what he meant. "When you ran away from the orphanage…" he continued. "What happened?"

It took a minute for Kaede to answer. "What… what are you talking about?" she asked a little nervously.

"You ran away with some other kids, right?" asked Kakashi.

"Well… Yes, but…"

"What happened to them?" Urgency sounded clearly in his voice.

"I… W-why, all of a sudden…?" stuttered Kaede.

"They were killed, right?" insisted Kakashi.

"I don't want to talk about this," said Kaede firmly, walking on in a rapid pace. "So stop it. You're scaring me…"

"I need an answer, Kaede," said Kakashi, following her. "This is important. These murders are too much like the one near the—"

"Kakashi!" yelled Kaede, stopping abruptly in her tracks. She turned to face him again.

Kakashi looked into her eyes. They were wide open with fear, watching him. Her entire body was slightly trembling. I'm making her nervous, he realized. "I'm sorry," he said.

"I didn't go with those kids," she whispered with tears in her eyes. "They found a way to escape and I followed them."

Kakashi listened carefully. Kaede seemed to have calmed down a bit. She took a deep breath and continued.

"We ran as fast as we could. One of the caretakers followed us… I think you know which one… The one I told you about earlier. He threatened that if we didn't come back obediently, he'd make us suffer. It couldn't be helped. We were little kids. The children I followed stopped and returned to him. I didn't. I tried to flee. When the other children returned to him, he started beating them up. I was watching. When he made those children bleed, I… I ran towards him… I begged of him: 'Stop it! Don't hurt them! That's enough!'. I tried to hold his leg. But he grabbed my wrist and lifted me up to his eye level. He had such an insane look in his eyes. He said I should be grateful for him beating up the children who used to bully me. I tried to tell him he was wrong, but he threw me on the ground and…"

Her breath started hitching as sobs escaped her. She was trembling heavily and the tears were pouring from her eyes.

"Stop," said Kakashi. "That's enough."

"I couldn't defend myself," continued Kaede. "I only managed to scratch him on the cheek. When he saw the blood dripping from his cheek, he smacked me really hard in the head."

She shook her head.

"The next thing I remember is waking up in the middle of another forest. I was covered with blood and I still don't know how that happened. I've been wandering around ever since."

She looked away. She wasn't trembling as heavily as she did a moment ago.

Kakashi laid his hand on her head. Kaede flinched, but she didn't resist.

"Thank you," he said. "Are you ok?"

"Y-yeah," whispered Kaede.

"I'm sorry," said Kakashi. "I didn't realize you were…"

"It's ok," said Kaede. She forced a smile. "Just go on with the mission."

"I'm not gonna leave you like this," said Kakashi calmly.

"I need to be alone now, ok?" said Kaede.

Kakashi took his hand off her head and looked at her for a while.

"You sure?" he asked. Kaede nodded. The faint smile that followed was obviously fake.

"Well then…" sighed Kakashi. "I'm off."

"Good luck," replied Kaede.

Kakashi gave her one last look before he took off with a poof. To make sure she was ok, he checked up on her one last time from the roof of a building next to Kaede. He saw her shiver and turn around, probably back to Iruka.

Good, he thought. She shouldn't be alone now. I wish I could stay here with you, Kaede, but you'll be fine with Iruka here. The thought brought back that annoyed feeling from earlier.

Just when he wanted to head back towards the group, he heard her voice from below. Is she… talking to herself? He dismissed the thought as he saw her reunite with Iruka in the next street. It must have been my imagination, he thought. With that, he went back to rejoin the team.

Naruto, Kiba and Hinata were waiting for Kakashi by the village gate.

The silence between the teammates was interrupted by Naruto's growling stomach.

"Why is Kakashi-sensei making us wait here?" he mumbled. "Why can't we just go get something to eat?"

"Umm… Naruto-kun," said Hinata. She already started to blush.

Naruto looked at her. "What is it?" he asked.

"Umm… I've prepared some lunch," said Hinata shyly. "If you'd like…"

"Really?" asked Naruto.

Hinata's face flushed even more as she got one of her bento boxes out of her bag and gave it to Naruto. He looked inside it.

"Whoa, Hinata," he said, "this looks delicious!" He was also glad that she didn't make rice balls that looked like his face again, like the last time she gave him a bento box.

He took a bite.

"This tastes great!" cheered Naruto. "I almost forgot how good your cooking is, Hinata! You'll become a great housewife someday!"

Hinata's face was completely flushed now. She stared at Naruto for a while and… passed out.

"Eh? Hinata?" asked Naruto.

"Not again," sighed Kiba. He tried to wake her up.

"Hinata sure passes out a lot," said Naruto. "Is she ok?"

"She's just fine," said Kiba. "Come on, Hinata. This is not the right time."

Kakashi came back.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, guys," he said. "I was — what happened to Hinata?"

"Nothing," said Kiba. "Did you find something out?"

"Not really," sighed Kakashi. "I thought I could get more information from her, but she doesn't seem to remember."

"Who're you talking about?" asked Naruto.

"Doesn't matter," said Kakashi. "I'm sorry. We came back for nothing."

Both Naruto and Kiba sighed deeply.

Hinata woke up. "Ka… Kakashi-sensei?" she mumbled.

"Ah, she's awake," said Kiba. "So where're we going now?"

"To the first place this guy stroke," said Kakashi. "Near the orphanage in the next village."

"Alright," said Naruto, standing up. "Then let's go already!"

A/N: Please keep in mind that this was my first fic. Editing too much of crappy chapters like this one will make it difficult to change the rest of the fic. Sorry! m(_ _)m