Another Take (A Naruto Fanfiction) (Complete)

Ch. 11: It's Complicated

~You still know me, still not cut out for this sort of thing, never want to be caught in between~

Kiyomi's POV

We hadn't been walking for long, and already Naruto and Tazuna had had at least one argument, and Sakura had asked a question.

"Sensei, are there any shinobi in the Land of Waves?" she asked. Naruto and Sasuke turned as well to hear the answer, but I didn't. Fenrir had already told me the answer.

"No, there aren't any shinobi in the Land of Waves." Kakashi replied easily. He then proceeded to explain a bunch of stuff about the Five Lands that we'd already learned in school, and yet my teammates conveniently forgot. "... And there shouldn't be any ninja battles on a C-Rank mission like this."

'Man, that sensei of your sure can drone on,' Fenrir commented.

I frowned at the brown wolf. 'Fen, I'm on a mission. Are you sure you want to be distracting me?'

'Don't worry. I'm keeping an eye out, so to speak,' he reassured me dismissively. 'And I don't sense anything near- Actually, crap! Return to consciousness now!' There was a tone of urgency in his mental voice, and I didn't hesitate to follow his instruction.

As soon as I focused on the real world again, I noticed something was amiss. I couldn't pinpoint what, but there was a feeling of wrongness in the air. 'Fen... What is it?' I asked hesitantly.

'Two shinobi are hiding nearby. I would say activate Yasei, but that would give the appearance that something is wrong. You don't want your team freaking out if it turns out to be nothing. For now, see if you can sniff them out and find their location. My senses are dulled by being in your body, so I can't tell exactly where they are.'

'Right,' I replied determinedly. I closed my eyes, focusing only on my nose and what I could smell.

The now-familiar scents of my team, the stinging alcoholic scent Tazuna emitted, the general smell of the forest, a tiny hint of water, the scents of a few small animals scurrying around nearby...

Water?

'It hasn't rained in the past week, has it....?' Fenrir muttered suspiciously. 'That's it! Find any source of water nearby! The enemy shinobi will be near it!'

'Got it!' I replied. 'But... What do I do when I find it?'

'You're hopeless...' Fenrir sighed. 'You take them out. It's your job.'

'... Okay.'

I started discretely looking around for any water in the surrounding forest. Nothing to the sides... I inhaled through my nose again. 'It's further ahead,' I concluded.

We walked along for another minute, before I accidentally stepped in something wet. I was so busy scanning the sides of the path that I forgot to watch where I was going, I guess.

'Kiyomi. You stepped in something wet. Need I say any more?' Fenrir commented sarcastically.

Shit.

But I was too late in realizing it. Two chains had shot out and wrapped themselves around Kakashi. My sensei had a surprised look on his face, like he couldn't believe what happened. Then the chains tightened, and tore Kakashi to pieces.

I stifled a gasp as two figures rose from the puddle. "One down, five to go," one growled demonically. The next chuckled, and sent his chains next for Naruto.