Tender Sea

Chapter 5

"Minato-sensei, it smells... wrong over here," A silver haired boy stated.

"Look," A young brunette called in response, "This might be where it's coming from," The blond jounin and her teammate walked over to the bushes where she thick trail of blood.

"Well, I guess we should follow it." Minato stated with a sigh.

This was meant to be a simple scouting mission around Konoha, but the amount of blood here m possibly of one of their comrades.

Hey signaled his students and they followed the trail while staying behind him and hopefully out of harm's way.

They all hea anything, a low growl through the forest that asked them to turn back. Of course being ninja, a wild animal wasn't too much to worry about so they pressed o hand to push away the last few branches revealing a small clearing that smelt like death.

"What happened here?" The girl asked, examining the two corpses which lay on the forest floor. Both were male ninja, probably about the same age as their se have been mauled to death by a wild animal.

Said animal stood fiercely, a couple steps away, growling at the intruders.

"That fox, it can't have taken down two trained ninja." The boy commented in disbelief. The fox snapped at him indignantly.

"It looks like it did." Minato said slowly reaching for a kunai in case the situation turned bad. At the slightest movement the fox turned its eyes to him and the with the intelligence he could see

Deeming the three newcomers safe the fox stood down and returned to what it was doing before, scavenging anything usefu searched around and pulled of a headband from the nearest body, bringing it to the team.

"Iwa." The girl red as it was dropped by their feet.

"The fox did us a favour then," Her teammate responded, "Though I don't understand why it's being so docile now." The fox growled at him but moved on, pic tool pouch. It sent them a look and motioned ahead.

"This is unreal," The brunette stated, "Are we supposed to follow?"

"Your guess is as good as mine Rin." Their sensei replied. The fox looked impatient and kept pointing forward with its paw. "I guess we might as well." The ani approval.

"I wonder where it's leading us." Rin pondered as they kept a normal pace, making sure to stay a couple steps away in case the fox went feral.

"Up ahead there's a shallow stream." The boy remembered.

He was correct, the fox had led them to running water before tracking across it and behind a large tree.

"I guess we better see what it wanted to show us." Minato wondered what he should put in his mission report later on.

Maybe something about the apparent in intelligence of wildlife in the forest?

"Sensei!" Rin called, having passed him while he was thinking, "Come quick!"

"What is it?" He dashed and arrived just as she finished talking. "A girl?" There lying a top a bed of leaved was a young girl, covered in blood and wounds from her clothes torn to scraps. "Rin can you check her?"

The fox stayed back, silently watching.

"...She's alive." The brunette responded, feeling a small pulse.

"What should we do, Minato-sensei?" The boy asked.

"We'll take her back with us. She needs to be treated." He bent down and gently lifter her up in his arms.