Chapter 58: Trap in the forest
After a few minutes, Kakashi called the team together again, immediately beginning to give instructions to the three genin. "The old lady's cat was last seen in the middle of the fields over here. She asked for others to help, but without success. I also heard about some other pets disappearing."
He spoke while pointing to some of the other houses where the old lady who requested the mission had informed them that they had also lost their pets. Ryo looked at the houses being shown to them and noticed a pattern; all the houses were old, with only an elderly person living in each.
"Start by searching the forest. Don't stray too far apart; with more animals disappearing, we may have a bigger problem on our hands, and perhaps the mission will be elevated in rank. If they're just more bandits, you can handle it. But as I said, don't go too far."
The three nodded in agreement and immediately began walking towards the indicated location of the cat's last sighting. Ryo looked around as he searched for something, not exactly sure what. "And here I was thinking searching for a cat would be boring! I hope there's some organized bandit group; I'll hit them hard!"
Denji spoke excitedly as he walked ahead without waiting for the other two team members. "Hey, Denji, you idiot, don't stray too far from us!" Haruka tried to keep the hotheaded member of the group together, but it was unsuccessful; Denji soon disappeared into the trees.
Ryo sighed at this. "Let's go then. Denji might end up setting the whole forest on fire if we leave him alone." The two of them quickened their pace as they headed towards their teammate. In the midst of this, Ryo surveyed the area, noticing that Denji was already 300 meters ahead of them.
Ryo continued on, now traveling through the trees, leaping from branch to branch with Haruka following. He looked around, trying to spot any traces of the cat or other animals like dogs, but he didn't see anything yet. However, Denji had stopped a few meters ahead; Ryo and Haruka arrived by jumping to his location.
Denji stood still, pointing ahead. "There, is that a trap?" The other two looked in the direction he indicated, and there, among some leaves on the ground, was a slight bulge. Denji grabbed a kunai and threw it towards the supposed trap, and as soon as it landed in the middle, it triggered, causing a net to appear and close around the kunai.
Ryo looked at this, thinking. "I can't discern shapes so precisely, just a simple trap like this. I need to make the image waves I receive more accurate, but for that, I'd have to send more waves; with only three, it's not difficult but inaccurate. With more, it'll be more taxing on my mind, but the details will be greater." He sighed and looked at Denji.
"Is there another one around here, Denji? With this, we can at least get an idea of who's taking the forest animals." Denji nodded and looked around, pointing to one side. "Twenty meters that way, there's another one; I only found these two in this area."
After disarming the other trap, they continued further into the forest for another 200 meters, finding two more traps that they didn't deactivate this time. "Whoever it is will eventually come to check the traps. Let's go back and report to Kakashi-sensei about the situation, and then he'll tell us what to do."
Ryo spoke, and soon the three ninjas began to head back to the small village to meet with Kakashi and discuss the situation. The mission would likely be upgraded from Rank D to Rank C if they decided to continue, but that would be Kakashi's decision once the group arrived there.
It didn't take long, and the three soon flickered in front of Kakashi, who looked at the three young ones there waiting for a report. Haruka quickly began to speak to Kakashi about the current situation, explaining what they had found and also Ryo's idea of waiting for whoever had set the traps in the forest.
"Waiting for them would be okay if it were the focus of our mission, but since this is unfolding into a larger scheme than anticipated, I don't think we can continue with this mission, kids. I'll talk to the old lady, and then we'll move on. After that, I'll report this to Konoha for them to take the appropriate actions."
It was an okay response. Kakashi didn't want to put the team in potential danger when the trio didn't have the necessary experience for it. At best, it would just be another group of common bandits, but if it was something more complicated, they might have to fight against some ninjas, and that wasn't what Kakashi wanted, at least not yet.
After some time, Kakashi returned to Team 13, and once again, they set off on their way to their final mission in the city of Shukuba, where they would investigate the issue with the hot springs.
Ryo would have preferred to stay to investigate not only the cat's disappearance but also why they were capturing so many animals from the forest. However, it wouldn't be done now, at least not immediately. They had to reach Shukuba soon; a considerable amount of time had passed since they left the small village.
A few hours later, while leaping between the high branches of the trees, Ryo lost his balance for a split second, almost falling but managing to regain his hold midway through and continue his jump. He then looked at Kakashi.
"Kakashi-sensei, the clone and the group arrived in Konoha, the group of bandits has been handed over to the ninjas patrolling around Konoha. The message was also successfully delivered. Nothing out of the ordinary happened along the way, so both my clone and the summonings arrived intact, along with the bandits, of course."
Kakashi nodded in acknowledgment, knowing that at least part of the unexpected events had been forewarned, and they would take the necessary steps to contain or investigate what was happening. Kakashi knew it wouldn't take much longer, as those responsible for interrogation were usually very effective, especially against ordinary people.
"Very well, I believe some of your chakra has returned, right, Ryo? Let's pick up the pace then." As Kakashi spoke, he flickered away, disappearing from the sight of the three, who without hesitation, followed suit, following the ninja in the same manner. Ryo had received some of the chakra from the clone, so he was also able to keep up with the team smoothly.
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