Shinobi Isekai!

Distant Relations

I don't like this.

Kiba huffed a humorless laugh, scratching at his sensitive nose in the hopes of dispelling the unpleasant combination of scents that had it itching with the promise of a sneeze. "Yeah, me neither, buddy."

Akamaru whined piteously. Does he have to come?

There was only one 'he' the dog could be referencing. Kiba turned sharp eyes on the short redheaded boy from Suna, the scent of blood still clinging to him in a cloud of malaise that urge Kiba to run as far and fast as he could from the predator it preceded. During the Chunin Exams, he'd followed that instinct and kept his team away from the Suna trio, but now...

Now, they were united in their quest to save Hanako.

Kiba's face twisted as he growled lowly to himself. How could she have been taken from the middle of the village? There was no way no one noticed the Hokage's kid being taken against her will.

"Kiba." He turned to Shikamaru, the only person from their graduating class to be promoted—not that Kiba was bitter or anything. "We're going to the rooftop where Jiraiya-sama last saw Hanako. See if you and Akamaru can find her scent."

"Hmph, of course we can," he declared. "Hanako-chan's a scent tracker, too, you know. She knows how to leave a trail."

"That's what I'm counting on. Come on, I'll give all of you more information once we get there."

The rooftop in question was one of the taller ones, standing right in the middle of the village. All sorts of scents wafted up from the streets below, the cacophony of construction somehow amplified by the myriad of towers and alleyways. Kiba and Akamaru wasted no time trying to identify Hanako's scent. Everyone's scent was unique, produced by a combination of shed skin cells, hair, sweat, and residual chakra, with certain similarities across families and even the village as a whole. Hanako's scent was superficially similar to her father's and even Sasuke's, which was to be expected since they all lived in the same house, ate the same food, and were in such constant contact with each other. However, her scent was different in a way that made it instantly identifiable, its underlying foundation utterly distinct. Where nearly everyone in Konoha had the scent of trees somewhere on them, Hanako, despite living in the village for more than half her life, now, smelled like water. Specifically, like rain on parched stone, an overdue monsoon bringing an end to a drought. It was a refreshing scent, one that Kiba learned to identify almost instantly for its uniqueness.

And one he was struggling to uncover from beneath a day's worth of foot traffic.

"You said you had more information?" The older boy from Suna asked, using his puppet to prop himself up.

Kiba listened intently as he crouched down, sifting through the layers of scents which had accumulated since Hanako's disappearance. If they'd only known sooner, then maybe...

"Right, well, this is kind of a secret, but Hanako said it was fine to tell you. Sakura, can you check to make sure the privacy seals are still in place?"

The Top Kunoichi of their year rushed to do just that even as Ino screeched over the familiarity between her love rival and her teammate. Kiba was more concerned about the secrets Shikamaru was going to share. It couldn't be the sharingan, right? Kiba knew about it, but only because Sasuke hadn't stopped to consider whether or not he could be heard by people with heightened senses. Neji knew about it, too, because he'd been there and seen it for himself. Kiba cast a glance at his teammate's older cousin, but the Hyuuga was as stoic as the rest of his clan, giving no indication that he shared Kiba's concerns.

"They're good," Sakura confirmed, coming back to stand beside Shikamaru—an interesting development he'd have to tell his sister about, so she could make the necessary changes to her bet in the genin shipping pool.