Chapter 231 : Kakashi Found Rat!!

"I've found their trail. Hmm... not only do I smell his scent, but I also smell the scent of my kind!"

Pakkun, the summoning dog, was leading Kakashi as they searched the outskirts of Konoha. Eventually, they stopped at one spot, but as Pakkun sniffed, his dog nose wrinkled. 

"This scent... it's familiar. It's Pirou. He was summoned yesterday and hasn't returned!"

Huh?

The summoned beast didn't return?

Kakashi frowned, surprised by this. It wasn't what he had expected.

Normally, when a summoning beast's contract is broken, it should return, but this one didn't.

That left only two possibilities. One, the Rat team hadn't found Senju Hayashi and were still looking for him. Two, the summoning beast was already dead.

Thinking about it, the first possibility seemed more likely. 

The Rat team probably hadn't found Hayashi yet and were still tracking him down. 

After all, it's hard to kill a summoning beast, since they can break the summoning themselves—it's like a space-time jutsu that allows them to escape. 

Unless the summoning beast is severely injured immediately and the summoner can't cancel the summoning in time, it's nearly impossible. 

But... the chances of both happening at once are very slim.

Kakashi's thinking wasn't wrong, but Hayashi had actually done it.

"Take me to them!" Kakashi nodded, then turned to Pakkun.

Kakashi leaned towards the first possibility, so he wanted to find the Rat team quickly. This would also help Guy's disciple. 

Relying on Genya wasn't an option anymore, as it seemed he didn't care much about Hayashi and wasn't paying attention to him.

"Follow me!" Pakkun sniffed the ground, his four little legs quickly moving in the direction where Hayashi had gone.

Kakashi nodded and followed.

"Hmm, based on the scent's concentration, it seems like they're tracking someone!" Pakkun continued to speak while sniffing and tracking.

Compared to the Rat team's summoning dogs, Pakkun was clearly on a higher level, especially in tracking, so the chase was much easier for him.

"Yes, their mission was to track down a person!" Kakashi didn't go into details, just confirming Pakkun's deduction.

A man and a dog were swiftly moving through the jungle.

In just a few hours, they reached the area where the battle between the Hokage and the ninjas had taken place. The ninja dog, Pakkun, slowed down a little.

His nose was constantly sniffing.

"This is where their scent is the strongest. They must've had a fierce battle with the person they were looking for," Pakkun said while continuing to sniff the air.

Following the scent, they moved forward.

The more they walked, the more serious Pakkun's expression became.

"Pakkun, what's wrong?" Kakashi asked, furrowing his brows.

But Pakkun, the ninja dog, seemed not to hear him. He sniffed around the area again before saying, "In the end, only the person being tracked left. The others' scents didn't disappear."

"Even the scent of the ninja dog Pirou didn't leave!"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Kakashi asked, raising an eyebrow, clearly trying to understand what Pakkun was implying.

"That's right," Pakkun continued. "The person you're looking for is probably dead, and they're either buried underground or burned."

Kakashi's expression was shocked. Pakkun added, "But there's no sign of fire. So, they must be buried underground."

With that, Pakkun sniffed the ground again, finally stopping at a spot where the soil was soft.

"The person you're looking for should be right here. And here..." he said, his voice heavy. "This place is where my kind is buried."

Pakkun sniffed the area, pointing out each spot, but when he came across a familiar, bloody scent, his brow furrowed.

At this moment, Kakashi was shocked. Was Senju Hayashi really that strong? To have wiped out three jonin, a chunin, and a summoning dog?

No wonder Genya wasn't worried about him. Senju Hayashi was so powerful.

"Let's dig up the bodies," Pakkun said solemnly, looking at Kakashi.

Kakashi nodded and, without speaking, began forming hand signs. "Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!"

In an instant, the ground churned, and a massive earth wall rose up from where Kakashi was standing.

It revealed the scene below!

Kakashi leaped down, his pupils constricting and his face filled with shock as he surveyed the scene below.

There, rising up like a fortress, were vines entangled with thorns, forming a wall of vines.

What...?

Seeing this, Kakashi's heart shook!

Could this be Wood Release? Vines!

The only ninjas who could control vines were those with Wood Release, but... after the First Hokage's death, weren't there no more Wood Release users?

Kakashi's face was filled with shock as he started scanning the vines. Suddenly, he spotted a figure hidden within them. "Rat...?"

At that moment, Rat's body was crushed and twisted. He had died in a state of extreme despair, as if tortured before his death.

Two other ninjas were in the same state—twisted, desperate, some of their bodies even flattened by the pressure of the vines.

"They were probably subdued and then strangled to death!" Kakashi deduced as he examined the marks, especially when seeing the three bodies. "The killer must have interrogated them before they died!"

Senju Hayashi had the power to crush these three, and he was a Wood Release ninja! No wonder... Genya didn't worry about Hayashi. These people couldn't hurt him, so there was no need to worry.

"Kakashi!" Just then, Pakkun's voice rang out, signaling Kakashi to come over.

Kakashi walked over and saw a bloodstain among the vines. The blood had some scattered fur, but due to the vines being so tightly wrapped, he couldn't see the full situation.

At this moment, Pakkun was staring at the bloodstain, his dog face serious.

"Pakkun!" Kakashi's expression was also grave as he calmly asked.

"This is Pirou's body. Help me remove the vines. I need to take my kin's body back!" Pakkun stayed silent for a long time before slowly speaking.

"Alright!" Kakashi nodded.

Channeling his lightning chakra, he took out a kunai, infused it with the lightning chakra, turning it into a lightning blade. He carefully cut away the vines that were wrapped around Pirou's body.

After everything was done, Kakashi finally asked, "Pakkun, can you smell where the person who left last went?"

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