Shinobi Isekai!

Mah, Kiddo, Stop Collecting Strays

Kakashi smelled them before he saw them, the coppery sweet tang of blood slipping through his mask with ease. He and Shikaku alighted on a branch high above a clearing. Down below, his self-proclaimed rival sat beside Neji Hyuuga and what must have been a genin from Suna. They were all haggard, and Guy sported a bandage wrapped around his thigh. Two corpses lay discarded off to one side, face down in the dirt.

He made to jump down, only to be stopped by Shikaku's outstretched arm.

The older man set dark eyes on him. "Do you hear that?"

Kakashi stilled himself and listened.

Oh.

"There's a sensory seal," he muttered, only now realizing that, despite their moving mouths, he couldn't hear anything from the people below. "Only audio?"

Shikaku hummed. "It looks like it, though we may be out of range of the visual effects."

That was likely. Momiji—he'd forgotten about her—leapt down from his shoulder onto the branch beside them.

"Princess sent out Sano and Tetsu to look for them," she said softly, her voice a mix between little girl and yappy dog. "I doubt those fools would have considered masking their scents, so it's surprising that they aren't down there."

Indeed.

"Maybe they ran into trouble," he suggested. "Guy's mini-me isnt' down there, and I imagine there are other Suna nin around here somewhere."

"You might be right," Shikaku agreed. "But right now, we need to dismantle the seals." He looked expectantly at Kakashi.

He felt his eyebrows rise. "You want me to do it?"

"Don't play dumb, Hatake. Aside from your daughter, you're the most experienced fuinjutsu user in the village."

The 'right now' went unsaid.

"I don't know what you expect me to do," he groused. "I didn't even notice they were there. We would probably be better off finding my kid and having her do it."

Shikaku huffed a laugh. "Yeah, you're probably right."

Oi.

Ignoring Kakashi's carefully crafted hurt expression, Shikaku spoke directly to Momiji. "Can you take us to her?"

She cocked her head to one side. "Probably. I don't know what you plan to do once you're inside one of these seals, though. Our advantage comes from being outside them."

That was true. Hanako's proficiency with seals was a point a pride for her and Kakashi, both, but could she disable one while under its influence? That wasn't something they'd ever thought to test. If, after an entire day within one, she hadn't freed herself, then she likely couldn't.

Damn.

He shared a look with Shikaku and he knew the other man had reached the same conclusion, likely in half the time.

Kakashi sighed dramatically. "Mah, I guess I have no choice, then."

Without preamble, he began circling the clearing, looking for the seal's anchor point. Calling it a seal was a bit generous, he mused. It was in all likelihood just a genjutsu being remotely maintained by sealed chakra, freeing up the caster to come and go as they pleased. Setting something like that up would have taken some serious planning.

The poor kids walked right into an ambush.

Finally, right when he was considering uncovering his Sharingan, he saw it. The glint of metal up above him, reflecting the light of the rising sun, drew his attention. There, the hollow of a tree, sat a kunai, a paper tag tied firmly to its handle. He really did use his Sharingan then, just for a moment. The dojutsu picked out the traps he'd expected, and he deftly disarmed them before ripping the paper from the weapon.