It took several minutes for Kiba to catch up with her and he wasn't alone.
"Neji," she said, half greeting, half question.
"He isn't gonna make trouble," Kiba growled. It sounded like a warning, but the Hyuga didn't contradict him and it wasn't like they had time to argue. The Inuzuka took point, adjusting their path a little from the one Haruka had taken. Luckily the Kumo nin seemed more concerned with getting away fast than evading pursuers. They might not even know that someone was following them.
With Kiba's help they gained ground fast, and soon they were close enough for Haruka to pick up three chakra signatures. Hinata's and two others.
"They're at least high chunin level, maybe even jonin," Haruka warned. "There is also some kind of trap in front of us."
"I see it," Neji said, leading them around. This close to their prey losing the scent trail wouldn't matter. They were almost past the trap when some kind of mud wolf jumped at them from one side. Haruka cursed when its teeth dug into her left shoulder. She managed to put her claws through its side, which had the thing bursting apart in a shower of wet earth, but the damage was already done. According to Neji more would follow soon, so she volunteered to stay behind. The boys were better trackers than her, and she was fast enough to catch up with them once she was done.
Killing the wolves was easy enough. One hard kick or kunai to the head had them disintegrating into clumps of dirt. The problem was that she could barely sense them because the area was completely saturated by the jutsu's chakra, so they didn't stand out enough. They also reformed almost as fast as she took them down. Haruka was breathing hard by the time she noticed that the first one that had attacked was slower than the others. Apparently the chakra of her claws had disrupted the technique somehow.
She unsheathed her new wakizashi, opting to fight with only one blade because her left arm was almost useless. By now the sleeve was soaked in blood. It wasn't that she couldn't move the shoulder at all, but rather that it hurt too much to bother. She was easily faster than the wolves, and now that she knew they were there dodging them wasn't too hard.
The blade didn't reflect any light at all, not even when she poured her chakra into it. No glow or shimmer gave away that it was more than a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. Kakashi might not approve of how easily she came to the conclusion that killing someone was the most effective way to solve a problem, but he'd certainly gifted her weapons worthy of an assassin. She'd have to thank him again when this whole mess was over and done with.
This time the wolves she eliminated stayed down, nothing but harmless earth once again. It still took a lot of time to get rid of every last one, and then she had to pause to wrap the wound in her shoulder. That too delayed her for precious minutes, but getting back on the trail fast wouldn't mean much if she passed out because she'd lost too much blood on the way.
𖦹𖦹𖦹
Haruka couldn't sense Neji and Kiba anymore when she was finally ready to move again, but they had continued to run in a straight line for as long as they'd been in her range, so that was what she did as well. Akamaru waited for her on a tree some distance away. The little dog led her on a more twisted path through the forest, but thanks to him it didn't take too long to catch back up with the others.
"Neji needs help," Kiba shouted as he passed her, Hinata in his arms. The girl was a little dirty, but otherwise unharmed it seemed. Kiba on the other hand looked like he'd rolled in muck at some point. Blood and dirt had combined into reddish-brown sludge that coated most of his hair and face. The gray of his jacked was barely even visible anymore and the fabric was torn in several places, but he didn't limp and his chakra seemed strong. Akamaru rejoined his master while Haruka kept running.
When she arrived Neji's right arm was stuck in what appeared like a twisted, shiny stone. The clearing he was in didn't look natural either. Weirdly shaped rocks jutted out of the ground at improbable angles, and a number of trees had apparently been uprooted by a wave of mud at some point.
In front of the Hyuga was one of the Kumo shinobi. The man looked pretty battered, but also wore a triumphant smirk on his bearded face. He stood on a curved rock formation, clearly created by a jutsu, and shaped it into a sharp point. The whole thing gave the impression of a snake poised to strike.
Haruka used a Body Flicker to get in it's path before it could skewer Neji. She barely managed to form a chakra barrier in time. Her shoulder burned with pain, when she forced her left arm up to help hold the shield. It still wasn't enough though.
The Kumo nin's jutsu slammed into the barrier with so much force that it shoved her backwards and into Neji. She could feel him strike at a few of her tenketsu, and then a river of chakra rushed through her pathways like molten lava. It made even breathing hurt, but it also strengthened the barrier to the point that the rock shattered against it, spraying the area with deadly shrapnel. Their opponent opted to run away instead of trying to dodge, and Haruka immediately followed. She was in front of him with two more Body Flicker's, drawing her wakizashi in one fluid motion and pulling it form his left hip up towards his right shoulder.
There was absolutely no resistance at all and she'd thought she'd somehow missed for a moment, but then bubbling blood seeped out of the wound and the Kumo shinobi fell to the ground in two pieces. Whatever the Hyuga had done had made her chakra a lot more potent, but she could already feel the effect lessening again, which was good because otherwise it would start burning her from the inside out.
Neji didn't look happy when she came back, but didn't comment either. The jutsu binding him had shattered with the other shinobi's death and he informed her that the second one was unconscious.
"Secure him for questioning if you can, kill him if you can't. They were likely just going after Hinata because the opportunity presented itself, but it's better to make sure that Kumo isn't involved as well," Haruka instructed, not caring in the least that she didn't actually have the authority to do so. Neji wasn't stupid, he might not like getting orders from her, but he understood the reasoning. Not that she gave him time to argue, taking of towards the village and leaving him behind.
It took a moment to find the drawings Sai had given her earlier that day. She stuffed the two mice back into her pocket, but poured chakra into the one with the lion-dog. It sprang to life immediately and she jumped onto it's back, telling it to take her to it's maker. Sai's ink beasts had some kind of connection to him, otherwise he wouldn't be able to give them non-verbal instructions during a fight. She didn't actually know how strong that connection was, or how smart the beasts were for that matter. The lion-dog started to run in what seemed like a plausible direction though, and Haruka decided to take her chances.