Sasuke stood panting off to the side of the path. His traveling cloak was covered in dust from the short battle, but other than that he was unharmed. All of his attackers lay scattered across the forest path, most of them were barely breathing if they were breathing at all. They had caught him off guard, but they had paid the price for their foolishness. He sighed and went to sheath his sword when it cracked. Looking at the blade he could tell it wouldn't be able to take another hit. He remembered the last jutsu the man just a few feet from him had performed. At first he thought the attack had missed, but apparently his sword had taken the brunt of the force. Scowling he shoved it back into the sheath. He guessed he'd have go see him again. Kusanagi. Well at least his village was just at the end of the forest path, he thought to himself.

Quickly he picked his way through the bodies. He would report the bandits in the village as well. Walking down the path he could just make out a thinning in the trees when he heard a strange sound. It was mournful, trumpeting, and eerie, like the call of a deer, but bigger than anything he had come across before. Using his Rinnegan and Sharingan to look around in the trees he saw something. At the very edge of his vision something huge shape moved away into the forest. Whatever it was it was gone now. But that sound, it made him curious and nervous. Setting that thought aside he continued to follow the path out of the forest at a slightly faster pace.

The village wasn't anywhere near as large as Konoha, but it was by no means small either. Even though the sun was beginning to set people were still bustling about the streets. Making his way first to the police station at the center of the town. He'd let them know about the rogue ninja so other travelers wouldn't be waylaid on the way here, then he'd visit Kusanagi. The police there were a little jumpy when he mentioned that the bandits and rogue ninja were along the forest path. He got the feeling they didn't want to go in there. Not his problem, he thought and decided not to ask about before he made his way out and to the blade smith's shop.

The blade smith's shop was actually built into the wall that surrounded the town. The buildings were made of the same hardened clay and brick as the wall it was built into. While the roof was made of some inflammable substance. There was no door, just two dusty blue curtains hung in the frame. Both were coated in soot and singed on the edges. Sasuke pulled one aside and stepped into the small front room. A young man was sitting behind the counter looking decidedly bored. Weapons lay out on the tables on display, but most were collecting dust.

Odd, Sasuke thought to himself, Kusanagi was very good at keep his stock neat and clean.

"How can I help you?"

Sasuke glanced at the man. He was just a little bit older than himself. His clothes like the curtains were covered in soot from working the forges. A look at his hands revealed they were callused burned from working close to hot metal and careless mistakes.

"I'm looking for Kusanagi."

The man looked surprised.

"I'm sorry sir, Master Kusanagi passed away a few months ago."

Sasuke felt like his sword burning a hole in his side. So the sword he carried was probably the last the old man made.

"What about his son, he was supposed to succeed his father."

The man nodded and rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. It was similar to the reaction the police had when he had informed them of the rogue ninja they needed to collect along the forest path.

"His son has gone missing in the forest." At his words Sasuke withdrew his sword and placed it on the counter in front of the young man.

"Can you repair this?"

The man unsheathed the sword and winced at the crack that ran down the entire length of the blade. Reverently he ran his hand over the hilt and blade. Gently he tapped the metal with a strange tool and listened as the blade rang. Again he winced and looked up at Sasuke mournfully like Sasuke had just told him a close relative had died.

"I'm sorry, but this something that is beyond my skill or the skill of the other disciples here." The man's words made Sasuke raised his eyebrows, and he added. "Master Kusanagi's son could, but he hasn't been heard from since he was kidnapped by the beast of the forest."

"What is the beast?"

The man winced and it was clear he was extremely uncomfortable talking about this subject.

"A monster that wears a form of a human. It preys on children and those that stray into the forest."

"Then how do you know Kusanagi's son still lives?"

"He walked out of the forest to his father's funeral. Then went right back in after it was over."

Sasuke turned over this interesting piece of information. Glancing out the window towards the gate that lead to the forest path.

"Thank you." He gathered up his sword and slipped it back into his belt. Then turned and left without saying another word to the man. Sasuke stopped only to restock supplies then he head back towards the main gate. The guard at the front gate was startled to see him.

"Sir you should really wait until morning to head out in the forest. It is not the place anyone would should go alone, even if you are a ninja of great skill."

"What can you tell me about the beast of the forest?"

The man practically jumped out of his skin at the mention of the monster. He did his best to swallow his fear, but he still looked pale and was more than a little twitchy.

"It attracts people in and then they appear a week later, dazed and no memory of the time they spent there. Some are blinded, but always they are weak and drained of energy like the monster drains them before it dumps them half way between the forest and the town."

"So it doesn't kill?"

The man shrugged.

"Some don't return at all. We have no idea what happens to those."

Sasuke looked toward the forest that rose like an dark cloak on an already dark horizon. He took a few more steps and was out of the out of the circle of light cast by the guardhouse. Already he could feel the eyes of the forest on him, but he kept walking. The guard made no further attempts to stop him as he walked straight into the forest.

Sasuke wasn't sure what he expected as he entered between the first line of trees, but this wasn't it. As he moved deeper nothing happened, no monster jumped out at him, nothing stirred that didn't naturally live in most forests. Owls and a few other nocturnal animals hunted for food in the safety of the trees while the rest of the animals either slept or hid. He blew out a breath annoyed. It was possible that the blade smith wasn't even in here. Still he continued to move forward.

He wandered through the forest for half a night looking for signs of people having come through. There were several ominously large tracks that looked like they belonged to some kind of deer, but nothing he knew could leave tracks bigger than any horse tracks he had ever seen. He finally stopped at the edge of clearing. In the distance he could hear a stream but he was more interested in something else. Along the edge of the clearing was thick with a strange purple flower. The smell coming of them was heady and enough to give person a headache. Sasuke walked over to inspect them. Carefully he reached out to touch one when a sound echoed through the silence of the night. The same sound from earlier and it was closer than before. He stopped and looked around with his Rinnegan and Sharingan in his eyes.

In the shadows a shape moved. At first he thought it was a small tree branch, but as he watched he realized they were antlers. Dozens of points on each branch. Each one was bigger than a kunai knife and equally as sharp. Next came the face. It was deer, only it was massive; easily its head was eight or nine feet high off ground. That wasn't even taking into account to the two branches of antlers that rose twisting out of its skull. Turning its head, Sasuke got a good look at one of its eyes, and there was intelligence in them. Not unlike the snakes he summoned under Orochimaru's tutelage; he realized with a start. Sasuke was frozen under the creature's stare.

A breeze whistled through the trees picking up the pollen from the strange flowers and casting it all over him. Sasuke was forced to blink and rub his eyes. Then the pain struck swiftly and brutally. It felt like his eyes were being burned and that burning feeling was slowly spreading to the rest of his body. He dropped to his knees and fumbled with his bag desperately trying to get at his water. The strange sound came again, this time sounding more desperate than the last time. Sasuke blinked but his vision was becoming worse. His hands trembled and pain lanced through his whole body. Poison he realized as he attempted to drag himself towards the stream. But his body was growing weaker.

Another sound came to his ears. Rustling. Something was fast approaching. Footsteps he realized, not the deer, a person. A hand touched his back and he struck out with enough force to potentially shatter bone. There was a gasp of pain and someone swore.

"If you don't want to lose you sight let me help." The voice growled. What choice did he really have? The person grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and physically lifted him up and dragged him away. "We have to wash the pollen off and you can't wear any clothes that has pollen on it." Before Sasuke could protest the person said, "Hold your breath."

He only just became aware of the fact that the voice was female, then he was dunked fully into the freezing water. He didn't struggle against the hold until he felt hands un doing his clothes. First his cloak was stripped away then his shirt. When the hands moved to his pants he kicked at the person who brought him back up for air.

"Stop struggling. You wanna go blind?"

He grit his teeth then fumbled with the ties on his pants, pulling them down and off, but he kept a hold of his sword. The woman snorted.

"That won't do you much good since I have the antidote for the pollen. Now either you go back under or I dunk you myself."

Sasuke resisted the urge to snap at her and simply knelt under the water again. The woman's hand rustled through his hair washing out the pollen from it. Then she forced his eye lids open and allowed the water to remove the poisonous pollen. Gently she lifted him out of the water and dragged him on to the shore.

"Why am I so-?"

"Hush. The pollen in those flowers is nasty. You're lucky you're not wounded or that you didn't ingest it, if you had, you would have been paralyzed much faster." The sounds of the woman rummaging through a bag came followed by the soft tinkling of small glass jars clicking together before she explained, "It won't kill you, but it hurts like hell and you could go blind if you don't clean it out right away." She pried his eye open. Panic jolted through him when he realized all he could see were splotches of white. Desperately he reached up to touch his eyes. The woman intervened, pinning one arm with her knee and the other with her free hand. "Don't touch," she snapped. Liquid was dripped into his eyes making them feel itchy and irritated, but already his vision was clearing up and he could see his savior.

Whoever she was wearing a shirt made out of the skin of one of those large deer. It covered her chest, arms, hands, and neck. Her leggings were also made of the same hide as well as her cloak. Under that cloaked was a leather pouch but none of that compared to her head. It was shaped like a large wolf that was the same color as the deer. Its muzzle was full of sharp teeth, but it's eyes gave him pause. They looked liked many facetted blue jewels. He was so shocked by the face that at first he didn't realize that he was looking at a mask and not her real face.

"What-?" He tried to sit up on his own but the pollen's poison had already wreaked havoc on his body, pain jolted through his body.

"No, I'll take you to a safe place, then so you can rest and heal. After that I will drop you off outside the forest. I'm sure your family will be worried about you by now."

Sasuke didn't bother to point out that he didn't have any family left and that those people who did care about him were probably better off without him. Instead he said,

"I can't leave until I find someone."

"Then look outside the forest," she growled.

"He's supposed be here." He dragged a ragged breath into his body, he was shivering from the cold water and the even colder night. "Kusanagi's son." Something changed, he couldn't see her expression on her face thanks to the mask, but he knew something had changed in her demeanor.

"Fine, but for now, sleep." She put a hand on his forehead and sent chakra out through her hand. Sasuke shook his head and tried to roll away, but numbness had taken control. She grunted. "Fine don't sleep." She shifted herself so she could pull his arm over her shoulder and hoisted him up. "Don't struggle so much." She bent down and scooped up his soaked clothing. The she put two finger to her lips and whistled sharply. The sound echoed in the night and was returned by the strange sound of the deer, which was striding toward them now. Sasuke watched in amazement as the creature came out of the trees and stopped in front of the strange woman. It bent down and nosed the woman and him. It sneezed after sniffing him. "You really should sleep. Kaze Ran'na is fast, but it will be uncomfortable for you after being poisoned." She held up her free hand with chakra on it. "Besides I really don't want people knowing where I live."

Sasuke sighed and gently leaned into the chakra filled hand thinking, if she was going to kill me, she would have let the poison take hold, he reasoned. Sleep gripped him in moments.