Kakashi had crouched on one knee, with a scroll case and kunai in his right hand. He nicked the pad of his right thumb on the blade, and pulled the scroll wide, dragging a blood mark across the inked paper.

Three of the dogs reappeared at his feet. The big one seemed to be missing. It took an order of magnitude more chakra to summon a larger creature; Kakashi must not have had it to spare.

Good. That was two problems solved already. One less dog — arguably the most dangerous one based on its size — to worry about, and an extra allotment of Kakashi’s chakra spent on something other than apprehending Raidou.

Genma checked his watch — a little under two hours until noon. That was a lot of time to fill. He scanned the area carefully, then pointed. “We should cut through that break in the bushes. Watch out for puddles that look shimmery and shallow. If you have to step in one, chakra walk over it.”

Ryouma shared a wary glance with Kakashi. “An’ the water’s not gonna reach up and grab us if we do, right?”

Reach up and grab? Genma shook his head. “It’s just nature, not a jutsu. Stay on top of it, and you’ll be fine.”

“So what are they? Sinkholes?” Ryouma asked. He looked more intrigued than concerned.

“Anytime someone says it’s ‘just’ something, you better look at him sideways.” The little dog stared at Genma with a surprising amount of suspicion conveyed in his bulging brown eyes.

Genma knelt down to be closer to eye-level with the three dogs. Little Old Man continued to radiate skepticism, and the wolf looked frankly intimidating, but the golden shepherd cocked her head to one side and fanned the air with her brushy tail.

“Are you the only one who can talk?” Genma asked. “I imagine Hatake’s already told you who I am. What are your names?”

“Pakkun. Kin. Tsuyoshi,” Kakashi said, pointing in turn to Old Man, Sunny Girl, and the Wolf. He aimed his finger at Genma. “Time-Waster. Do you really know where the captain is, or are you just stalling?”

“I know where the place I told him to meet me is,” Genma said, getting to his feet again. He gave Kin’s soft ears a friendly pat. “I’m not sensing him, but he’s smarter than to let his chakra be a beacon with you hunting him. Like I said, it’s this way.” He started towards the gap between the bushes that led through a low bog. “And the puddles are sinkholes,” he added for Ryouma. “So either avoid them or chakra walk on top of them.”

Behind Genma, Kakashi made a soft, thoughtful noise. When Genma looked back, Kakashi was gone, and so was Tsuyoshi. Pakkun scaled Genma like a small tree, leaving a trail of muddy paw prints up his sweatpants and t-shirt. He settled himself on Genma’s shoulder. “He gets bored. Better hurry up before he beats you to the finish line.”

There was maybe a ten-percent chance Kakashi would actually make it all the way across the training area to Raidou and capture him before Genma could intervene. Ninety-percent said otherwise. As Ginta would say, those were favorable odds.

“You should ask him to trim your nails,” Genma said. He shrugged his shoulder to shift Pakkun into a more comfortable, less clawing position. “I think we’ll catch up to him. Did he go the way I said?”

“Who knows?” Pakkun flopped more heavily over Genma’s shoulder and yawned expressively, wafting a blast of doggy breath into Genma’s face. Genma turned his head away, and tried to keep the lingering edge of hangover from reasserting itself.

“Then maybe we’ll find the captain first.”

Genma continued to pick his way through the bog. He glanced back to be sure Ryouma was negotiating the trail successfully, and found Kin trotting at Ryouma’s side, tail still wagging hopefully. Ryouma seemed unmoved. He didn’t even glance in her direction. “You think Taichou's holed up somewhere, or more likely on the move?”

“I didn’t show up when he expected me. If it was me in that situation, I’d make a few clones to serve as distractions and lookouts, and go from there,” Genma said.