I was lost in my thoughts again, pondering why Lord Hokage gave me the scroll if it's so important. Why not give it to Kurenai-Sensei?

A flash of silver broke me out of my thoughts and I quickly moved out of the way. It stabbed the tree behind me and I heard Hinata gasp.

Kiba looked a little surprised, but he didn't say anything. He was focused on trying to figure out where that kunai came from.

I glanced over at Hinata, seeing her byakugan activated.

"Over there!" She exclaimed.

We turned our heads to where she was pointing and a boy with strawberry blonde hair and icy blue eyes walked towards us. He was wearing a red tank top, a grey sleeveless hoodie, some black pants, and the regular ninja shoes.

"Who are you?" I demand.

He looked at me with a stoic expression and didn't answer my question.

"Sorry girl," He said. "But I'm taking this scroll from you,"

My eyes widened and he lunged at me, with his fists engulfed in flames.

He would've hit me, but I was able to dodge quickly and he hit the tree behind me. The wood burned and it cracked slightly.

"Take the scroll from me? You can't even land one single hit on me," I smirked at him cockily.

I secured the scroll in my pouch and he still acted stoic.

"Fools like you," He said. "Only end up dead. If I were quick to anger, you would be killed right now,"

I rolled my eyes. 

I weaved a sign, but the boy lunged towards me with a kunai. I had to act quickly and counter it with my own kunai. 

"Damnit," I hissed.

I wasn't sure what Kiba and Hinata were doing, but Shino sent beetles out of his sleeves towards the boy.

The boy struggled to keep me from attacking while fending off Shino's beetles. 

"I won't repeat myself," He said. "Hand the scroll over right now,"

"Keep dreaming!" I retorted, still struggling to keep his kunai from cutting me.

"Fang over fang!"

Suddenly, the attacker was thrown into a tree and I saw Kiba with Akamaru standing in front of me now. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you Kiba," I said. "I wasn't sure how long I could hold him for,"

"No problem," Kiba said. "And by the way, Kurenai-Sensei is missing,"

"W-What?!" I exclaimed.

"Don't panic Mika," Shino cut in. "Kurenai-Sensei told us on a mission we were on previously that if anything were to happen to her, just continue the mission,"

"That's worrying," I replied.

"Impressive, dog boy," The attacker remarked.

He was now walking towards us, with his fists engulfed in flames again. 

"You may talk tough and act tough, but I'm about to prove to you that you are nothing but trash," He said, his eyes starting to glow. 

"Trash?" I narrowed my eyes. "You better watch your tongue, because I'm about to kick your ass!"

As you can see, I can be easily provoked.

I weaved signs for an attack. "Water style: Water shurikens!" 

Small shurikens made out of water rose up and I released them onto him. The boy wasn't able to dodge because of how many shurikens there were and he grunted as if he was in pain. When the shurikens were done hitting him, they reverted back to into water. He now had rips on his clothing and cuts on his skin.

Blood dripped down from a cut on his arm and he ignored it and weaved a hand sign.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu," 

A ball of flame hit me and I clenched my teeth from the pain. 

"Why is this scroll so important to you?" I asked, with a strained voice.

He didn't reply. 

Shino quietly gave me an idea, which was to make water clones that looked like us.

Fortunately, we were lucky to have someone like Shino on our side. I made the water clones and we were able to escape. He was still trying to attack my clone and even insulted it, making him look foolish.

"Stupid bastard," I muttered. "He's so arrogant,"

"He is pretty arrogant," Kiba agreed.

He attacked a clone and his widened slightly because they turned into a puddle of water. 

"Now," Shino said.

We ambushed him by attacking him all at once.

"Fang over fang!"

"Water style: Water chains!"

Shino sent his beetles at him and Hinata used her gentle fist.

My water chains wrapped around him while the beetles blocked his view. Kiba and Hinata were able to land hits on him and finally, the boy fell to the ground.

"Now for the final touch," I smirk. "Water prison,"

Water engulfed him and I panted from my overuse of chakra. 

"What do we do about Kurenai-Sensei?" Hinata asked softly.

"Maybe she got separated from us?" I shrugged.

"Don't be stupid," Kiba looked at me. "She's smarter than you think she is,"

Kiba took what I said the wrong way.

"No, I meant-"

"Kiba, she might be right," Hinata cut me off to avoid further conflict. "I looked around this forest with my byakugan and this forest is a maze,"

She deactivates her byakugan so she doesn't overuse them and Kiba snorted.

"Well, we better find a way out of here then," He said. "I'll go sniff a route out with Akamaru and we'll meet back in this same spot,"

"Better not get lost then," I muttered quietly. 

"I won't," Kiba looked at me smugly.

My face heated up in embarrassment when I realized he heard me. He took off after that and the three of us were left to find shelter, leaving the attacker in the water prison. He looked like he was getting weaker now anyway.

Two hours passed by and Kiba never came back. 

We found a shady area with a bunch of trees and I started to worry.

"Kiba isn't back yet. Should we go look for him?" I ask.

Shino glanced up at the sky and looked at me. "It's too dark to go wander off. We don't know how many enemies are after this scroll and it would be dangerous, especially since we don't have our sensei,"

"But Shino," I protested. "You have your beetles. We can't just leave him out there. What if he's lost, stuck, or dealing with an enemy on his own?"

I couldn't tell what Shino was thinking.

"He'll get out of it," Shino said. "Kiba is smarter than he acts."

I was starting to get annoyed and I was about to say something, but Hinata shook her head at me, meaning Shino wouldn't change his mind.

I huffed and we started to set up a tent that she had in her bag. 

Shino grabbed non-perishable food for us to eat.

We ate while discussing a better plan for when we get attacked again.

They both went to sleep inside the tent, but I stayed outside, waiting for Kiba to come back.

When hours went by, I had enough.

"That's it," I stood up. "I'm going after him,"

I grabbed my gear and left the site to find him. I had no idea where to start looking, so I quietly went to the clearing where we encountered the last rogue ninja. He was still in the water prison and I noticed that he was looking weaker by the second.

I avoided him and went in the direction where Kiba last left.

The ground was muddy and I noticed paw prints. I followed them and a voice startled me.

"What's a little shorty like you doing out here alone?" A girl asked, menacingly.

She sounded different. She sounded like she was itching for a fight while the other guy sounded like he was strictly following orders. 

"I'm trying to find someone," I retort. "So I would appreciate it if you just got out of my way, thanks,"

She laughed and stepped into sight. The moon shone down on her and I saw that she had golden eyes and light blue hair. She also wore a black skirt that went a few inches above her knee, a light blue shirt with black on it and some knee-high boots. 

"Seriously, get out of my way. I don't have time for annoying rogue ninjas like you," I rolled my eyes and tried to walk ahead.

That wasn't smart. 

"What makes you think I'm going to let that slide?" She asked and suddenly, a bunch of ice senbons was thrown at me.

I dodged them and she was now behind me. I could feel the coldness of ice pressed to my neck.

"This sword may be made out of ice, but it's a lot sharper than you think," She whispered. "One wrong move and I'll kill you,"

I stayed still and silent.

"Now hand over that scroll,"

"No,"

She pressed the sword further into my neck and my skin felt like it was starting to burn from how cold the ice was. She left a small cut on my neck and I quickly made a substitution.

She "sliced my head off" but was surprised when my body turned into a log.

"You have sharp reflexes, I'll give you that," She threw the log down to the ground.

She couldn't find me up in the tree above, so I quietly weaved signs for my raging waves technique to push her further away from me.

She gasped in surprise as the water made her lose footing and smacked her into the ground.

"Water?" She snickered. "Don't make me laugh. I can freeze that in an instant,"

I widened my eyes as ice shurikens came flying towards me. One of them stabbed me right in the arm. 

I flinched a bit, feeling cold and numb in that arm for only a split second.

I pulled the ice shuriken out and threw it on the ground, hissing in pain. "Damnit,"

"I'm not done with you just yet!" The girl exclaimed, now swinging an ice katana at me.

She was able to cut my other arm, making my shirt rip a little. 

"Ninja art, hidden mist jutsu!" I quickly weaved signs so the mist could throw her off.

"Y'know, I may not be able to see you now, but that also means you won't be able to see me. How do you expect to land a hit on me if you can't see?" She asked.

I didn't want to admit she was right. I saw her silhouette from the moonlight and quietly weaved signs for my water shockwave jutsu. It knocked her right off her feet and I realized I was starting to feel tired.

I panted slightly and dodged another hit from her.

I realized I had only one last resort, which was taijutsu. I was average with taijutsu. Right now, I wished that I knew someone who was very skilled in it so they could help me out here.

I kicked her before she could make another move on me and she stumbled back a little.

"You're pretty tough for a little short," She remarked, trying to throw another ice shuriken.

I dodged that one and it only missed me by a few seconds. She then threw another one quickly and it stabbed my arm, then fell down to the ground. I sucked in a breath trying to endure the pain. 

"They call me the 'Ice Panther' for a reason," She said.

She was now close to me and her eyes started to glow, just like the guy's from earlier. 

Suddenly, she grabbed onto my arm and ice started to run up my arm and covered it. The cold started stinging and I clenched my teeth harder. My arm started feeling cold and I was losing feeling. This wasn't like when she hit me with her ice shurikens, that only numbed for a split second.

This was numbing my entire arm and it wasn't going away.

The ice broke away and my eyes widened.

"You probably thought you were going to lose your entire arm, but no. That's not how my attack works," She said. 

"What the hell did you do?!" I demanded.

"In a few minutes, your entire left arm is going to go numb. You can have fun with that," She replied smugly.

I decided to attack as much as I could right now before it went numb.

She tried to grab onto my right arm, but I kicked her away then used my water chains to chain her to the ground. 

She looked shocked and then I pinned her to the ground since she was trying to break free.

She narrowed her sharp yellow eyes at me and attempted to throw another ice shuriken. I caught it this time and pressed it into her chest as if I was going to actually pierce through. 

"Where did you hide my friend?" I demand.

"I have no obligation to tell you,"

I pressed her ice shuriken further into her chest. "What the hell did you do with him? I'm not asking again,"

"You mean dog-boy? Why would you even want to save him?" She retorts. "He never trusted you from the start and I'm sure if the roles were switched, he wouldn't bother trying to go through these lengths for you,"

I was a bit offended that Kiba doesn't trust me, but I didn't show it.

"Yeah, well I don't care," I looked her in the eyes. "I would never leave my comrade behind, even if they don't like or trust me. That's just how I am,"

Her eyes flashed with something and she looked away. "He's in a cave up ahead,"

I started to get up. 

"But there's no point in going to save him," She continued. "It's just going to collapse anyway. He'll be dead by the time you get to him."

I widened my eyes.

"Kiba!" I exclaimed.

I ran towards the cave she was talking about.

"I'm going to save you, even if it kills me." 

I continued running.