Smith replied cheerfully. "So am I." Great said, nodding. "I think we're fine the way we are." Karasu replied, doing a kind of shrugging motion. "We do need more platoon leaders for strength and more dogs." Luke then said, nodding slowly. "So I'm in!" Gin smiled brightly. "Great! I'll be possibly holding a new meeting to appoint some platoon leaders." He said happily. Great tilted his head. "A meeting? Gin, you can just recruit some dogs." He asked. "We can join you, maybe along with the others." Gin sighed. "Shouldn't everyone else know?" He asked. "You told us." Karasu then said. "You don't need to tell anyone else." Gin nodded, and then looked around. "We'll follow you." Ben then said. "Cross will watch Ken and the others." Gin then started heading off, avoiding confused glances as he made his way out of the base and into the forests of Futago Pass and then into the Ohu Mountains, followed by some other dogs and the platoon leaders.

Gin couldn't help but think this place was a bit...unplentiful of dogs, and he didn't see why any dogs could live here unless they wanted to join the Ōu Army. Gin was confused slightly, and he noticed villages off in the distance, but was worried that he would encounter his mother and siblings there. Gin wasn't going back there, so maybe he would go in forests and other places. As he looked around, he suddenly spotted movement, his hackles raised a bit in case the dogs were enemies. However, no one appeared, much to Gin's dismay. Gin figured this was rather odd, and he looked at his companions. "Did you hear that?" He asked them. To his relief, everyone nodded. "We should investigate it." Ben declared. "That would be a good thing to do." Gin nodded and continued on, and as he looked, he noticed a...puppy. A Kōga puppy, judging by the mohawk on his head. "He looks familiar." Great whispered. "Moss may know him, since he loves puppies." Gin stared at the Kōga puppy, who was eating something. "Tesshin? Is that you?" Gin asked. The puppy turned around and nodded. "Yea! You're Gin, right?" He asked. Gin nodded, then gestured to what Tesshin was eating. "What is that?" He queried. "I don't know." Tesshin answered. "A Dobermann gave it to me, said he figured I needed something to eat." Gin raised a brow. "Did he have a collar?" He asked. "Yea." Tesshin replied. Sniper. Gin instantly thought with worry. Apparently that dog, after being chased out of the Ōu Army, was trying to manipulate others. "What kind of food is it? Kōgas eat dog meat, that better not be dog meat! I'm not letting a cannibal pup into my pack, even if they've been a member!" Smith said, a bit afraid. "Deer meat." Tesshin replied after taking a gulp of the meat. "Sniper can hunt deers, from what he told me." Gin sighed. "Okay, Tesshin, you worried us. You need to get back to the base with us." He said, before turning around and leaving. "Wait! Weren't we going to recruit more dogs?" Ben asked, confused. "I forgot." Gin murmured. "Tesshin, you go back to the base with Cross." Obediently, the Kōga pup headed off, stumbling over rocks here and there. "Where should we look?" Great asked, tilting his head. "Maybe the trees?" Akame suggested. "Do you seriously think we'll be able to recruit ganin?" Karasu asked. "I doubt that." Akame rolled his eyes. "If I was accepted, then all ganin can be accepted." He said. Rolling his eyes, Karasu looked back forward, and then at the trees. "I suppose we can." Great said, shrugging. "I can climb trees." Smith added. "Maybe." Gin knew he could climb trees as well, being he had ninja skills, slightly. John looked around, his ears twitching here and there. "I found something, guys!" He called. Gin and the others looked at the shepherd and bounded over to where he was, and looked up at where John was looking.

A dead dog.

Gin and the others froze for a few brief moments, stunned by the sight. What was a dead dog doing here? It appeared to be...a light grey Weimaraner, with its collar on another branch, while a branch was sticking in the dog's neck, leaving the dog hanging. Blood was dripping from the branch, and the dog's stomach was slit open. "Is that...Hyena?" Ben asked, shocked. "He was killed by Sniper!" Smith exclaimed. "I thought he left him to drown!" Gin was searching for words as he stared at Hyena's body. "Maybe Sniper is trying to scare us, you never know." Smith then said, casually. "Why would he do that?" Luke asked, raising a brow. "You know how Sniper is! Before he was chased out, he was a cruel general." Smith replied. "He tried to drown me in a waterfall once!" Luke slowly nodded, taking in the spaniel mix's words. "And he did tell Smith and I he killed Hyena..." Gin then said. Smith looked at his friend, grimacing a bit when it appeared Gin was attempting to get Hyena's bloody body off the branch. "Hey, Gin? You may not want to get blood all over you." He said, doing an awkward laugh. "Leave him there, maybe Sniper will come back to 'clean up'." Gin raised a brow in confusion but obeyed his friend and left Hyena hanging. "I still don't understand why he would leave him here then, maybe a warning to his enemies?" Great asked. However, right when Great finished making his guess, he was grabbed by a dog. "Great!" Gin yelped, hurrying over. It was Sniper, and he was bringing Great to maybe where he would kill him. "No, don't do this, please!" Gin then pleaded. "This is what you get for chasing me out." Sniper snarled. "Maybe I could've been a better general, maybe I could've changed, but this is what I get? That, what I did to Hyena, is a warning to all members of the Ōu Army who wander here." Being Great had advantages against Sniper based on his height and weight, he was able to release himself and get away from Sniper. "What do you want, Sniper?" Gin asked, sighing. "Tell me, I'll let you back in." 

"Why did you chase me out?"

Sniper's question had been nothing but an aggressive snarl, his eyes narrowing. He looked as though he would kill Gin if he stepped any closer, and everyone knew Sniper had wanted to kill Gin since he had claimed he was Riki's son. "Riki and Shiro told me to." Gin replied, narrowing his eyes. "They said it was the best choice, so the army could be safe." Sniper rolled his eyes. "Like your father and precious pet hunting dog grandfather could give you the best advice." He said sarcastically. "Riki was the main reason of my downfall. He wanted to probably make you the boss when he died, and here you are, as the boss." Gin was emotionless, and was showing no pity. "I wanted to be boss for myself, I wanted to make the Ōu Army what it should've been! A true pack of wild dogs!" Sniper continued. "And now you became the boss instead, because Riki then remembered you were his son."  Gin looked down, sighing. "But there's no reason for you to kill." He said. "You can't join us. I don't want to disappoint my father and grandfather." Sniper scoffed. "What does your grandfather know? He never founded the Ōu Army, wasn't even alive when Riki made it! All he was, was just a stupid pet!" He spat. "Shut up, Sniper." Gin growled. "You're a danger to all the dogs part of the Ōu Army, and dogs living in Ohu." Before the Dobermann could say anything else, Gin and his companions were gone, off into the distance.

---

Gin had been tired as time was beginning to pass by. Sniper hadn't been seen much lately, and Cross and Ben's children were growing up, along with Kurotora's and Chūtora's. However, Chūtora hadn't been seen lately, and all most of Gin's packmates knew was that "he went missing". Gin was already getting suspicions, but didn't know who he could suspect and point the blame at. Pointing fingers was something the akita wasn't going to do now, though. It seemed that maybe Sniper had done this, Gin could see why. But it seemed as though Sniper wanted to unleash his revenge on all the Ōu dogs, but Sniper and the Kai brothers never really interacted much. Sighing, Gin woke up, only to notice Shigure and Shōji, along with Dodo and Buru looking quite confused, and yelping for help. Kurotora was trying to help them, as he would be their only father since Kurotora was the uncle of Chūtora's children.

"Gin! Gin, we found Chūtora!"

Gin whipped his head around to notice Smith, Ben, and Kisaragi hurrying towards him, some blood on their fur. Blood, for sure, could only mean one thing, and that was Chūtora being killed. "Where was he?" Gin demanded, getting up. "We found him slaughtered in a cave." Smith explained. "We're thinking it could be Sniper being we smelled his scent." Gin raised a brow. "Any more clues?" He queried. "Paw prints." Kisaragi then said. "They were bloody, and smelled of Sniper as well, so he left the scene." Confused, Gin sat down and tried to regain his thoughts. In his opinion, this was odd. "But they never knew each other!" He said.