Akihiko's group couldn't find anything substantial on the map. They took the map and decided on a few locations to investigate. They also checked a file containing information about all the missing children but didn't find anything else.
They first interrogated all the guards, but all guards were innocent. So the Konoha group left the village.
The guards were very dissatisfied with being treated in such a manner. Hiroshi said, "I apologize for what just happened. But, I hope that you guys understand the severity of the situation and the concerns of the Konoha team. They came here less than 2 days after issuing the mission and left without even resting. So, I hope that you forgive them."
Hearing that, the faces of the guards softened a bit. They all noticed that the Konoha ninjas seemed tired from travelling and still didn't take any rest.
Elsewhere, Fujin's team was moving rapidly. Shunko asked, "We have no clues at all! How are we going to investigate?"
Masaru answered, "Almost a couple hundred children have gone missing. No matter how good the kidnappers are, they will leave some clues behind. We just have to search until we find one."
Akihiko nodded, "We will start where the 3 rescue squads went missing. That place should have the highest chance of finding clues. If we don't, then we will investigate every missing child."
Sora added, "We should start investigating the children who went missing more recently. After all, due to having so much success, they would get overconfident and leave some clues behind."
Akihiko nodded. Fujin also agreed with the analysis. He wondered, 'Exactly who would kidnap young children in this world? If they had Kekkei Genkai, then Kumo would have been the suspect. But these are just normal kids… Is someone planning on creating a Root-like organization and hence kidnapped these kids?'
Fujin analyzed the possibility and concluded, 'Yeah, that could be the case. Kusa's military isn't strong. They got hit by both Konoha and Iwa in the 2nd and 3rd Great Ninja wars. So creating a secret force here would be convenient. And they could keep kidnapping more children in the future to increase their numbers.
But, which force would that be? I don't recall any major player from Kusa in Naruto. Unless they were discovered and destroyed or they never got enough strength to be relevant.
Another point to consider is, should I use such a tactic while trying to build my force in the future?'
Fujin analyzed the feasibility of his idea. After some time, he decided, 'Taking in young kids and training them would require at least half a decade for them to be worth anything. It will be too much effort for little reward and very difficult to do without proper organization.
More importantly, this act is completely morally bankrupt. While I am not morally upright and don't mind doing some evil stuff, kidnapping young kids and making life miserable for them is too much for me. Especially without any huge benefits. Not to mention, if I were to get caught in this act, I would certainly be hunted and killed.
So not worth doing it. Especially considering the vast number of kids whose lives are already hell in this world. I would be better off just recruiting them. After all, those kids would genuinely admire and respect me and would be willing to work their hardest to get out of that terrible life.'
As Fujin was deep in thought, Mieko looked at him and asked softly, "Hey, what are you thinking?"
Fujin looked at her and answered, "I was thinking about which scums would kidnap little kids and separate them from their parents. Unfortunately, I couldn't get to any conclusion."
Mieko sighed, "Yeah, there are terrible people everywhere. If we find them, I will be torturing the shit out of them!"
Fujin chuckled at her anger. He said, "Now that I think about it, it's been quite a few months since I went on a killing spree."
Mieko looked at him with a deadpan expression and said, "You kill very quickly and efficiently. They feel no pain at all and die in an instant. Leave them to me. I have a new Genjutsu that I want to test!"
A sadistic grin appeared on her face. Fujin said, "I think you would be a perfect fit in the T&I department of Konoha."
Mieko looked at him and said, "The Uchiha Police force has our own T&I department. Though we don't use it much as we mostly police the common citizens."
Fujin said, "Oh, I didn't know that."
Akihiko announced, "Stay on alert. We are reaching that location."
Everyone raised their alertness to the max.
Akihiko stopped. Others stopped behind him. The area was covered with huge grass that was up to 5 feet tall. However, it was the same as everything around it. The only distinguishing factor was a few spears planted around the area to mark it.
Akihiko said, "Kusagakure nins planted this area with spears to mark where the rescue teams went missing."
Mieko said, "The grass is very tall in this country. It will be difficult to investigate properly."
Akihiko smirked and said, "Yes. And hence, it will also be difficult to cover up any traces left. Everyone except Fujin, use your Sharingans to find clues."
All Uchihas activated their Sharingans and began investigating. Though no one said anything, it left Fujin standing alone awkwardly. He saw Shunko looking at him with a smirk aiming at belittling him. Mieko too looked back at Fujin and grinned to tease him.
Fujin looked back with amusement thinking, 'Why are you so excited about doing manual labour?'
He took out a scroll. Both Mieko and Shunko watched with curiosity. He opened it and summoned an instant noodle cup, a thermos bottle containing hot water and a couple of chopsticks. He opened the instant noodle cup, poured water and stirred it slightly and waited for a couple of minutes.
Now Mieko and Shunko had dark faces. Both complained in their minds, 'Why does he get to eat while we have to work? Heck, I haven't eaten anything since the morning!'
They tried ignoring Fujin. But, the smell of noodles began spreading. Fujin thought, 'I'm glad that I bought so many instant noodles from the Land of Noodles.'
He began eating. While eating, he kept his eyes on the Uchihas who were working hard in the grasslands.
Shunko immediately complained out loud, "Hey you! Why are you eating while we are working?"
Fujin looked at him and slurped the noodles. He pointed at his eye and calmly said, "I don't have the Sharingan eye. You do. Good luck with searching."
Shunko was irritated at that response. He yelled, "WHY YOU??"
However, Akihiko interrupted him, "Shunko, get back to work."
A scowl formed on his face. But he didn't dare to disobey Akihiko. He looked at Fujin grudgingly and got back to work.
Fujin wondered, 'Mieko was very arrogant too when I met her. If not for Renjiro and perhaps me, she would have remained that arrogant. I wonder if Itachi was just fed up with all the arrogant pricks around him and decided to pull the plug.'
The group kept searching for a few minutes when Sora said, "There are some footmarks here."
Everyone immediately appeared next to him. Fujin wondered, 'Where are these footmarks?'
However, Akihiko said, "Good work."
They began following the footmarks. Fujin followed, thinking, 'The investigative powers of Sharingan are impressive. Even after focusing Chakra in my eyes, I can't see anything at all.'
They walked for around 40 meters before stopping. All Uchihas frowned.
Masaru said, "The footsteps have ended here."
Shunko asked, "But how? How could they stop here?"
Akihiko said, "They walked from there until here. From here, they travelled through other means. They either went through under the ground, flew above it or teleported."
Sora made a hand sign and disappeared underground.
Mieko asked, "How will we track them if they flew or teleported?"
Akihiko said, "We can't. We will have to find a new clue."
Sora appeared from the ground and said, "There are no traces underground."
Akihiko said, "Looks like they are using Reverse Summoning. No wonder there were no clues to be found."
Fujin asked, "How will we find them if they reverse summon themselves? If we assume that they kidnapped the children by reverse summoning too, then there won't be any clues at all."
Mieko and Shunko too had the same query.
Akihiko answered, "Yes. There won't be any clues while they escape. However, there will be clues of them entering the village and reaching the kids."
Fujin thought and replied, "That makes sense. Except that there are probably hundreds of people who enter and leave the villages on a daily basis. Unless they entered the village through illegal routes, it would be very difficult to trace them."
Masaru smirked and said, "Don't underestimate our eyes kiddo. Just stay back and observe the magic."
Akihiko said, "Enough talking, this place is a dead end. Let's go to the villages and check."
The group began moving quickly towards the nearest village.
