Izumi finally reached Uchiha Chisen. The girl was utterly winded, her little face flushed as she bent over and gasped for breath, but she still hurriedly held out the documents with both hands.
"S-Senior, this is a list of everyone who went missing in Konoha over the past five years. None of the people on it have been found yet. There are a hundred and seventy-six missing people in total."
Even Izumi herself was taken aback when she said that number.
And those were only the missing people included in the official tally.
There had to be others who hadn't been counted, especially missing shinobi who might have carried all sorts of secrets.
People carrying secrets naturally wouldn't appear on Konoha's missing persons list.
Uchiha Chisen didn't take the list, because just then, another voice approached from a distance. "Lord Chisen, we found more bones, meow! And this time, there's quite a lot!"
Kijiro hurried over with his feline children and grandchildren.
Quite a few of the ninja cats were carrying all sorts of bone fragments in their mouths.
"We found them all in the sewers, meow!" Kijiro leaped nimbly onto Izumi's head with practiced ease, then added, "We just don't know if they all belong to the same person."
One after another, the ninja cats set down the bones they had brought.
Uchiha Chisen crouched down and picked up one of the bone fragments.
"Rookie, exclude the missing men for now."
That was what he said.
Izumi froze. "You already know the victim's sex, Senior?"
Uchiha Chisen stood up and said, "This is the human subpubic angle. In men, it's generally a narrow V shape with an angle under ninety degrees. In women, it's a broad U or V shape with an angle over ninety degrees."
He pointed at another bone fragment on the ground. "That's the brow bone. In men, it's thick and prominent, with a pronounced backward slope. In women, it's flatter, with a vertical or slightly sloping forehead."
Izumi listened, dumbfounded.
Just how many victims' bodies had Senior Chisen examined to develop the ability to identify a corpse's sex at a glance from its bones?
Suddenly.
Izumi keenly noticed Senior Chisen's brow furrow.
It seemed he had discovered something new.
She watched him bend down and pick up two pieces of bone with teeth embedded in them. After examining them for a while, he said, "Rookie, narrow the age range to five through thirty. Look closely at the photographs on the list and pick out the missing women and girls who appear to have slightly protruding front teeth."
"Yes, Senior!" Izumi hurriedly replied.
She hastily flipped through the documents, working up the courage to ask, "Senior, why is the age..."
Once again, before she could finish her sentence, Senior Chisen saw right through her thoughts and cut in with an indifferent tone. "Because there are two different sets of remains. Also, pay attention to the missing people's surnames. I suspect these two were mother and daughter."
"Judging from the cut surfaces of both sets of bones, the culprit probably used the same tool to dismember them. Most likely, the same person committed both murders. They may even have been killed on the same day."
"Judging from the size of the bone fragments, their bodies were cut into at least a hundred pieces after they were killed. We're lucky to have found even some of them."
Izumi's hands nearly trembled.
T-Two sets?
M-Mother and daughter?
"One older, one younger. The older victim was probably between twenty and thirty. The younger one was probably between five and eight," Uchiha Chisen said calmly.
A chill ran down Izumi's spine as she frantically leafed through the documents in her hands.
Using the criteria Senior Chisen had provided, Izumi soon found two missing people with exactly the same surname.
"Senior! I found them!"
She tried hard to calm herself and hurriedly said, "Yamada Ryoko, twenty-seven, missing for four years. Her husband died young, and she had one daughter. Yamada Nobumi, four, missing for four years. Her father died young, and her mother was Yamada Ryoko."
Uchiha Chisen asked, "What do you think we should do next?"
Izumi froze, not expecting her senior to turn the question back on her.
Of course!
Maybe this was a test of her abilities!
Izumi immediately said, "Find where they lived and investigate their relationships with their neighbors and relatives, as well as their financial situation before they died. We should focus on who inherited the Yamada family's estate after their deaths."
This was part of the material on solving cases in the Konoha Military Police Force's trainee handbook.
Izumi still remembered quite a lot of that basic theory.
"Let's go," Uchiha Chisen told Izumi, then said to Kijiro, "Take the remains back to the Konoha Military Police Force."
"Yes, Senior Chisen!"
"Yes, Lord Chisen!"
"Hey, Yamada, the funeral for Lord Hokage's eldest son is tomorrow! What are you spacing out for?! Lord Hokage specifically told us to make the funeral a grand and dignified affair, so all the deceased can pass peacefully into the Pure Land."
"If you're not feeling well, hurry up and ask for leave. If you make a mistake tomorrow and something goes wrong at the funeral, how could ordinary civilians like us possibly withstand Lord Hokage's wrath? It would ruin our funeral home's reputation, too!"
The man called Yamada jolted.
He shook his head and forced a smile. "Maybe I just didn't sleep well last night. I'm fine."
In truth, even he didn't know why he felt so unsettled.
Could it be...
No...
Impossible.
"I covered my tracks thoroughly..." Yamada murmured in a voice only he could hear. "Besides, it's been so many years. How could anyone possibly discover it?"
"Lord Hokage, Shinosuke's funeral is tomorrow. You are Konoha's Hokage, after all. You need to pull yourself together."
A masked female Anbu ninja spoke softly behind Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Sarutobi Hiruzen let out a deep sigh.
He turned to look at the female Anbu before him, his expression conflicted. "You're suffering just as much as I am, aren't you? After all... you and Shinosuke were married for so many years, and you two loved each other dearly..."
"Lord Hokage, I believe grief serves no purpose. What has already happened cannot be changed. All I can do is let Shinosuke pass peacefully into the Underworld, take good care of Konohamaru in the years ahead, and remember this hatred. Nothing more."
Sarutobi Hiruzen could hear the hoarseness in her voice.
Perhaps his daughter-in-law, who had suffered the loss of her husband, had already cried more times than anyone could count.
Sarutobi Hiruzen fell silent for a long while before saying, "Fuyuko, I know you hate Uchiha Chisen deeply, but..."
"I know."
Sarutobi Fuyuko said, "Lord Hokage, I'll consider the village's greater interests. I won't let hatred cloud my judgment. Lord Hokage, I'd like to request half a day off to go home and spend some time with Konohamaru."
Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed inwardly.
"Go."
Before you continue