January 22, Year 38 of Konoha.
Three days had passed since the discovery of the Konoha Chunin Massacre Incident.
At the centralized shelter, Akaseki learned what had happened—a classic case of mad cow disease!
The conditions at these shelters were indeed poor. Only some villages had Konoha Ninja guiding them there; most had to risk making their own way. As a result, the fighting in the Land of Rain had caused substantial casualties.
However, the village where the incident occurred had been evacuated under organized guidance. The innocent family who had been killed or injured had already reached a shelter, but with resources running short, these unruly people of the shinobi world had naturally begun ostracizing the "red-haired" outsiders.
In the end, the family had been driven out. They could only risk returning to their temporarily abandoned village to look for food, where they ran straight into a high-strung Konoha Chunin—
And after his parents died, the little boy naturally had no way of returning to the shelter on his own.
All Akaseki had managed to learn was that his name was "Nagato"—
After learning what had happened, Akaseki had spent the past three days searching for the "red-haired orphan," unfortunately without finding a trace.
"Strange. How far could a little kid get in three days? I've already searched everywhere within a hundred miles—" Akaseki muttered in bewilderment.
"With people migrating and villages abandoned, there are still plenty of large wild animals in the surrounding countryside," Nonō pointedly reminded him.
Akaseki: ...
This wicked woman from Root was saying evil things again!
"Or perhaps—the person who attacked the Konoha Chunin took him away," Nonō said gravely, offering another possibility.
Akaseki frowned and thought it over.
What would that old bastard want with a little kid?
*His red hair probably meant