Akaseki came to Konoha Military Police Force and looked through the recent files related to Tanzaku Town, and found...
There are so many missing people!
"Huh?" Akaseki suddenly frowned.
"Excluding our Konoha companions, these missing people... seem to be all foreign Merchant!" Akaseki immediately discovered the commonality of the missing people.
Not counting the ninja Konoha, none of them are locals...
This made Akaseki wonder if someone was deliberately targeting Merchant?
As for the ninjas of Konoha, there are indeed two teams that disappeared near Tanzaku Town. One of them came back from a mission, and the other team went to find the previous team...
It's easy to guess. Most likely he discovered something and was silenced!
"They are all Merchant? What are they selling?" Ranwu wondered if they had been robbed.
"I haven't written it, I'll ask about it later." Akaseki shook his head and said - Konoha Military Police Force obviously didn't pay enough attention to this situation at the beginning.
Now Akaseki is ready to investigate this matter personally.
"More than twenty Merchant have disappeared. It feels really unusual..." Ranwu also expressed concern.
If this continues, it's not surprising that Tanzaku Town's image as a place of economic prosperity will be affected.
This is no longer an ordinary incident, we must take a heavy blow!
When Akaseki came out of Konoha Military Police Force with Ranwu and Miroku, the two guards looked at the three people's backs and stood up straighter. They felt even more admiration for "Brother Akaseki" in their hearts.
Soon after...
"Huh? Akaseki has been here?" When Gongzhi Jiu came to Konoha Military Police Force, he took a look at the visitor registration, and saw "Ranwu" and "Miroku" among the few names.
The name "Miroku" was relatively unfamiliar to him, but "Ranwu" was too familiar, so it was obvious who she came with.
"Well, Brother Akaseki said he wanted to find out some information on the disappearance case." The guard nodded.
"Why did that Miko also go in together..." Gongzhi Jiu also remembered who "Miroku" was at this time.
Gongzhi Jiu Although he frowned at this time, he did not criticize the clansman who was the guard at the door too harshly.
After all, it was brought by Akaseki, so it was normal for them to let it go.
"This... we had an indirect stop..." Hearing this, the guard couldn't contain the gossip in his eyes, and told Gong Zhijiu about the previous events vividly.
The reason why they said that was originally to promote the relationship between Ranwu and Akaseki. Even if she was shy, she could stay outside. Who knew that Miko on the side spoke first, and then Ranwu also followed in?
Gongzhi Jiu:...
"Ahem, don't talk nonsense about this matter!" Gongzhi Jiu immediately warned.
If it were just Ranwu, Gongzhi Jiu would love to publicize it and let people in Forest Street know the charm of our Uchiha Clan.
But...
If there were one more person, the situation would be too complicated.
Gongzhi Jiu is also afraid of people like Forest Street, let them know how awesome it is!
Although Uchiha Clan is not afraid of fighting, it depends on the reason...
Uchiha Clan has never had a fight over something like this!
"Today's young people... Hey!" Gongzhi Jiu shook his head and entered Konoha Military Police Force.
At the same time, the three Akaseki have arrived in the village - directly registering the "Konoha Military Police Force mission" for themselves and Ranwu.
Tanzaku Town is not far from Konoha, it only takes a few hours to travel.
After arriving at Tanzaku Town, Akaseki found that the scene in front of him was somewhat different from what he had imagined - it was very lively, even more lively than at Chunin Ninja Exams before.
As the war came to an end, Tanzaku Town, which was not greatly affected, became even more lively.
Akaseki didn't see any signs of being affected by the disappearance.
Originally, I saw that more than 20 people were missing, Akaseki thought it would make people panic...
"More than 20 people are missing, but it doesn't seem to have any impact?" Ranwu was also a little puzzled when he saw this.
"Let's go to those hotels first." Akaseki was also a little confused.
Then the three of them first went to one of the hotels with the most reported cases...
These Merchant are in the local area and have no relatives or friends. The people who report the crime are hotels - usually they report the crime when they find that the guests are missing and their luggage is still there, unlike ordinary evaders.
Little things add up, and there are many similar situations. Tanzaku Town posted a task on Konoha.
Later, a ninja team came to take over this mission. However, after receiving it, the incident involving Root was revealed before they could find out the reason. So it was concluded that Root was causing trouble and the mission ended automatically.
But it doesn't actually look like it!
After all, the missing people are neither children nor people with special physiques, they are all Merchant from all over the world. What are Root doing by kidnapping them?
Akaseki soon came to a hotel called "Clearwind Inn". The hotel owner had reported three missing persons in the past month!
"You are..." The store owner made a vague guess when he saw Akaseki and Forehead Protector from Ranwu.
"Hello, we are Konoha Ninja, here to investigate the matter of Merchant's guest being kidnapped by Root." Akaseki said matter-of-factly.
Upon hearing this, the store owner quickly took Akaseki to see the room where the incident occurred, and called the clerk who had been in contact with those customers.
In fact, nothing can be seen in the room. After all, the case has been closed and tidied up. Just look at the location...
"The first time was a month ago... on March 22. I remember that the guest here didn't come back for two consecutive days, so I told the boss. Then the next day, the 23rd, we came in to check the room and found that his luggage was still there, but we didn't see anything valuable..." the guy told the story truthfully.
"Did he "not come back"? In other words, he left on his own? Did anyone see it?" Akaseki asked directly.
"I saw it! He left by himself on the night of the 20th. The store was closed at that time. He specifically called me Gate of Opening, so I was very impressed. He didn't say what he was going for, he just said he wanted to get some fresh air. I thought... hmm." The guy looked at the two girls and couldn't help but chat.
I'm afraid at that time he was guessing that the missing Merchant was doing something romantic.
However, when he didn't return for three days, the hotel noticed something strange.
"Nothing of value? What kind of business does he do?" Akaseki asked.
"Originally we didn't know, but we heard from the law enforcement team that when he entered Tanzaku Town, he had registered Cordyceps... which is a valuable drug," the clerk recalled.
Akaseki looked around in the room that had been tidied up and said, "Was the room messed up at that time?"
"No, it looks like traces of normal life. We looked through it ourselves..." Halfway through the boy's words, he was glared at by the boss.
"Ahem, there was nothing valuable in the house, so at first we thought it was a ransom, and we used this reason to report the crime. Later, two more people disappeared, and we heard that there were incidents in other hotels, so we knew something was wrong." The boss said with some embarrassment.
"What kind of business do the other two people do?" Akaseki asked carefully.
"One is pearls, the other seems to be ginseng..." The store owner obviously also heard what the law enforcement team said.
Moreover, the other two people also disappeared after leaving the store on their own. The second one was also at night, when the clerk was still a little alert, and the third one left during the day.
"The previous one ran away, how dare you let people go out at night?" Akaseki asked.
"If you really want to run orders during the day, shouldn't you do the same during the day? And..." the boss said, feeling a little emotional about his own wisdom. "After the first incident, in the past few days, I had to ask them to pay a deposit for Merchant who came for the first time. In fact, there was no loss for the last two."
Akaseki couldn't help but smile when he heard this, but then he looked hesitant and said, "Wait... the first time? Is it the first time for the three missing people to come to your place?"
"That's right, it's the first time here." Both the boss and the waiter nodded.
This makes Akaseki thoughtful.
After understanding the situation, Akaseki came out of the hotel.
"The missing persons are all small-sized goods. Because the quantity is not large, it is not strange to carry them with them... I just don't know whether they were carrying goods or payment for goods." Akaseki guessed.
Since there were no signs of tampering in the room, the things should have been taken away by oneself.
"Is it Tucai?" Ranwu said with some uncertainty.
There were neither valuable goods nor payment for goods in the room, so this possibility cannot be ruled out.
"It's possible... but I still feel a little strange. The missing people are all Merchant who came here for the first time?" Akaseki always felt that something was strange.
"Maybe it's just the first time to stay in this hotel?" Ranwu guessed.
"Normally it shouldn't be." Akaseki shook his head
Merchant, who comes frequently, has a hotel that he is familiar with.
These hotels prepared for Merchant and hotels that receive tourists and shopping guests have different services because of different customers, and they are usually quite distinct.
The former is generally not full...
After visiting two more hotels, Akaseki immediately decided... to go to the law enforcement team!
Because Akaseki discovered one thing - all the missing people are new customers who have no impression of the store, and... the goods are not big!
Although only the hotels where eight missing persons stayed were confirmed, the commonalities are so obvious that the remaining Akaseki is not going to check with the hotel, but is going to look at more direct registration records...
"No wonder Tanzaku Town doesn't seem to be affected at all. These twenty people are all Merchant who are here for the first time, right?" Akaseki looked at the lively streets, and now he didn't feel strange anymore.
These missing persons were not businessmen who originally came here. After the disappearance, as long as the local law enforcement team blocked the news, it would have no impact on Tanzaku Town. Ordinary people would not even notice that so many people were missing.
Naturally, people will not be panicked...
Government Office and Akaseki who came to the law enforcement team originally thought that with Forehead Protector, they could come and go without any worries. After all, this is Tanzaku Town. It is so close to Konoha and everyone is familiar with it. Who knows that the catcher guarding the door seems a little hesitant.
"What's wrong? Is there any problem?" Akaseki asked one more question.
"Nothing... It's just that Konoha's team came here not long ago because of a commission to investigate the disappearance of Merchant..." The catcher looked at Akaseki in confusion, as if he was worried that they were fake.
Akaseki didn't care. "We didn't take the mission, we came directly from Konoha Military Police Force." He said and took out his Ninja Handbook.