Three of the Sound Ninja sent to Konoha to participate in the Chunin Exams had gone missing. No one knew where they had gone, and only a small number of Konoha's Anbu knew that the disappearance of those three Sound Ninja was likely directly connected to the Fourth Hokage, Uzumaki Kuming.
However, this was not something low-ranking Anbu like them needed to worry about. After reporting it to Minato Namikaze, the Anbu returned to their usual duties.
Over the following days, several disappearances occurred throughout Konoha. The missing people varied in age and gender, but they all had one thing in common: every one of them was a researcher at the Konoha Academy of Sciences.
The first case had not attracted much attention. The Konoha Police Department had initially treated it as an ordinary missing-person case, but after several more incidents occurred in succession, the police began to take notice. Early that morning, the relevant case files had been compiled and placed on Uchiha Fugaku's desk.
"Clan Head, the files on everyone who has disappeared these past few days are all here."
"They're all researchers from the Konoha Academy of Sciences. Their positions range from high to low, with no obvious common characteristics."
"I suspect this was the work of spies from another village!"
Inside Uchiha Fugaku's office, Fugaku listened to his subordinate's report while carefully reviewing the files.
"How many people have gone missing?" Uchiha Fugaku asked as he looked through the documents in his hand.
"As of now, seventeen people have disappeared in total."
"I personally went to ask the Konoha researchers. The missing people were all working on different projects."
"Some specialized in medical ninjutsu, some researched human cells, and among those missing, there were even people studying crops."
"These researchers covered a broad range of fields