Fury and Curses!

Outside Konoha.

The hastily assembled squad of Maruboshi Kosuke, Uchiha Gen, and Shibi Aburame was moving swiftly.

It was growing late.

The woods were already filled with the chirping of insects.

As the squad leader, Shibi Aburame explained their mission as they traveled.

"Our mission this time is ranked B, but before this, it was only rated C. A series of child disappearances has occurred in Chuntai City, east of Changqiu Commandery in the northeastern Land of Fire.

"The client's original request was to investigate the cause of these incidents and recover as many of the missing children as possible. Because so many children were missing, and some of them had special backgrounds, the mission was ranked C from the outset.

"However... the previous Chunin squad assigned to the mission lost contact entirely after entering Chuntai City to investigate the disappearances.

"And after that Chunin squad was confirmed missing, the Hokage sent two Anbu Ninja to investigate. They found the squad's bodies in a sewer, but there were no obvious signs of combat on the bodies. As a result, the mission was upgraded to B-rank, and... that ranking is only provisional."

"Missing children?"

Hearing this, Uchiha Gen keenly picked out the mission's key detail.

In the Shinobi World, when children went missing, the first suspects worth considering were Orochimaru and Shimura Danzō.

After all, this was right in their field of expertise.

Still... since Hiruzen Sarutobi had issued the mission himself, and it was so far from Konoha, it probably wasn't the work of those two specialists.

But... he had only just finished a mere D-rank mission, and now he was jumping straight to B-rank or even higher...

Heh, that old bastard sitting in his office really thinks highly of me.

And... he even went out of his way to send his precious son elsewhere.

"That's right, and an extremely large number of children have disappeared. Our mission this time, besides continuing the search for those missing children...

"Is also to find whoever attacked our Konoha Ninja. Meanwhile, the Anbu Ninja still stationed in Chuntai City will cooperate with us on the mission."

Shibi Aburame nodded slightly, picking up on the detail Uchiha Gen had caught, and continued.

"Understood! Anyone who dares attack our comrades... deserves no forgiveness!"

Beside them, Maruboshi Kosuke spoke in a low voice, anger in his eyes.

With the mission requirements clear, the three hurried toward their destination by moonlight.

At the same time, given the covert nature of this mission, the three did not ride Shibi Aburame's giant beetle, to avoid exposing their movements.

The reason was that the Shinobi World had an organization called the Intelligence Agency, whose informants were spread throughout the entire Shinobi World. The Intelligence Agency claimed that, as long as the price was high enough, you could obtain any information you wanted.

And this time, they had chosen to set out at night precisely to prevent whoever was lurking behind the scenes from learning that Konoha had sent more ninja to Chuntai City.

This time, the Anbu Ninja, who should have remained hidden in the shadows, had become the visible decoys, while the three of them were the true hidden pieces.

Meanwhile, at the destination of Uchiha Gen and his two companions.

Night, at the Town Mayor's Residence in Chuntai City.

Town Mayor Fujii Sakura, who was leafing through a book, suddenly turned deathly pale. Feeling the excruciating pain coming from inside his body, he immediately staggered out of the study and ran toward his bedroom.

Upon reaching his bedroom, Fujii Sakura could no longer hold on. He curled up on the floor and let out stifled howls.

After howling for a while, the pain eased slightly. Fujii Sakura immediately crawled toward the tatami, trembling. Lifting the quilt on it, he took a small box into his shaking hands.

The moment the box opened, a heavy, foul stench of blood surged out.

Having opened the box, Fujii Sakura impatiently stuffed the blood-red chunk of flesh inside it into his mouth.

Only after a while did his rapid breathing slowly settle. The agonizing pain ravaging his entire body also receded like the tide, leaving him drained and covered in cold sweat, his robes completely soaked.

"I should have told you long ago to show some restraint. You could capture human material, but you couldn't do it so brazenly!

"One hundred and eight children in a single month! Are you fucking idiots? Who the fuck wouldn't notice something was wrong with my Chuntai City?!"

As the pain receded, Fujii Sakura braced himself against the wall and shakily stood up, roaring hoarsely into the empty shadows.

"And you fucking idiots actually attacked Konoha's ninja! We could have settled this by handing over any old scapegoat, but look at it now! Konoha's fucking Anbu Ninja are in Chuntai City right now!

"You've made such a mess that I can't even make my medicine in peace. If you weren't so brainless, would I be suffering like this now?! I have to ration every fucking dose, then ration it again and again. Fuck!"

Fujii Sakura's face was filled with fury. Clearly, the pain just now had sent his emotions completely out of control.

"Please calm down, Lord Mayor. We admit we were a little too hasty, but... my dear Lord Mayor, aren't you a little too eager to distance yourself from us?

"'You'? What a wonderful word, Lord Mayor. Forget it. We're all in the same boat now. If it sinks, we'll all die. No, no, perhaps I won't, but you, who have yet to receive the great deity's blessing, will very likely die. Hehehe..."

Amid Fujii Sakura's roars, a man draped in a black cloak slowly emerged from the shadows before him. His voice was low and cold.

Fujii Sakura did not refute him. His gaze merely grew darker and angrier. Clearly, the cloaked man's words had not soothed his anger, but only intensified it.

"Now, now, my dear Lord Mayor, they're only two Anbu Ninja. If it really becomes necessary, we'll produce a suitable scapegoat at the appropriate time."

Looking at Fujii Sakura's dangerous expression, the cloaked man remained utterly unconcerned and simply continued in a casual tone.

Yet no sooner had the cloaked man finished speaking than Fujii Sakura grabbed the candlestick beside him and hurled it at him.

A cloud of bloody mist rose out of thin air, and the candlestick flying toward the cloaked man was instantly worn away in midair.

"He really is a fucking idiot! Only now you want to produce a scapegoat? Shove your fucking scapegoat up your ass! If you're going to kill people, at least do the fucking job properly!

"Do you know that the bodies of those three Konoha Ninja you killed have already been found? And do you fucking know that Konoha has the Yamanaka Clan, who can read the memories of corpses?!"