"So, you did get some leads that can help us with our current mission, huh?" Seimei asked, urging Uchiha Touma to continue.
Touma nodded and replied, "Yes. The scroll contains all the information unrelated to the current mission. As for the information that can help us find the culprit, I didn't write it since we would need to create a separate mission report for it, anyway."
What Touma did was standard conduct among the ninjas of Konoha.
Since the content of the scroll and the information that could help them find the culprit of the disappearance cases were completely different types of intel.
The scroll had the data that would help Konoha's intelligence and spy department. But the info that would help them complete their current mission had no such value, at least for now.
They would only need to write the remaining info in their mission report, whether they completed their mission successfully or not.
As for the rest, that was the Hokage's responsibility.
Yeah, every capable ninja had to go through this shit throughout their career as an active ninja.
The standard for intel classification and sharing was pretty strict. And it was strict for a good reason. Otherwise, if they overlooked important intel that was lost within a bunch of sub-standard ones, the consequences could be pretty severe.
So, Touma had to record the information he extracted from the captured Jonin-level ninjas in a separate scroll and assign the intelligence scroll a standardized rank according to its value to Konoha.
As for their current mission…
Unless the info related to their current mission contained a huge secret that could bring a great benefit or substantial threat to Konoha, adding the intel to the mission report is enough.
After all, the value of such intel usually vanished as soon as the ninjas finished their mission successfully. There was no need to overhype it or add it to the intelligence scroll.
Still, Touma couldn't help but lament.
He came here to complete the mission as soon as possible and to participate in intense battles to hone his combat instincts and become more proficient in various ninja arts.
But here he was, still scribing words into a scroll.
Although he admitted that he had used the shadow clone technique and made his clone do all the scribing, to him, this still felt like a bothersome task.
Even when he battled the enemy Chunin, the entire battle was over within five seconds.
No fun. No blood-pumping battle. No intense clash.
If Seimei knew what Touma was thinking, he would surely curse him for being a naive, hot-blooded fool who didn't suffer from the harshness of reality.
But then again, Touma was a Uchiha.
Even if he had true life-and-death encounters and suffered immensely at the battlefield filled with gore and blood, Touma might just get even more excited.
You could never know what a Uchiha is thinking. Their battlelust and cravings for mortal combat were so high that it was completely nuts.
But this wasn't the time to dwell on such thoughts.
Seimei looked at Touma's smug face blankly and said, "Enough chatter. Now, spit it out. What did you find out?"
Touma, who was about to spout more nonsense, suddenly shut his mouth.
He knew what that blank expression on Seimei's face meant. If he dared to talk any more nonsense, Seimei also dared to beat him up brutally enough for his father not to recognize his face.
The crazy Uchiha instantly became obedient.
Touma sported a serious look on his face and replied, "Cough…uh…right. About that…"
And with that, Touma began to explain everything he had uncovered, and Seimei and Haneda listened to every single detail attentively.
According to him, quite a few rogue ninjas and bounty hunters had been lurking around this area, searching for the person or creature kidnapping people.
Their goal?
Of course, it was to rob the individual or the group responsible for abducting so many people and hoarding so much wealth.
However, since the people and merchants had disappeared along with their goods and gold, most bounty hunters believed that the abduction was the job of a skilled group of ninjas.
And it was perfectly natural. After all, who would have thought that there was a goblin-like creature in this world that rarely showed its presence?
Even Konoha wasn't sure if the one behind was a group of highly skilled ninjas or those goblin-like chakra beasts.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have been deployed for target verification and annihilation (if possible) missions.
Still, the people the bounty stations and the black market sent didn't return with case reports or riches.
Instead, they had also disappeared silently, inexplicably.
No one knew what happened to them. They weren't sure whether they were alive right now.
So, many people became curious.
Driven by curiosity and the possibility of uncovering a massive amount of wealth, many rogue samurai or bounty hunter ninjas had set their eyes on the locations where the disappearances were most common.
A few wealthy people even set bounties to uncover the truth behind the disappearances.
Of course, wealthy people were not that interested in the riches. They just wanted to make their dull life more fun with every juicy info they could get.
This group of eight unidentified ninjas that Seimei's group had defeated and slaughtered was sent as a follow-up party.
Apparently, a group of four Chunin-level bounty hunters had suddenly vanished after taking the same mission to uncover the secret behind the disappearances.
This group of eight ninjas was sent to perform the same task while searching for the previous team's whereabouts.
Unfortunately, they had encountered Seimei's group, and most were beaten to death within five seconds.
That was tragic. Truly very tragic.
But hey, at least Seimei benefited here. They managed to get their hands on several valuable pieces of intel.
But that wasn't all…
"The leader of this group of ninjas is also a pseudo-spy for the Kirigakure," Touma elaborated with a grave expression. "He is from our Fire Country. However, he's collaborating with the Kirigakure ninjas stationed in several minor nations to leak various information about Fire Country."
"And the worst part? He isn't alone. But he doesn't know who the other spies are."
Hearing this, Seimei rubbed the bridge of his nose near his eyebrows and muttered, "This is troublesome."
Meanwhile, Haneda raised his right eyebrow and asked with a hint of confusion in his voice, "There are Kirigakure ninjas in the minor nations? And the minor nations are allowing it?"
Seimei turned his head toward Haneda and replied, "This isn't really a secret."
"You know how the Land of Water is essentially a cluster of islands of various shapes and sizes, right? Due to being surrounded by the sea, the Kirigakure ninjas spend most of their time fending off sea chakra beasts."
"This makes it hard for the Kirigakure to leave their island nation and launch attacks on the mainland of the Shinobi continent."
"However, it doesn't mean Kirigakure, more specifically, the Daimyo of the Land of Water, doesn't covet the riches of the mainland."
"Over the years, they have built quite a few strongholds containing at least tens of thousands of ninjas in total in various minor countries, such as the Land of Waves and the Land of River."
"They stay there, quietly collecting various info on the other four major elemental nations and the hidden villages, including ours, without causing too much chaos."
"Since many minor countries don't even have their own hidden ninja villages like Konoha, they are cooperating with the Daimyo of those countries to remain there."
"There isn't anything we can do about it."
"After all, that's the territory of another country. Without an open permit from the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, we can't invade another country to launch an attack on the forces of that country, even if it's a minor nation."
"In the worst-case scenario, such action might just trigger a complete Shinobi world war all of a sudden."
Hearing this, Haneda fell into a deep thought. Touma also rubbed his hair in utter frustration.
Touma sighed and said, "At least, our ANBU is carrying out secret missions to prevent as many underhanded tactics of the enemy nations as possible."
Seimei nodded gravely, indicating his affirmation.
After a while, Touma said, "Anyway, the group of chakra beasts or humans, whoever they are, abducts traveling merchant caravans at least once every three days."
"And it seems, two days have already passed since the last act of abduction."
Haneda chimed in, "It means that the next abduction can happen either today or tomorrow?"
Seimei replied, "Yeah. And since the news of disappearances has not spread among the common folks like merchants, at least a few of them should pass through this location."
Touma's eyes lit up. He turned toward Seimei eagerly and asked, "Does that mean?"
Seimei nodded and said, "Now, we wait and keep an eye on all the merchant caravans or the large group of people passing through this location."
"If our intel is correct, the culprit behind the abductions will show up pretty soon. And when they do, we will analyze the situation and take action."
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