"Here."
Sure enough, Uchiha Shigure saw a key tightly clutched in Takeda Kaito's hand, clearly meant to open this special entrance beneath the cave.
Shigure took out the key and inserted it into the slot; it fit perfectly. Then, he turned the key, and a "click" sound echoed, as if some mechanism had been activated.
The hidden entrance instantly opened.
"It seems we've found the right path, but I wonder if we'll find the missing people," Hyūga Akane replied.
"Let's go, let's go inside and take a look." Shigure and Akane then entered the hidden entrance.
Although it was very dim inside, as soon as they entered, the surrounding lights automatically turned on, allowing them to see clearly even within the cave.
Shigure quickly discovered three more bodies in this hidden place, blocking the front of a stone tablet, as if protecting something.
"Ah! There are bodies in here too!" Akane also saw the bodies.
"Looking at their attire… they're Leaf shinobi… This time, judging by the stiffness of their bodies, they must have died after the others outside… So that's it, they were trapped here and couldn't get out, which is why no message was sent?"
"What is this?" As Shigure examined the bodies, he noticed that the left chests of the three Leaf shinobi were a bloody mess.
"No hearts?"
"Someone dug out their hearts… But what were they trying to protect?" Shigure couldn't help but ask.
Akane pondered and said, "Maybe that stone tablet is also a mechanism? Perhaps it opens some secret room?"
"Hmm, that's possible… Let's see if they succeeded in protecting it. Maybe what they were protecting were the kidnapped people we're looking for." Shigure once again used his sensory and observation abilities, attempting to find the mechanism to open the secret room in the dim cave.
"Among the characters on the stone tablet, one spot is slightly shallower. So that's it… Is that the switch?" Shigure then had Akane press it down.
Another "click" sound was heard.
"It seems someone in this rogue ninja group is very familiar with this kind of mechanism art."
Shigure sighed, and soon the mechanism stopped operating. The stone tablet actually disappeared, transforming into a black opening.
"It seems the stone tablet itself is the entrance to the next level. Do you want to come?" Shigure asked.
"Yes, of course." Akane nodded.
But before they could enter, they saw a person emerge from the opening where the stone tablet had been.
"An enemy? No… It's a child… 'Are we safe now?' the child asked. 'Brother Kaito said that once someone opens this door, the bad guys won't find us.' "
"You guys…" Akane exclaimed, and then a large group of children emerged from the stone tablet.
"What kind of person is this 'Brother Kaito' you speak of?" Shigure asked directly.
The children then all spoke about how good Takeda Kaito was.
"So that's it… This rogue ninja Kaito was actually taking care of children? It seems he isn't a bad person after all… Among these children, are there also children of the villagers from Sanka Village?"
"It seems Kaito knew about the villagers' terrifying methods, which is why he brought these children here. It looks like he didn't want these children to become like that… 'Brother, you haven't told us where Brother Kaito is,' the children innocently said."
"This… Brother Kaito went on a very long trip. You all wait here for a moment, someone will come to pick you up soon." Shigure contacted Konoha; he figured only Konoha's orphanage would be willing to accept these children.
"So… is Kaito a good person or a bad person?" Akane shook her head, the situation becoming even more confusing.
"It seems no one can be judged simply as good or bad… Humans are complex creatures. Seemingly simple villagers might be man-eating executioners, and seemingly fierce and evil rogue ninjas might raise children and orphans," Shigure mused.
The two didn't find any clues about Amahara Suisen in the stone tablet cave. However, Shigure found some bounty and underground exchange house mission information in the cave.
It implied that Kaito and his group might have kidnapped Suisen after accepting a mission, while the three Leaf shinobi were there to protect these children and had no connection to Suisen.
"It seems… that's probably the case." Shigure then tried to make a deduction.
"This group of rogue ninjas raised children and took on bounties and missions from the exchange house to sustain themselves. One day, they suddenly received a mission to kidnap Amahara Suisen, the daughter of the wealthy Fire Country merchant Amahara Hachi. They successfully kidnapped Suisen.
"Afterward, there should have been no battle with the three Leaf shinobi. The three Leaf shinobi should have infiltrated the next level. However, a battle suddenly broke out outside, and someone killed Kaito and the other rogue ninjas, then deciphered the secret and entered the next level.
"The three Leaf shinobi were directly disemboweled without any resistance, dying unnatural deaths. No wonder the information couldn't be sent out in time; they were instantly killed by the enemy… But they seemed to have protected these children… However, the clues about Suisen are once again cut off."
Shigure shook his head, thinking, "Since they had already completed the mission, they should have gone to turn it in… But now they were wiped out in their own cave… Is it possible that the person who issued the mission wanted to hide their identity, and thus double-crossed them and killed them? That way, the clues would naturally be cut off… and no one would suspect them?"
The more Shigure thought about it, the more he felt it must be so.
"Akane, do you know about the underground exchange house?" Shigure asked.
"The underground exchange house… I know the name… but I probably know as little as you do." Akane shook her head. "Where that place is, it seems only rogue ninjas would know."
"Rogue ninjas, huh?" Shigure muttered in a low voice.
Just then, Shigure suddenly felt as if something outside was shining a mirror on him.
"Someone!" Shigure immediately used the Body Flicker Technique to get out, and a figure instantly teleported away.
"Their speed is so fast!" Shigure was shocked and immediately chased after the figure.
"Catch!" The figure seemed to throw a kunai. Shigure immediately observed that there was something on the kunai, so he grabbed it.
A large character "waterfall" (Taki) was written on the white strip of paper, followed by a line of smaller text.
"The location of the underground exchange house." Shigure read it aloud, and looking up, the white figure had long since disappeared.
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