Chapter 42: Police Department Manhunt, Konoha’s Number One Thief
Konoha Commercial Street, Tenten Ten Ninja Tool Shop.
Because a month ago, the ninja tool shop was inexplicably stolen from, losing ninja tools worth thirty million, Tenten’s parents had been dealing with ninjas from the Konoha Military Police Force this whole time.
“This is the current investigation result, that’s about it.” Uchiha Yashiro, with brown short hair, wearing a jonin vest, and having a pair of squinted eyes, brought two Uchiha members and handed the final investigation result to Tenten’s parents.
Although the shopkeeper couple of Tenten Ten Ninja Tool Shop were not ninjas, they had family influence behind them, and their family was famous for being skilled in ninja tool crafting.
This ninja tool shop theft resulted in the loss of ninja tools worth thirty million, which was no small amount; those ninja tools were enough to sustain the consumption of a localized small-scale war in wartime.
Even for a Konoha jonin like Asuma, who had taken responsibility for guarding the Twelve Guardian Ninjas, his bounty on the black market was only thirty-five million taels.
Therefore, the ninja tool shop theft case could be called the largest theft case since the founding of Konoha, and the Konoha Military Police Force paid special attention to it, deploying an investigation team led by jonin Uchiha Yashiro and consisting of several chunin.
However, after a month of meticulous investigation, they still hadn’t found any clues about the thief.
And this investigation result was actually just a record of the Military Police Force’s investigation process, with no conclusion at all.
Tenten’s parents’ red and swollen eyes stared dead at the investigation report handed over by Uchiha Yashiro: “Is that all?”
No suspicious persons found, and no criminals caught, so the losses would have to be borne by them alone.
Uchiha Yashiro shook his head somewhat reluctantly: “We’ll leave it at this for now. If there are any other clues later, you can come to the Military Police Force anytime. If we have new investigation results, we’ll notify you right away.”
After all, losing ninja tools worth thirty million taels was an astronomical sum for most ninjas.
Even for Tenten’s family, it was painful.
Apart from the clan’s own ninja tool forging base, this ninja tool shop in Konoha had the largest stock, and now a huge chunk worth thirty million had been stolen all at once; it would take Tenten’s family a long time to recover.
“Mommy…” Four-year-old Tenten, with two dango buns on her head, looked at her hugging and sobbing parents, somewhat at a loss.
Tenten clutched the hem of her mother’s clothes; she still didn’t understand why her parents were trembling over a few sheets of paper.
But the empty ninja tool cases on the shelves reminded her that the spots that should have been full of kunai and shuriken now only had dusty hooks.
Uchiha Yashiro gave a look to the two Uchiha, and the three slowly exited the ninja tool shop.
“Squad Leader Yashiro.” On the street, a Uchiha chunin raised a question to Yashiro: “That bandit was really too cunning. Closing the case in such a hurry will be hard to explain to the Head Captain.”
Yashiro was the squad leader, so subordinates naturally called him Captain outside, while the Head Captain referred to the Konoha Military Police Force’s Head Captain, Uchiha Fugaku.
“It’s not closed, just…” Uchiha Yashiro was also helpless; the scene had hardly any traces left, and after investigating for a month, they hadn’t even found many suspicious persons.
Although they caught a few suspicious persons for interrogation, none were the real culprits, so they were released later.
The Uchiha were arrogant, and as enforcers, the Military Police Force was unpopular and hated in the village, even hurt by rumors, but the Uchiha disdained framing people.
“There was one more suspicious person, but…” Uchiha Yashiro recalled his earlier conversation with Head Captain Fugaku about this case.
Head Captain Fugaku had said that on the day of the incident, a mysterious ninja had attacked the Hyuga Clan Territory, throwing the Cloud Village Special Envoy Leader’s corpse into the Hyuga Clan Territory in an attempt to frame the Hyuga Clan, leaving the two Hyuga brothers with one seriously injured and one lightly injured.
Although the Uchiha were excluded from the Konoha High Council, Clan Head Fugaku still had many channels to learn what happened that night.
Moreover, later, the Cloud Village was attacked by a mysterious ninja, and the Cloud Village and Konoha ceased war; it wasn’t some secret.
“Forget it, I’ll report to the Head Captain personally.” Yashiro shook his head, heading toward the Konoha Military Police Force building with all sorts of doubts.
The surrounding villagers saw that they were Uchiha clansmen from the Military Police Force and all showed somewhat timid expressions, especially some merchants.
As the Konoha Military Police Force responsible for maintaining internal security in Konohagakure, the Uchiha Clan essentially treated the Konoha Military Police Force as their private property, and they were known for their cold, impartial enforcement.
Add to that Danzō that old schemer spreading rumors, and the Third Hokage playing deaf and dumb.
This led to the Konoha villagers having major grievances against the Uchiha Clan of the Military Police Force.
Maintaining internal security was thankless work to begin with; no matter what they did, someone would be dissatisfied.
When the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju established the Konoha Military Police Force and handed it to the Uchiha Clan to manage, there was surely a reason of trusting Uchiha Kagami involved.
But wasn’t it also a deliberate way to keep the Uchiha Clan at a distance from ordinary villagers and small-to-medium ninja clans?
After returning to the Konoha Military Police Force building, Uchiha Yashiro let his two subordinates move freely, while he himself went to the Head Captain’s office.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
After the knocking, Fugaku’s voice came from inside the office.
“Come in.”
Creak—
“Head Captain.” Uchiha Yashiro entered Fugaku’s office and placed an investigation report in front of Fugaku.
“The Tenten Ten Ninja Tool Shop theft case will be left like this for now; we really can’t find the culprit, or rather…” Yashiro’s unique patterns on either side of his eyes furrowed slightly, his face full of worry.
“Mm, good work.” Fugaku didn’t blame Yashiro, just nodded.
“Since there are no other suspects, list ‘Shura’ as a suspect target and report to Hokage-sama.” Fugaku’s face darkened as he looked at the investigation report on the desk.
“But, a strong practitioner like that, why would he steal ninja tools?” Yashiro raised his own doubt.
Although those ninja tools were worth thirty million, for a strong practitioner of this level, even if he wanted money, there were plenty of other paths, and only this one ninja tool shop was stolen; there were still several others in Konoha Village that weren’t.
Moreover, according to the investigation, the losses at this ninja tool shop were just some kunai, shuriken, explosive tags, sealing scrolls, etc., with the most expensive being those dozen sealing scrolls worth nearly ten million.
“Who knows.” Fugaku was also extremely puzzled.
While the two were discussing how to report to Hokage-sama and put out a bounty on this big thief, there was another knock at the door.
“Head Captain!” A Uchiha chunin who had gone to Tenten Ten Ninja Tool Shop with Yashiro earlier pushed the door open and entered.
He brought a shocking piece of news: “The boss of Tenten Ten Ninja Tool Shop came to report a case! They found a box in the basement with thirty million taels in banknotes!”
“What!” Fugaku, who had been sitting in his chair, suddenly stood up.
Yashiro’s always-squinted eyes also suddenly widened.
A ninja who could come and go freely in Konohagakure without anyone knowing!
That guy called ‘Shura’! He’s come again?!
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