Naruto : Shadow King

It took 2 hours for that divine dog to completely tack down the scent. He was slow and taking time but I am surprised that he even found them.

It was inside a forest, pretty deep if I have to say something about it. At first, I thought they lost their way in the forest or suspected wild animals but over 20 kids!

It's definitely someone's doing. So I was cautious when approaching and even kept the divine dog as calm as possible.

But unfortunately for me, by the time I got there, they were already gone. To be more exact, they were gone for some time. 

"Sigh, all this for nothing."

"Woff."

Those children got kidnapped over 4 days ago. And though I am not Geralt Of Rivia but I have played the game enough to know what to look for to find tracks.

Whoever did this, they were good at hiding their tacks. I couldn't find anything, to my untrained eyes It was nothing but dirt, roots and leaves.

But they might hide from my eyes, but not from the noses of my dogs.

With his help, I masterfully found a few tracks. Like the faint saint of human waste. The scent of Alcohol in the air and the little bit of black ash lying around the place.

And if nothing indicate that someone was here, then the location itself gave them out, this place, was deep in the forest and completely covered and yet open enough to run away or form an ambush. Almost perfect for a small group to hide.

Sigh.

"My best estimate is that they left on the same day they kidnap those kids."

"Woff."

…

But this still doesn't make sense, why the mission was posted so late, from the village Konoha is only at a distance of 3 hours. Even if they didn't leave the village at night, they at least should have posted a request on the next day.

Why didn't they?

I ponder and then suddenly something clicks inside my head. I immediately took out the request paper and read it.

"Reward 15,000 Ryo."

So that's why.

Normal D rank mission starts from 5,000 Ryo and can go up to an absurd 50,000 Ryo, though the high number is only because Daimiyo's wife pays good money to find her cat. No matter how irritating, if the mission pays well why wouldn't someone do it, in fact, I almost see a conspiracy from the village side regarding that cat. Maybe that a Ninja Cat train to run away was given to her just to extract money?

Whatever!

15,000 Ryo is not even half when it comes to a C-rank mission. Those Missions should start from somewhere 40,000 Ryo at the minimum.

This explains why it's been so long since those kidnappers went away, it's not like the villagers requested late but just no one took the mission. Anyone can earn 15,000 Ryo by doing a simple D rank mission. Why would they leave village and do something so troublesome?

But…

By no means do those poor villagers look like they can afford a real C-rank mission pay. Sigh…

"It's a failed mission. Let's go."

"Woo."

I look back, it wasn't a woof which I was expecting.

"What ?"

"Woof." Dog Woof as he looked in the direction where the tacks lead to like he knew exactly where they had gone.

"I understand you wants to help but they left 4 days ago. There is no way that we can catch up with them." I said as I looked in the direction leading to where the forest ends.

The Dog didn't do anything after that, only look at me in the eyes.

…

Man, I have no reason to continue this mission anymore. I am not getting enough money for this kind of mission, with this kidnapper in the scene its this mission is not even anymore C rank. I have no idea if I can even reach to them if I move out now, even if I reach them, god knows how much time it gonna take me and more than anything, I have no idea whether I am even ready for something like this, fighting bandits to some degree might be possible but shinobi. I just returned back to the village.

But 20 Kids…

They took 20 Kids…

Looking back at the dog I only stared at his eyes, like the dog was waiting for something like a command he stood there staring at me.

.

.

.

Finally, I couldn't stop myself, maybe I could have gone back but I knew I would have regrated. I can't just leave those kids there.

So with the dog leading the way I bolted away trying to catch the group of those kidnappers.

It was wise of me to get a map of the entire place when I leave the village. I mostly got it so I don't get lost but it comes in handy one way or other.

From this isolated village, there are many routes, at first I thought that they are trafficking those kids in the capital, which is not that unusual, without any particular body or authority to check their power, those damn nobles have become so corrupt that now they do anything they like. Very similar to those Celestial Dragons from One Piece, its just not that extensive here. I am not even surprise, power corrupts and those weak willed people who have not earn their power like shinobi, are degenerated to the core.

But they weren't going towards the capital. Meaning they are taking this kids not exactly to make them slaves. Kind of make sense, if those nobles wanted then why would they go after some kids, surely they demand beautiful women.

So the real question is though where exactly this people taking this kids ?

I repeatably check in the map but I found nothing. The route they took is not even moving towards a town, just leads further away from the civilization.

If this people are not working for some third grade human trafficker, then who the fuck I am going after ?

xxx

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