Chapter 15.3- One Thousand Hands

We ended up entering into the town with no fanfare. Uzume was still fuming, Shika was still exasperated, and Toshiro was just as amused as I was. We did a good job of just pretending to be regular civilian kids, but I could still spot the suspicion on a few faces as we walked deeper into the town, towards the mayor’s office. Of course they were suspicious. Looking around the faces of the children in this town told me that we’d had no chance in hell of blending in with the truly perceptive. Not a single one of them looked even relatively well-fed. Sure, they weren’t emaciated or anything, but there was a clear malnutrition in their bodies that was clear to my eyes. They were just too thin in certain places as they ran around the village, shirtless. One lesson was learned then. Gato might have caused a lot of suffering in the Land of Waves, but the poverty had existed long before he ever got in.

When we finally arrived at the place, Toshiro was the one to knock on the door before stepping in almost immediately to avoid drawing too much attention. The rest of us did the same, and the sight was…. The Mayor’s office had a small secretary’s office and waiting area which we found empty and bypassed immediately. If only we’d thought more about that. Because we entered the office proper to the sight of… Well, it was coitus. Two people mid-coitus. One was attractive, and the other, decidedly not-so.

“Who are you?” The Mayor screamed as he scrambled to cover himself.

“You asked for Konoha shinobi” I said, taking point when I noticed that the others seemed a bit too shocked to string sentences together.

“Shinobi, not kids” He replied instantly, even as the woman that had been pressed against the table scurried out of the room.

With a puff of smoke, I unsealed my headband and held it up before him.

“Shinobi” I confirmed.

“Oh okay then. Give me a second to compose myself please”

“Take as long as you need” I said, not taking a single step out of the room even as I felt the other’s gazes burn holes into the back of my neck. What a piece of shit. His son was missing and this was what he spent his time doing. My hatred for him was amplified as I noted the folds of fat on his midsection that he struggled to cover up with his shirt. He was fat as all hell, while his people basically starved. This was the kind of leader I’d never like. Leadership should have been all about sacrifice. Granduncle wouldn’t eat to grow fat while citizens of Konoha struggled to put enough on their plate. He wasn’t a perfect leader, but he understood that much at the very least.

Even worse for this bastard, his son was missing, and here he stood sating his lusts with a woman that was so far out of his league that there had to be some coercion of some sort involved.

When he finally collected himself, doing it under my loathful gaze, he stood with a cough.

“Uhh welcome, Konoha Shinobi” He said, we were silent in reply.

“Well, yes. The children have been returned, so the mission is unnecessary.” He said with another cough.

“The children have been returned?” Uzume asked, looking unconvinced.

“Yes they have. Turned out to be some sort of misunderstanding. Terrible business”

“So who was taking them?”

“Who?”

“Yes, Mayor. Who was kidnapping the children of your nation?” I cut in, irritated.

“Well, that. You see… Well, it was no one. They were just getting lost on their own. No need for your help. They’ve come back now”

“You said they were returned” Shikahime spoke for the first time.

“Ahh. I misspoke, you see. They found their way home. They went out to play around the caves and got lost” He said, sweat was beginning to build around his forehead now.

“Can we talk to them then?”

“Talk to who?”

“The kidnapped children, man. Keep up” I said with an irritated noise.

“Look here, I said there was no kidnapping” He began raising his voice, but it was clear he’d chosen the wrong person to attempt to intimidate.

I allowed it slide off my back and simply said, “The lost and found children then. We want to see them. Starting with your son”

“No. I said your mission is over. You should leave now”

I made to say something in reply, but Toshiro stepped over to place a hand on my shoulder while Shikahime spoke next.

“Thank you Mayor-san. We will be leaving now that it is clear we are not needed. I apologise for my teammate’s manners, he does not deal with seasickness well.” She said with a bow and began to turn around. I joined her, still unsatisfied, but not unsatisfied enough to disobey orders from my team leader in front of a client.

We walked out of the room as one and began to walk our way out of the village.

“What was that?” I asked, Shika, not able to hide the displeasure in my tone.

“Not now” She said in reply.

I kept my tongue as we walked out of the village and then into the countryside, walking further until we were completely shielded by whatever sparse vegetation was around us.

“Activate your byakugan, Shori. Make sure we’re not being watched” She said, and I did so with a thought.

Scanning our surroundings, I couldn’t make out a single other human within my range so I nodded at her to say we were free to talk.

“Something stinks about this” Toshiro said first.

“Something? The whole fucking pot stinks to high heaven” I said in reply.

“Yes, you’re right. The Mayor was lying”

“No shit, sherlock”

“Huh? Who’s ‘Sherlock’?”

“Just a word. Nevermind that” I said, turning away from Uzume who had just spoken to Shika.

“So what do we do?”

A/N; Slow down, man at work.