Chapter 81: A Red-Haired Man Who Can Spit Out Gold Coins?
Asuka rested his chin against the back of his chair and looked curiously at the village chief.
"If those red-haired monsters threatened you, why didn't you run away? Or notify Konoha?"
"This, this…"
The village chief tugged at his hair and stammered for a long time, but couldn't get the words out.
Seeing through the village chief's obvious attempt to hide something, Asuka shrugged.
"Old man, if you don't tell me everything, it'll be difficult for me to help you solve the problem."
"And you still haven't reported this to Konoha. There must obviously be something fishy going on."
"Haah…"
The village chief hesitated.
Then he let out a deep sigh and pointed toward the mountains south of the village.
"One day, three years ago, a villager went into the mountains to hunt and discovered those red-haired monsters inside a cave on the southern mountain."
"They were running through the forest. Their red hair hung over their faces, making it impossible to see their features clearly. Even their hair seemed to move on its own."
"At first, we planned to notify Konoha. But unexpectedly, those monsters came to our homes in the middle of the night and threatened us door to door, telling us not to reveal their whereabouts."
At this point, the old man suddenly stood up and slapped the table.
"Three years ago, I was only seventy-seven! I was still in the prime of my life, full of energy! How could I possibly be intimidated by a bunch of monsters?"
"Despite my family's objections, I was determined to notify Konoha."
Asuka raised an eyebrow.
Konoha hadn't received a single report about these red-haired monsters in the past three years.
"Old man, get to the point."
"Oh~"
Seeing that the ninja-sama wasn't interested in his passionate story, the village chief smacked his lips, sat back down, and continued.
"Unfortunately, my five-year-old grandson clung tightly to me. Otherwise, I would have gone to Konoha three years ago."
"Heh."
Asuka gave a cold laugh, completely unwilling to fall for the old man's trick.
He suspected that if he let the old man say one more word, the fellow would drag him into an all-day conversation.
"At the time, those red-haired monsters went door to door asking us to provide them with food."
"How could I agree to give food to people of unknown origin?"
The old man suddenly stood up again, pointing toward the villagers outside with a look of disappointment.
"But all of this happened because of these short-sighted people who had never seen much money."
"When they saw the money the red-haired monsters gave them, all thoughts of reporting them disappeared."
"They gave the monsters food, satisfying the monsters' needs while also selling their food at a good price."
"It was a perfect win-win—"
Before the village chief could finish, Asuka tapped the back of his chair and asked in confusion,
"So you went along with those villagers and sold them grain for three years?"
"Not exactly."
The village chief stroked the two white hairs on top of his head, then held up two fingers toward Asuka without changing his expression.
"Two and a half years. Just two and a half years."
"For the past six months, ever since we handed over our grain, those monsters stopped giving us money."
"At first, we could barely make ends meet with the money those monsters had given us."
"But now, we genuinely can't survive anymore."
"Last night, I was so hungry that I even vaguely saw my father coming to take me away."
Asuka nodded, his expression thoughtful.
Those monsters were most likely remnants of the Uzumaki clan.
And because these villagers were greedy for money, they hadn't reported the matter to Konoha.
But…
He had never heard that the Uzumaki clan had a habit of kidnapping children.
With that thought, Asuka stared at the old man and continued asking,
"How did you connect those Uzumaki… red-haired monsters with the children who disappeared from the village?"
Gulp.
The village chief swallowed.
Fear suddenly filled his eyes.
"After they stopped giving us money three months ago, we had no intention of giving them grain anymore."
"But then, several families in the village mysteriously had their children disappear."
"Wasn't that a silent threat?"
"So we fed them grain for another three months."
"No children disappeared during those three months."
"But now, there isn't even a single grain of food left in the village. Even the wild vegetables have all been distributed."
"We can only ask the Konoha ninja-sama for help now."
Only then did Asuka finally understand the whole situation.
A group of Uzumaki remnants had come here and exchanged food with these villagers.
Judging by the fact that the villagers hadn't reported them to Konoha, the amount of money they had offered must have been considerable.
If the Uzumaki remnants hadn't potentially run into financial difficulties over the past six months, these villagers probably wouldn't have revealed anything.
"Ninja-sama!"
Seeing Asuka suddenly fall silent, the village chief cautiously called out.
He also knew that he had concealed important information during this mission.
If the enemy were shinobi or something similar, a hidden village would normally classify such a mission as a high-paying B-rank mission.
But…
They didn't have enough money to commission a B-rank mission.
"Teacher."
Hyuga Hanabi looked at Asuka hesitantly and said in a low voice,
"This mission seems to be beyond our capabilities. Should we abandon it?"
"Haah."
Asuka suddenly sighed.
Then he turned toward Hanabi, who was standing beside him, and ordered,
"Hanabi, prepare for battle."
"Huh? Yes!"
"Ninja-sama."
The village chief looked at Asuka, who had stood up, his eyes filled with tears.
"Are you really going to drive those monsters away for us?"
Asuka scratched his head and glanced at the strange old man.
He silently replied,
"I don't intend to drive the monsters away."
"The monsters have already come here."
"Besides, I've already written your village down in my little notebook and put it on my blacklist."
With that, he stood up and walked out the door.
Just now, he had sensed a chakra signature rapidly approaching the village.
The chakra was coming from due south.
If what the village chief had said was true, there had to be at least one jōnin among the Uzumaki remnants.
Taking three genin and running away would be quite difficult.
Night fell.
The sky gradually darkened.
In a mountain village without streetlights, the darkness was considerably deeper than elsewhere.
"Hm?"
Hyuga Hanabi used her Byakugan to observe the area ahead.
She narrowed her eyes and looked toward the roof at the village entrance.
A slender red figure had appeared there.
Against the dark background, that blood-red hair was enough to send chills down one's spine.
"Red… A red-haired monster."
The villagers were sitting outside the village chief's house, digesting their food.
When they saw a figure whose hair floated despite the absence of wind, they all screamed in terror.
"There!"
Hyuga Hanabi pointed toward the roof and shouted.
Then she casually threw the kunai in her hand.
Bang!
The kunai embedded itself deeply into the wooden roof.
But the red figure had already disappeared.
The next moment, Hanabi's pupils suddenly contracted.
She saw the red figure appear directly in front of her.
Bang!
A sharp pain erupted in her chest, and her entire body was sent flying backward.
"All of you…"
After dealing with the Byakugan user, the figure in red glanced at Uzuki Yugao and Iruka.
Then his gaze locked onto the village chief.
His voice was low.
"You actually called Konoha shinobi."
The moment his words fell, the red figure disappeared again.
He appeared directly in front of Uzuki Yugao.
A pale palm was raised high, aimed straight at her neck.
Bang!
The instant the palm struck her neck, a wisp of white smoke rose into the air.
The red figure glanced at the shattered green log, then swept past it, bypassing the wooden replacement created by the Substitution Technique and appearing directly in front of Iruka.
At this moment.
Iruka's hand holding the kunai was trembling.
This monster was simply too strong.
So strong that he couldn't even summon the courage to resist.
The first time he had encountered an enemy shinobi had been inside Konoha.
He knew that if he caused enough commotion, someone would come to help him.
But now…
Crack!
It was over!
It was over!
He muttered those words twice before subconsciously shaking his head.
"Hm?"
It seemed…
Everything was fine?
With that thought, he opened his eyes and looked ahead.
When he saw the tall figure standing in front of him, Iruka immediately became excited.
"Teacher Asuka!"
"Teacher?"
The figure in red looked at the Konoha shinobi who had grabbed his arm.
His pupils contracted slightly.
So this really was an Uzumaki remnant!
Asuka glanced at his opponent's blood-red hair and frowned.
Then he looked behind him.
"A group of Uzumaki remnants, and only one person came down?"
When he had sensed that chakra signature earlier, he had searched the village for the other members of the group.
It seemed there was only one person who had come down.