Under Shibi Aburame's comfort, Hayata's emotions finally stabilized, and he began to recount the details regarding his daughter.
"My daughter went missing about half a month ago."
"On the very afternoon I sent the tip-off letter to Konoha Village, I returned home and didn't find my daughter."
"Initially, I wasn't too worried, thinking Heko had just gone out to play with friends, but..."
"But when dinnertime came and Heko still hadn't come home, I realized something had happened to her."
"After the incident, I asked neighbors in the area to help me search, but... but..."
"I beg you, if you are ninjas, you must have a way to help me, please!" As he spoke, Hayata's emotions spiraled out of control again, with tears streaming down his face. Despite being a man, the thought of his daughter's unknown fate made it impossible for him to suppress his distress.
"Missing, huh..."
Missing persons... this was a common occurrence in these chaotic times. Most likely, she had been abducted by human traffickers.
Since she was a girl, Konoha Village often received requests for locating missing people. But the chances of those missions succeeding were extremely slim. Human traffickers would never linger in the area after an abduction.
Even if a ninja was hired and managed to find a few clues, searching for the person was still like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Furthermore, based on Hayata's own account, if his daughter had been missing for half a month, any potential traces would have been washed away or covered by time. It was virtually impossible to find someone who had been missing for so long.
Although Shibi Aburame had already concluded, he didn't want to further demoralize the weeping father.
"Could you show us a photo of your daughter?"
"During the mission, we will certainly help keep an eye out for her."
Upon hearing this, Hayata immediately jumped to his feet and stumbled into a bedroom. A moment later, he returned with a photo album.
"This, this is my daughter, thank you, thank you!!!"
"If you can find her, I will surely repay you well!"
"Thank you! Thank you!"
Having heard "thank you" countless times from Hayata, Shibi Aburame looked at the man before him with a sigh, then accepted the photo album. At the same time, Shinichi, Shisui, and Guy all looked at the photo in Shibi's hands.
They knew the hope was faint, but seeing Hayata's distress, even as strangers, they were moved by his emotion. If possible, they also wanted to contribute what little effort they could.
The photo showed a round-faced girl with twin pigtails and a radiant smile. Although she was young and innocent, her features were delicate and could certainly be called beautiful. Seeing the girl's looks, Shibi Aburame's expectations sank even lower. Was beauty truly a good thing for a woman? At least, in this era and within a family like this, Shibi didn't believe it. She was easily targeted and could not protect herself.
Sighing softly, Shibi Aburame handed the photo back:
"Tell us about the group of bandits you discovered."
"Perhaps it is connected to your daughter's disappearance."
"After all, the timing is quite a coincidence."
Shibi Aburame asked this disingenuously. He didn't actually believe the two matters were connected; he was just trying to gather information and console the distraught father.
"You're right! Those two things must be related!"
"That group gave themselves away while eating at my restaurant!"
"The specific situation is...."
It turned out that Hayata's main profession was a restaurant owner. About half a month ago, his restaurant had hosted a group of outsiders who dined and dashed, threatening Hayata with death if he dared to protest.
This group, seemingly to underscore their strength, even loudly boasted about their impressive "combat record." After they left, Hayata immediately wrote a letter to Konoha Village. Konoha had already sent an operative to investigate and verify, confirming their identities, and then the mission landed in the hands of Shibi Aburame's squad.
It was not a very complicated mission, but the only difficulty was determining the bandits' hideout. And there was no guarantee they were still even in the city. The Village was short on manpower, and the ninja who initially did the reconnaissance had already been dispatched on another mission and hadn't tracked the group.
Having listened to the entire story, Shinichi only felt trouble. The intelligence provided by both this man and the Village was incomplete.
He had assumed that leaving the Village would simply mean fighting a quick battle and returning, but he didn't expect that the Village had not even pinned down the enemy's location. Do we have to find the enemy ourselves?!
Hmm... perhaps this was precisely why Minato assigned them this mission? Information gathering and reconnaissance, followed by combat? Maybe the mission's focus was on the first two phases?
Although Shinichi generally understood the objective of the mission, he still felt aimless. Searching for a group of hidden bandits in such a large city was like looking for a needle in a haystack!
"Captain Shibi, I believe I don't have time to waste on this kind of thing."
"Please allow me to leave first."
"If the bandit group's whereabouts are confirmed, I will not be absent from the battle."
Hyūga Shinichi had roughly grasped the full context of the situation and had no motivation to continue with such a mission.
His actual worries were powerful enemies like Obito and Madara. For him, increasing his combat power was the absolute priority.
He came out on this trip to gain combat experience, and he didn't want to squander valuable training time on this. More importantly, he didn't believe they could find any results quickly. As he spoke, Shinichi stood up and walked toward the door, completely ignoring the stunned Shibi Aburame.
"Hey, Shinichi?" Shibi Aburame wanted to stop Shinichi, but then he thought about what the young man had said and swallowed his words. The Hyūga Main Family.... Yes, how could the Hyūga Main Family waste time on such a thing?!
"Phew..."
"I apologize, my teammate is a little impatient."
"Please don't take it personally." Shibi Aburame apologized to Hayata, then signaled to Might Guy with his eyes. Guy understood and immediately stood up to follow Shinichi.
"Although leaving like this isn't very team-spirited, executing a mission like this is simply wasting my time."
"With powerful enemies like Obito and Madara lurking, I'm wasting time on something so trivial."
"This is really...." Shinichi, who had left Hayata's house, walked alone in the dim alley, feeling frustrated.
"Tap... tap..."
Just as Shinichi was preparing to head back to the temple, a faint sound of footsteps came from behind him. Sensing the steps, Shinichi suddenly stopped, his expression growing serious:
"Heh..."
"It looks like my luck isn't bad after all..."
Hyūga Shinichi slowly turned around, just in time to see the opening of a dark sack being thrust toward his head.
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