Chapter – 32: The First Ransom

"No, I am not sure of it yet, but it does seem suspicious and I am not able to completely believe that it is just for the money," Shikaku shakes his head, "Does Jiraiya-sama have some more information about this group called Nazo?"

"No," Hiruzen shakes his head. Just as he was about to continue, a toad appears on his desk with a puff. Turning towards the Hokage, the toad spits out a message scroll and disappears as swiftly as it came.

Surprised at receiving another message from Jiraiya so soon, Hiruzen makes a hand seal to unlock the scroll and starts to read the contents.

After a few seconds of reading, he says with a long sigh, "Another message from Jiraiya! As always, it seems you are spot on in your analysis, Shikaku! Some time ago, an anonymous person announced a bounty in the underworld for these kidnappings. It seems according to the bounty, the kidnappers can keep the ransom money and on successful completion, they can collect the bounty as well. Seeing such an amazing opportunity to make money the Nazo seems to have taken the task."

Shikaku sighs as well, "Not a good news for us at all! Hokage-sama did Jiraiya-sama get any details on the bounty?"

"I know what you want to ask Shikaku, there seems to have been no mention of what to do with those that got kidnapped in the bounty…" Hiruzen shakes his head.

"Hokage-sama, you don't have to lose hope! Actually them not saying anything is actually good for us!" says Shikaku with a smile.

"How so?" this time the question is from Fugaku who had been silent this whole time.

"It's simple actually, for this kind of a bounty, the more everyone knows the worse it is for the one putting it! The anonymous person who posted this bounty definitely has a motive and if I am right, he will have met the Nazo after they took the bounty to explain it to them. If it is the other villages, they might try to get Seishiro-sama to their side. Even if it's not one of the hidden villages, they are still doing this for a purpose as no one is foolish enough to just throw their money away. If we can find that purpose, we can find the children!" says Shikaku, "And I am pretty sure, it's not done by the other villages!"

"Oh, how confident are you?" asks Hiruzen.

"I will not say 100% as that would be just a lie. Still, I am pretty confident."

"Why?" asks Fugaku again curious as to what makes Shikaku so confident.

"Because it's not worth it! Currently, all of the hidden villages are preparing for war and nobody is foolish enough to drain their funds prematurely, even a tiny bit of it. If they do, they might win the battle but will definitely lose the war," smiles Shikaku turning towards him.

"That's good enough, Shikaku!" says Hiruzen, "The main question is, what should we do now?"

Fugaku just looks towards Shikaku who says, "Hokage-sama, if the kidnappers want to maximize their chances of getting ransom, they will call upon all four parents at the same time. We already know they have the men to do it from the kidnappings themselves. That will cause us to split our already thin forces into four if want to catch all of them, giving them opportunities to escape with the money. The Nazo should know we will be out looking for them, so if they do it one at a time, they will have to face our full forces four times. But if money is not their motive, they will do it one at a time so they can concentrate forces to achieve their goal too."

As their plans to confront Nazo were about to be finalized, a shadow bursts into the room and kneels down in front of Hiruzen shouting with urgency, "Report!"

"Hokage-sama, the businessman Kurata Hoshiko has just left his house. He carrying a black trash bag and is alone. I believe the kidnappers have already contacted him."

"Who is tailing him?" asks Shikaku.

"Wolf is keeping watch."

Each and everyone in the room wanted to go and tail the man. But if they do so, how can they be hidden. If at some point the kidnapper notices them, all will be wasted. They cannot do anything risky, at least until they haven't gotten the kids back. Therefore, only one anbu was sent to monitor each parent except Hayashi Seishiro. They sent an entire squad of anbu to that place.

"Good, quickly take an anbu squad and reinforce him. I want to know where the Nazo are hiding!"

As the anbu along with a full anbu squad rushes to the other anbu codenamed wolf, they see him staring dumbfoundedly at a trash bin. Just by looking at him, even with his mask on, one could tell how lost and stupefied he was.

"Oye Wolf! what happened?" asks one anbu in a weird cat mask.

"Let's go, I will report everything to Hokage-sama, you will know there," says Wolf and shunshins away.

** Hokage office **

Hiruzen, Shikaku, and Fugaku were all eagerly waiting for the anbus to report back. They didn't have to wait for long before an anbu in a wolf mask shunshins into the office.

Looking at him, he has no idea why but Shikaku has a bad feeling, "Why are you back so quickly?"

"Hokage-sama, please punish me. The mission failed!" wolf kneels and apologizes right away.

"What happened? were they too strong?"

"No, it's not that I wasn't strong enough," wolf shakes his head, "More like I wasn't smart enough, I didn't even get to see them at all!"

"Don't make riddles, tell us exactly what happened," says Fugaku sternly.

"Hai Fugaku-san," bows wolf and continues, "When I saw Hoshiko-san leave his house with a bag alone, I sent a message to Hokage-sama and started to follow him. A few minutes later, Hoshiko-san dropped the bag he was carrying inside a trash bin in the outskirts of the village and left. I sent a shadow clone after him just in case he faces danger and started to wait for the kidnapper to show up near the trash bin. After some time, a strange hooded person collected that trash bag and started running away. Seeing the kidnapper running away with the money, I quickly followed after him. After sprinting for some time, the hooded figure came to a halt and disappeared suddenly turning into water. I knew I had been fooled and quickly took the trash bag to check if money was still there but it was empty, filled with tree leaves."

"Realizing my mistake, I rushed back at full speed towards the trash bin, but when I arrived it was already too late as the trash bin was empty too."

Shikaku shaking his head says, "The kidnapper is smart alright. He must have placed a similar trash bag filled with leaves even before Hoshiko-san came. Then he sent a water clone to pick up the bag with leaves and run for you to follow. After you left, he easily took the money and went on his merry way! Hokage-sama, this time they acted way too fast, so as to not allow us to send reinforcements or even think of a decent plan of action against them…"

** some time ago near the exchange point **

After the anbu chased after the water clone, another hooded figure appeared next to the bin and picked up the bag with money, and disappeared.

What neither the anbu nor the kidnapper noticed, was a pitch-black crow sitting on a wall nearby. If they had observed carefully they would have asked, what kind of crow would be sitting on the wall at midnight?

After both of them left, the crow disappears with a puff of smoke.