Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: The TenTenTen Ninja Tool Heist
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Konoha Commercial Street, TenTenTen Ninja Tool Shop.
A month ago, someone inexplicably stole more than half the shop's ninja tools, a loss worth thirty million ryō. Tenten's parents had been dealing with ninja from the Konoha Military Police Force this whole time.
"This is the current status of the investigation. That's about it."
Uchiha Yashiro, a brown-haired man in his twenties wearing a jonin vest and sporting a pair of perpetually squinting eyes, handed the final investigation report to Tenten's parents alongside two other Uchiha clansmen.
The owners of TenTenTen Ninja Tool Shop weren't ninja themselves, but they had a family backing them—a clan renowned for crafting ninja tools.
This theft had cost them thirty million ryō in ninja tools—a massive sum. In wartime, that amount could sustain a small-scale local conflict.
Even Asuma, a jonin who had once served with the Twelve Guardian Ninja, only carried a black market bounty of thirty-five million ryō at his peak.
Thus, the ninja tool shop robbery was the biggest theft in Konoha's history since its founding. The Konoha Military Police Force took it especially seriously, deploying an investigative team led by jonin Uchiha Yashiro and several chunin.
Yet after a full month of meticulous investigation, they still hadn't uncovered a single lead on the thief.
And this so-called "final report" was little more than a log of the Police Force's investigative process—no conclusions whatsoever.
Tenten's parents stared at the report Yashiro handed them, their eyes red and swollen.
"Is that really all there is?"
No suspects identified, no culprit caught. They'd have to shoulder the losses themselves.
Yashiro shook his head, a hint of sympathy in his eyes.
"We'll have to close the case for now. But if any new leads come up, feel free to contact the Police Force anytime. We'll notify you the moment we have updates."
A thirty-million-ryō loss was an astronomical figure for most ninja.
Even for Tenten's clan, it hurt badly.
Apart from their main forging base, this Konoha shop held the largest stockpile—and now a third of it was gone in one go. It would take the family ages to recover.
"Mommy..."
Four-year-old Tenten, her hair tied into two little buns, watched her parents cling to each other and sob, at a complete loss.
Tenten clutched at her mother's clothes, not understanding why her parents were trembling over a few sheets of paper.
But the empty shelves told the tale—the racks that should have brimmed with kunai and shuriken now bore only dusty hooks.
Yashiro shot a look at the two Uchiha with him, and the trio slowly exited the ninja tool shop.
"Captain Yashiro."
On the street, one of the Uchiha chunin raised a question.
"That thief was way too cunning. Wrapping this up so hastily won't sit well with the Chief."
Yashiro was a squad captain, so his subordinates naturally called him "Captain" when out in public. The "Chief" referred to the overall head of the Konoha Military Police Force, Uchiha Fugaku.
"It's not closed, just..."
Even Yashiro felt helpless. The scene had barely any traces left behind. They'd investigated for a month and hadn't even pinned down many suspects.
They had rounded up a few persons of interest for questioning, but none were the real culprit, so they were released.
The Uchiha were arrogant, and as village enforcers, the Police Force was widely disliked and slandered by rumors. But they weren't the type to frame innocents just to close a case.
"There was one suspicious figure, but..."
Yashiro recalled his earlier conversation with Chief Fugaku about the case.
The chief had mentioned that on the night of the theft, a mysterious ninja had attacked the Hyuga clan compound, dumping the body of a Hidden Cloud Village envoy leader there in an attempt to frame the Hyuga. The Hyuga brothers had ended up one seriously injured, one lightly.
Though the Uchiha were shut out of Konoha's upper echelons, Clan Head Fugaku still had plenty of channels to learn what had gone down that night.
And afterward, the Hidden Cloud Village had been hit by a mysterious ninja too, leading to a ceasefire with Konoha. That wasn't exactly a secret.