Kidnapping Case

19 years later.

"Then I will go."

Hiruzen showed respect. As time went on, he was no longer the hot-blooded youth he used to be, but became a calculating adult.

"Go, I won't accompany you."

Ars waved his hand to shoo him away and treated the Third Hokage casually.

Even so, Hiruzen was not angry and left the house.

"Hufttt~... More and more people are disappearing, huh. Since detection magic doesn't detect intruders, the culprit is an insider."

Exhaling smoke, Ars placed the half-smoked cigarette into the ashtray and read the document Hiruzen handed to him.

The document contains a list of names of people who have mysteriously disappeared in the last three months.

If it were an ordinary missing person's case, Hiruzen would not have asked Ars, who incidentally was a Guardian, for help. However, after deploying the Military Police Force and Anbu, there hasn't been the slightest hint of the whereabouts of those missing.

At first, only the civilians disappeared, but as time passed, even the people from the big clans disappeared as well.

This incident enraged the members of the missing clan, because the missing people included famous clans like the Senju Clan, Uchiha, Hyuga, Sarutobi, etc.

At least, hundreds of people disappeared within three months. Now Konoha is imposing a curfew and not allowing residents to leave their homes until 9:30 p.m.

"This is weird... I don't remember this happening in the plot, and this event was never told. Could this be the butterfly effect I caused?"

Ars touched the Tailed Beast Suppressing Necklace on his neck. Besides the Kyubi, he has captured and sealed other Bijuu.

"Wait a minute, it's true that my actions have had a great impact on history, but it's not just my existence that can change historical events. Apart from me, there are other Reincarnators in Konoha. Could all of this be Lin Fan's doing? But what is he kidnapping people for?"

After three years of observing, Ars came to the conclusion that Yamanaka Lin Fan was not a threat to Konoha, so he was no longer spying on him. So he didn't know what the other party was doing recently.

"There's no point in speculating without evidence, the most important thing right now is to find the culprit behind the kidnapping incident."

Glancing at the clock on the wall, it shows 3 p.m.

"There is still time before night, let's try and see how Lin Fan's life is."

Ars closed his eyes and used [Magic Sense].

His senses spread rapidly over the entire Konoha. Except for a few special places that Kekkai (Barriers) had set up, nothing had escaped his scrutiny.

Most of the major clans installed Kekkai, so Ars couldn't peek at their residence.

"Nothing strange was found. Maybe the perpetrators were more careful after the security increased. Well, since I have nothing to do, there's nothing wrong with maintaining this condition."

After all, Ars is NEET (Unemployed). He couldn't go out for a few months to a few years, and with the food resources in [Storage Magic], he didn't need to go buy food.

"I can't believe I can't find the mastermind behind this kidnapping." Ars said indifferently.

...

A week has passed.

Perhaps because the Military Police Force frequently patrolled and the Anbu hid in the dark, for a while there were no more missing people.

It wasn't until the 10th day, when everyone's tense nerves started to loosen up, that the culprit finally made his move.

At 11 p.m. While most people were sleeping, a suspicious figure infiltrated the Hyuga Clan residence.

That person was wearing a robe that concealed the shape of his body, and had an animal mask covering his face. He looks like an Anbu at first glance, but his behavior is suspicious, and he doesn't look like he's up to anything good.

Coming into one of the rooms, he walked silently into the bedroom. Quickly, he covered the sleeping woman's mouth and knocked her unconscious.

Putting the woman on his shoulder, he then used [Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)] to leave the place.

His mastery of [Shunshin no Jutsu] is extraordinary. Neither the Military Police Force nor the Anbu were aware of his actions, and in no time he was back at his hiding location.

That person had complete faith in his abilities and believed that no one else could track him down.

However, he doesn't realize all of his actions are under the tutelage of Konohagakure's Hidden Guardian.

At Ars' house.

Ars opened his eyes, and his expression was so calm that one could not tell what he was thinking.

"So it really is him! He had been well behaved all along, but why did he start doing bad things? Never mind, it's better to see with your own eyes."

Using [Stealth], he instantly teleported to the Yamanaka Clan's residence.

Apart from [Kekkai] to disturb the senses, there are several other types of [Kekkai] such as alarm, trap, illusion, etc.

He used [Limitless] to distort space. As a result, Ars managed to pass all [Kekkai] safely.

The Yamanaka clan is famous for spirit-oriented Jutsu, so he didn't use [Magic Sense] so as not to be sensed by anyone.

With a speed of Mach 100, Ars checked all the available rooms in just five seconds, and he found Lin Fan's bedroom, but no one was there.

(There should be a trigger mechanism to open a hidden room.) Ars thought while trying several things like changing the order of the books on the shelves, shifting the paintings, and so on.

Finally, he found what he was looking for as he knocked on the tatami floor.

(Only this tatami made a strange sound as if it were empty on the other side.)

And sure enough, when Ars pulled the tatami, he saw that there were steps leading underground.

(Well, given that this world's civilization isn't very advanced, it's only natural that the hidden room doesn't have a proper security system.)

Going downstairs, he didn't forget to close the secret entrance, and descended the stairs in a hovering manner so as not to make the slightest sound.

The darkness of the road didn't disturb his vision, because Ars had [Night Vision] magic.

After two minutes of going downstairs, he saw a room that was 30 square meters wide.

In that room, there was a middle-aged man with blond hair. In front of him was a long table, and on it lay a woman.

The middle-aged man was none other than Yamanaka Lin Fan.

Seeing that Lin Fan was undergoing eye removal surgery, Ars didn't rush into action, because the woman had already died. So there was no use for him showing up, it was better to watch from the sidelines and determine the other party's goals.

(Did he want to graft the Byakugan into his eyes? Not true, this is not the first time a Hyuga Clan member has disappeared, that means Lin Fan has already obtained the Byakugan, so why would he kidnap another Hyuga Clan member? On the other hand, what was his motive for kidnapping so many people?)

(Let's watch some more.)

With his current strength, Lin Fan was no match for him. Ars could defeat him whenever he wanted, and he wanted to know the other party's purpose for doing all this.