Theft

"Nine tailed beasts… I'm sure Naruto is still in Konoha, and Killer Bee is still in the Village of Clouds. Yagura is here, and I'm with Shukaku," Gaara muttered to himself, his thoughts racing as he mentally listed out the tailed beasts he knew. "At least these, I'm sure of."

His mind continued to work through the possibilities. "As for the ones I'm not sure about… Matatabi should still be in the Village of Clouds, and Son Goku and Kokuo are supposed to be in the Stone Village. Saiken should also be here, but Chomei… Chomei is unknown."

After a while, Gaara came to the conclusion that he didn't have a clear answer. His cautious nature had prevented him from reaching any definitive conclusion. The lack of information gnawed at him, but he had no foolproof plan to go on.

Suddenly, a shout of pain pierced through the air, breaking his thoughts. He turned around and saw the owner of a jewelry shop on his knees, tears streaming down his face.

Temari was quick to approach him, sensing the opportunity to gather information. She gently asked what had happened, and the shop owner elaborated with distress. It seemed they had at least found one person in need of help.

The owner explained that the lock on his shop had been broken when he arrived, and as he searched around to see if anything was missing, he initially felt relief when nothing of importance seemed to be gone. However, after a day of work, he discovered that the pawn shop documents—locked away in his safe with other valuables—were gone.

Gaara frowned. "How did he only notice now?" he wondered. The shop owner explained that he hadn't had the chance to check the safe until later, and when they inspected it, they realized the theft had been carefully planned. The safe, though sturdy in appearance, had been compromised in a way that Gaara couldn't fully understand.

Gaara's gaze lingered on the vault, and his sharp eyes caught a faint detail. He thought he saw a seal on it, something that stood out to him despite his limited knowledge of sealing jutsu. "This could be important," Gaara thought, but his understanding of seals was only basic, learned from Shukaku, and didn't go deep enough to immediately solve the mystery.

Temari was more pragmatic. "This doesn't even need evidence. The question is, who did you offend to bring this kind of vengeance down on you?" she said, her tone sharp but calm.

The shop owner hesitated but then answered, "You may not be from around here, but the answer is obvious. The only gang terrorizing the village right now is called 'The Blood Mist.'"

He continued, narrating the story with growing frustration. He explained how everyone in business had learned to fear the Blood Mist gang, but the officials in the village were doing nothing about it. It was known that the gang had someone high up in their pockets, and that had allowed them to run rampant, taking what they wanted with no consequences.

"Taxes used to be an issue," the shop owner explained, his voice tinged with bitterness. "But now they take whatever they feel like, whenever they feel like it. People have joined them, betraying their comrades, while others—those who still hope for the Kage to do something—hesitate. It's a miserable cycle."

He paused, taking a deep breath, his face drawn with weariness. "There are only a few of us left who haven't lost our will. I'm one of them."

Gaara listened intently, his expression unreadable. There was a glimmer of sympathy in his eyes, but it quickly faded as he processed the bigger picture. Despite the gang's criminal activities, the shop owner mentioned that they at least tried not to harm the innocent or the young. That was a strange, unexpected detail in the tale—a moral code, of sorts, amidst the chaos.

Gaara's thoughts turned inward, his mind racing through the implications. The Blood Mist gang, a powerful force with ties to someone high up, was a direct challenge to the village's stability. And if their reach extended to such criminal enterprises, it could only mean more trouble ahead for everyone involved.

"Temari, Lady Chiyo," Gaara said, his voice low but resolute, "We need to find out who's behind this gang. It's not just about stopping them; it's about uncovering the bigger threat they're tied to."

His eyes narrowed as he considered their next move. With every passing moment, the tangled web of Kirigakure's troubles became clearer, and Gaara knew that unraveling it would require more than just brute force. It would take strategy—and a level of caution he had yet to fully embrace.