Izumi finally reached Uchiha Akainu, breathless and her small face flushed from exertion. She was bent over, panting heavily, but her hands still quickly handed over the documents.
"Se-Senior, this is the list of all missing persons in Konoha Village over the past five years. To this day, the people on this list haven't been found. There are a total of one hundred and seventy-six missing persons."
As she spoke the number, Izumi herself was a little stunned. This was just the officially recorded missing persons. There were certainly some who weren't recorded, especially missing ninja, who might have carried many secrets. People with secrets naturally wouldn't appear on Konoha's missing persons list.
Uchiha Akainu didn't take the list of missing persons because another voice approached from a distance: "Lord Akainu, we found new bones again, meow, and this time there's quite a lot!"
Kikujiro rushed over with his cat children and grandchildren. Many of the ninja cats were carrying various bone fragments in their mouths.
"They were all found in the sewers, meow!" Kikujiro leaped lightly, skillfully jumping onto Izumi's head, and said, "We're just not sure if they're from the same person."
One ninja cat after another placed down the bones they had brought. Uchiha Akainu crouched down and picked up one of the bone fragments.
"Newbie, for now, exclude male missing persons," he said.
Izumi was startled. "Senior, do you already know the gender of the person killed?"
Uchiha Akainu stood up and said, "This is the subpubic angle of the human pelvis. In males, it's generally a narrow V-shape with an angle less than 90°. In females, it's a wide U-shape or wide V-shape with an angle greater than 90°."
He then pointed to another bone fragment on the ground. "That's the supraorbital ridge of the human body. In males, it's thick and prominent with a noticeable backward slope; in females, it's relatively flat, with the forehead vertical or slightly sloped."
Izumi was dumbfounded. How many victim's bodies had Senior Akainu processed to be able to determine the gender of a corpse just by looking at its bones?
Suddenly, Izumi keenly noticed Senior Akainu frowning. It seemed he had made a new discovery. He only saw his senior bend down and pick up two bone fragments with teeth embedded in them. After examining them for a while, he said, "Newbie, narrow the age range to five to thirty years old. Pay attention to the photos on the list and pick out missing females who appear to have slightly protruding teeth."
Izumi quickly said, "Yes, Senior!" She hurriedly flipped through the documents, daring to ask, "Senior, why the age..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Senior Akainu seemed to read her mind and calmly interjected, "Because there are two different sets of remains. Also, pay attention to the surnames of the missing persons. I suspect the two sets of remains are mother and daughter."
"Judging by the cross-sections where the two sets of remains were cut, the perpetrator likely used the same tool to dismember them. It's highly probable that the same person committed the crime, and they might have even been killed on the same day."
"Based on the size of the bone fragments, their bodies were dismembered into at least over a hundred pieces after they were killed. It's quite fortunate that we were able to find some of them."
Izumi's hand nearly trembled. Two... two sets? Mother... and daughter?
"One large, one small. The older victim should be between twenty and thirty years old, and the younger victim should be between five and eight years old," Uchiha Akainu said calmly.
Izumi, a little unnerved, frantically flipped through the documents in her hand. Based on the filtering information provided by Senior Akainu, Izumi quickly found two missing persons with identical surnames.
"Senior! Found them!" She tried to calm herself down and quickly said, "Yamada Ryoshiko, twenty-seven years old, went missing four years ago. Her husband passed away early, and she has one daughter; Yamada Nobumi, four years old, went missing four years ago. Her father passed away early, and her mother is Yamada Ryoshiko."
Uchiha Akainu asked, "What do you think we should do next?"
Izumi was surprised, not expecting her senior to throw the question back at her. Right! Perhaps this was a test of her abilities!
Izumi immediately said, "Find their former residence, investigate their relationships with neighbors and relatives during their lifetime, and also investigate their financial situation. And focus on investigating who inherited the Yamada family's estate after their deaths." This was part of the Uchiha Police Force's intern manual regarding how to solve cases. Izumi remembered quite a bit of this basic theoretical knowledge.
"Let's go," Uchiha Akainu said to Izumi first, then to Kikujiro, "Take the remains back to the Police Force."
"Yes, Senior Akainu!"
"Yes, Lord Akainu!"
---
"Hey, Yamada, tomorrow's the Hokage-sama's eldest son's funeral, what are you spacing out for?! The Hokage-sama instructed us to make sure the funeral is grand and beautiful, so that all these deceased can peacefully go to the Pure Land."
"If you're not feeling well, take the day off immediately. Otherwise, if you make any mistakes tomorrow and something goes wrong with the funeral, how can ordinary commoners like us bear the Hokage-sama's wrath? Our funeral parlor's reputation will be ruined too!"
The man called "Yamada" suddenly shivered. He shook his head, forcing a strained smile. "Maybe I just didn't sleep well last night. I'm fine." In truth, even he didn't know why he felt so uneasy. Could it be...? No... impossible.
"I handled it very cleanly, I think..." Yamada murmured to himself, in a voice only he could hear. "And it's already been so many years, how could it possibly be discovered?"
---
"Lord Hokage, tomorrow is Shinnosuke's funeral. As Konoha's Hokage, you should at least try to pull yourself together."
A female ANBU ninja, wearing a mask, spoke softly behind Hiruzen Sarutobi. Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed deeply. He turned around and looked at the female ANBU before him, his expression complex. "You're suffering just as much as I am, aren't you? After all... you and Shinnosuke have been married for many years, and your relationship as husband and wife was very strong..."
"Lord Hokage, I believe suffering is useless. What has happened cannot be changed. All I can do is ensure Shinnosuke can peacefully go to the Pure Land, and in the future, take good care of Konohamaru, and remember this hatred. That is all."
Hiruzen Sarutobi noticed the slight hoarseness in her voice. Perhaps this daughter-in-law, who had experienced the pain of losing her husband, had already cried countless times.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was silent for a moment. "Nadeshiko, I know you harbor great hatred for Uchiha Akainu, but..."
"I know."
Sarutobi Nadeshiko said, "Lord Hokage, I will consider the village's overall situation and not let hatred cloud my judgment. Lord Hokage, I would like to request half a day off to spend with Konohamaru."
Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed inwardly.
"Go."
---