Chương 351: CH_9.36 (351)

The next day, Takuma began his work in earnest. He was left alone with access to the record rooms, which was both a blessing and a curse because while he could work without someone keeping an eye on him, he also had no help if he wanted assistance. At first, he thought that if he asked for records, they would bring what he asked for while hiding things they didn't want him to see and that he would then have to cause a ruckus to get what he wanted.

However, they were taking the opposite approach and trying to bury him in excessive information by throwing everything they had at him. Without luck, it would've been impossible to find anything by himself if not for Gekin's words, which made sense when he returned from Chibumi and talked to someone in ANBU familiar with Maizuru Quarters.

Second Division, Third Squad Takuma sat in the dusty record room with Uyegita Gekin's personnel file in hand, which stated that he was part of Maizuru's Second Division, Third Squad. It had been over two years since he had been sentenced and thus booted out of Maizuru. His record was hard to find even when he knew what he was looking for and it would've taken longer if he couldn't create his own help. He looked up to glance at his clones going through the files.

He had made one shadow clone, and both of them had made two water clones each for a team of six Takuma working together. However, there was a huge caveat.

The water clones didn't leave behind any memories, so he and the shadow clones periodically took reports on everything water clones even if it was deemed useless, so they would have some idea of what they had read—it wasn't perfect because they didn't know what exactly was important and most of it would be lost by the end of the day—but it was his only choice if he wanted to increase productivity.

He and his shadow clone, if they didn't make water clones, both had barely enough chakra for a minimum viable shadow clone from both, but it wasn't feasible because they would have less than 20% of his maximum chakra with each—while not life-threatening, having his chakra that low made him lethargic. It would've been fine if he was in a battle where his blood was pumping and adrenaline was coursing through his body, but outside of combat, his body would suffer the consequences.

That was a worse outcome than having one shadow and four water clones.

"Was he trying to say that the Second Division's Third Squad is taking the off-the-book jobs?" asked one of the clones.

"Does that mean he was part of the assassinations?"

"That seems like the most likely outcome," replied another clone.

"We can't be sure until we find proof," said the shadow clone. Takuma wanted to say something, but another clone beat him to it.

"Make sure you aren't trying to find proof to justify his involvement. That narrows your view; you will discard everything that doesn't support your argument. Find proof and see what it says without imposing your bias on it." He sighed as the conversation between his clones traced his line of thought at the same time as it formed in his head. It was so freaky that he didn't think he would ever be able to get used to it.

And while two heads were better than one, he didn't think multiple of his heads were exactly a good thing.

"Gekin suddenly started having problems a year before he was sentenced to the labour camp," Takuma said loud enough for his clones to hear.

"He was clean before that, but then suddenly got into trouble a couple of times every month until he was arrested." There were several write-ups about his mistakes at work, which led him to get his responsibilities reduced, pay docked, assignment punishments, and switched to the graveyard shift, among other undesirable things that made his experience difficult, to say the least. He was even booted from the Third Squad and Second Division one month before his arrest.

"Something must've happened just before he started getting into trouble," said a clone.

"Did you guys find the Third Squad's roster?" asked Takuma.

"I have it here, but it's only the current one."

"Get the personnel files listed there and gather around." Fifteen minutes later, they were gathered around a table with the personnel files of those on the Second Division's Third Squad. The squad was a standard five-member team with a sixth member as a leader. Out of them, three members had been part of the squad when Genki was there. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"Look at this. It makes sense that the squad leader is a chunin, but they have another chunin who has been there for three years. Isn't that weird? Shouldn't he be leading a team by now?" said one of the clones, putting a personnel file in the centre of the table. Utatane Naruri had been a chunin for eight years and was in the position of Third Squad's leader for five years.

The other chunin was Yubira Juniko who had been part of the squad since before they were a chunin and had stayed on the team even after the rank promotion, which stood out as suspicious.

"If they are a hit squad, having two chunin on the team makes sense."

"According to Gekin's file, Chunin Naruri, his former squad leader at that time, was the one who caught him."

"Do we think Gekin was framed for his crimes?"

"No, I don't think so. The evidence was quite foolproof against him. Here's what I'm thinking: Gekin did something they didn't like, so they made his life difficult before transferring to another division, and then he raped a kunoichi, which gave them the perfect reason to remove him as a problem."

"Meaning he had something on them?"

"Could be. He probably didn't say anything because it would also get him in trouble—but perhaps two years in the labour camp made him try his luck with the trash mail."

"We still need evidence that they're involved," said Takuma as he stood up to stretch his legs.

"Okay, let's start with Gekin and the three with him; find everything about them. And let's also look into others who were on the roster but are no longer there. There has to be something wrong somewhere, even if it's hidden..." The record room door suddenly swung up, and Shen walked in.

"Chunin Araki—?" He was stunned into silence when he saw six of Takuma all turn to look at him and address him in unison. They then looked at each other before the shadow clone volunteered to represent the group.

"What is it, Chunin Shen?" Shen snapped out of it.

"... Ah! It's lunchtime. I was wondering if you'd like to have your lunch brought to your office?" he said as the group of Takuma stared at him.

"Thank you, but I'll visit the mess hall. I appreciate your hospitality."

"Would you like me to guide you there?" he said, his eyes glancing at the documents on the table.

"I'll find the way on my own if that's fine with you."

"That's fine," Shen smiled before leaving. The group waited for a moment before Takuma addressed the clones.

"Let's obscure our search by asking for unrelated material." The clones nodded in agreement, and everyone returned to work. ———.

"Clones, you say?" said Kamugoro as he listened to what his adjutant had witnessed.

"Yes, sir. I noticed six in total." He hummed in thought.

"And what were they looking into?"

"I couldn't tell, sir—but they were in the record room with personnel files." Kamugoro leaned into his office chair as he thought about the inspector in his base. His intuition said something was wrong—that this wasn't a routine inspection like Hoshino Araki claimed it to be. He was a jōnin, which brought him substantial influence in the Hidden Leaf village, so whenever an inspector visited, he was tipped off about it in advance. Not this time. He had no idea that an inspection was coming his way.

At first, he was angry that he had not been told about the inspection, so he sent a message demanding an answer. The response he received was formal, curt, and to the point. The inspection was real, and the process would have been unfair if they had informed him beforehand. He had known the person responsible for the inspection for a long time, and their relationship was friendly, so his response felt out of place. His intuition was right; something was wrong. He felt that the inspector had come with an agenda.

Hoshino Araki was looking for something specific. And if his connections back at the village weren't being clear with him, then it had to be something severe. It didn't bode well for him because his time as the commander of Maizuru Quarters was coming to an end. As soon as next month, his transfer to Hidden Leaf Village could be announced in preparation for his takeover of the Onikuma clan as its next head. He was going home; he did not want anything to jeopardise the next chapter of his life.

"Have some people keep an eye on him," said Kamuguro with a sigh, "and find what he's looking for." ———. Another day passed. Takuma was reading the personnel file of a former Third Squad member when the door swung open and hit the wall as one of his clones enthusiastically entered the record room.

"Found it!" Takuma jumped in his seat as he was jolted out of his focus by his own voice—which, once again, was not something he was used to.

"Gather around," said the shadow clone as he entered with his two water clones.

"What is it?" asked another clone.

"Do you remember when we asked Shen about the thing he disliked about Maizuru? What did he say?" Takuma replied.

"Lack of leave to visit family?"

"Yes, exactly. I was looking into the Third Squad's administrative files when I remembered that, so I looked into their leaves, and I think I hit the jackpot. Genki and the other three all have taken leaves at the same time for the same number of days," he said, putting down two files on the table.

"Not only that, but I also compared the number of leave days Third Squad had taken with other squads in other divisions, and theirs were several times than the average."

"Third Squad is the hit squad. This pretty much confirms it," said another clone.

"They're leaving the base to complete their hit jobs under the guise of leaves." All the clones looked at Takuma, who nodded. If it convinced his clones, it was going to convince him.

"Seems like we have our suspects." He raised the personnel file and gave it to his shadow clone.

"And I think I have a candidate for our anonymous trash mailer." Katasu Hidebumi was a twenty-two-year-old genin assigned to the Third Squad a year ago, but then, only two months later, he was transferred to the Tenth Division. If the Third Squad was the hit squad, then it was safe to assume that all of their members were in on it—which they could confirm by looking at their leave records.

"I think he was transferred out because he refused to participate. Let's get to know him and see if he's got anything to say."