It took Team Eight five days to reach the border of the Land of Wind after crossing through the Land of Rivers. During this period Shinra, Hyori and Inumaki had tried their best to find any useful information from the young girl, but it appears that she truly has no idea about what had transpired.
Although the shinobi world was currently enjoying a period of relative peace, Yogi still led the team cautiously across the desert.
The Wind Daimyō's decision to outsource a large portion of the country's missions to Konoha had left many Sunagakure shinobi harboring silent resentment toward Konoha ninja. While outright conflict between the two villages was unlikely, unnecessary encounters were best avoided.
As the sun gradually dipped below the horizon, the group finally arrived at their destination.
Before them stood a deserted village.
The buildings remained standing, but there was no sign of life. Only the constant howl of the desert wind echoed through the empty streets, carrying grains of sand between abandoned homes.
Yogi stopped at the village entrance before turning toward the middle-aged client.
"Is this the place?"
Tarou slowly nodded.
"…Yes."
He stared silently at the village for several moments before speaking again.
"This is our home."
Hyori activated her Byakugan.
Veins bulged around her temples as her vision rapidly expanded across the village. After several months of training, her field of vision had already reached nearly one kilometer in every direction.
"I don't see anyone," she reported quietly.
Yogi nodded once.
"Let's move."
The team entered the abandoned village cautiously.
Hyori continuously scanned every building with her Byakugan while Inumaki and Yoshimaru searched for any lingering scent that might point toward the missing villagers.
Unfortunately, weeks had already passed since the disappearance of the villagers.
Seeing that they couldn't find any clues, Shinra activated his sensory field and pushed it slightly over six kilometers.
'No signs of any humans in over a six kilometers radius, what's going on?'
He released the sensory field before the strain became noticeable and quietly walked toward Yogi.
"Sensei."
Yogi glanced toward him.
"What is it?"
"I expanded my sensory field. I found nothing, I checked roughly six kilometers around the village."
Yogi fell into a deep trance as he was trying to make sense of the situation, he crouched beside one of the abandoned houses and ran his fingers across one of the doors.
"There is no sign of struggle, either they left willingly or they were kidnapped."
Tarou clenched his fists.
"They wouldn't leave like that."
Yogi remained calm and stood again.
"Hyori."
She turned toward him.
"Anything unusual?"
Hyori slowly swept her gaze across the village again.
"…No."
She paused.
"…Wait."
Everyone immediately turned toward her.
"There are several houses that still contain food and water."
She moved towards one of the houses and the rest of the group followed behind her, upon entering the house Yogi moved towards the canteen on the ground and sniffed it slightly.
"Shinra, go outside and capture a living animal, a fox shouldn't be hard to find."
Shinra disappeared in a Body Flicker.
A few minutes later he returned carrying a struggling desert fox.
Yogi crouched down next to the fox, held it in place and fed it a small amount of water from the canteen. Upon ingesting the water, the fox gradually began to fall asleep and in less than a minute it was unconscious.
"It's as I suspected. This poison is one of Sunagakure's famous poisons, it was created by the Leader of the Puppet Brigade of Sunagakure— Chiyo. It was used to poison our water supplies during the Second Great Ninja War, but this one appears to be a diluted version of it."
The room fell silent.
Tarou clutched his head in despair, "Why?.. Why would Sunagakure target a remote village like us? We are just civilians not shinobi."
"Calm down. It is very likely the work of a group of rogue ninja instead of Sunagakure. They most certainly would've reached the same conclusion as us. However, they wouldn't want to worsen their relationship with the Wind Daimyō, so they're likely dealing with the matter quietly."
"This is of course merely a hypothetical scenario and isn't set in stone, our top priority is to find the missing villagers and rescue them."
He placed his hand on the fox's abdomen and said, "The concentration of this poison isn't enough to kill humans, it's mostly just to knock them out."
"But how did they make sure everyone drank from the poisoned well before anyone realized something was wrong?" Inumaki asked out, finding such a strange coincidence.
Shinra glanced at him and said, "The kidnapper most likely poisoned their water supply. When scouting the village earlier there was a well, that's probably what the kidnappers had poisoned. If it's a long-acting poison then it does make sense, how they were able to knock them all out without resistance."
The young girl— Yuna who had lost her memories, looked at the desert canteen in a daze.
Hyori noticed her dazed state and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Yuna-chan, did you manage to remember anything."
"…Smell…"
Everyone froze.
Hyori crouched beside her.
"What smell?"
Yuna frowned painfully, pressing both hands against her head.
"…Wood…"
She shook her head violently.
"…No."
"…Paint…"
Her eyes widened.
"…It smelled like paint."
Yogi placed a hand on his chin and said, "We are most likely dealing with puppet users."
"Most puppet users regularly oil and varnish their puppets. The smell lingers on their surroundings, Yuna most likely remembered the intense smell of oil and mistook it for paint."
Shinra observed Yogi and thought, 'He was able to connect the enemy's identity with such a vague clue, experience really does make a difference.'
He then glanced at Yuna and thought, 'If they poisoned the entire village, why was Yuna left alive? They had already erased every other witness. Leaving one behind made no sense… unless it wasn't intentional.'
"What's our next step sensei?" Inumaki asked, although they were able to find clues to the person behind the attack, they didn't find any clues to where his victims had to disappeared to.
"Transporting that many unconscious civilians would normally leave traces. We'll search the surrounding area first."
Inumaki and Hyori both frowned. If the base of the enemy is well hidden, there is a good chance that just tracking them down will take days.
Yogi reassured them, "If their base were far away, transporting dozens of unconscious civilians across the desert would be extremely time-consuming."
Everyone glanced at Yogi as he continued speaking, "I'll investigate the surrounding villages. If they suffered similar attacks, we'll be able to determine the kidnapper's route. Meanwhile, the three of you search the surrounding desert for any signs of an underground hideout."
"If the enemy number is more than we can handle, then we won't confront them and simply report back to Konoha. The village will send a more appropriate team to take over the mission, am I clear?"
They all nodded their heads in understanding.
"Hyori, you will be the most important member in this mission. Whilst scanning through the desert make sure that you don't overlook any underground tunnels or caves."
"Shinra, Inumaki. Both of you be on high alert. While I'm investigating the nearby villages, if anything unexpected happens remember this: your lives are more important than the mission."
"Mr. Tarou you are free to remain in the village or head back to the town your people are staying at."
Tarou shook his head and said, "I will remain here until my family comes back."
Understanding appeared on Yogi's face as he made a single hand sign and flickered away. Shinra, Inumaki and Hyori bid farewell to the clients and flickered towards the surrounding desert.