[A/N: There isn't much shown in the Naruto manga of that universe's religious set-up, so I'm kind of making this up based on what I know of Japanese religion.]

XIV.

The girl (who stated that her name was Aina) gave them a thorough but rather haphazard rundown of events in Yubin as Itachi and Kabuto helped her carry several boxes of clothing to her destination. As Itachi had predicted, the children left behind in Yubin were currently staying at the temple complex. Etsuko was apparently one of two priestesses young enough to also remain.

As far as Itachi could tell from Aina's account, the disappearances had occurred in Yubin at the same time as in Konoha, or at least were discovered on the same morning. For the first several days, the children had gravitated into many small groups, mostly based on their parents' professions and where they lived in the town.

The warehouse district fire had occurred two days before Itachi and Kabuto left Konoha. According to Aina, nobody knew what had caused it, but equipment left running when the adults disappeared had been speculated as a cause. There was also the possibility that someone had been playing with matches and done something stupid, but no one had been staying near the place where the fire started. After the fire, which had driven many children out of the destroyed apartment building (although luckily with no fatalities) the children abandoned their enclaves and migrated to the temple, where they had remained since then.

"And that's about all," Aina finished as they arrived at the gate of the temple complex. "Etsuko-san and Yuzuki-san can tell you anything else—they're in charge. Those boxes go in the shed over here, I'll show you…"

Kabuto volunteered to take Itachi's boxes the rest of the way, leaving Itachi free to explore the compound. It was neater than he had expected, but considering the much smaller population of Yubin there wouldn't be nearly as many children as in Konoha. That would make the situation much easier to control.

Most of the area in front of the temple proper was now covered with an array of tents of all shapes, sizes and conditions. Several girls in their later teens were clustered off to the side around a large pot hung over a cooking fire. One of them was wearing the white robe and red hakama Itachi recognized as belonging to a priestess.

Dodging a gaggle of little ones playing a vigorous game of tag, Itachi made his way over to the cooking girls. "Excuse me," he said.

All of the girls started, and one or two of them gave a little shriek of surprise. "Sorry," Itachi said quickly, realizing too late that these civilians would not be used to shinobi stealth or able to sense him coming through his chakra signature. "Are you Etsuko?" he asked the priestess. Aina's comment that Etsuko had been expecting adults from Konoha had made him wonder if someone here had made some discovery.

The girl shook her head. "My name is Yuzuki," she said. "Did you come from Konoha?"

"Yes," Itachi said, "We're investigating the disappearances." Yuzuki looked curious at his use of 'we' so Itachi elaborated. "There's a medic with me, but he's helping Aina put away boxes at the moment. Does anyone here need medical attention?"

"Etsuko and I know enough of medicine to help any of the children who are sick," Yuzuki replied, "but one boy fell from a tree and broke his arm and a few of them were burned trying to save things from the fire. He was helping Aina, you said? I think I should be able to find him."

Yuzuki took off across the grounds, leaving Itachi still trying to find Etsuko. Thankfully, one of the other girls helping to prepare the food also realized this problem. "You were looking for Etsuko-san, right?" she asked. "She's in the temple building—that's where she's been most of the time, trying to convince the gods to give us our parents back."

Itachi wasn't sure what good that would do, but figured he might as well talk to Etsuko anyway. Mounting the steps of the temple, he opened the door of the main room.

The temple's main sanctuary was simple but elegant, and built oriented along the directions of the compass. There was a heavy scent of incense wafting from the north alcove, and Itachi headed in that direction, his footsteps only slightly audible on the tatami mats.

There was an elaborately painted screen in front of the alcove and Itachi stepped around it slowly, not wishing to disturb the priestess despite his skepticism. "Pardon my intrusion," he said quietly as the girl did not seem to notice him right away.

The girl's shoulders stiffened in surprise at Itachi's words, but she did not lose her composure as she stood with a final bow towards the alcove. "I suspected someone would come," she said finally as she turned to face him. She had been smiling in relief, but her smile slowly faded—probably as she realized that Itachi was much younger than she had been expecting. "It was not merely our village that fell under the punishment of the gods, I see."

"Whatever caused this, it definitely seems widespread," Itachi replied, choosing not to address her other implication. "Can you tell me what happened here, as far as you know? It would be very helpful to our investigation."

Etsuko's account, while somewhat more detailed, was approximately the same as Itachi had heard from Aina earlier, although with considerably more religious commentary. Itachi didn't learn anything of much import, although with Etsuko's information he was able to narrow down the time of the disappearances to a window between midnight and three in the morning, just over two weeks ago. If the disappearances had been universally simultaneous, this information would be very helpful in their investigation.

…

After Itachi had gathered as much information as possible from the priestesses and older children and Kabuto had done all he could to help on the medical front, the two of them departed from the village. Itachi suggested to Etsuko that she consider travelling to Konoha with the children—they would likely be safer there—but she declared that she would remain in Yubin a while longer in order to preside over her temple.

While Itachi respected her resolve and dedication to what she saw as her duty, he couldn't really see what good it would do to continue with the ceremonies if they hadn't done any good so far, but he refrained from saying so.

Etsuko insisted on giving Itachi and Kabuto several protective charms when they left. Itachi put his in his backpack, while Kabuto distributed his through a few inner pockets.

"Where to next?" Kabuto enquired after Yubin was behind them.

"River Country," Itachi said. "It should take us about a week to get to the border, if we make good time, and then another day to make it to a town." River Country was sparsely populated, and most of the settlements near its borders were trade outposts unlikely to contain any children."

"Let's get moving then," Kabuto declared, shifting his pack a little on his shoulders and increasing his pace.

Itachi let him pass, following behind at a more measured speed. He was still unsure that he could trust the medic—Kabuto appeared a little too glad to be out of the village. Of course, he had been very busy the past few weeks in Konoha, so he could just be happy for some respite from constant calls for assistance. However, Itachi couldn't suppress the instinct that told him to be wary.

[A/N: Apologies for the short installment, I wanted to get to a fresh chapter before introducing more plot points.]