Anbu

Following the address Tsunade, I navigated through numerous turns in the Hokage Building until I finally found an office in an inconspicuous corner. I knocked and went in.

There was only a ninja wearing a dog mask in the office, writing furiously. He didn't even react when I came in, not even lifting his head.

"Um... I was introduced to the Anbu by Lady Tsunade," I smiled awkwardly and handed over the note, "This is Lady Tsunade's letter of introduction."

The ninja in the dog mask finally looked up, took the note, glanced at it, tore it to shreds, stood up, and led me to a room behind another door, where the walls were covered with all sorts of masks.

"Don't ask any questions, just choose a mask and put it on," the masked ninja said.

I randomly picked a white fox mask and put it on. The mask was made of a very good and sturdy material, and seemed to be able to withstand some damage.

The ninja in the dog mask glanced at the name that had been on the mask and said, "When the Anbu are on missions, it is strictly forbidden to reveal your true identity. After putting on this mask, you will use the name 'Saigyouji Yuu'! Also, my codename is 'Onizuka Inu'. Now, I'll take you to the assessment."

What's with this "Onizuka Inu" name that sounds like a pseudonym?! I thought to myself, it's awful! And the "dog" part—it looks like they just randomly picked it from a dog mask!

The dog opened a hidden door in the floor and led me into a dark, secret passage. After winding through it for what seemed like an eternity, the dog suddenly stopped. "We're here." He opened another hidden door, and bright sunlight flooded in. The stark contrast between light and shadow made me squint. In that instant, a masked ninja suddenly rushed in front of me, Kunai in hand, aimed at my chest!

I gazed at him indifferently. My Kunai pierced through a layer of water film, transparent and invisible in the darkness, but could not go any further! The cat-faced ninja who attacked me was startled, withdrew his Kunai, and made way for the exit.

"Makoto, this new recruit isn't very good!" A voice suddenly came from behind the cat-faced ninja. "He didn't even react! Are they sending such a weak ninja to the Anbu? And a female ninja at that!"

"She blocked it..." The cat-faced ninja's voice was a little hoarse.

"Hmph!" I was very annoyed by the Anbu spoke disrespectfully. Not only was he tactless, but he also discriminated against women! I wasn't this chauvinistic in my past life!

"Alright, stop fooling around!" Onizuka Inu led me into the house and handed me a form. "Mashiro, you and Makoto are in charge of evaluating her!"

Mashiro emerged from the darkness in the corner. To my surprise, she was a long-haired female ninja, her black bodysuit revealing her curvaceous figure. Although she wore a mask to cover her features and disguised her voice, I inexplicably felt she looked familiar, and I was certain she was a stunning beauty!

"Saigyouji Yuu, is that it...? Come with me," Mashiro said, taking the form and glancing at it. "The Lord Hokage has applied for you to be a Class A Anbu member, so you must fight alongside both of us to pass the assessment!"

"... A-class Anbu personnel?" I raised an eyebrow, feeling that Tsunade was up to something again!

"These are powerful ninjas who use very special Ninjutsu. To protect the secret of their identities, they are allowed to act alone. They are Class A Anbu Ninja..." Mashiro explained calmly.

We have left Konoha City and arrived at a secluded training ground on the outskirts.

"Aside from not using lethal force, there are no other rules. If one side admits defeat or loses the ability to fight, the game stops immediately... Let's begin..." Mashiro stood a dozen meters in front of me, her eyes, as clear as autumn water, calmly gazing at me. She slowly drew the sword from her back with a backhand motion! When truly facing an enemy, Mashiro's previous flippancy seemed to vanish in an instant, leaving only her serious eyes fixed intently on me!

Clang--!

Draw your sword, lunge forward—and slash diagonally!

The distance of more than ten meters was covered in an instant. The long sword drew a white trail in the air, and the whistling sound brought by the compression of the air was chilling!

A simple slash, yet it carried an irresistible force!

Bite--!

Chakra rapidly condensed in my hand, and an ice sword emanating a faint chill appeared in my hand in the blink of an eye, blocking the attack!

From a weaponry standpoint, no matter how hard the hastily formed ice sword was, it couldn't withstand the Mashiro and resilient longsword of Makoto. With just one strike, fine cracks appeared on the blade of the ice sword! Without a doubt, if there were another strike, the ice sword would unsurprisingly shatter into several pieces!

However, using my Monstrous Strength Technique, I completely suppressed Mashiro's rapid advance of over ten meters simply by exerting force from my Mashiro position. Mashiro's aggressive charge was completely frozen in mid-air by my effortless block, unable to advance or retreat!

Byakugan narrowed, and I gave her a cold smile!

Then, I pivoted slightly on my left foot, stomped my right foot and sprang up, delivering a fierce kick to Mashiro's waist, sending the defenseless Mashiro flying dozens of meters away!

"Secret Technique: Stone Needle!"

Taking advantage of the opportunity gained by Mashiro's attack, Makoto, wearing the cat-face mask, finally completed his Ninjutsu. Two Kunai black ropes tied to their ends shot towards me!

Pfft! I didn't have time to dodge, nor was there any need to! Two layers of pale blue water blocked the kunai before Kunai me, Kunai seemed to have a life of its own, bypassing the water membrane! Whoosh whoosh—the water membrane formed a circle around me, and the Kunai, with its rope attached, flew around me rapidly, circling me again and again, before binding me and the water membrane tightly inside!

"Mashiro, now's the time!" Makoto shouted quickly!

The rope was filled with Chakra, and I couldn't break free for a moment. However, the one who was truly bound was not me, but Makoto!

"Ninja Art: Body Pathway Derangement!"

Chakra transformed into electrons, surging into Makoto's body along the rope, disrupting his nervous system! The technique Chakra, learned from Tsunade, is based on using Body Pathway Derangement to attack the enemy's nervous system, causing chaos and making their body uncontrollable! However, this technique's weakness lies in its close-range application. Attacking from a distance using the rope, as I did, consumes a lot of energy with only moderate effectiveness. I estimate this technique can only control Makoto for three or four seconds at most! I've always felt this Ninjutsu consumes too much energy for mediocre results. However, through this Ninjutsu, I've developed a very powerful support Ninjutsu!

Makoto, whose nerve signals were thrown into chaos, suddenly knelt on the ground. The Ninjutsu that bound me broke down without a fight, and he fell limply to the ground.

"One's done...!" Taking advantage of Makoto's fall, I conjured an Ice Clone and held Kunai to Makoto's neck, indicating that he was out of the game.

Meanwhile, Mashiro didn't go to rescue her teammates; her next offensive was finally brewing.

"Konoha Style: Dance of the Crescent Moon!"

Splitting into three, three Mashiro simultaneously charged at me, raising their longswords. Three streaks of sword light flashed through the air! The close coordination between the Shadow Clone and the main body, the three-sided encirclement of sword light, left the targeted person with no room to dodge. No matter which direction they dodged, they would be attacked by one of them. This exquisite swordsmanship was a technique from Gekko Hayate in the original work. How could she use it? In an instant, this question occurred to me... I understand! Mashiro is--!

However, no matter how exquisite the swordsmanship, it's useless if you can't hit your target! I quickly Hand Seals—

Water Release: Mirror Flower, Water Moon!

The Dance of the Crescent Moon's perfect encirclement revealed a huge flaw under the influence of my Water Release, which I easily dodged!

"You've already lost!" I Body Flicker Technique behind Mashiro and said softly.

The moment Mashiro's bewildered expression appeared, a Kunai appeared at her neck!

"How is this possible—I clearly broke the Genjutsu!" Mashiro said in disbelief, "Why was I still fooled!"

"That's because she used more than one Genjutsu..." The observer sees more clearly than the participant, "That's also why this technique isn't called Genjutsu but Water Release!"

"That's right, the core of this technique isn't Genjutsu... but a genuine Water Release!" I said with a slight smile.

The "Mirror Flower, Water Moon" technique actually consists of two parts. The first part is a rudimentary Genjutsu illusion technique), and the second part uses water refraction to conceal my true location. This Ninjutsu is just a trick I developed out of boredom, but it's quite effective for those seeing it for the first time. Simply put, the Genjutsu part is meant to be broken. People often lose their guard after breaking through a portion of the Ninjutsu, believing they've seen through Ninjutsu and easily accepting what they see as real. Even if they remain wary, if I deliberately shout "Water Release" and create water, they might think I'm intentionally confusing them, trying to conceal the Ninjutsu Genjutsu hidden deep within. Once they "see through" this, they won't doubt anything more.

Before the Dance of the Crescent Moon struck me, I only had less than a second to use my Ninjutsu. This might be why Mashiro was fooled by my Ninjutsu —most people couldn't complete such a complex Ninjutsu in such a short time. Especially the part using water refraction, the Chakra fluctuation wasn't significant, and it didn't feel like a powerful Ninjutsu. Little did she know, the power of Ninjutsu doesn't depend on the amount of Chakra consumed. Genjutsu doesn't need to pull the enemy's entire consciousness into the illusion to kill them. In the heat of battle, a single Genjutsu can cause the enemy to misjudge their actions by ten or twenty centimeters, which could very well be the difference between hitting the heart and not hitting the target.

"Your technique, on the surface, only uses Genjutsu to change the body's position. Because the change is small, it can be made very realistic," a dog that had been silently watching the battle chimed in. "The key is the layer of water that refracts light! Even if we break your Genjutsu, it's not enough. We must see through the second layer of this Ninjutsu's secret! Otherwise, we'll be fooled like Mashiro! It's truly an ingenious Ninjutsu... To be able to complete this Ninjutsu in such a short time, Saigyouji Yuu, your Water Release... is very strong!"

"Not bad..." I almost didn't react when I heard the name Saigyouji Yuu. "So, does that mean I've passed the test?"

"You think... you've already defeated us?" Mashiro, who was being held hostage by me with Kunai, mocked me without any sense of tension. I smiled quietly and looked back at her.

Bang bang--!

I, along with Makoto and Mashiro, whom my shadow clones were holding hostage, vanished in two puffs of smoke! After dispelling the Shadow Clone, Mashiro and Makoto appeared one after the other, sandwiching me between them. It's clear that Anbu ninjas aren't so easy to defeat. No wonder Mashiro wasn't affected by my Genjutsu earlier; it was just Shadow Clone! Judging from their expressions, the previous battle was just a warm-up to gather information, wasn't it? But even if they're going to use their real skills now, so what?

I can't beat them!

"You guys didn't pass just now. You have to win to pass the test!"

I put down my Kunai and calmly said, "However, if you want to fight, then let's fight!"

"Heh heh," Mashiro and Makoto exchanged a glance, Mashiro suddenly laughed, "Very well, then, I declare—"

" --Saigyouji Yuu has passed the test and officially become an Anbu Ninja!"

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Mashiro later told me that passing the assessment only required gaining their approval; it didn't necessarily require defeating the examiners.

"... If only those who defeat the examiners can become Anbu, then the Anbu can't find more than a few people a year!" Mashiro explained.

Indeed, while the full name of the Anbu is "Special Assassination and Tactical Squad," which sounds quite cool, it doesn't mean that all the ninjas in this unit are ridiculously strong. Ultimately, it's just a unit directly under Hokage, primarily tasked with missions where their identities cannot be revealed. In principle, this unit only recruits ninjas of Chunin rank or higher. Their average combat strength is indeed high, but top-tier fighters don't stay. In the original story, weren't the Anbu members protecting the Third Hokage Anbu against the Sound Four's barrier? True powerhouses don't stay in the Anbu for long before becoming Jonin Konoha! Therefore, as long as I demonstrate sufficient strength to complete the mission during the assessment, I'll pass. Even if Tsunade applies for an A-class qualification for me, it won't change much!

Mashiro leaned close to my ear and whispered, "Besides, I've actually heard a bit about your Water Release. If you get hit by a Water Gun Technique, that would be troublesome, Chunin Sister Sakura Haruno...!"

For those who know me, guessing my identity isn't difficult; they could probably figure it out just by looking at that ice sword! While identities need to be kept secret, guessing each other's identities isn't a big deal among Anbu Ninja —especially among teammates. It's impossible to keep a secret forever; you can tell who someone is just by looking at their Ninjutsu. Sometimes, the captain even goes to a teammate's house to call for them on missions. So, generally, keeping it a secret from outsiders is enough. However, Mashiro pointing out my identity so bluntly is probably a form of retaliation for how easily I dodged the Dance of the Crescent Moon earlier!

I simply smiled faintly at Mashiro's words and didn't respond. If her identity was to be revealed, wouldn't Mashiro's Ninjutsu be an admission of guilt?

However, I always felt that Mashiro harbored a faint sense of hostility towards me, even though we were both women!

Passing the test doesn't mean I'm now a qualified Anbu Ninja. After receiving three sets of Anbu uniforms (which were actually just black bodysuits and white overalls) and a spare mask from Mashiro told me that I would have to undergo two weeks of closed training, including training in stealth, tracking, concealment, assassination, and reconnaissance.

After going home to tell my parents and Bai Ming that I was going to carry out a top-secret mission that would last for several weeks, and then getting a good night's sleep, the next day, I changed into my Anbu uniform, put on my fox mask, and went to the Anbu headquarters!

"Saigyouji Yuu... reporting in!"

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One month later, in mid-June.

After two weeks of training, I have mastered the essential skills required to be Anbu, and officially began my life as Anbu Ninja under the identity of "Saigyouji Yuu".

To be honest, as an Anbu Ninja, my life hasn't changed much since before I joined the Anbu. The biggest difference is that before, I could freely choose my missions at the mission assignment office, but now the Anbu headquarters assigns me missions. Also, the Anbu missions are no longer the simple D-rank missions I Genin, like dealing with plants and such. Anbu missions generally have a certain degree of danger, and battles may break out from time to time, such as patrols, or tedious surveillance, etc.

Aside from that, there's no other difference. After completing a mission, or during a vacation, when I take off the mask, I'm still Sakura Haruno, living Sakura Haruno's daily life, training, resting, and so on.

On a hot midday, Bai and I were enjoying a delicious meal at the same dessert shop where Kakashi and I had eaten last time.

"How is it, Bai?" I said to Bai with a smile, "This shop's food is pretty good, isn't it? Try this double-skin milk pudding, it's my favorite--"

My words were interrupted by a red Shuriken had embedded itself in the roof beam. That color... it's an order for the Anbu to assemble! I'm clearly on holiday today, what's wrong with the Anbu that they need to call me in too?

"Bai, I'm sorry..." I said helplessly, "I'm afraid I have to go first..."

Bai smiled gently and said, "It's alright... You can go ahead if you need to!"

After paying the bill, I jumped onto the roof, put on the fox mask, and followed the Anbu who had given the signal to rendezvous!