"Lord Chiba, this way."
The Anbu Ninja walking ahead stopped, stepped lightly aside, and pointed to a side path branching off from the alley. He gave Chiba a slight bow and a gesture of invitation as he spoke respectfully.
"Here?"
Looking at the Anbu Ninja, Chiba froze slightly, confusion appearing on his face. His gaze shifted toward the turn in the alley that the Anbu Ninja had indicated. At the end of it, he could clearly see a door. It looked as though there was a house or room behind it, and the words slipped from his mouth unconsciously.
Here?
What could possibly happen here? His heart was filled with doubt, and he had even begun to suspect that the Anbu Ninja before him was a spy.
When an Anbu Ninja had appeared in the camp and told him that the Hokage had urgent business requiring his presence, he had not wasted any words or asked any questions. He had simply followed the Anbu Ninja, even handing his work back to Yukina. He did not even know whether Yukina had had time to finish her meal.
But he had never expected that this urgent matter from the Hokage would bring him to this residential district. It was an utterly ordinary neighborhood, with no secret rooms or hidden passages—simply a place where civilians lived. After weaving through twists and turns, he had been brought here.
It was a cluster of alleys that looked remarkably quiet.
If the Hokage had urgent business, why bring him to a place where civilians lived? That was clearly abnormal. Anyone who did not grow suspicious would be an idiot.
And the Anbu was not a monolith. When Orochimaru had attacked Konoha, some of Konoha's Anbu had been replaced, killed and impersonated by Kabuto. The Anbu Ninja