Assassination Tactical Special Unit.
As the most classified department in a village, it could be said to gather the village's elite ninja. To be approved to enter this department and serve as an Anbu, one's personal strength had to be at least that of an Elite Chūnin. After all, the missions Anbu carried out started at A-rank, including but not limited to protecting important figures on their own side, assassinating important enemy figures, stealing or destroying valuable items, documents, and similar tasks.
Ever since the day this department had been established.
It had continuously carried out various high-level missions directly assigned by the "Kage." Because of this, over the past two or three decades, the Anbu had continued to expand. As for exactly how many squads it had, how many Anbu members there were, and the detailed identity records of those Anbu, only the "Kage" was qualified to know.
Although Sarutobi Hiruzen indeed trusted Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, and Shimura Danzō greatly, the three knew just as little about Anbu affairs. Shimura Danzō in particular basically only knew about the Root forces under his control.
In the Original Work, it was not until ten years later, after Sarutobi Hiruzen died in battle and no successor could be found for a time, that the Anbu records became known to Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, and Shimura Danzō before Tsunade returned to the village to succeed him as the Fifth Hokage.
Later, Shimura Danzō even took some of the most crucial Anbu records and tried to trade them with Orochimaru. It had to be said that Shimura Danzō constantly broke through his own bottom line in many respects. He had truly taken selfishness to its utmost extreme.
In this era, when the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, personally governed the village, all information and