Anbu Trial

Arashi put away his Sharingan and turned to leave.

When he reached the door, he suddenly looked back, his gaze resolute.

"Supervision? No one should question my loyalty to Konoha. My parents sacrificed themselves for Konoha, and my relatives and friends are all people of Konoha. Konoha, I will keep protecting it forever."

"But as for the Anbu's invitation, I accept."

"I said it before. I will become the Will of Fire's sharpest blade in Konoha."

"Becoming Anbu is exactly why I came here this time."

The door closed, leaving only Danzo's heavy breathing and Sarutobi Hiruzen's helpless sigh in the office.

Amid the curling smoke from his pipe, the Third Hokage murmured, "I hope the Anbu, with all its powerful people, can wear down his sharp edges."

What Arashi thought as he walked out of the Hokage Office Building was completely different from what Sarutobi Hiruzen hoped. The corner of his mouth hooked up, and he murmured,

"I will keep protecting Konoha forever, but in the way I like."

Anbu base.

Hidden beneath Konoha, the air was filled with a cold, killing chill.

The training ground was brightly lit.

Uchiha Arashi wore a tight black outfit, a ferocious dark owl mask on his face, and stood before a group of Anbu members who were also dressed in black and masked.

The Anbu members were all top ninja selected from within the village. By ability, they were divided into specializations such as taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, assassination, and sensory skills, working together on missions as Konoha's strongest covert combat force.

Even so, Arashi's young frame still carried an undisguised aloofness. The lines of his muscles showed faintly beneath his outfit, like a young lion ready to spring.

"New guy?" A burly Anbu member stepped forward. His mask was carved with bear-claw patterns, and his codename was "Black Bear." He was a veteran taijutsu specialist in the Anbu, and his tone carried scrutiny. "You're that six-year-old brat people say killed Rock Demon and Kushimaru Kuriarare recently?"

Arashi did not even lift his eyelids.

"Hey! Brat! I'm talking to you!" Black Bear's brows knitted tight. Chakra surged beneath his feet, and his body sank slightly. "The Anbu doesn't take undisciplined trash."

Before he finished speaking, Black Bear charged like a cannonball fired from its barrel. His right fist, wrapped in chakra, carried the force to shatter mountains and split stone as it blasted straight toward Arashi's face.

Every Anbu member knew that Black Bear's "Bear-Breaking Fist" could smash a huge boulder to powder in one punch. Ordinary ninja would never contest strength with him.

But Arashi moved. Not to block, but to strike back.

His figure almost turned into a blurred black streak, faster than Black Bear's punch! His muscles swelled in an instant, blue veins bulged along his right arm, and with a sharp whistle that tore through the air, his straight punch slammed head-on into Black Bear's "Bear-Breaking Fist"!

"Boom!"

The thunderous collision of fist against fist shook the training ground until the floor cracked. A wave of air exploded outward, whipping the robes of the surrounding Anbu members until they snapped.

Black Bear only felt a vast, overwhelming force pour through his knuckles and into his arm. His entire arm instantly went numb, and his bones let out an overburdened "creak." His body seemed to have been struck by a heavy hammer, and he flew backward uncontrollably!

Arashi, however, did not budge an inch. There was even a lingering white wave of air around his fist—that was the trace left by pure taijutsu strength compressing the air.

He looked at Black Bear as he flew backward, the gaze beneath his mask as cold as a blade. "Too slow, too weak."

Before Black Bear had even hit the ground, Arashi had already vanished from where he stood.

The next second, he appeared behind Black Bear. His right leg lashed out like a steel whip, striking with precision at the acupoint on the back of Black Bear's neck.

With a soft "crack," his chakra was sealed in an instant. Black Bear's massive body went rigid and crashed heavily to the ground. He was still conscious, but he could not even move a finger.

His acupoints had been numbed by pure taijutsu force. Arashi had studied the Eight Gates Released Formation under Might Duy for a long time, and he already knew the acupoints like the back of his hand.

The entire place went deathly silent.

The pupils of the surrounding Anbu members shrank. That speed, that power... he was practically a humanoid beast!

"Interesting."

From the shadows, a tall, thin figure slid out. His mask was a snake flicking its tongue. Codename "Viper," one of the Anbu's top assassins, famous for speed and poison techniques.

"But Black Bear is just a taijutsu brute. Do you dare take one move from me?"

Anbu assassins were known for concealment, speed, and fatal strikes. They often carried out decapitation missions. Their assassination arts had been tempered through countless trials, and few people could survive under their hands, while Viper was truly among the best of them.

The moment he finished speaking, Viper's figure vanished from where he stood—not with the Body Flicker Technique, but with "Shadow Snake Step," which condensed chakra in the soles of the feet. The footwork was as strange and unpredictable as a snake's slither, leaving only a string of twisted afterimages on the ground.

At the same time, three kunai tempered with "paralysis poison" shot toward Arashi's throat, heart, and dantian from three blind spots. Their angles were so tricky that they seemed to have predicted every route Arashi could dodge.

The Anbu members held their breath. This was Viper's signature killing move, "Threefold Serpent Bite," which had once wiped out an entire assassination squad of Iwagakure jonin.

But Arashi moved.

He did not use the Sharingan. Relying only on taijutsu perception, he caught Viper's trajectory.

His body spun at high speed like a top. The instant he avoided the kunai, his right foot stamped hard on the ground, and his whole body shot toward the end of Viper's afterimages like an arrow leaving the string!

He was so fast he left layered afterimages behind, and the air was torn open with a sharp shriek.

"!" Viper's pupils constricted. He had not expected Arashi's speed to be able to suppress Shadow Snake Step!

He hurriedly changed direction, wanting to circle behind Arashi and use a poison needle, only to see Arashi's figure suddenly pause, forcibly stopping his charge. His left arm swept out sideways like an iron bar!

"Bang!"

The arm smashed precisely into Viper's wrist, and the kunai flew from his hand.

Arashi flipped his wrist, grabbed Viper's arm, and his muscles abruptly exerted force—not seizing the pulse gate, but crushing it directly!

"Crack!" The sound of bone splitting was grating.

"Gah!" Viper howled in pain, and his chakra instantly fell into disorder.

Arashi's eyes were contemptuous as he flung him toward the wall like trash. Viper slammed into the wall with a dull boom, his mask shattering. The face revealed beneath was full of horror—he had not even seen Arashi's movements clearly. He only felt that the other party's taijutsu was like a gale, impossible to dodge.

"Assassination arts?" Arashi walked over slowly, his voice carrying Vegeta-like arrogance. "You can't even do the most basic 'speed suppression,' and you think you deserve to be called Viper?"

"Everyone, stop!" A tall figure walked over. His mask was a crow with outstretched wings. It was the Anbu captain, Dark Crow, his aura steady as an abyss.

"Anbu missions are never about fighting alone. They are about tactical coordination."

An Anbu captain needed the tactical mind to oversee the entire situation and the strength to suppress every team member. He was the core of Anbu operations and reported directly to the Hokage.

He clapped his hands, and from the shadows around the training ground, four Anbu members leaped out, surrounding Arashi in a diamond formation.

The four masks were carved with a wolf, an eagle, a turtle, and a bee respectively. All were elite jonin of the Anbu, each with their own specialty: Wolf excelled at tracking and binding, Eagle was a long-range ninjutsu artilleryman, Turtle was a defensive earth-release user, and Bee was proficient in genjutsu and sensory skills.

"Formation!" Dark Crow shouted in a low voice, throwing out a smoke bomb at the same time. "Bang!" White smoke instantly enveloped the training ground.