Konoha, Year 49. Early spring.
The Third Shinobi World War had been in full swing for four months.
In those four months, the entire shinobi world had become a massive meat grinder. People died every day along the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth. Reports flew back from the front lines to Konoha like snowflakes, every sheet stained with invisible blood.
Yan sat in a corner of the ANBU command post, flipping through the third transfer order delivered that day.
"Proceed immediately to the northeastern Land of Grass and investigate the precise route of Iwagakure's seventh supply line. Your code-name squad is assigned to this mission. Return by the original route upon completion. Do not engage in prolonged combat. Signed: Second Staff Section, ANBU Operations Department."
He turned the order over and glanced at the back. Blank. There was not even a note.
"Supply line intelligence?" Yan tossed the order onto the table and leaned back in his chair. "Where did the people from the Second Staff Section get this information?"
Standing before him was an ANBU liaison officer, a young female shinobi wearing a Cat Mask. Her voice was somewhat tense. "Lava-sama, the intelligence source is marked as 'B-rank reliability.' It was extracted from an Iwagakure communication scroll intercepted by a frontline reconnaissance squad three days ago."
B-rank reliability.
Yan cursed inwardly.
B-rank meant "possibly accurate, but not cross-verified." Intelligence at that level was fine as reference material, but as the basis for an operation? During wartime?
In his previous life, he had just been an office worker, yet even he knew that data in a company meeting's PowerPoint had to be cross-checked three times. These military intelligence people, though, dared issue deployment orders based on B-rank intelligence.
"Where are the other squad members?"