First Steps into the ANBU

The ANBU reporting location was not in the Hokage Building, but in an inconspicuous gray building at the end of a narrow alley behind it. Before going, Bai Ye had firmly remembered Sakumo's words: speak less, observe more.

The entrance to the gray building was underground. The stairs led down, their steps worn smooth by countless feet. Several patches of plaster had fallen from the walls, exposing the dark gray concrete beneath.

The corridor was short. At its end stood an unmarked door. Bai Ye knocked, and an emotionless voice from within said, "Enter."

The ANBU chief sat behind a desk—a steel-gray metal desk with nothing on it, not even a pen or a sheet of paper. He was not wearing an ANBU uniform, only dark everyday clothes, with his forehead protector set at the corner of the desk. When he looked up and saw Bai Ye, his gaze paused on his face for an instant.

After confirming that the face before him matched the photographs in the file, Bai Ye noticed that the ANBU chief's gaze made an extremely quick, nearly imperceptible shift when he first saw him, landing on his eyes.

Sharingan.

The ANBU chief was checking whether his Sharingan was active. Though the gesture was subtle, Bai Ye still caught it.

"Byakuya Uchiha."

"Yes."

The ANBU chief took a file from a drawer, flipped to a certain page, and picked up a pen to make a checkmark. He moved quickly, as though merely completing a procedural step. Bai Ye saw that the page was densely filled with names. His was somewhere below the middle, with one name above it crossed out and several blank spaces below.

"Choose your own code name. Don't duplicate an existing one."

Bai Ye thought for a moment. "White Phoenix."

The ANBU chief wrote the two words "White Phoenix" on the file, then pushed the forehead protector across the desk.

The standard ANBU forehead protector—it was narrower, and its metal plate was not the usual bright silver, but a matte gray that would not reflect light when worn on the forehead.

"There aren't many ANBU rules. Wear a mask during missions. Do not use your real name. Do not discuss mission details outside of missions. Your direct squad leader will first familiarize you with the ANBU command procedures and operations manual." The ANBU chief stood and handed him a white mask and a numbered tag. "Next Monday, at the hour of the Dragon, Training Room Three on the second underground floor. Physical test. Keep the mask yourself. If you lose it, write a report."

The ANBU chief had already sat back down. "You may leave."

Bai Ye walked out of the gray building. Autumn sunlight fell upon the mask, turning its matte gray surface into an ambiguous shade somewhere between white and gray.

Bai Ye fastened the mask over his face to try it on. His field of vision narrowed considerably. The eyeholes were not large, but their edges had been polished smooth and would not press against the bridge of his nose.

The physical test a week later was simpler than he had expected. The ANBU physical test did not assess ninjutsu combinations or tactical simulations. It tested only three things: speed, endurance, and reflexes. It was all one elimination-style free-for-all. There were no divisions by age, rank, or specialty. Everyone in the training ground fought at once, and the last person still standing took first place.

Bai Ye ranked somewhat below the middle in that test. Based on his results, he was assigned to Squad Three. Its leader was code-named Iron, a jonin in his early forties with many scars on his body. From the slight outward turn of Iron's right leg as he walked, Bai Ye judged that he had suffered at least one serious injury to that leg. His gait had changed after recovery, but his habits of exertion had not. Whenever he needed to change direction abruptly, his right knee made an extremely slight extra bend. It was a self-protective instinct from an injured leg, unconsciously storing a little more strength before exerting itself.

Bai Ye remained in Squad Three for over a month before receiving his first mission. This mission required a joint operation with Root. It was a border bandit-suppression mission. A group of Hidden Stone Village deserters scattered after the war had raided several villages along the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain. The Third Hokage ordered the ANBU to send personnel to assist Root in eliminating the deserters and retrieving intelligence held by their leader.

Squad Three met up with a four-man Root team at the border. Root's four members wore gray armor similar to the ANBU's, but the arrangement of their ninja tool pouches differed, as did their masks. ANBU masks were standard animal masks. Some of Root's were animals, while others bore abstract patterns Bai Ye could not understand.

The Root team leader was code-named Ghost Flame. His voice was as cold as his mask.

"The ANBU will handle the outer encirclement. We'll go in and clear them out. If even one escapes, that's your responsibility."

Iron glanced at Ghost Flame without arguing against his order. He was no newcomer. Through countless failed joint operations, he had learned to keep his mouth shut.

The clearing operation lasted only a short time from beginning to end.

The six ANBU members spread out into an encirclement around the deserters' hideout. Bai Ye was positioned on the east side. Crouching behind a clump of bushes, his Sharingan slowly turned in his pupils as he watched the deserters moving within the hideout. The movements of more than twenty people were clearly visible in his sight.

By the time Bai Ye counted the twenty-seventh person, the four Root members had rushed in.

Their movements were completely different from the assassination techniques taught by the ANBU. ANBU assassination used stillness to overcome motion, completing missions with the smallest movements, the least sound, and the fewest casualties. Root assassination had only one principle—kill everyone as fast as possible. The first deserter had his throat pierced through to the back of his neck by Ghost Flame's kunai amid his companions' cries. The second had his heart pierced from behind by another Root member's ninjutsu. The third had half his neck sliced through from the side by the fourth Root member the instant he turned around.

No prisoners were taken. Root did not need intelligence from captives. Their purpose in killing was erasure.

After the clearing was complete, the hideout was so quiet that only the wind's mournful howl through the broken walls remained.

Iron did not move in immediately. He waited outside for another quarter of an hour, confirming that there were no more chakra fluctuations from living people inside before signaling the ANBU members behind him.

"Go in. Clean up the battlefield and search for intelligence."

Five people slipped silently into the hideout from different directions. Bai Ye followed among them, the tomoe slowly rotating in his blood-red pupils as he swept his gaze over the corpses on the ground, the bloodstains on the walls, the overturned tables and chairs, the scattered ninja tools, and the campfire that had been half-burned before being stomped out.

Compared to Root's killing speed, the ANBU's cleanup efficiency appeared much slower.

Iron crouched beside a corpse and used his gloved hand to turn its face over. After confirming the identity, he made a note in a notebook. Another ANBU member searched through the deserters' luggage, separating ninja tools from personal belongings. Bai Ye was assigned to search several rooms on the eastern side of the hideout. He pushed open a door and immediately spotted a map spread out on the table. Several routes and circled markings had been penciled onto it, while a few burn holes from cigarette butts marked its edges.

Bai Ye folded the map and slipped it into a waterproof bag. He then found several letters in a corner of the room that had not been destroyed in time. The paper was coarse and the handwriting messy, but the signatures bore blurred seals that appeared to be unit designations from some Hidden Stone Village squad. He put the letters into the waterproof bag as well, then hurried out of the room to find Iron.

"Captain, I found a map and letters in the eastern rooms. They should belong to the leader."

Iron accepted the waterproof bag, opened it, and glanced at its contents before nodding. "Keep searching. Make sure nothing was missed."

Bai Ye spent another half hour searching the eastern rooms from top to bottom. Some boxes were locked, so he simply split them open with his blade. They contained changes of clothes and dry rations, with no intelligence value whatsoever. As he left the rooms, he saw the four Root members already waiting in the open space at the center of the hideout.

Ghost Flame leaned against a pillar with his arms crossed. The abstract patterns on his mask gleamed dark red in the setting sun. He said nothing, but the eyes beneath his mask swept over the ANBU members one by one, carrying the impatience of someone thinking, Why did something this trivial take so long?

Iron finally emerged from the last room, holding the waterproof bag Bai Ye had handed him and several other documents found in the other rooms. He walked up to Ghost Flame.

"We found the intelligence."

"The ANBU's efficiency is still as low as ever." Ghost Flame turned and headed out of the hideout. The other three Root members silently followed, their figures quickly vanishing into the dusk.