Shihōin Naraku paused, then continued writing.
The Analysis Team was to head to the Land of Rivers as quickly as possible and search the Underground Base.
Every piece of information they discovered, no matter how minor, was to be recorded in detail and reported back to the village.
After quickly finishing, Naraku read it over again to confirm that he had not missed any key points.
Then he took a seal from the seal box at the corner of his desk and stamped it squarely in the signature space at the bottom of the Order Letter.
He rolled up the Order Letter and looked toward the door.
The door opened. The ANBU member who had delivered the intelligence earlier was still kneeling on one knee in the corridor outside, not having moved at all.
Naraku walked over and handed him the rolled-up Order Letter. "Deliver this to the Analysis Team's duty room immediately. Have the team leader on duty assemble the personnel. They must depart before dawn."
"Yes."
The ANBU member accepted the Order Letter with both hands and rose in a crisp, efficient motion without an unnecessary sound. In the blink of an eye, he had vanished into the shadows around the corridor's corner.
Naraku stood in the doorway for a moment.
The corridor fell quiet again. The faint cries of night birds came from afar, brief and low.
He looked in the direction where the ANBU member had disappeared, his gaze lingering in the darkness for an instant, then turned back into the room and closed the door behind him.
Once again, he was alone in the room.
Naraku walked back to the window and pushed it open.
The night breeze swept in with a slight chill, stirring the edges of the intelligence papers spread across his desk.