ANBU

One morning a few days later.

Lin Ze had just returned to the Orphanage after his morning training when he discovered that a small scroll had appeared on the windowsill at some point.

The scroll was entirely black, with no markings except a bright red "Confidential" stamped in its center.

It's here.

Lin Ze tensed inwardly, quickly picked up the scroll, and slipped back into his room.

Only after confirming that no one was nearby did he carefully undo the sealing thread around the scroll.

The scroll slowly unfurled. The first thing he saw was Konoha's emblem, followed by a few concise lines of text:

[ANBU acceptance notice]

Name: Lin Ze

Age: 7

ID: ANBU candidate-567

Rank: Candidate member

Supervising Jōnin: Not yet assigned

Reporting location: Entrance 7, Sector 3, Konoha underground headquarters

Reporting deadline: Within three days, effective immediately

Lin Ze's gaze lingered on the words "Candidate member" for a moment.

Full members of ANBU went by code names, while candidates were different: they only had numbers.

This was more or less what Lin Ze had expected. Given his current age and publicly known strength, becoming a full ANBU member straight away was indeed unlikely.

A candidate... that works.

Lin Ze continued reading.

The latter half of the scroll briefly introduced ANBU's organizational structure and basic regulations.

ANBU, whose full name was the "Special Assassination and Tactical Squad," answered directly to the Hokage and was Konoha's most elite force.

Its current membership totaled around a hundred, with one commander and one deputy commander at the top of its hierarchy.

It was divided into four divisions, each with one division captain overseeing six squads, with four ninja in each squad.

The members were generally above average among Chunin, with a high proportion of Special Jōnin and quite a few Jōnin among them. All captain-level members were Elite Jōnin.

ANBU offered exceptionally generous benefits: monthly pay was more than three times that of ordinary ninja of the same rank, mission payments were separate, and members enjoyed the highest priority for supplies and medical care.

But in exchange came an extremely high casualty rate and exceptionally demanding missions.

The main differences between candidates and full members lay in their clearance and mission types.

Candidates were not qualified to carry out missions independently and had to undergo live combat training and undertake support missions under a supervising Jōnin. Their movements were also restricted to a degree, and they had no access to core secrets.

Only after passing an evaluation period lasting at least six months could candidates become full ANBU members.

However, the scroll also noted that the six-month period was not absolute and could be shortened for special cases, such as Lin Ze, whom Hiruzen Sarutobi had specifically selected, or geniuses like Kakashi, whose strength far exceeded that of their peers.

A six-month evaluation period... looks like I'll have to perform well during that time, Lin Ze thought silently.

However, Lin Ze remembered that ANBU generally had seventy members in the original story. Konoha truly was powerful in this period, it seemed. In both numbers and quality, its ANBU far surpassed those of Naruto's later era.

And that did not even include Danzo's Root.

The end of the scroll also mentioned ANBU's current highest-ranking officer-its commander, Hatake Sakumo.

Lin Ze could not have been more familiar with that name.

The White Fang of Konoha, Kakashi Hatake's father, a legendary ninja whose strength and reputation at his peak had even surpassed the Sannin.

He specialized in wielding a short blade that emitted white light and was renowned throughout the Shinobi World for his astonishing speed and decisiveness.

In the original story, Hatake Sakumo had faced condemnation from the village for abandoning a mission to save his comrades and ultimately chose suicide. This had also become the greatest psychological scar of Kakashi's life.

At this point in time, Hatake Sakumo should be at his peak...

Lin Ze recalled the original story's timeline. He remembered that Hatake Sakumo had died in Konoha Year 40, leaving him a little over a year to live.

Lin Ze actually had a fairly good impression of Hatake Sakumo.

As a commander, he was highly capable; as a ninja, he was powerful; and as a person, he valued his comrades' lives-though that had ultimately led to his tragedy.

Working under someone like him, at least I won't have to worry about being treated as nothing but cannon fodder, Lin Ze thought. Still, I'll have to be careful not to get too close to him...

After all, with his knowledge of the original story, he knew very well that Hatake Sakumo's eventual fate was far from good.

If he got too close, he might end up embroiled in the political turmoil of the Konoha High Command.

As Lin Ze remembered it, Hatake Sakumo had ultimately been driven to his death by the village's rumors and gossip after returning from his mission.

And in all likelihood, Danzo had been behind those rumors.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had been in his prime then. Although the White Fang of Konoha alone could not threaten his position, and his achievements were hardly enough to make the Hokage fear him, why would he pass up a chance to undermine Hatake Sakumo's reputation?

After all, when the time truly came to select the next Hokage, a single word from Hiruzen Sarutobi would make wiping away those rumors a trivial matter.

Besides, people always had those they held closer than others.

Although Hatake Sakumo could also be considered part of the Hokage's faction, he was clearly a step removed compared to Orochimaru, the personal disciple Hiruzen had raised himself and poured countless efforts into.

Thus, Hiruzen Sarutobi had turned a blind eye to the rumors targeting Hatake Sakumo in the village and had not taken them much to heart.

But what no one had expected was that Hatake Sakumo would simply flip the table-and kill himself!

That had stunned both Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo, catching them completely off guard.

Lin Ze could even imagine what had gone through Hiruzen Sarutobi's and Danzo's minds at the time:

Seriously, man, were you really that fragile?

If you were that easy to kill, you should've said so sooner~

*...*

Hatake Sakumo's death had also indirectly contributed to Konoha's later predicament, when its older generation had no adequate successors.

By Naruto's generation, the only presentable Kage Level fighters in the village were the aging Hiruzen Sarutobi, whose strength had declined, Danzo, who barely met the Kage Level threshold, and Jiraiya, who spent most of his time wandering the world outside.

But Lin Ze was no softhearted saint. He had no intention whatsoever of changing Hatake Sakumo's fate, and naturally wanted nothing to do with him either.

After committing the scroll's contents to memory, Lin Ze breathed out a small puff of flame and burned it to ashes.

This was a requirement on the ANBU notice-destroy immediately after reading.

Once that was done, Lin Ze tightened his bandages, put on a black training outfit that allowed easy movement, said a few words to Miyamoto Ichirō and the others, and headed out toward the reporting location specified in the notice.

ANBU headquarters lay beneath Konoha and had several concealed entrances.

Entrance 7 in Sector 3, where Lin Ze was headed, was in a small grove at the edge of the village.

Along the way, Lin Ze kept thinking about his upcoming life in ANBU.

With my current strength, I should rank among the best Chunin, especially in Taijutsu and explosive power. But there's still a clear gap between me and Special Jōnin or Jōnin.

Although the Eight Gates Released Formation is powerful, I can't use it as a regular method. The abilities of the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon are an even more closely guarded trump card that I absolutely cannot reveal.

So what I need to do most in ANBU is learn and gain experience while carefully concealing my fruit abilities.

Lin Ze knew very well that a place like ANBU offered plenty of opportunities, but also held far more dangers than appeared on the surface.

Those dangers came not only from missions, but even more from internal competition and power struggles.

Although Danzo's Root operated independently of ANBU, personnel frequently moved between the two organizations. There were certainly quite a few Root operatives lurking within ANBU.