ANBU

Biodata

Organization and Command

Konoha ANBU

Konoha’s ANBU has approximately one hundred full members when Lin Ze joins. Its four divisions are designated A, B, C, and D, each containing six four-person squads 47 60.

• Personnel standard: Members are generally above-average Chunin, with many Special Jōnin and a substantial number of Jōnin. Captain-level personnel are described as Elite Jōnin 47.
• Command access: Members can request a direct audience with the Hokage within established limits, avoiding ordinary layers of notification 121.
• Discipline: Sakumo emphasizes absolute obedience and mission priority. Fox additionally instructs members to respect classified boundaries and remain vigilant even while trusting their teammates 60 61.
• Secrecy: Ordinary villagers and many low-ranking shinobi know little about ANBU 21.

Relationship with Root

Root originated as a division split from ANBU, inherited from the Second Hokage’s era. It gradually became independent and developed into Danzo Shimura’s personal force 74.

• Operational separation: Root operates independently, although personnel move between the two organizations 47.
• Different recruitment philosophy: Danzo seeks to erase recruits’ personal attachments and ensure absolute obedience; Hiruzen favors cultivating loyalty through bonds 39.
• Compulsory secrecy: Root members bear the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, preventing disclosure of organizational information 19.
• Internal interference: Hiruzen suspects Root involvement in a mission arranged to isolate Lin Ze and orders surveillance of the ANBU operative Tanuki 73 75.

Recruitment and Training

Membership Stages

• Recruitment cycle: New candidates are admitted every three months 50.
• Numbering: Candidate numbers cycle from 001 to 600, then restart 50.
• Initial assessment: Recruits normally undergo a one-on-one test of strength and specialties. Lin Ze bypasses it as Hiruzen’s special recruit 50.
• Access restrictions: Lin Ze’s initial instructions limit him to the headquarters’ first three underground levels and require Jōnin supervision for missions 48.
• Disciplinary penalties: Minor violations receive punishment; serious violations result in immediate dismissal 49.

Training Program

Training runs from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with brief breaks for meals and rest. Exercises emphasize practical mission requirements rather than extensive classroom theory 48 50.

• Stealth exercises: Candidates must exploit observation blind spots and pass reconnaissance checkpoints without detection 49.
• Broader assessment: Combat strength alone is insufficient; stealth, reconnaissance, and codebreaking also form part of the skill set Lin Ze must address 53.
• Combat evaluation: Lin Ze’s assessment includes defeating Candidate 369, Uchiha En, a Special Jōnin 58.

Duties and Operational Skills

Assassination and Intelligence

ANBU carries out highly classified missions, including hunting rogue shinobi, investigating foreign activity, and eliminating threats 21 22.

• Investigates wandering shinobi suspected of attacking Konoha’s supply lines, with authorization to eliminate them if necessary 81.
• Searches attack sites for physical evidence, including unusual claw marks and scales 173.
• Conducts foreign reconnaissance; Lin Ze’s independent assignment concerns Sunagakure’s strength and possible connections with other hidden villages 148.

Security and Protection

ANBU handles both village security and the protection of important individuals 15 21.

• Routine assignments: Guard duty, patrols, investigation of suspicious individuals, and suppression of bandits appear among Lin Ze’s early C-rank missions 62.
• Higher-risk assignments: B-rank work includes possible clashes with other villages, pursuit of defected Genin, and stronger bandit groups 62.
• Protective deployments: Fox’s squad guards Tsunade and Konoha’s new medical base against Iwagakure attacks 127 130.
• Wartime support: The Special Operations Unit supplies mobile reinforcement to pressured sections of Konoha’s northeastern defensive line 235.

Surveillance and Sealing Support

Specialized personnel monitor sensitive targets and prepare countermeasures against dangerous chakra releases 531 543.

• ANBU monitors Naruto’s reactions to Itachi and Sasuke and reports signs that his memory seal is weakening 531.
• A four-person Sealing Squad deploys around the Chunin Exams arena with sealing scrolls when Naruto draws on Nine-Tails chakra 543.
• Naruto’s residence remains under rotating surveillance by at least three ANBU, repeatedly obstructing Obito’s attempts to approach him 559.

Headquarters and Resources

Underground Headquarters

The headquarters has multiple concealed entrances. Entrance 7, Sector 3 is hidden inside a marked tree in a grove near Konoha’s outskirts and opens after Lin Ze identifies himself using a hand seal 47 48.

Merit Points and Benefits

• Pay: Monthly salary exceeds three times that of ordinary shinobi of the same rank; mission payments are separate 47.
• Priority support: Members receive the highest priority for supplies and medical care 47.
• Technique access: Ability, contributions, and clearance determine access to guarded training resources 22 49.
• Merit exchanges: Lin Ze spends ANBU Merit Points on sealing manuals, cursed-seal theory, and compulsory chakra-binding research 102 211.
• Expanded clearance: Increased seniority gives him access to entries such as Adamantine Sealing Chains, the Four Symbols Seal, and a modified Contract Seal 138.
• Limits: The repository does not contain every secret technique. Lin Ze finds no suitable advanced sensory method, and Chakra Enhanced Strength is absent from the collection he consults 102 135.
• Service risks: Generous benefits accompany exceptionally demanding missions and a very high casualty rate 47.

Uniforms and Identification

• Animal masks: Conceal identities and serve as recognizable identifiers 21 61.
• Candidate clothing: Lin Ze receives a black uniform, a temporary tanuki mask, and the number 567 printed on his back 48 60.
• Code names: Full members select permanent code names, usually corresponding to their chosen masks 47 61.
• Mask changes: Changing masks is commonplace. Lin Ze retains the code name Aoda while using a monkey mask after enemies recognize his original mask 125 235.
• Logistics registration: Lin Ze’s record explicitly connects “Codename: Aoda” with “former number: 567” 61.

Notable Personnel

• Hiruzen Sarutobi — Oversees recruitment and deployment as Hokage; personally sponsors Lin Ze’s entry 21 39.
• Hatake Sakumo — ANBU commander during Lin Ze’s induction; later dies by suicide after condemnation over abandoning a mission to save comrades 60 82.
• Lin Ze / Aoda — Candidate 567, full member of Fox’s squad, and later independent Special Operations operative 47 61 148.
• Kirigakure Hisanobu / Fox — Lin Ze’s long-term squad leader. Offers his own life to protect Gray Wolf and Night Owl after witnessing Lin Ze’s Azure Dragon form 98 379.
• Heishi Kenji / Gray Wolf — Lin Ze’s long-term teammate. Reported outside ANBU at one point, but later appears among Jiraiya’s ANBU escort 379 527.
• Chiba Aya / Night Owl — Lin Ze’s long-term teammate and later squad captain. Retains her position despite suspicion over her ties to him because of her Kage-level strength 331 379 471.
• Gray Bear — Direct Hokage guard who escorts six-year-old Lin Ze to meet Hiruzen 21.
• Kagami Uchiha — Personally selected and trained Uchiha ANBU members who became an early pro-Konoha faction within the clan 55.
• Ryota Uchiha — Identified among three Jōnin-level Uchiha ANBU accompanying Shisui during an ambush 390.

History and Major Operations

Lin Ze’s Rescue and Recruitment

Squad C-5 discovers Lin Ze at the border when he is five and brings him to the Konoha Orphanage. His file records that Mist shinobi destroyed his original village 17.

Hiruzen later places him under observation and reserves an ANBU training path for him. When Danzo demands that Lin Ze enter Root instead, Hiruzen refuses and confirms his ANBU placement 21 39.

Internal Interference and Leadership

After Lin Ze survives a suspicious solo assignment, Hiruzen recognizes the possibility that Danzo has infiltrated ANBU’s mission arrangements. He orders Tanuki watched and sends investigators to the attack site 73 75.

The organization’s stated direct subordination to the Hokage does not always reflect practical control: after Minato becomes Fourth Hokage, Hiruzen still controls ANBU 331.

Night Owl’s Staged Pursuit

Night Owl confronts Enta and Yami Uchiha using a secret Hokage order. While her team fights Enta, she covertly cooperates with Lin Ze’s plan, allows the siblings an escape opportunity, and directs her team to report Enta as a fugitive who has taken Yami hostage 332.

Naruto Surveillance and Headquarters Breach

ANBU prevents contact between Naruto and the visiting Uchiha brothers, reports instability in his memory seal, and maintains close surveillance around his home 531 545 559.

During Itachi’s extraction of Naruto, dozens of ANBU attack Susanoo with kunai and shuriken but fail to penetrate its armor. Amid the associated Nine-Tails crisis, an intruder breaches three headquarters sealing barriers, incapacitates six guards with hypnotic genjutsu, and steals ten pairs of Sharingan and classified scrolls 566 569.

Naruto and Sasuke’s Return

Dozens of ANBU assemble behind Tsunade when Naruto and Sasuke return to confront Konoha. Fox, Night Owl, and Gray Wolf are explicitly absent from the defending assembly 625.

ANBU in Other Villages

Continuity Notes

• Lin Ze’s squad designation changes in the text: Sakumo assigns him to Third Division, C-5, but subsequent missions identify Fox’s team as B-5. The supplied accounts do not describe a transfer 60 62 73 121.