Anbu Team Six, also known as the Puppet Tactical Group, had been formed at the suggestion of Fourth Kazekage Rasa.
By integrating Puppet Technique with tactics, it made up for Sunagakure's lack of resources and strengthened the village's strategic capabilities.
Its primary duties included, but were not limited to, intelligence gathering and reconnaissance, special operations, and technical support.
Hoshino entered the Kazekage building and arrived at the Anbu department's reporting desk.
There was a long table, behind which sat a stern-faced ninja, his head lowered as he looked through some files.
Hoshino stepped forward and said respectfully, "Hello, I'm Hoshino. I'm here to report to Anbu Team Six."
The ninja looked up and examined Hoshino from head to toe, seemingly having some doubts about the still somewhat youthful-looking boy joining the Anbu.
"Wait here!"
The ninja rose and took a set of Anbu clothes and some basic Anbu equipment from a nearby cabinet.
"Put these on, then follow me."
Hoshino took the clothes and found that they were a tight-fitting black outfit bearing a pattern unique to Sunagakure's Anbu.
There was also a mask painted with the image of a ferocious ninja beast.
After Hoshino changed, the ninja led him down a long corridor and finally stopped in front of a door.
A large, conspicuous "Six" was written on it.
"Go in yourself. I won't be coming with you!"
With that, the ninja turned and left.
Hoshino knocked, and after receiving permission, entered the room.
The room was small, and its walls were covered with designs for various puppets, battle maps, and some strange mechanical devices.
There were five people inside.
When they saw Hoshino enter, they all stopped what they were doing and cast appraising looks at him.
"A newcomer?" A deep voice came from a corner of the room.
Hoshino looked toward the voice and saw a tall ninja leaning against the wall, a ferocious scorpion painted on his mask.
"Yes, I'm Hoshino. I'm here to report for duty."
"My codename is Shaji. I'm the squad leader of Anbu Team Six. These are Scorpion Shadow, Faceless, Night Sand, and Fox Shadow."
Shaji introduced the others one by one, then continued.
"You have one minute to come up with a codename of your own."
A codename, huh...
Hoshino looked over the people in the room. There were men and women, and though he couldn't tell their ages, they all had an icy air about them.
This didn't seem like the right occasion for a joke. Otherwise, he would have liked to make one.
The minute passed quickly.
Shaji asked, "Have you decided?"
Hoshino nodded. "I have. I'll go with 'Spirit Puppet'!"
"Spirit Puppet? All right, I've got it. From now on, you're a member of Anbu Team Six," Shaji said.
"Give us a full introduction."
Hoshino said seriously, "My name is Hoshino, codename 'Spirit Puppet.' I graduated from the puppet class and specialize in puppet crafting and control. I see myself as support personnel."
"Fox Shadow, go test him and get a general idea of what he can do!"
Shaji nodded slightly and turned to the slender Anbu member wearing a fox mask beside him.
"Sure, boss! Kid, come with me!"
Fox Shadow chuckled and led Hoshino through a hidden door in the room to a place resembling a training room.
After a brief test, the two returned to the room where everyone else was.
"I've got it, boss. This kid has excellent control over his own Chakra, and he carries three types of small puppets. There's a reconnaissance type and a self-destruct type, but the third is a little unusual."
"What's unusual about it?" Shaji asked.
"It can store a Ninjutsu and cast it without hand seals," Fox Shadow said.
At those words, everyone's gaze focused on Hoshino once more.
A puppet that could store a Ninjutsu and cast it without hand seals was practically a divine weapon for sneak attacks in battle.
Yet they had never even heard of one before!
Was this why Lord Kazekage had placed this kid in Anbu Team Six?!
Shaji fell silent for a moment, then slowly said, "Faceless, you have three days to get Spirit Puppet used to Team Six's pace."
Faceless nodded and silently led Hoshino out of the Kazekage building.
The others continued to focus on the tasks at hand, paying no mind to the two who had left.
Over the next three days, Faceless took Hoshino along to handle all sorts of matters.
On the first day, Faceless took Hoshino to deal with several disputes within the village.
First, they mediated a fight between two villagers over a water source, then put a stop to an argument among several Genin over the uneven distribution of missions.
On the second day, Faceless took Hoshino out of the village and deep into the desert to wipe out a group of desert bandits.
During the mission, Faceless had Hoshino go in alone and stressed that he was to leave none alive and kill them all.
Hoshino did exactly as instructed, killing every bandit in the makeshift camp without encountering any effective resistance.
A subsequent search for information revealed the truth.
The so-called desert bandits were all ordinary people who had turned to banditry because they could no longer make a living.
Hoshino felt somewhat upset, but he soon recovered.
Ever since he had transmigrated into Naruto, he had been prepared to kill, and those he killed might include innocent people.
That was simply how things were in the Shinobi World.
Changing it wasn't something he could do now. What he needed to do now was make himself stronger first.
The weak had no say in the Shinobi World.
On the third day, they went to a village near Sunagakure to eliminate a ninja beast that was terrorizing it.
The two went out together, but Hoshino once again carried out the mission alone. It was this mission that left him with a few injuries.
Ninja beasts born in the desert either had thick scales, keen senses, or the ability to adapt to changes in their environment.
This ninja beast combined the first and the last.
The explosions from Hoshino's small spiders couldn't even break through its defenses.
Crawling into the ninja beast's mouth didn't work either.
Its huge mouth, filled with sharp fangs, closed so quickly that they were crushed the instant they entered.
In the end, he relied entirely on his own maneuvering and Ninjutsu attacks, along with a surprise attack by his puppet, to kill it. Inevitably, he suffered a few minor injuries.
Damn it, what happened to being support personnel? I still ended up having to fight at close quarters.
Three days later, the two returned to Anbu Team Six's room.
Shaji looked at the transformed Hoshino and smiled. "Not bad. You look a little like an Anbu ninja now."
Though Hoshino looked somewhat tired, much of his former youthfulness and inexperience had faded, replaced by the composure that came from being tempered by hardship.
"Now that everyone's here, I'll go over our next assignment."
Shaji walked to the wall, unfolded a huge tactical map, and pointed to a mark on it as he continued.
"According to our intelligence, a Jonin stole the village's puppet technology and defected. He's attempting to sell the technology to those barbarians from the Land of Lightning at this location in exchange for money."
"The mission is to kill the missing-nin and recover the stolen technical documents. The latter is our first priority."
"If the documents have already fallen into the hands of Kumogakure's ninja, then we will destroy them... at any cost."
At this point, a trace of murderous severity appeared on Shaji's face, and he spoke in a cold voice.