Seeing the three members of the Ino-Shika-Cho who had already introduced themselves, Kōki introduced himself to them as well, "My name is Kōki Itō. I am skilled in Wood Release and Medical Ninjutsu. Please take care of me from now on."
That's right, Kōki directly revealed his Wood Release ability to his future Anbu comrades. On one hand, he didn't want to limit his strength and make himself feel restricted in battle; on the other hand, he had already informed Hiruzen Sarutobi of his intention to reveal his Wood Release.
Even now, he can still recall the shocked and opposed expression on Hiruzen Sarutobi's face when he was about to reveal his Wood Release.
Fortunately, she managed to persuade Hiruzen Sarutobi with her silver tongue. However, even though she had convinced him, he still asked her to keep a low profile and eliminate all enemies when facing them to reduce the risk of her Wood Release Hiruzen Sarutobi exposed to all the ninja villages.
Kōki agreed to all of these requests. He wanted to make better use of his strength, but he wasn't stupid. He didn't like to create trouble for himself, nor did he want to be besieged by the other four ninja villages Tenten because of his Wood Release.
As for Danzo, that cunning old fox, he wasn't worried. Kōki believed that with Hiruzen Sarutobi's current aura, he could keep him in check.
Furthermore, even if Danzo were to resort to any means necessary, he wouldn't be afraid. With Aizen's clone already present, he wouldn't be so easily subdued. If the main body couldn't defeat him, he could simply send Aizen. At worst, he could have Aizen sneak into Konoha and use Genjutsu to eliminate Danzo. He believed that Danzo wouldn't be able to defend against Genjutsu in his current state.
Upon hearing Kōki's self-destruction, the Ino- Ino-Shika-Cho trio were momentarily stunned, completely unexpected that their future teammate would be a user of Wood Release.
This important news exploded around them like a Explosive Tag, leaving them somewhat dazed.
They were somewhat incredulous that Wood Release would reappear in Konoha. They looked up at Shinnosuke Sarutobi, who was sitting in the first seat, and only after seeing his affirmative expression did they truly believe that Kōki possessed Wood Release.
The Wood Release Shinnosuke Sarutobi confirmed it, the expressions of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio changed from shock to excitement. They hadn't forgotten that Kōki was planning to join their team.
This means that the strength of their team will be greatly enhanced, especially since the user of Wood Release is a Jonin who is about eight years old.
Although their team is quite strong, they are sometimes overwhelmed by certain special situations.
For example, when faced with a large number of enemies, their squad has no way to start. They also cannot defeat particularly powerful enemies, and instead risk being killed themselves.
Now that Kōki has arrived, their team's weakness has been completely solved. When facing a large number of enemies, Wood Release is the best skill for clearing them out. Wood Release can also play a significant role when facing tough enemies.
Nara Yūsuke believes that after Kōki joins the team, the team's strength can reach a level comparable to that of Kage Level powerhouse.
Kōki was also very satisfied with the three members of the Butterfly Squad. He could sense that the three of them were all quite strong, Jonin Ino-Shika-Cho.
Kōki could confidently say that with his addition to the team, the Jonin other ninja villages were no match for them; only Kage Level ninjas could even show their faces in front of them.
"Alright, now that you've all introduced yourselves, let's begin the mission. Kōki, after joining the Butterfly Squad, you'll follow Nara Yūsuke's orders. As for how to coordinate in battle, I believe you're all competent ninjas; you can handle those issues yourselves."
After seeing that both sides had gotten to know each other, Shinnosuke Sarutobi assigned tasks to Kōki and the others, as the situation on the battlefield was tense and they needed to quickly get back into coordination.
They understood what Shinnosuke Sarutobi meant: there was no time for them to get to know each other slowly; the only way to build synergy was through real battles.
Kōki agreed with Shinnosuke Sarutobi's words. With Nara Yūsuke as his brain, he didn't need to think too much on his own; he just had to follow orders.
As the squad leader, Nara Yūsuke took the mission scroll directly from Shinnosuke Sarutobi, glanced at it briefly, and then led Kōki and the others away from the Anbu base. After leaving the base, Nara Yūsuke explained the requirements of this mission.
The Anbu received information that the Sunagakure had dispatched another Sunagakure tactical squad to secretly infiltrate the heart of the Land of Fire.
This time they weren't so lucky. They were discovered by Konoha Ninja on duty at the border as soon as they stepped across. After losing more than half of their men, the Sunagakure people finally managed to enter the Land of Fire.
Although the Sunagakure Village suffered heavy losses, the remaining members can still cause considerable damage to the Land of Fire, so the Anbu need to find and kill them.
After Nara Yūsuke explained the mission requirements, the four of them, including Kōki, remained mostly silent. The atmosphere among them became slightly tense. They all understood that this kind of mission could be simple in some ways, but it could also be very dangerous.
They all understood the ferocity of a cornered beast, and they had to be wary of the enemy's madness when facing a desperate situation. For Sunagakure, taking Konoha Ninja with them before they died would be the best outcome. Therefore, Kōki and his group needed to be careful not to fall into Sunagakure's trap of mutual destruction.
As evening approached and darkness fell, they followed the intelligence to the location indicated by the intelligence report where Sunagakure was last seen before its disappearance.
Looking at the battlefield before him, which seemed to have been ravaged by a typhoon and earthquake, Kōki understood the intensity of the battle.
After arriving at the battlefield, his teammate Yamanaka Kenji first searched the area around the battlefield, checking for signs of the Sunagakure's escape. Then, he pointed northeast and said to Nara Yūsuke.
"Yes, we've already checked the surrounding area. Judging from the traces at the scene, the Sunagakure people should have gone in that direction."
The "suke" mentioned by Yamanaka Kenji is the code name of Nara Yūsuke. During the missions in the Anbu service, the team members are required not to reveal their true identities, so they all refer to each other by their code names.
Yamanaka Kenji's codename is "Si," and Akimichi Tsuyoshi's codename is "Shi." When Kōki saw that his teammates all used one of their names as codenames, he didn't want to waste his brain cells and simply used the character "Shu" (tree) as his codename.
"Tsukasa, that direction seems to be towards the capital of the Land of Fire. Could those Sunagakure be planning to cause trouble there?" Akimichi Tsuyoshi to the side, was very familiar with the direction Yamanaka Kenji was pointing. That was the location of their Land of Fire's capital. Could those Sunagakure be that crazy?
"No, besides the direction of the Land of Land of Fire's capital, that's also the direction of the Land of Lightning. Maybe they're trying to mislead us into thinking they're fleeing in the wrong direction." Kōki refuted Akimichi Tsuyoshi's opinion, because he believed that Sunagakure wouldn't be bold enough to cause trouble in a country, not to mention the defenses of a country's capital.
If they dare to cause trouble in the capital of the Land of Fire today, then tomorrow people from Konoha will go to the capital of the Land of Wind to cause destruction. This would completely undermine the tacit understanding among the Five Great Nations not to involve the daimyo in the war.
This tacit understanding among the Five Great Nations was something Hiruzen Sarutobi told him. When he was studying under Hiruzen Sarutobi, he had asked the ninja why they replaced the daimyo.
Hiruzen Sarutobi explained that the daimyo governed the common people, and the ninjas led the ninjas. The daimyo would provide the ninjas with economic support, and the ninjas would acknowledge the daimyo's status and be appointed by him. In addition, the ninjas' affairs could not involve the daimyo.
Kōki initially thought it was a bit far-fetched—that those who wield power are dominated by those who have no power—but later, he realized that this might be a unique characteristic of the Shinobi World and came to terms with it.