Chapter 354: Captain Sei
Having made his decision, Ishiro did not hesitate. He took a step towards the opening in the house, his hands simultaneously beginning to form seals at a breathtaking speed.
"Water Style: Raging Water Smash!" A B-rank Water Release ninjutsu, deliberately amplified with an extra amount of chakra, shot directly into the middle of the ninja outside.
Ishiro's hand seal speed was too fast. When he first began forming the seals, the Mist ninja still thought of stopping him, but they were immediately frozen in their tracks, frightened by his speed of over six seals per second.
There was still some distance between them. With Ishiro's speed, they had lost the initiative and had no time to interrupt him. The cleverer ones immediately turned and fled. The slower ones didn't even have a chance to run and were swept away by the raging water.
Ishiro didn't care if they were dead or alive; in any case, they definitely wouldn't dare to come back. An elite jonin who had just displayed such terrifying hand seal speed was not someone these ninja could afford to provoke.
After dispatching the small fry with a single ninjutsu, Ishiro turned around to size up the three people and one corpse before him.
A moment ago, he had observed these three Anbu with the eyes of a passerby. Now, Ishiro was examining them with the eyes of a commander looking at his subordinates, so naturally, he had to be more serious.
As Ishiro sized them up, the three had already subtly moved a little closer without being obvious. This was a completely subconscious action, born from the fear instilled by the power Ishiro had just displayed.
Right now in Kirigakure, all the well-known experts had been recruited by the various factions. Those who hadn't been recruited had long since publicly declared they would not participate in this conflict. So, an elite jonin like Ishiro—or rather, an expert who was by no means weak even among elite jonin—was a rare sight among their fourth-party faction.
The three of them tried hard to recall the Anbu squad leaders they were familiar with, but found that none of them matched the person standing before them.
"Remove your masks. State your codenames, real names, abilities, affiliations, and service records," Ishiro said icily.
"Yes," the male Anbu who had been injured by the shuriken and had fallen in with their former captain responded first, quickly removing his mask. He was a ninja in his twenties with a scar on his cheek. "Sir, my name is Hayata, codename Sky. I am a taijutsu ninja, subordinate to Captain Ki's squad. Our squad leader was named Ki. The number of A-rank missions I have performed is..."
Ishiro glanced at the body of the Mist Anbu squad leader whose name was Ki.
With someone taking the lead, the other two did not hesitate. The only female ninja among the three removed her mask, revealing a stern face. She was about twenty years old.
She said, "Sir, my name is Maju, codename Aome. I specialize in Water Release ninjutsu and know a little medical ninjutsu..."
The last person took off his mask, revealing a full beard. His voice was rather deep. "Sir, my name is Raizō, codename Ai. I specialize in Lightning Release ninjutsu..."
A dozen minutes later, Ishiro had a very detailed understanding of his three new subordinates, including their family situations, hobbies, and mission histories.
Ishiro nodded in satisfaction. "Alright, put your masks back on. My codename is Sei. You can call me Lord Sei or Captain Sei. Now, I will give my first order: take your captain and lead me to your usual base of operations."
"Yes," the three responded in unison.
Then, the three led the way with Ishiro following behind. The four of them crossed half of Kirigakure, finally arriving at a residential house.
Ever since this chaos erupted, the various Anbu squads had rarely returned to the headquarters. That place had always been a focal point for all the factions. The Anbu who didn't want to participate in the conflict were basically all acting on their own. Although these Anbu were united in their general direction—doing their best to maintain order in Kirigakure during the day—there was little contact between them. Most, like this squad, had found a relatively spacious private house to use as a temporary base.
Ishiro briefly surveyed the base. Although the place was small, it was relatively well-equipped. There were all sorts of items for a ninja's daily needs, and there was no shortage of consumables like kunai, shuriken, and explosive tags. Ishiro even saw a set of wooden training dummies in the corner of the living room.
Are these Mist Anbu planning for a long-term holdout? Ishiro grumbled inwardly.
"Lord Sei, this room was previously Captain Ki's. I'll tidy it up. How about it serves as your quarters, my lord?" Aome said.
Ishiro waved his hand. "No need to tidy up. You three go rest first. Don't you know medical ninjutsu? Go check on Sky's injuries."
"Yes," Aome acknowledged and quickly left.
Ishiro walked into the room that originally belonged to Ki by himself. Having been in Iwagakure's Anbu himself, Ishiro was very familiar with their operational style. With just a brief glance, Ishiro determined that this Ki had been a very competent Anbu. Apart from the necessities of life, there was nothing else in the room.
Everything was placed in perfect order. If anyone had moved anything, the owner would immediately notice something was amiss.
Ishiro sat in the room for a while, carefully considering his current situation. A long time later, he walked out of the room again.
In the living room, only Ai was present. He wasn't resting; he was presumably on duty.
Seeing Ishiro come out, he quickly stood up to greet him. "Lord Sei."
Ishiro nodded. "I was on a mission in the Land of Earth and just got back. What on earth happened to the village? Why is it in such chaos?"
Ai immediately reported, "Lord Sei, a while ago, Lord Mizukage suddenly demanded that several major ninja clans, including the Minazuki and Hōzuki clans, dispatch a portion of their ninja to join the Anbu and follow his orders."
"Those major clans disagreed, so a conflict arose between the two sides. It was fine at first; both sides exercised some restraint. But starting from one night six days ago, when the first ninja died in battle, the conflict has been escalating."
"The ninja with powerful backing have all united. Those of us without backing can only declare neutrality."
Ishiro nodded. "What about headquarters? Is it dangerous? Have you been back in the last two days?"
Ai shook his head. "Headquarters is being constantly watched by ninja from the other factions. We were afraid of causing trouble, so we haven't been back since four days ago."
"There are very few ninja at headquarters now. Basically, apart from the guards, only ninja like you, Lord Sei, who have just returned from a mission and need to go to the mission office to update their status, will go back."
"Unless there's a compelling reason to stay at headquarters, most people won't stay there for long."
"Is Lord Sei going to update your mission status? It would be best for you to go at night. At night, there are fewer ninja from the various factions near headquarters, and most of them are busy guarding against each other."
"You can take the secret passage from Kentarō's Izakaya. It's closer to the Mizukage's office, so ironically, there are no ninja from those factions guarding it."
A thought struck Ishiro. Kentarō's Izakaya, a secret passage to the Mist Anbu headquarters? What great news.
Ishiro nodded. "I understand. In that case, I'll make a trip back right now."
"Lord Sei is going back to headquarters now? I'll go inform Sky and Aome to assemble."
Ishiro waved his hand. "No need. It's safer for me to go alone. Don't go out before I return. Just stay here on guard."
"Yes," Ai replied helplessly.
Ai also knew that Ishiro was right, but he felt some regret that he couldn't be of use. When he was under Captain Ki, the three of them were still very useful. But here with Ishiro, the three of them seemed to be just a burden.
Leaving the temporary base, Ishiro slowly made his way towards the Mist Anbu building.
Ishiro had long known the general location of the Mist Anbu HQ, but without a special credential, like a hand seal sequence, he had never dared to force his way in. Now things were better. Taking the secret passage, there would surely be few guards, and even if there were, he could deal with them before they raised an alarm.
Along the way, Ishiro twisted and turned, avoiding more than a dozen groups of ninja and ignoring any fights, heading directly for the Anbu headquarters.
After a long while, Ishiro finally reached the vicinity of the headquarters.
"Kentarō's Izakaya," Ishiro searched for a while in the area near the Mizukage's office and found his target with great ease.
With an S-rank ninjutsu like the Mind's Eye, Ishiro wasn't worried about being monitored. He gently pushed open the door of the izakaya. After entering, he closed the door behind him.
Crouching down, Ishiro began to use his sensory ninjutsu.
Before long, he discovered the location of the passage to the Anbu headquarters. The faint chakra fluctuations emitted by some of the seals in that area did not escape his senses.
He stood up, quickly walked to the entrance of the passage, pushed aside a cabinet concealing the entrance, and stepped inside.
The passage was not long, and it didn't take Ishiro much time to reach the end.
He formed a one-handed seal: "Porcelain Release: Kunai Rain."
Just as he stepped out of the passage, a large number of porcelain kunai shot out from his body, turning a nearby Anbu guard into a sieve.
With the aid of his Mind's Eye, Ishiro was able to detect the ninja's chakra in advance. So, this jonin guarding the passage was eliminated by Ishiro without making a sound. The jonin didn't even realize there was an enemy until his death.
Ishiro surveyed his surroundings, roughly guessing the layout of the Mist Anbu headquarters, and then began to wander around inside.
It was just as Ai had said; the number of ninja in the Anbu headquarters now was truly small. Ishiro walked for quite a while, and the total number of ninja that appeared in his sensory range was less than five.
Most places were empty, including the data room he most wanted to visit. The Anbu data room was only protected by a high-level seal, with no other defensive measures.
Ishiro felt like Sun Wukong entering the Garden of Immortal Peaches.
The Mist Village is being so generous. If I don't do something, wouldn't that be looking down on them?
♧♧♧
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
♧♧♧
-> 35 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.patreon.com/c/Segais
(Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you