Chapter 54: Meeting the Squad

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"This promotion came sooner than expected."

As soon as I entered, without any introductory words, Minato told me this.

I sent a look at the other person in the room, Danzo, and said, "We don't really have the time to worry about such things though, do we? With the threats of internal and external conflicts, age is… quite inconsequential."

Minato sighed, and Danzo picked up there, "Choosing a squad for you was unexpectedly easy, and should allow you to integrate easily. But before introducing you, it is time for you to officially enter the Special Forces."

My eyes turned to Minato's desk, where an Anbu uniform my size was, with a mask on top of it. A mask I had personally designed, an owl mask.

As I grabbed the pile of clothes, Minato asked, "What codename have you chosen? Owl?"

I shook my head, and staring at the mask, I replied, "Spider."

Minato nodded, and noted down something. Danzo grumbled, "Go get changed, and head to the Western Gate. You team has a mission assigned to them, and they are waiting for you."

I nodded silently, and quickly disappeared with the Body Flicker.

I quickly reached my home, where I changed into my new outfit. Standing in front of the mirror, I stared excited at my reflection. Unlike most sword using Anbu, I didn't have the standard Anbu Tanto in my back, but instead my good old katana at my hip.

I was short, because of my age, but donning this outfit made me look much more dangerous than I ever looked. That was understandable though, as for most ninjas in the world, seeing an Anbu meant death.

After confirming one last time I had everything I would need on me, I sped toward the Western Gate. There, I did not immediately see my team, so I passed by the gate, stealthy, and followed the path.

Before long, I spotted a group of people standing by the side of the road, all garbed in Anbu outfit. Remembering the welcome Itachi had received, I decided to keep my stealth up as I rapidly approached them.

They stood somewhat far away from the trees, but I was still able to move through them to reach their location. As I arrived within ten meters though, one of them said rather loudly, "You can come out."

To my surprise, I well recognized that voice, for it belonged to Itachi!

Body Flickering to his side, I smiled under my mask as I said, "Hello, Squad Leader."

Itachi being Itachi, he did not even flinch, and said with his ever constant voice, "While under this mask, I am Karasu. You?"

"Spider."

I turned to look at the other members of the team, and spotted three people, one of which I well recognized. I had only seen her once, but she was part of the original anime, as she was Yugao Uzuki.

Maybe because of that, she was the first to introduce herself, "I'm Cat. I specialize in Kenjutsu, and I'm a Sensory Type."

Oh, so that's how they knew I was coming. Sensory Types were kind of my bane. My Stealth Technique was strong, very strong actually as I had managed to advance to the second stage, which made me literally soundless.

However, a skilled sensor could sense me from kilometers away, because they detected others through their chakra. Fortunately for me, I guess, they were rare. Still, I was on my way to work on something to counter them. Harder said than done.

After her was a guy, the shortest in the team, even shorter than the 14 years old Itachi. His voice was… very strange, and unpleasant to hear. It sounded like two sand papers rubbed together.

"Sugaru. Insects. Intel."

His introduction was very brief, and Itachi, or should I say Karasu, added to it.

"Sugaru rarely speaks. I hope you've learned Anbu signs?"

I nodded, and Itachi added, "Keep your eyes on him most of the times, he provides intel through those signs."

Again, I nodded. One couldn't really talk through Anbu Signs because it was a strictly mission related language, which was nearly as diverse as normal sign language. It spoke more with concepts than actual words.

Finally the last one, the biggest of the bunch, had an appropriate codename.

"Name's Bear. I'm a Taijutsu Master, among other things."

That is quite impressive. Each member of the team covered something different, making this an all around team. Including me.

"As you may have seen, I specialize in Sneak, and Assassinations. I also am great at defending a position."

I had other strengths, but so did the others. Those were simply my greatest.

Now that everyone had been introduced, we all turned to Itachi, who explained, "The Land of Forests is the only route through which Kiri could massively send troops right into the Land of Fire, and is run through by a massive river."

Picking up a stick, Itachi quickly drew the Land of Forests on the ground, as well as the river running through it, and added, "Until recently, we held control over the land's Daimyo. However, he recently died, our of what we believe to be Kiri's assassination, making us lose our control over the land. We have thus been issued three missions."

He looked at Bear and muttered, "No matter what happens, unanimous control over the land has become impossible, so the river has to be obstructed. Bear and I will go and block the path leading to the sea."

He then turned to look at Yugao and continued, "Cat, Sugaru, you will be handed the second mission. Several bandit groups have recently appeared around the land, causing mayhem. Your mission is to find them, and find how they got there, and what their goal is. Once done, neutralize the threat."

Finally, he turned to look at me, and without any hesitation, he said, "Spider, your mission is to assassinate the newly crowned Daimyo, as well as destroy the guards' barracks."

I saw my three other teammates send an unsure look at me, but looking into Itachi's eyes, I only saw confidence. That felt good.

So it was with a smile that I nodded. Itachi nodded back, before adding, "He most certainly is protected by several members of Kiri's Anbu, so don't get caught. If you do…"

I finished, "Self destroy, along with any evidence of where I come from."

That was Anbu 101, no one is supposed to know we were ever there, and the enemy should never get access to our corpses.

Itachi sent a look at the rest of the team and asked, "Any questions?"

No one replied, so Itachi took out a headpiece and threw it at me as he said, "We all meet here in 24 hours. Spider, considering your mission, you have a week to come back to the leaf, after which you will be considered KIA."

I nodded, pocketing the headpiece, and followed as they all left using the Body Flicker. We quickly moved West, and thanks to our speed, we didn't take long to reach the border.

It was only when we reached the border that we separated, all heading to our own mission.