[ANBU Chronicles!]

I caught the plain white mask that Taichou threw towards me and I turn towards him with a raised eyebrow's…

"Your mask is getting too much fame..."

'Fame..?'

"What do you mean fame?" I was confused by his statement…

He threw a little book at me…

[Ping!]

[Bounty System Activated!]

'...'

"Pg 102" Taichou instructed so I turned to the mentioned page…

'Tobi Shou'

'Clan: None'

'Affiliations: Konoha Genin/ANBU'

'A Ranked threat'

'Bloodline: Jiton'

'Specialities: Wind natured chakra flow combined with Kenjutsu, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Medical Ninjutsu'

'Description: Tobi Shou is a very fast shinobi with his peak speed expected to be of High-Jounin. Caution is advised if you have lower than high-Jounin speed. He is deadly with Kenjutsu combining his techniques with wind natured chakra to deal with quick finishing blows. He either wears a Black Haori or an ANBU uniform, he is 5'2 and 13 years old.'

'Bounty: 10 million Ryo - Kiri, 5 million Ryo - Ame'

'... that is a lot of information that no way Kiri or Ame should possess...'

Along with that, there were two photos of me in my genin attire and my ANBU attire…

"Can I keep this?" I ask Taichou and he nods before saying, "Yes as a hunter-nin you need to have one anyway..." He then turns towards the team and started saying, "As you all know that because of the invasion, Iwa and Kumo are testing our borders with sneak attacks… our team is resolved to handle the border disputes with Iwa who is using Kusagakure as a front to launch the attack, first we need to reach Kusa as soon as possible so everyone let's move!"

[A Rank Mission accepted: War of Shadows!]

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It was late at night by the time we arrived at Kusa, we were surrounded by a lot of ANBU's so Taichou asked us to wait, then flared his chakra in a code…

Another ANBU with a bear mask approached us and said, "Toad-san, there has been little movement from Iwa's side after the first attack… it seems like they are waiting for our response..."

Taichou considered the intel and then motioned for me to come forward… I step up as he asked me, "What is your sensory range?"

"About 500m..." My reply was crisp as he nodded and turned back to bear-san and said, "we'll attack at 3 A.M" He then turned to me and said, "maintain a distance of 400m from any shinobi on the other side of the border and do a quick scan around the village and the borders beyond that, I need anything you can give me, numbers, description of leaders anything… also if any one of their shinobi's emotion changes to surprised… back up a little bit and continue to observe from a distance, he may be a sensor… got that!"

"Yes Taichou" He nodded and then used a hand sign to say 'dismissed'...

I jump onto a nearby tree and started to dash towards the Kusagakure gates…

'Right, so they have someone there, there and there...'

I started expanding my sensing radius to monitor the Kusa shinobi's guarding their village's periphery… There were many gaps available for me to exploit because of my high dash speed but instead, I just walk to a nearby shadow and sink into it…

'Shadow Transportation technique'

I arrive in a distant alley and change out of my ANBU gear into a simple black T-shirt and black trousers… I remove my headband and place it into my inventory before leaving the alley and walking around the village…

'The village hidden in the grass, there are fewer people roaming the streets even when it is prime time...'

I started walking down the street and went to a nearby restaurant…

"Hey, chief! What's special on the menu today!"

It was a small establishment and there were few people mingling and eating, the vibe around the place was a nice family restaurant…

"Hey, kid! You here alone!" The chef who was manning the counter asked, he was a large man with a mustache and a bald head…

"Yeah, Chief! Mom and Dad bored me with all their shopping and I needed a place to sit down, this place just feels homey enough!"

I sit against the stools present in front of the counter and start to look through their menu…

"Haha! Kids these days are restless, aren't they! Anyway, you can try some Rice and curry, today's flavor is tomatoes, I can whip something up for you real quick if you feel like it..."

I pretended to consider the offer while continuing to monitor the surrounding area and tagging all the shinobi's present in my radius…

"Yeah! That sounds tasty chief! Whip it up!"

'Man! Who likes tomatoes!'

As soon as his back is turned I look at the nearby people and every one among them was busy at their own table… I stand up and dive into my own shadow that was in contact with the stool…

'Shadow Transportation Jutsu'

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I continued walking around the village increasing my knowledge of known chakra signatures… I still didn't have a way to know if the shinobi present belongs to Iwa or Kusa but then I started counting the number of Jounin chakra signatures…

'Taichou should know the number of Jounin's registered for Kusagakure, at least we can get a rough estimate of Iwa's strength...'

I did a quick sweep around the village and used shadow transportation to avoid patrols...

'Alright, the easy parts done… now for the hard part...'

I arrive in a clearing and I could feel several high-level chakra signatures in front of me… I started recording everyone's chakra signature before suddenly all of them started to dart towards me…

'Fuck! They have someone with a range greater than 400m!!!'

I slink back into the shadows and came out in a completely different direction but after a few seconds, they just continued to dash into my direction…

'This isn't good… ambush plans will become harder… if I can just figure out who is the first person to react...'

I jump back into the shadows and change my location before focusing on the ninja's present…

'What… there's no way'

I jump back into the shadow and begin my journey back to our outpost…

'How can several of them react at the same time...'