Chapter: 9

*TWEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTT!!!*

'Oh for the love of...'

Kaori had little time to admonish her tongue because that right there was the queue for 'ALL' the ANBU, save for the dead, the crippled, or the retired, members to gather at the Hokage's Office... or its roof at least.

She quickly dressed up in black attire, including a grey flak jacket that offered minimal protection, metal arm guards, and gloves. Now on top of that fashion madness, she also had to attach three ninja pouches to her back waist, wear the iconic spiked sandal, and put on a porcelain mask.

Overall, the uniform was pretty badass!

Once dressed, Kaori made for the door.

Outside was the image of pure chaos. Shinobi in various stages of getting dressed, some half-naked, scrambled to don their ANBU gear. Yet, everyone had somehow managed to put on their masks.

Still, she couldn't help but marvel at the efficiency with which the ANBU members responded to the signal. It couldn't have been more than a minute since the signal was given and already everyone was scrambling about in a near-ready combat state.

Already they were forming squadrons of eight shinobi outside in the main hall. It mattered not if the cloak-wearing ANBU was their superior or someone else, years of conditioning and training had made it impossible for them to fall into disarray... except for the time it took to dress up.

Kaori joined under Owl, she recognized his mask from a distance and joined the group of four waiting behind him. 

"Suzume."

Greeted the Elite Jonin, to which Kaori responded with a soft incline of her head like always, 

"We're waiting for three more to join us."

Stated another member of the squadron. Had the ANBU tattoo on the right shoulder, obviously a woman. Long sword instead of the standard issue Tanto, Kenjutsu practitioner.

Still, Kaori thought it wouldn't hurt to take a look,

'Observe.' 

[Name: Hatake Amaya(Hachidori/Hummingbird)]

[Age: 22]

[Chakra: 35,000]

[Physique: 64,000]

[Evaluation: Second in Command of ANBU Surveillance Squadron 04. Exceptionally talented in the art of Kenjutsu. Possible Elite Jonin.]

'Great, another Jonin on the squad.'

Not that she was jealous, just that having another Jonin on the squad meant more trouble since they would be assigned more difficult tasks.

She focused on each member of the squad individually, briefly pausing on each one of them. To the squad members, however, it appeared as though she was glaring at them for some reason and they subconsciously straightened up a bit. Wondering if they did something wrong to be scrutinized.

[Name: Aburame Kaji(Konotori/Storks)]

[Age: 16]

[Chakra: 8,190]

[Physique: 3,900]

[Evaluation: An Elite Chunin of the Aburame Clan. Average talent for Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu, and Bloodline Jutsu. Possible Special Jonin.]

[Name: Nakamura Yuu(Kitsutsuki/Woodpecker)]

[Age: 20

[Chakra: 4,890]

[Physique: 4,010]

[Evaluation: A Civilian Chunin of the Hidden Leaf village. No talent for Genjutsu. Average talent for Bukijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Taijutsu. Possible Elite Chunin.]

[Name: Suzuki Hiro(Kamome/Seagull)]

[Age: 22]

[Chakra: 4,080]

[Physique: 4,901]

[Evaluation: A Civilian Chunin of the Hidden Leaf Village. Above average talent for Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Bukijutsu. Possible Special Jonin.]

This time around there were some changes in the interface. It was only showing name, age, chakra, physique, and evaluation. Could be some sort of restriction based on her strength. Still,

'An Elite Jonin, a Jonin, and four Chunin. Enough for an A+ rank mission.'

An A+ usually indicated an A-rank mission with the certainty of encountering Chunin to Jonin ranked enemy with a small chance of encountering an Elite Jonin and none of a Kage coming to mess around with you.

'Guess this one's gonna be a lot of trouble.'

She regretted not using the bloodline card, but her cautiousness made her reel back from the madness. The ANBU had a monthly test routine, just in case some imposter might have snuck in after killing one of them. Adding a bloodline to her stream would only make her fail the blood test, in which case, she would most likely be interrogated and promptly executed afterward on charges of killing Kaori, which was herself, and taking her place in ANBU.

Ten seconds after her arrival, another group of three joined their squad,

[Name: Nara Shikano(Ookami/Wolf)]

[Age: 18]

[Chakra: 9,980]

[Physique: 3,901]

[Evaluation: An Elite Chunin of the Nara Clan. Exceptional talent for Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. No talent for Taijutsu. Above-average talent for Bukijutsu. Possible Elite Jonin.]

[Name: Yamanaka Kokoro(Hayabusa/Falcon)]

[Age: 19]

[Chakra: 7,080]

[Physique: 3,600]

[Evaluation: An Elite Chunin of the Yamanaka Clan. Excellent talent for Spiritual Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. No talent for Taijutsu. Poor Talent for Bukijutsu. Possible Jonin.]

[Name: Akimichi Ryota(Inoshishi/Boar)]

[Age: 18]

[Chakra: 5,080]

[Physique: 9,901]

[Evaluation: An Elite Chunin of the Akimichi Clan. Always hungry. Excellent talent for Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, others, not so much. Possible Jonin.]

The arrival of the final three members completed their squad. With a full squad assembled, their masks betraying no hint of emotion... except maybe the Nara yawning and the Akimichi rubbing his stomach? They stood silently behind Owl, waiting for instructions,

"Lord Hokage has issued a Level-A combat readiness alert! All members of the ANBU black Ops. are to report to him immediately!"

With a dramatic wave of his hand, Owl disappeared, moving at a speed invisible to bare eyes. The rest of them followed after him, using the same Jutsu to move at superhuman speed.

They speed along the dark, gloomy passages and run down a tunnel that ends at... you guessed it, the Second Hokage's nostrils.

'Ninja boogers? Talk about creepy.'

They were not the only ones. As they ran down the cliff, they noticed several more figures dressed in dark ANBU gear, rushing towards the Hokage's office.

'Must be something big, for him to call out every single ANBU in the village.'

With one last chakra-assisted jump, they landed square on top of the Hokage's office, assuming the surveillance corp's position on the left-most corner of the rooftop. 

For Kaori, it was the first time she had ever seen so many ANBU in one place. The roof was covered in Shinobi wearing masks ranging from animals to birds to monstrous entities. 

She shivered, not in fright or excitement, but from foreboding. 

The power gathered was enough to subvert any minor shinobi village in a single night, which naturally meant that whatever the mission was, it concerned the other 'Great' villages.

The ANBU Black Ops, are a group of highly-skilled ninjas, specializing in covert operations like assassination, interrogation, sabotage, and intelligence gathering. From the list, it became quite apparent that the word 'Ninja' suited these people far more than the everyday Shinobi that goes bumbling around like a fool. 

'*Cough*Naruto*Cough*'

Many of the missions entrusted to the Hidden Leaf were of a rather unsavory nature, Lord Third, in his infinite wisdom, decided to expand the ANBU after the second ninja war. 

The Hidden Leaf village boasted a population of 145,000 civilians, a couple of hundred give or take. Ten percent of the village's denizens were Shinobi, varying from the rank of Genin to Elite Jonin. But even among these accomplished ninjas, a select few were inducted into the ANBU. The ANBU Black Ops. comprised an estimated 700-800 members, the Village's sharpest knife, and its last line of defense.

Now, Kaori counted about 200 members gathering on the roof,

'What's that old man up to now?'

Suddenly, the Third Hokage, a wizened old man with his white goatee flowing in the wind, appeared on top of the water tank, now covered with sheets to disguise it as a stage. All ANBU members, Kaori included, dropped to one knee in a gesture of respect.

"Rise,"

The old man's voice was not raised above the level of a normal conversation, but under the quiet of the night, it boomed across the roof. 

Kaori did not rise from her kneeling position, she knew the Hokage's command was meant for the squad leaders and higher-ranking officers only.

Owl stood up, and so did Hummingbird.

'We have received classified intel that suggests Hidden Stone and Hidden Sand are planning to coordinate their forces to wipe out Hoshigakure from the face of the earth."

At his words, there was a sudden murmur that rose like a wave.

Once before, when Hidden Leaf was weakened after the Second Shinobi World War, one of its allies was besieged and destroyed. Konoha watched but was helpless to aid their allies, at present time, this was the biggest stain on Leaf's honor after the war and if such a thing were to happen again, then it was likely that none of the other minor ninja villages would trust them enough to ally with.

"IT HAPPENS AGAIN!"

His voice boomed and Kaori flinched from the noise,

'Jeez, wake the whole village would ya?'

The Old geezer continued with his speech,

"It happens again that our allies are besieged while we sit by and do nothing!"

He sure knew how to rile up the crowd, sure there was no other voice present on the scene but the sere bloodlust permeating in the air told the tale of how agitated they were.

The Third Hokage's voice continued to crackle through the night air,

"We cannot allow history to repeat itself! We will not stand idly by and watch another ally be crushed!"