Chapter 51: The Efficiency of Anbu
Ishiro had no time to pay attention to the Jonin battle happening elsewhere. The six-against-three fight he was involved in had already fully occupied his attention. As soon as the fight started, Ishiro immediately launched a Water Pressure Line Jutsu aimed directly at a fire-affinity Chunin detected through his sensing.
Due to the surprise attack, the enemy Anbu—disguised as an ordinary caravan member—was completely unprepared, even failing to draw his weapon before being struck by Ishiro's technique. Although he managed to dodge slightly by instinct, he couldn't avoid a serious injury as Ishiro's attack pierced through his body. Following Ishiro's attack, his teammates mercilessly unleashed a storm of kunai and shuriken.
Ishiro's second Water Pressure Line Jutsu didn't even hit a living target—the enemy ninja, unable to evade, had already been fatally wounded by over ten flying projectiles.
Seeing his second ninjutsu strike only a corpse didn't discourage Ishiro. He halted his forward momentum and immediately formed seals for another attack—this time the simpler Water Line Jutsu, again targeting a single enemy. Having witnessed Ishiro's previous lethal attack, the two remaining Chunin panicked and focused heavily on evading Ishiro's attack. Their distraction provided an opening, allowing a ninja from another squad to injure one of them with a spear of earth.
Little Stone swiftly seized the opportunity, closing in and decapitating the enemy Chunin with a swift slash.
The final water-affinity Chunin managed to dodge White Cat's attack using a water clone and then created a self-destructing clone to cover his retreat. But just as he gained some distance, he suddenly froze and collapsed, several projectiles embedding themselves in his vital spots.
Black Cat had taken advantage of his full-speed escape to strike from the shadows, landing a fatal blow directly to his throat. By the time the projectiles hit him, he was already dead.
While Ishiro's side concluded swiftly, the other battles didn't drag on either.
The Chunin leader of the visible escort squad was instantly focused down by three elite Chunin and killed before even reacting. His three Genin subordinates followed shortly after, easily dispatched without resistance. Their fight concluded even faster than Ishiro's group.
The enemy Jonin lasted slightly longer, but after receiving wounds in the initial assault, he rapidly became overwhelmed. Facing two Jonin opponents of equal strength and a Special Jonin constantly ambushing him from the side, he quickly accumulated multiple injuries. Unable to use even a single ninjutsu, he was soon slain by Captain Shiden, who closed the distance swiftly with a Body Flicker and struck him down.
Immediately after finishing their enemies, Ishiro activated his sensory ninjutsu to confirm there were no additional threats nearby, only relaxing when he found nothing unusual.
Under the horrified gaze of the scattering civilians from the caravan, the twelve Anbu quickly cleaned the battlefield and vanished swiftly from sight.
The entire operation, from the first strike to leaving, took less than a minute. Many caravan members hadn't even processed what had happened, and some fleeing individuals were still visible when the twelve Anbu had already disappeared completely.
Captain Shiden led them to a previously prepared hidden location, where they sorted through the spoils of battle. First, Ishiro sealed the bodies for later examination by specialists back at the village.
Then, they shared the belongings of the eight slain ninja. Because the enemies died so suddenly without a chance to use their equipment, the team gained considerable spoils—including a significant amount of money and standard combat gear.
Unexpectedly, they found a ninjutsu scroll on the Jonin's body—a rare treasure, as Anbu generally wouldn't carry such items unless directly related to their mission.
All twelve quickly copied down the scroll. The original would be handed over to the village along with the sealed bodies.
There wasn't much else of value, as ninjas rarely carried non-essential items.
Instead of immediately separating, the three squads rested together for half a day, recovering chakra and stamina. Afterward, one squad nearing the end of their patrol returned first with the sealed bodies and the original scroll, while Ishiro's team and the remaining squad resumed patrol duties.
That evening, Ishiro checked the copied scroll. It described a Fire Release technique—the Phoenix Flower Jutsu, originally developed by the Uchiha clan. Since the village already possessed this technique, submitting the scroll wouldn't yield many contribution points. Instead, the training insights written at the end were more valuable.
However, Ishiro hadn't awakened the Fire attribute, making it impossible for him to train this technique.
After years of reflection, Ishiro suspected that having two chakra natures (Earth and Water) was a result of living two lives, each originally possessing one of these affinities. Developing additional elements beyond these two would be significantly harder.
Thus, Ishiro wasn't seeking to learn the jutsu but to study the Fire element's nature. Unfortunately, none of his teammates had the Fire affinity, and while another squad had a Fire-type ninja, he specialized in taijutsu, rendering the technique mostly useless to him as well.
Ultimately, this scroll provided no practical benefits for their team, merely adding to their collection.
Disappointed, Ishiro wondered when he'd acquire a jutsu he could actually use.
Usually, ninjas embarking on missions outside their own country left valuable items at home, ensuring that even if they died, enemies wouldn't benefit. Hence, it was rare to acquire useful ninjutsu from defeated foes unless during deep incursions where enemies felt relatively safe.
After his reflections, Ishiro mentally reviewed the day's battle. Analyzing battles afterward was crucial for a ninja's growth and survival.
He realized a critical mistake today: following his habit from solo combat, he unnecessarily launched a second attack on an enemy already killed by teammates. Today, overwhelming odds masked this error, but in future evenly matched battles, such mistakes could prove fatal by wasting precious opportunities.
Determined to improve, Ishiro asked his senior teammates about strategies to identify opportunities and predict battlefield conditions in team fights.
Little Stone was particularly enthusiastic, and with their help, Ishiro started learning methods to seize combat opportunities amidst chaotic conditions.
Today's mission further clarified Ishiro's understanding of the Anbu's dangerous reality: on his very first Anbu mission, he'd already encountered enemy Jonin-level threats. Anbu missions indeed carried immense risks.
However, incidents like this weren't common, and Ishiro encountered no more trouble until the mission concluded.
Returning safely, Ishiro received notification about their mission rewards. Due to eliminating an entire enemy Anbu team, each of their three squads was credited with completing an A-rank mission. As the initiators and main combatants, Team 18 received generous rewards: 6,000 contribution points.
Ishiro personally obtained 2,000 points—a considerable amount. Over the past two years, performing mostly B- and C-rank missions, Ishiro had accumulated only around 1,000 points. Earlier, due to bringing back Haku's corpse (the Ice Release user), Ishiro had already received an additional 3,000 points for outstanding performance, alongside some leftover points from before.
Now, Ishiro possessed over 7,000 contribution points. Initially, he planned to gather 10,000 points to exchange for a B-rank ninjutsu, assuming his learning speed was limited.
But after mastering the Body Flicker Technique quickly, Ishiro gained new confidence. Perhaps other jutsu would also come easily, prompting him to consider exchanging points for several C-rank ninjutsu instead.
Upon reaching the jutsu exchange counter, Ishiro was informed he still had one unclaimed C-rank ninjutsu. Remembering a past promise made during wartime—where the village replaced monetary allowances with a guaranteed ninjutsu reward—he was delighted.
"Any restrictions on redeeming this free jutsu?" Ishiro asked hopefully.
"No restrictions," the clerk replied. "Any C-rank jutsu, regardless of its usual contribution cost."
Ecstatic, Ishiro realized he could claim an expensive and particularly useful jutsu, just as he'd once obtained the costly sensory ninjutsu (valued at over 10,000 points).
With determination, Ishiro announced boldly, "Bring out the full list—I'm picking the most expensive one!"
The clerk chuckled, accustomed to seeing people seek expensive jutsu but rarely so openly eager as Ishiro.
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