Chapter 130: Anbu
"Anbu?" Sakura's small mouth opened slightly as she said with some surprise.
She took the Anbu application form that Tsunade handed her. The various details on the form had already been filled out for her, and there was even a small note attached, handwritten by Tsunade:
I recommend Konoha Chunin Haruno Sakura (Ninja Registration Number 102601) to enter the Anbu. All departments are requested to cooperate. —Fifth Hokage, Senju Tsunade.
Tsunade's private seal was stamped on it.
The girl's delicate brows rose slightly. She blinked her eyes and looked at the only empty space on the application form, the place left for her to sign.
This... means I have to sign, doesn't it? Sakura glanced at her master. The smiling look on her face seemed to brook no refusal from the girl.
Master's decision is completely one of acting first and reporting later, Sakura complained inwardly.
However, she didn't say anything and readily signed her name.
Regarding the matter of joining the Anbu, Tsunade had mentioned it to her several times, and Sakura also felt that it was a good choice.
She just hadn't expected it to be so soon.
After leaving Team 7, it was impossible for her to live the boring life of an ordinary Chunin, accepting missions.
Unchallenging missions would only waste her time. And not every mission would be like the Land of Snow mission, where she could make great gains.
A ninja's growth could not rely on these low-level missions. Similarly, it was also not advisable to just hole up in the village and develop ninjutsu.
In comparison, the Anbu, which carried out more high-level missions, was a more suitable place for her to grow.
The Anbu, founded by the Second Hokage, its full name being the Special Assassination and Tactical Squad, was a team directly under the Hokage and was generally responsible for carrying out missions of higher difficulty. Almost all the famous masters that Sakura knew of had spent time in the Anbu, which more or less proved that the Anbu was a very good place for training.
Besides that, joining the Anbu also had Tsunade's political considerations.
Since the Anbu was a force directly under the Hokage, it was usually considered to be the Hokage's direct line. Many times, being able to join the Anbu in itself represented the Hokage's high regard and trust. It could be said that although this place was dangerous, the ninja who came out of the Anbu were all considered the elite of the elite. Their resume would be as dazzling as if it were plated in gold.
Back then, Kakashi had been placed in the Anbu by the Fourth to be tempered for a long time, and he had even become an Anbu captain. Unfortunately, this guy was a disappointment. He had been indulging in his sad past, and his strength had been slow to reach the Kage-level. Therefore, he could only serve in an important position—such as becoming the team leader of Team 7—but could never wear the title of Hokage.
There was another talent who had become an Anbu captain at a young age, and that was Uchiha Itachi. The Third had trusted Itachi from beginning to end, largely because Itachi had entered the Anbu, and not the Konoha Military Police Force, which was controlled by the Uchiha. If Itachi had entered the Konoha Military Police Force, Sasuke would probably have died on the night of the massacre long ago, and the whole of Naruto would not have had so many troublesome matters...
As for Sakura being able to be pulled into the Anbu just after being promoted to Chunin, it further proved Tsunade's full confidence and trust in her.
These were just the most superficial and aboveboard reasons.
As for the deeper reasons, the power plays between the high-level bosses, Sakura guessed there were two more.
Both of these reasons were related to Danzo.
The first was a response to Danzo's attempt to recruit Sakura into Root—Sakura had told Tsunade about that matter the next day. Sakura didn't know if the two had slammed the table in a meeting later, but Tsunade's personality had always been strong and competitive. This time, pulling Sakura into the Anbu was a direct, in-your-face retaliation against Danzo.
Tsunade's move, first and foremost, showed her high regard and trust in Sakura: it was a daydream for Danzo's little tricks to even think of driving a wedge between the master and disciple relationship.
At the same time, it also told Danzo that Sakura had already entered her direct-line Anbu, so he should stop having any improper thoughts of pulling this genius girl into Root.
Secondly, inserting her own disciple into the Anbu was also a counterattack against Danzo's infiltration of the Anbu.
Theoretically, the Root organization had already been disbanded on the night of the Uchiha massacre. But in fact, many of its members were still serving in the Anbu now, while continuing to be loyal to Danzo. For various reasons, although the Third Hokage had been aware of this for a long time, he had never been able to completely solve this problem.
Tsunade placing Sakura in the Anbu, of course, did not expect her to be able to solve this problem—this kind of mission was not something a mere Chunin could complete. But the identity of the Hokage's direct disciple could more or less serve as a deterrent to the Root organization and Danzo.
However, these things were all figured out by Sakura herself later on.
She couldn't say for sure that they were correct. Perhaps there were some unknown under-the-table deals behind it. She only knew that Danzo had been much more active recently than before. Perhaps he wanted to take advantage of Tsunade having just taken office and not yet having a firm footing, and the Third still being in a weak period, to stir up some trouble.
However, at this moment, having just received the Anbu application form, she was still a little suddenly dumbfounded.
Naturally, she couldn't think of such far-reaching things.
Mixed with surprise and excitement, she signed her name.
Seeing this, Tsunade also nodded with satisfaction. She clapped her hands and summoned an Anbu ninja who had been on standby. The ninja appeared in the office with a Body Flicker and knelt on one knee, awaiting orders.
Sakura looked at this monkey-masked Anbu curiously several times. She had thought before that these ninja who were always on standby and could appear in the office with a swish were originally hidden in the office. This close contact had negated that idea. If there were other people hiding here, it would be impossible for her not to sense them.
The monkey-masked Anbu was wearing a black bodysuit, which highlighted his slender figure. At this moment, Sakura naturally thought about what she would look like in this suit... This person had become more and more narcissistic and vain after transmigrating.
"Katsura-U, you can take her to report," Tsunade said, handing over the application form and entrusting Sakura to him.
The monkey-masked ninja didn't say much. He just nodded, turned his head and glared at the girl who had been looking at him curiously, signaled her to follow, and then flashed out of the office.
The Anbu's Body Flicker was used very well, probably trained from frequently entering and exiting the Hokage's office. Sakura almost didn't keep up—the girl's Body Flicker was quite average. She was good at the kind of instantaneous explosive taijutsu-type Body Flicker enhanced by her nin-taijutsu, but if she had used that kind of Body Flicker, she probably would have smashed the office to pieces. At that time, Tsunade would have had to hang her up and give her a beating.
After leaving the Hokage's office building, the Anbu ninja stopped for a moment on the roof of a house not far away and waited for Sakura to catch up. He glanced at the girl's feet with a look of contempt—this was Sakura's first time using the Body Flicker on the roofs of Konoha. Because she was in a hurry to catch up with the Anbu, she had used too much force and had smashed the tiles of someone's roof.
"Hey, be careful!" After leaving the Hokage's office, the monkey-masked Anbu ninja was not so taciturn anymore. He reminded her in a somewhat muffled voice.
The voice came from under the mask, feeling a little strange.
After he said this, he waved his hand and continued on his way.
The girl was just about to take the opportunity to chat with him a few words, but seeing this, she had no choice but to swallow her words, and while carefully using the Body Flicker, she followed behind him, head down.
After several twists and turns, under the guidance of the Anbu, Sakura came to an unremarkable large building.
The monkey-masked ninja led Sakura through the messy corridors of the building with a familiar air. With Tsunade's order, the way was naturally paved with green lights, and the entry procedures and such were all completed in a flash.
The girl, like a string puppet, followed the monkey-masked Anbu's instructions and signed a few documents. The latter then took her to a small warehouse and to a wall covered with all kinds of masks.
"Choose a mask and a codename that you like."
He said.
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