Chapter 6: The Arrival of the ANBU
"He can even detect hidden ANBU?"
"What a terrifying talent."
Even though he had already anticipated Minato's potential, the Third Hokage was still deeply impressed. Staring at the boy's youthful face, his expression grew increasingly pleased and delighted.
ANBU in hiding, motionless and with their chakra suppressed to the extreme— even the Third could only sense them faintly at very close range.
Yet six-year-old Minato had detected them with ease.
To possess such perception at this age—remarkable.
To say the least, this sensory ability was no worse than that of the Second Hokage.
"A talent like this must not go to waste."
"I'll have Jiraiya and the others keep an eye on him."
In that moment, the Third had already decided who Minato's future teacher would be—one of his three disciples.
With talent like this, it would be a waste if he didn't become Hokage.
And to be Hokage, he would need to join the… ahem, moving on.
The thought only lasted a moment, but Minato couldn't wait any longer.
"Hokage-sama, please…" Minato urged anxiously.
"Don't worry." The Third smiled. "I'll take care of that child's matter. You go home for now."
Minato didn't want to leave. He wanted to make sure his friend was safe. Quietly, he asked, "Hokage-sama… can I wait here?"
The Third shook his head and said, "Go home. Your grandmother is still waiting for you. Don't make her worry."
At the mention of his grandmother, Minato thought of how she must be worrying right now, and didn't insist further. He bid the Third farewell and sprinted home at full speed.
He didn't want to make the only family he had worry.
As for Yō's safety—he would place his trust in the Third Hokage!
As soon as Minato left, the Third issued his orders.
"Karasu, alert the Security Force to begin a sweep of the village… no, forget it. Don't notify the Uchiha clan."
The Third reconsidered and withdrew his command.
According to Minato's explanation, the child had been remotely controlled by an enemy, which would require a chakra link for long-distance manipulation—like the chakra threads used by Suna's puppet masters.
A hidden spy would definitely need some form of chakra connection to control the target in real time.
To locate this connection, the Uchiha—with their Sharingan that could see chakra—were the most suitable candidates.
However… thinking about the Uchiha's growing power and increasing dissatisfaction toward him, the Third had another idea.
The Police Force, under Uchiha control, was originally responsible for monitoring Konoha for spies.
And yet now, with an infiltrator already present, they hadn't detected a thing.
If he asked the Uchiha to help now, they might gain credit and redeem themselves.
On the other hand, this was an opportunity.
An opportunity to hold the Uchiha accountable, to diminish the Police Force's authority, and suppress the clan's influence.
Kimura's parents had just sacrificed themselves for Konoha.
And now their son had been manipulated—or possibly killed—by a spy.
And the Police Force had no intelligence about it at all.
With this severe negligence and some public pressure, proposing that ANBU take over counterespionage duties would seem perfectly reasonable.
As long as ANBU handled the infiltrator, everything would proceed smoothly.
These thoughts passed quickly.
The Third continued, "Notify the search team to begin sweeping from the child's home outward—flush out any hidden spies."
"Yes."
Karasu responded in a low voice and disappeared with a body flicker.
…
Shff shff shff shff!
Four figures silently landed around Li Yao's home, each wearing a uniquely shaped white mask.
They were a direct unit of Konoha's ANBU—Explosion Squad.
The team leader's codename was Explosion, hence the unit's name.
The four quickly used cloaking techniques, blending in like chameleons.
The Ninja Academy dismissed late.
It was now dusk, the sun just setting, and Konoha was growing dark. The streets were nearly empty. No one noticed anything odd around Li Yao's house.
The ANBU positioned themselves tactically. The captain, Explosion, remained in the center to give commands, while two members spread out to cover three sides of the house and prevent escape.
Another crouched on the rooftop above the kitchen.
Tzz… Tiny black beetle-like insects, invisible to the naked eye, fluttered from the ANBU's sleeves, dispersing around the house.
One of them slipped through a crack under the tightly closed kitchen window and flew toward Li Yao, who stood with his back to it.
Plop plop!
Water boiled over from a pot on the stove, the noodles bubbling like a gentle hot spring.
Li Yao held chopsticks in hand, stirring the noodles to prevent sticking, his face thoughtful.
The allowance from Konoha wasn't much. It kept him from starving, but not full—and certainly not satisfied.
But this was a critical time for his body's development. Eating only noodles every day wouldn't cut it. He needed meat.
Otherwise, poor physical development would limit his future potential.
After all, chakra required physical energy.
If his body was weak, how much physical energy could he produce? And how much chakra?
So he couldn't let his body's development fall behind.
But… how could he get money?
Li Yao frowned slightly, not noticing the black insect that had quietly landed on a strand of his hair.
"Sigh… I'm only six. I still have school. I don't have time to earn money."
Li Yao shook his head, frustrated. He had no idea where to even start.
"Forget it. I'll eat first."
He turned off the stove, drained the noodles, grabbed a bowl, added seasoning, and sat down at the table.
Huff… huff…
He blew on the noodles and began eating bite by bite.
The tiny black insect clung to his hair, opening and closing its tiny mouth, as if trying to eat something.
But judging from its frustrated wiggling and gnawing, it wasn't getting anything.
Outside, the ANBU on the rooftop grew visibly tense.
"Insect, any results yet?" the squad leader whispered as he moved beside the beetle user.
The ANBU codenamed Insect was from the Aburame clan. The black bugs were his. At the question, he responded, "Captain, something's wrong with the target. My Kuro are extremely sensitive to chakra, but they can't sense even a single trace from his hair."
Explosion froze. "Not even a trace?"
"Not a single one."
Explosion frowned. "That's impossible."
Insect didn't reply—he was confused as well.
Every person naturally emitted chakra.
Even ANBU could only suppress it to lower detection risk. They couldn't completely prevent its release.
But the target inside the house? Even with a bug directly touching his hair, they couldn't sense the slightest trace of chakra.
That was extremely abnormal.
It was like he was already dead… Wait—
Dead!?
Combining the cold body temperature reported by the insect with the lack of chakra emission—
A chilling thought flashed through Insect's mind.
"Captain,"
Insect looked to Explosion, who also frowned—clearly, they had both thought of the same thing.
Only the dead didn't release chakra.
And not just recently dead—but long dead.
The only jutsu known to manipulate corpses was Suna's puppet technique.
But… could a human puppet really be this lifelike?
Inside the house, Li Yao was blowing on his noodles and eating normally. His movements were smooth and natural—nothing like the stiff pauses of a puppet.
Something felt off, but neither of them could pinpoint it. For now, they decided to proceed based on their assumption.
Explosion whispered, "Still no sign of a chakra thread?"
Insect replied, "None."
Explosion's frown deepened. "That doesn't make sense."
Insect was confused too. He hadn't released too many bugs—any more would risk detection.
But with Kuro's sensitivity to chakra, they should have sensed a chakra thread by now if one was there.
Yet still—no feedback.
"Could it not be a puppet master?" Explosion mused. "That doesn't add up either."
What other jutsu could control a corpse?
Could it be the Second Hokage's forbidden technique—Edo Tensei?
No… that couldn't be.
Edo Tensei was a forbidden technique. Aside from the Second, no one in Konoha could use it.
And that kid didn't show the signature cracks of an Edo Tensei summon.
So what was going on?
"What exactly is the situation with the target…?"
"Captain, should I let Kuro take a bite?" Insect suggested. "If it's just a strand of hair, the enemy probably wouldn't notice."
Hair, like fingernails, didn't carry pain receptors—but unlike nails, hair cells contained chakra.
If chakra couldn't be sensed on the surface, it must still reside in the body's cells.
If Kuro could absorb some, they could trace the chakra back to its source—and find the controlling enemy.
"No."
Explosion rejected the idea. "Keep monitoring the target's chakra."
Then he left and approached another teammate, quietly explaining the situation before issuing a new order:
"Yoru, go report this to the Hokage. Something is wrong with the target. He may already be dead."
"Yes." Yoru vanished without a sound, while the remaining three continued observing Li Yao.
(END CHAPTER)