Chapter 6: Arrival of ANBU

"Even hidden ANBU can be detected?"

"What a terrifying talent!"

Despite having some expectations about Minato's talent, Minato's abilities still managed to shock the Third. Looking at Minato's youthful face, the Third's eyes were filled with increasing satisfaction and joy.

ANBU, who had hidden and remained still, had their chakra restrained to the limit. Even Elite Jonin could only sense them vaguely at close range.

But six-year-old Minato could easily sense them.

To possess such sensing abilities at such a young age, impressive.

Not to mention, this sensing ability is definitely not inferior to Lord Second's.

"Such talent must not be wasted."

"I must have Jiraiya and the others pay attention."

In that instant, the Third had already chosen a future ninja sensei for Minato in his mind. Yes, it would be one of his three disciples.

Such talent, it would be a pity not to become Hokage. To become Hokage, you must join... ahem.

Back to the point.

The thought only lasted a moment, but in that instant, Minato couldn't wait any longer.

"Hokage-sama, please..." Minato was anxious.

"Don't worry," the Third smiled, "I'll handle that child's matter. You should go back now."

Minato didn't want to leave; he wanted to ensure his friend's safety as soon as possible. He quietly requested, "Hokage-sama, may I... may I wait here?"

The Third shook his head and said, "Go back. Your grandmother is waiting for you at home. Don't make her worry."

Upon hearing the word "grandmother," and thinking of his grandmother worrying at home because he hadn't returned, Minato no longer requested to stay. After bidding farewell to the Third, he immediately ran home as fast as he could.

He didn't want his only relative, his grandmother, to worry about him.

He would trust Third Hokage-sama with Akira's safety!

As soon as Minato left, the Third immediately gave instructions.

"Gari, notify the guard unit to patrol the village... forget it, no need to notify the Uchiha Clan."

The Third thought for a moment and retracted the order.

According to what Minato said, that child was being remotely controlled by the enemy, which means there must be a chakra connection for remote control, similar to how the Sand Ninja Village uses special chakra threads for their Puppet Manipulation technique.

The spy hidden in the shadows must have some kind of chakra connection with that child to ensure real-time control.

To find this chakra connection, the Uchiha Clan, with their Sharingan that can see chakra, would undoubtedly be the most suitable to investigate the spy.

However, considering the increasing strength of the Uchiha Clan and their dissatisfaction with him, the Third had a small thought.

The Uchiha Clan's police force originally had the responsibility of monitoring Konoha spies.

Now, with a spy in the village, the police force had no reaction at all.

If this time we ask the Uchiha Clan for help, it might instead allow them to make up for their past mistakes.

On the contrary, this is an opportunity.

It's an opportunity to hold the Uchiha Clan accountable, to weaken the responsibilities of the police force, and to suppress the Uchiha's strength.

The Kimura couple sacrificed themselves for Konoha not long ago.

Now, their son has been controlled by spies, and may even have been killed.

Yet the Konoha police force has no intelligence at all.

With such a major dereliction of duty, coupled with public pressure, proposing that the ANBU inspect Konoha's spies will naturally be accepted without opposition.

As long as the ANBU handle this spy incident, there won't be any issues.

These thoughts lasted only a moment.

Then the Third continued, "Notify the search team to expand from that child as the center throughout Konoha, and shrink the hidden spies."

"Yes."

Gari responded quietly and then vanished with a Body Flicker Jutsu.

...

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Four figures silently landed around Akira's house, each wearing a differently shaped white mask on their heads.

They are directly under Konoha's ANBU, the Baku Squad.

The squad captain's codename is "Baku" hence the Baku Squad.

The four quickly used the Invisibility Jutsu to hide like chameleons.

Konoha Academy finishes late.

It's twilight now, with the sun just setting behind the mountains. Konoha has already grown dark, and there are few pedestrians on the streets. Each person noticed something unusual around Akira.

The four ANBU, with Baku as the squad captain who is responsible for central command. Two members spread out to cover two sides of the house, preventing the target from escaping.

Another ANBU ninja was crouched on the roof near the kitchen.

Hiss... 

Small black insects resembling beetles, nearly invisible to the naked eye, with wings resembling hard shells, fluttered out from the sleeve of this ANBU ninja, spreading out around the house.

One of them slipped through a crack under the tightly closed window and flew towards Akira sitting beside the window.

Sizzle, sizzle!

On the stove, noodles boiled in steaming hot water, resembling a bubbling hot spring of thin noodles.

Akira held a pair of chopsticks in his hands, standing by the boiling pot, flipping the noodles to prevent them from sticking, while lost in thought.

The financial aid from Konoha isn't much, basically enough to keep him from starving each day. It's impossible to eat his fill, let alone eat well.

But he's currently in the midst of physical growth and development. Eating just noodles every day won't suffice; he needs meat.

Otherwise, if his body doesn't develop properly, it will limit his future potential strength.

After all, Physical energy is part of what makes up Chakra.

If his body isn't well, how much Physical energy can there be? And consequently, how much Chakra?

Therefore, his physical development cannot be delayed.

But... how can he get money?

Akira habitually furrowed his brow, not noticing that at this moment, a small black insect had silently landed on a strand of his hair.

"Sigh! I'm only six years old and still have to go to Academy. There's not much time to earn money."

Akira shook his head with a sigh, completely unable to think of any way to earn money.

"Never mind, I'll stop thinking about it for now. Let's eat first."

Shaking his head again, he turned off the stove, took the noodles, fetched a bowl, added seasoning, and then Akira gracefully carried it to the dining table and sat down.

Hiss... Hiss...!

Akira blew on the noodles while eating them one mouthful at a time.

A small black insect crawled on his hair strand, opening and closing its tiny mouth as if eating something too.

However, judging from the way the insect kept grinding its teeth and shaking its head, it seemed it hadn't found anything to eat.

At the same time, outside the house, the ANBU crouched on the roof gradually turned serious.

"Mushi (Insect), any progress?" the Squad Captain quietly approached Mushi on the rooftop.

The ANBU ninja codenamed Mushi belonged to the Aburame clan, and the small black insects were his doing. He whispered in response, "Squad Captain, there's something wrong with the target. My small black insects are highly sensitive to Chakra, yet I can't sense any Chakra leaking from his hair strands."

Baku paused, "You can't sense even a trace?"

Mushi affirmed, "I can't sense even a trace."

Baku frowned, "That's impossible."

Mushi remained silent, equally perplexed.

All humans naturally emit Chakra.

Even as ANBU, they can only suppress their Chakra to reduce the chances of being sensed by ninja with Chakra sensing abilities, but they can't completely eliminate the natural emission of Chakra.

Yet the target in the house, even with direct contact with the insects' antennae, couldn't be sensed emitting even a trace of Chakra.

Isn't this too abnormal?

It's as if this kid is dead... wait a moment.

Dead!

Based on the insects' feedback of the target feeling very cold, combined with the absence of natural Chakra emission, a sudden guess flashed in Mushi's mind.

"Squad Captain."

Mushi looked at the Squad Captain, who was also frowning. Obviously, both of them had simultaneously thought of a possibility.

Only dead people wouldn't naturally emit Chakra.

Moreover, it's someone who has been dead for a long time.

The Secret Jutsu capable of controlling the dead is only possessed by the Puppet Masters from the Sand Ninja Village.

However... can a human Puppet be so lifelike?

Sensing Akira inside the house, blowing on noodles and eating them without any of the hesitations typical of a Puppet, Mushi and the Squad Captain both felt that something was off, but couldn't immediately pinpoint it. They could only continue to respond based on their earlier guess.

With this in mind, the Squad Captain lowered his voice and asked, "Have you found any Chakra threads?"

Mushi replied, "Not yet."

Squad Captain frowned, "That's not right."

Mushi was also puzzled. Although he didn't release many insects for fear of alerting the enemy, based on the sensitivity of his small black insects to Chakra, any Chakra threads in the vicinity should have been sensed long ago.

However, the reality was that Mushi hadn't received any feedback from his small black insects about Chakra threads.

"Could it not be a Puppet Master?" Squad Captain frowned, "But that doesn't make sense!"

Apart from Puppet Masters who can control the dead, there are also types of Ninjutsu that can manipulate the dead.

Could it be Lord Second's Forbidden Jutsu, Impure World Reincarnation?

No, that's not right.

Impure World Reincarnation is a forbidden technique. Apart from Lord Second, no one in Konoha would know it. It couldn't possibly be a dead person summoned by Impure World Reincarnation, as the child's face lacks the cracked lines typical of Impure World Reincarnation.

So, what exactly is the situation with the target now?

"Squad Captain, let me have the small black insects take a bite," Mushi suggested, "If they bite only the hair strand, and the enemy is controlling from a distance, he shouldn't sense any change."

Even if a hair strand is bitten, it wouldn't be noticeable to others, similar to fingernails. However, unlike fingernails, hair contains cells, and where there are cells, there is Chakra.

As long as the small black insects can absorb Chakra from the target, they can trace the Chakra threads controlling the target remotely, thereby finding the spy controlling the target.

"No," the Squad Captain rejected Mushi's suggestion, saying, "Continue sensing the Chakra on the target."

With that, the Squad Captain left and approached another team member, explaining the current situation and ordering, "Yoru (Night), go report to Hokage-sama about the situation here. There's something wrong with the target; he might already be dead."

"Yes," Yoru silently departed, leaving the remaining three to continue monitoring Akira.