Chapter 6 - Anbu Arrival
"He can even detect hidden Anbu?"
"What terrifying talent!"
Despite having anticipated Minato's talent, the Third Hokage was still shocked by it. Looking at the young Minato, his eyes showed increasing satisfaction and joy.
The hidden Anbu, who were not moving, had already suppressed their Chakra to the limit; even he could only vaguely perceive them at close range.
Yet, six-year-old Minato could easily sense them.
To possess such Chakra Perception at such a young age is impressive.
Putting aside everything else, this Chakra Perception is definitely not inferior to Nidaime(2nd)-sama's.
"Such talent cannot be wasted."
"I need to tell Jiraiya and the others to pay attention."
At that moment, the Third Hokage had already decided on future Ninja Teachers for Minato, choosing one from his three disciples.
Such talent, it would be a pity if he didn't become Hokage.
To become Hokage, one must join… cough cough.
Back to the main topic.
His thoughts were only for a fleeting moment, but even in that instant, Minato was already impatient.
"Hokage-sama, quickly…" Minato urged anxiously.
"Don't worry," the Third Hokage smiled. "I will handle that child's matter. You should go back first."
Minato didn't want to leave, wanting to confirm his friend's safety immediately. He quietly requested, "Hokage-sama, can I… can I wait here?"
The Third Hokage shook his head and said, "Go back. Your grandmother is still waiting for you at home. Don't make her worry."
Upon hearing the word 'grandmother' and thinking of his grandmother who would be worried if he didn't return, Minato no longer requested to stay. After bidding farewell to the Third Hokage, he immediately ran home at top speed.
He didn't want his only relative, his grandmother, to worry about him.
He would trust the Third Hokage-sama with Yao's safety!
Here, as soon as Minato left, the Third Hokage immediately gave instructions.
"Kari, inform the security department to search Konoha… Never mind, no need to inform the Uchiha Clan."
The Third Hokage thought for a moment and then withdrew his order.
According to what Minato said, that child was being remotely controlled by an enemy, which means there must be a Chakra connection for remote control, similar to Sunagakure's use of special Chakra threads for Puppet Jutsu.
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, are undoubtedly the most suitable to investigate the spy that appeared this time.
However… thinking of the Uchiha Clan's increasingly powerful strength and their dissatisfaction with him, the Third Hokage had a small idea.
The Uchiha Clan, who guard the Police Force, originally had the responsibility of monitoring Konoha spies.
Now that a spy has appeared in Konoha, the Police Force has shown no reaction.
If he asked the Uchiha Clan for help this time, it would instead allow the Uchiha Clan to atone for their previous failures.
On the contrary, this time was an opportunity.
An opportunity to hold the Uchiha Clan accountable, weaken the scope of the Police Force's responsibilities, and suppress the Uchiha's power.
The Kimura couple had just sacrificed themselves for Konoha not long ago.
Their son was controlled by a spy and possibly even killed.
Yet, the Konoha Police Force knew nothing about it.
Such a major dereliction of duty, combined with public pressure, would make the proposal for Anbu to investigate Konoha spies a natural progression, with no one opposing it.
As long as this spy is dealt with by Anbu, there will be no problems.
These thoughts also flashed through his mind in an instant.
Then the Third Hokage continued, "Inform the search team to spread out from that child's location to the entire Konoha, and round up the spies hidden in the shadows."
"Yes."
Kari responded in a low voice, then used Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique) to leave.
…
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Four figures quietly landed around Li Yao's house, each wearing a white mask of varying shapes.
They were directly under Konoha Anbu, the Explosion Squad.
Their captain's codename was Explosion, hence the Explosion Squad.
The four quickly used an invisibility Jutsu to hide themselves like chameleons.
Konoha Ninja School finished classes relatively late.
It was already dusk, the sun had just set, and Konoha had grown dark. There were few pedestrians on the streets, and no one noticed anything unusual around Li Yao.
Of the four Anbu, Explosion, as the captain, was responsible for central command, while two other members dispersed to guard three sides of the house, preventing the target from escaping.
Another Anbu Ninja was crouched on the roof near the kitchen.
Hiss… Tiny, black beetle-like insects, almost invisible to the naked eye, flapped their hard-shell wings and flew out from this Anbu Ninja's sleeve, spreading around the house.
One of them squeezed through a crack under the tightly closed window into the kitchen and flew towards Li Yao, who was facing the window.
Plop plop!
On the stove, noodles in the pot surged continuously with the boiling water, like a hot spring of fine noodles.
Li Yao held a pair of chopsticks, standing in front of the boiling pot, stirring the noodles to prevent them from sticking while deep in thought.
The allowance provided by Konoha wasn't much, basically just enough to keep him from starving. Eating until full was impossible, let alone eating well.
But he was currently at a crucial stage of physical growth and development. Eating only noodles every day certainly wouldn't do; he needed to eat meat.
Otherwise, if his physical development couldn't keep up, his future strength limit would be restricted.
After all, Chakra's composition includes physical energy.
If his body wasn't good, how much physical energy could he have, and how much Chakra could he generate?
Therefore, physical development could not be delayed.
But… how could he get money?
Li Yao habitually furrowed his shallow brows, completely unaware that a small black insect had quietly landed on his strands of hair.
"Sigh! I'm only six years old, and I still have to attend Ninja School. I don't have much time to earn money."
Li Yao shook his head and sighed, completely unable to figure out where to get money.
"Forget it, I won't think about it for now. I'll eat the noodles first."
Shaking his head, he turned off the fire, took out the noodles, put them in a bowl, added seasonings, and then Li Yao carried the bowl to the dining table and sat down.
Hush… Hush…!
Li Yao blew on the noodles while eating them bite by bite.
The tiny black insect perched on his hair strands, its small mouth opening and closing as if it were also eating something.
However, from the insect's continuous grinding and shaking, it seemed to not be eating anything.
At the same time, outside the house, the Anbu crouched on the rooftop gradually grew serious.
"Mushi, are you not done yet?" The squad leader quietly approached Mushi on the roof.
The Anbu Ninja codenamed Mushi was from the Aburame Clan; the black insects were released by him. At this moment, he said in a low voice, "Captain, there's something wrong with the target. My Kuro are extremely sensitive to Chakra, yet they can't sense any overflowing Chakra from his hair strands."
Explosion was stunned: "You can't sense even a trace?"
Mushi affirmed: "Not even a trace."
Explosion frowned: "Impossible."
Mushi didn't speak; he was also very confused.
Every person naturally emits Chakra.
Even Anbu can only suppress their Chakra to reduce the chance of being sensed by Ninja with Chakra Perception, but they cannot completely prevent the natural overflow of Chakra.
However, with the target inside the house, the insects directly touching his hair strands couldn't even sense a trace of Chakra overflowing from him.
This was too abnormal.
It was as if this kid were a dead person… Hmm, wait.
Dead person!
Through the feedback from the insects that the target's body was very cold, combined with the absence of natural Chakra overflow.
A guess instantly surfaced in Mushi's mind.
"Captain."
Mushi looked at the captain, who was also frowning and looking at Mushi, clearly both had thought of a possibility at the same time.
Only a dead person would not naturally emit Chakra.
And it had to be someone who had been dead for a long time.
The only secret Jutsu that could control dead people was the Puppet Master Jutsu from Sunagakure.
However… could a human puppet be so realistic?
Sensing Li Yao inside the house, who was picking up noodles, blowing on them, and eating them, his movements showed no signs of the typical pauses of a puppet, just like a living person.
Mushi and the squad leader both felt that something was off, but they couldn't pinpoint it for a moment, so they could only continue to respond according to their initial guess.
Thinking of this, the squad leader lowered his voice and asked, "Have you found the Chakra threads yet?"
Mushi replied, "Not yet."
The squad leader frowned: "That shouldn't be right!"
Mushi himself was also puzzled. Although he hadn't released many insects, too many might alert the enemy.
But with Kuro's sensitivity to Chakra, if there were Chakra threads around, they should have been sensed long ago.
However, the reality was that Mushi had not yet received any feedback about Chakra threads from his Kuro.
"Is it not a Puppet Master?" The squad leader frowned: "But that doesn't make sense!"
Besides Puppet Masters, what other type of Ninjutsu could control dead people?
Could it be Nidaime(2nd)-sama's forbidden Jutsu, Edo Tensei?
No, no.
Edo Tensei is a forbidden Jutsu; besides Nidaime(2nd)-sama, no one in Konoha knows it. It couldn't be Edo Tensei.
Moreover, that kid's face didn't have the crack lines seen on those summoned by Edo Tensei. It definitely wasn't a dead person summoned by Edo Tensei.
So, the question is.
What exactly is the target's current situation?
"Captain, I'll let Kuro take a bite."
Mushi suggested, "If it only bites the hair, and the enemy is controlling from a distance, they probably won't sense the change."
Even if hair is bitten, a person won't feel it, similar to fingernails. However, unlike fingernails, hair has cells, and cells contain Chakra.
If Chakra cannot be sensed from the outside, then the physical cells must contain Chakra.
As long as Kuro consumes Chakra from the target's body, it can follow that Chakra to sense the Chakra threads remotely controlling the target, thereby finding the spy controlling the target.
"No."
The squad leader refused Mushi's suggestion and said, "You continue to sense the Chakra on the target."
After speaking, the squad leader left and went to another team member, explaining the current situation and then commanding, "Yoru, go report the situation here to Hokage-sama. There's something wrong with the target; he might already be dead."
"Yes." Yoru silently departed, leaving the remaining three to continue monitoring Li Yao.