Chapter 139: Anbu Observer
After returning to the Anbu tent, Yoru opened Xinming’s mission scroll in the latter half of the night.
Xinming, as squad leader, received a mission to reconnoiter the sea shipping supplies at Suna Harbor in the Land of Wind.
Suna Harbor is the Land of Wind’s only port, located in the southeast corner of the desert, not far from the Land of Rivers.
The Land of Wind has little iron ore and needs to import it from the Land of Lightning.
Suna Harbor is a key reconnaissance target for Konoha, with one Leaf squad after another sent to Suna Harbor, not missing any intelligence.
During the mission execution, Xinming and his two genin students sacrificed themselves in Xinming’s squad, but a chunin named Nara El survived.
The scroll appears to have no issues, as it was written by the sole survivor, Nara El.
Dead people cannot speak.
Just like in a brawling death case, it must be the one who died who struck first.
The one who survived the brawl certainly won’t admit to striking first, insisting they were wronged and only counterattacked after being hit.
The mission shows no anomalies; Xinming’s squad encountered two Sand Ninja squads, including an elite puppet master, and the squad was no match, with only Nara El surviving.
Yoru then retrieved his squad’s recent mission records.
In the poisoning mission, Flower Deer Squad followed him, while Purple Cat Squad and Aries Squad carried out other missions.
The two squads’ missions were unrelated to Xinming and did not go to Suna Harbor.
If Xinming died at the hands of Anbu, it might have been the other two squads, Hippopotamus Squad or Yak Squad.
Yoru has no authority to access the missions of the other two squads.
Yoru looked at Nara El’s name, thinking perhaps Sakumo Hatake was overthinking it; it wasn’t Anbu, it was this Nara El.
Anbu is investigating Sakumo Hatake’s followers; Xinming was just a chunin, not yet at the level requiring cleansing.
The next day, equipment department jonin Nara Baika entered Kiiroinu’s tent.
Nara Baika first looked at Fox behind Kiiroinu and said:
“Kiiroinu Captain, our clan head requests Fox’s presence.”
Kiiroinu nodded and said, “Alright, let him go.”
Nara Baika’s clan head was front line commander-in-chief Nara Shikaku.
“Hmm?” Yoru glanced at Kiiroinu Captain, then at Nara Baika, and quickly said:
“Captain, I am an Anbu Ninja. Didn’t you teach me yesterday that Anbu must have Anbu missions and Anbu stance?
I am loyal only to the Hokage. Please believe me, Captain; I truly don’t know why the Commander Lord is summoning me.”
Kiiroinu was taken aback, then said: “This is an order. Go see the Commander-in-Chief and follow his arrangements.”
Yoru put on a puzzled expression and followed Nara Baika out.
Of course he knew this wasn’t a test for him; it was playing favorites.
Yesterday when he went to see Sakumo Hatake, Kiiroinu lectured him at length, worried he would defect to Sakumo Hatake.
Today, going to see Nara Shikaku, Kiiroinu wished he would go immediately.
There was only Nara Shikaku in the commander-in-chief’s tent.
Nara Shikaku said:
“Fox, next I will issue you a mission through Kiiroinu.
You need to help the equipment department secretly create 200 gliders.
Nara Baika is the equipment department jonin in charge; your job is to assist Baika.”
Yoru nodded and said: “Alright, once Kiiroinu Captain assigns the mission, I will immediately assist Nara Baika jonin.”
Nara Shikaku noticed this Anbu had become stubborn; last night during the poisoning mission report and glider demonstration, he had been quite active.
Yoru waited outside the commander-in-chief’s tent; Nara Baika wanted Fox to start work early, but Fox turned a deaf ear.
Only when Kiiroinu’s assistant, the Anbu Ninja wearing a Butterfly mask, delivered the mission scroll did Fox follow Nara Baika away.
Nara Baika was extremely suspicious: was this wooden Anbu really the inventor of the glider?
After arriving at the equipment department, Yoru saw a disassembled glider.
Both gliders had been donated to the village, and Nara Baika had disassembled one.
Yoru’s expression suddenly changed; among the several Nara Ninjas in the tent was Nara El, the survivor from Xinming’s squad.
He hadn’t expected to encounter Nara El here.
Yoru instantly perked up, feeling that being assigned such menial work wasn’t a waste of time.
Nara Baika said: “Fox Squad Leader, although we can make new gliders based on this one, I still hope you explain the principles to facilitate improvements.”
Yoru thought to himself, your tone is a bit arrogant.
He looked around, found a blackboard, drew some diagrams on it, and said:
“The key to the glider lies in the wing surface that provides lift.
The wing surface consists of the upper wing surface, lower wing surface, and dozens of wing ribs regularly distributed along the spanwise direction.
The upper and lower wing surfaces have different curvatures, resulting in different air flow speeds and different wind pressures, providing lift to the wing surface…”
Yoru grew more and more surprised as he spoke; Nara Baika kept understanding and occasionally took notes.
Had she already studied and experimented overnight, mastering the glider’s key principles?
The Nara Clan’s inherited brain capacity was indeed larger than others’.
After finishing, Yoru rested to the side, observing Nara Baika.
Nara Baika had two braids, a delicate face, and intelligent eyes.
She frowned at times, showed understanding at others, and frequently added to her notes.
After more than ten minutes, Nara Baika looked up and asked some questions about the control ropes.
Yoru answered them one by one.
Nara Baika was extremely shocked in her heart; an Anbu Ninja actually knew so much weird knowledge.
The Ninja Academy teaches some basic physics for calculating kunai drop rates and such, but not complex theories.
Aerodynamics, flow speed, pressure—these were a bit advanced for ninjas.
The equipment department moved quickly, producing 200 gliders in a week.
Yoru looked at the backpacks one by one, estimating a large-scale mission was imminent.
—
The full moon was like a silver plate.
Finally, the new full moon cycle had arrived.
Yoru entered Kiiroinu Captain’s tent and found Hippopotamus Squad Leader also inside.
Kiiroinu Captain said:
“Fox, you and Hippopotamus will serve as Anbu observers, participating in the headquarters’ assault mission.
200 gliders, 400 ninjas will fly over the Sand Ninjas’ defensive line, straight to Suna Harbor, to sabotage the sea ships and supplies at Suna Harbor.”
Yoru asked puzzledly: “Anbu observers?”
“Yes.” Kiiroinu said:
“Besides executing the Hokage’s orders, Anbu has another duty: collecting intelligence for the Hokage.
To be the Hokage’s eyes, collecting intelligence from enemy villages as well as from within our own village.
This mission is crucial.
You and Hippopotamus will disguise as ordinary Leaf Ninjas, join the assault action, and record the results.
The civilian ninjas’ performance has been too good, raising some suspicions in the village.
Sakumo Hatake led the previous large-scale missions, producing many outstanding civilian ninjas and distributing much ninjutsu.
This time, Commander-in-Chief Nara Shikaku is personally leading the team for the assault mission.
You two will separate, each joining a squad as ordinary ninjas to complete the observation mission and record the civilian ninjas’ performance.”
Yoru thought to himself, sending two Anbu observers as double insurance to prevent the high-ranking officials from being deceived.
