Chương 183: The Chunin Squad That Vanished Without a Trace

Children in the ninja world were simply built different. A one-year-old back on Earth might have only just learned to walk and babble a few words. Here? Little gremlins were already sprinting around the house like tiny hurricanes. Barely a month or two after Naruto's birthday, his troublemaker instincts had already begun surfacing. Anyone could predict he wouldn't grow into an obedient child.

The difference was that, in the original timeline, Naruto pulled pranks to attract attention from a village that shunned him. Now, with both parents alive and doting on him, any future chaos he caused would probably just be his way of demanding attention from his Hokage father. Kid was speedrunning his future Boruto phase. Not every child was like Dongye zhen, carrying an adult soul from infancy. Dongye Hui had never once experienced the misery of raising a difficult child.

Uzumaki Kushina, meanwhile, was already on the verge of losing her hair. Every day, she watched household items shatter in Naruto's wake while her fists clenched tighter and tighter. This was nothing like what her best friends Hui and Mikoto had described. According to them, both Dongye zhen and Itachi had been quiet little angels as children. So why was her son a walking disaster? If Naruto had been even slightly older, three beatings a day would've been the minimum. Thankfully, Namikaze Minato was a gentle man.

Otherwise, Naruto's future would've consisted of synchronized husband-wife beatdowns. In the blink of an eye, December arrived, and Konoha's fifty-second year was nearing its end. That morning, Dongye zhen sent Hayate's squad to relieve Genma's team from Shadow Guard duty. At present, Kakashi's ANBU squad had been reassigned and reorganized into standard ANBU operations.

After all, the twelve-year-old prodigy had already risen to the rank of jonin and now served as a squad captain within the newly restructured ANBU. Protection of the Fourth Hokage's household had been fully transferred to the seven members of the Shadow Guard. As for the Third Hokage? He was only acting as temporary Hokage. There was no need to establish another Shadow Guard for him. His regular security detail was still handled by his eldest son.

Sarutobi Hiruzen planned to retire officially before having that same son leave ANBU as well and return to ordinary ninja life. Preferably while also working hard enough to give him a grandchild. For most shinobi—people who rarely enjoyed peaceful endings—spending retirement holding a grandchild was already a perfect twilight life. Since the Fourth had temporarily withdrawn from public duty to stay home, the Shadow Guard's workload was absurdly light. Mostly boring, too. Perfect for slacking off and training.

Dongye zhen's assignment for them was simple: use his own methods as reference and begin internal chakra exercises involving Yin-Yang Release or elemental chakra manipulation. These delicate, meticulous exercises could all be practiced while sitting still, making them ideal for refining chakra control. He called it "static training." Its counterpart—physical conditioning and combat drills—became "dynamic training." At its core, ninja training had always revolved around those two paths.

Dongye zhen had merely categorized them under the concepts of motion and stillness. After Hayate's squad departed, Dongye zhen was just about to find somewhere quiet to loaf around and train himself when Moonlight Kumoi arrived. The current ANBU had all been personally selected and assembled by Moonlight Kumoi himself. He now served as the new ANBU commander and stayed perpetually busy.

As for the remnants of the old ANBU—what little remained after Obito's earlier purge—they were still under the command of Hiruzen's eldest son. The Third intended to let them finish out his final term before withdrawing them from the shadows and returning them to the light. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Yo, sensei. Rare to see you here. Miss me already?" Dongye zhen greeted lazily.

"Sorry, Zhen. I'm a normal man. Pretty boys don't interest me." After the joke, Kumoi got straight to business.

"There's something I need your help with. A chunin squad disappeared after completing an escort mission several days ago. Still no sign of them. Dead or alive."

"So they defected? Need me to clean them up?" The years surrounding the war had been prime season for rogue ninja across every hidden village. Completely normal. Dongye zhen himself had carried out those kinds of hunter-kill missions during his ANBU days.

"No. Two members of the squad still have family in Konoha. ANBU also investigated their behavior beforehand—defection is highly unlikely." Kumoi's expression darkened.

"More importantly… this is already the second squad disappearance recently. ANBU investigated thoroughly and found absolutely nothing."

"Two squads, huh?" Dongye zhen narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Then someone's specifically targeting Konoha ninja operating outside the village. Strong enough to erase every trace afterward, too."

"That's our conclusion as well."

"So you want me involved? Wouldn't this be better suited for professional trackers?"

"We already tried. The suitable candidates are all tied up with other missions. If we wait too long, whatever faint traces remain might disappear completely." Kumoi continued,"So I assigned Tokuma's team to investigate the latest disappearance. But they're still young, and their combat strength is limited. I need you shadowing them in secret in case whoever's behind this decides to target them too." Tokuma's squad specialized in tracking, that much was true. Still, Dongye zhen raised an eyebrow.

"What about Senior Hizashi? Isn't he their jonin leader?"

"Like your team, they've recently started operating independently. Jonin are busy people—you think they can babysit forever?"

"Fair enough. Got it, sensei."

"I'll leave it to you, then." Kumoi handed over the mission files before adding one final warning as he turned to leave:"And don't show yourself. Stay behind them."

"Whoever's lurking in the dark might bolt the moment they spot you. You realize your reputation's exploded lately, right? Even Kumogakure—the village famous for brute-force arrogance—is terrified of the 'Hell Wind Oni' now."

"Your bounty at the underground exchange is pretty outrageous too." Dongye zhen: "..." What was wrong with this ninja world? Did everyone borrow their culture from the neighboring pirate universe or something? Apparently, if your head didn't have a bounty attached to it, you couldn't even show your face in public anymore.

Within the forests lining the western roads of the Land of Fire, Hyuga Tokuma, Aburame Muta, and Inuzuka Meiko—with one dog in tow—followed the trail left behind by their targets as they headed toward the Land of Rivers. Luckily, it hadn't rained recently. For creatures that relied on scent—and certain specialized insects—that was excellent news. Dongye zhen tailed them silently from the shadows.

Not long after leaving Konoha, Tokuma's team paused at a crossroads before continuing west at full speed into the Land of Rivers. The missing chunin squad's last known mission had been escorting a merchant and his goods safely back home. Outside the merchant's residence, the Inuzuka hound Rocky sniffed the air.

"There's still some scent residue from the mission targets inside." Aburame Muta nodded.

"Looks like they completed the escort safely. If nothing happened here, then our earlier theory holds." Tokuma adjusted his glasses.

"Let's question the client directly." Inside the merchant's home, the trio thoroughly interrogated both the employer and several workers who had traveled alongside the convoy. The answers were consistent: no rogue ninja had appeared during the journey. They had encountered a band of highway robbers within the Land of Rivers, but the Konoha ninja had dealt with them effortlessly. After completing the mission, the squad had immediately departed. Armed with the information, Tokuma's team hurried back.

Though they weren't interrogation specialists, they still knew basic genjutsu techniques. Ordinary civilians couldn't lie convincingly in front of them. After they left, Dongye zhen personally used genjutsu to interrogate the merchant again. Same answer. The man had no hidden identity, nor any apparent reason to target Konoha ninja. That evening, Tokuma's team returned to the earlier crossroads and followed the alternate road.

Back then, they had already noticed traces of the missing squad's scent lingering along that path—fresh traces, too. Meaning that after returning from the Land of Rivers, the chunin had gone somewhere else instead of heading back to Konoha. Still, the merchant had been their primary lead at the time. Only after finding nothing in the Land of Rivers did they come back to investigate further. Not far down the road stood a bustling town. Night had fallen, yet the streets blazed with lantern light and noise.

The place thrived with a very particular kind of nightlife. Konoha's surrounding territories had plenty of towns like this. Inside one of the town's hot spring establishments, Tokuma's team slipped into a private bath chamber. From a young and rather attractive waitress, Dongye zhen quickly learned that the establishment offered certain "special services." Apparently, the missing chunin squad had stopped here during their return trip. Honestly, that was normal enough.

Plenty of adult ninja sought entertainment after missions to unwind. Shinobi weren't monks. Inside the now-empty bath chamber, Rocky sniffed carefully before speaking.

"The targets' final scent ends here." Aburame Muta agreed with the mutt's assessment. Inuzuka Meiko examined the room's decor thoughtfully.

"This place hasn't been renovated. Meaning no battle occurred here."

"Doesn't look like the missing squad encountered a powerful enemy." Tokuma frowned deeply.

"But they never went anywhere else. And they never returned to Konoha either." His expression grew increasingly strange.

"So what—you're telling me three living ninja just vanished into thin air right here?"