Johan's POV
Morning mist clung to the stones beneath my feet as I reached the ANBU base. The air was still. Heavy. As if the walls themselves held their breath.
Tenzo stood near the entrance, arms folded, his posture calm but sharp as ever. He turned when he sensed me approach.
I offered a polite smile. "Hello, Captain."
A faint smile tugged at his lips. "Welcome to Team Ro… officially."
I nodded, silent.
"There's something we need to do first," he said, turning on his heel. "Let's get your gear."
I followed him down a narrow corridor lit only by the dim glow of chakra lamps. The base was quiet, deeper than silence, a kind of void where noise simply didn't exist. We passed masked operatives moving like ghosts. None acknowledged us. They didn't need to.
In the equipment department, it was darker still. One ANBU operative waited in the shadows, unmoving. Tenzo handed him a sealed scroll, authorization. The man nodded, then led us deeper.
The room opened into an inner vault, cold and metallic. Racks of weapons. Scrolls. Masks lined the wall like forgotten faces.
Tenzo gestured to the scrolls. "Choose your mask and gear here. We also offer summoning contracts for communication and recon. Pick the one that suits you."
I scanned the room.
No toads, no snakes, no slugs. Of course. The sacred summons wouldn't be kept in a place like this.
But then, I saw it.
A bat summoning contract.
Its chakra signature was faint, but intricate. Stealth-based. Intelligence-focused. Aligned with genjutsu. A perfect match. I could feel it calling, not to my heart, but to my mind. To my purpose.
I signed my name in blood.
A contract sealed.
I moved to the masks next.
Dozens of visages stared back. wolves, cats… each carved with intent.
But the bat mask..sharp, angular, quiet, stood out.
I took it.
Not just because of the summon. It fit me. Its silence. Its detachment. The unseen predator that stalks the dark, senses sharp, heart cold.
Then I selected my weapons—standard kunai, shuriken, reinforced strings, explosive tags. Not too much. Not too little.
Tenzo watched silently, then gave a curt nod. "Let's go."
We made our way to the operations room.
Team Ro was already waiting.
Yugao sat against the far wall, cleaning her blade with methodical care. Ko stood nearby, arms crossed, his stance easy but watchful.
I gave them both a polite smile. "Good morning."
They returned the greeting, brief but not unfriendly.
Ko studied me a second longer. "You completed the training fast. Most don't."
I met his gaze evenly and simply nodded.
No need to explain why.
Tenzo stepped forward. "Now that our team is complete, we'll begin taking missions immediately."
We all nodded.
But behind my still expression… thoughts churned.
ANBU.
The village's hidden dagger. The place where names fade and masks speak.
I was here now. Accepted. Trusted, to a point.
They think they know me. That I'm just a shinobi. Just a prodigy.
But what they don't see… is the shadow under the skin.
I don't flinch because I learned not to.
I don't speak much because words rarely matter.
And mercy? It's not weakness to me.
It's a currency.
And I will use it, spend it, deny it, whatever is needed.
Let the village watch me with caution. Let them wonder what I am.
I'll do what I must in this darkness.
Because I was born in it.
And now I wear it like a second skin.
---
Tenzo said, "Here's our first mission."
His voice didn't waver. The room shifted with the weight of his words.
"Intel says one of our own has betrayed us. They've gathered information, shipment records, chakra logs, classified movement data. Things no outsider should ever even hear of… and they're handing it off to a merchant. Tonight. At dusk."
Ko's jaw tightened.
"A traitor," he muttered, the hatred in his voice sharp like steel drawn quietly in the dark.
Yugao gave a single, grim nod. Her eyes sharpened, no longer the tired dusk-gray but clear and focused, like she could already see the traitor's blood.
Tenzo continued.
"We need to know how many are involved. Names. Patterns. And above all, capture."
Then, his gaze shifted to me. still, but searching.
"Johan, you follow the merchant. Do nothing until he gets the scroll. Observe. Then capture him, clean. Quiet. No noise."
I nodded once. No questions.
Tenzo turned to the others.
"Yugao. Ko. You'll secure the perimeter. Ko, you know what to do."
Ko's Byakugan flared to life, veins rising around his eyes like ghostly roots.
"Yugao," Tenzo said, his voice low but certain.
"You'll take the insider. Whoever it is. I want him breathing… but only just."
She nodded, wordless.
"I'll watch from the vantage. No killing. Not unless absolutely necessary. We want them alive."
His eyes scanned all of us.
"This mission must be clean. Understood?"
"Understood," we echoed.
And then we vanished into the mist.
---
Dusk fell.
I moved like a shadow, slipping through the alleys behind the merchant.
He walked with the twitchy rhythm of guilt, too fast, too stiff. Twice he looked over his shoulder, sensing something.
He turned down a narrow lane, where the light barely touched the walls.
I followed him. Silent. Hidden.
Time passed.
Then… a man emerged from the other side. Hooded. Masked. His chakra veiled, but not invisible to me.
They exchanged no greetings.
Only a whisper.
Then the scroll.
The traitor turned and disappeared into the dark. quick, precise. Well-trained.
I stepped forward. Silent. Cold.
The merchant turned.
Our eyes met.
He froze, then collapsed in fear.
"No… please… I didn't know what was in it… I was forced…"
He stammered, sobbed. His face was pale. Ashen.
I stared at him. Eyes dead of warmth.
Maybe he was telling the truth.
Maybe.
But in ANBU, maybe isn't enough.
"You wrote your fate with your own hand," I said quietly.
"Now you'll live with it. If you're lucky."
I wrapped threads around him, binding him tightly.
---
Minutes later, Team Ro appeared from the mist.
Yugao dragged the insider. A chunin from the village, bloodied mouth, broken nose, mask half-shattered.
Ko landed beside her.
"No one else in the area. Just this one."
Tenzo appeared last, descending from the rooftops like a ghost made real. He looked over us, then gave a short nod.
"Mission complete. Clean. Silent. Efficient."
We returned to the base under silence.
Inside, under the flicker of chakra light, Tenzo faced us again.
"Well done."
His voice carried weight, rare praise in a place where silence was the norm.
He turned to me.
"You did well, Johan."
I simply nodded. No words. None needed.
He continued, "The Chunin's been taken for interrogation. Let the Torture Corps do what they do best."
He looked at us all.
"When the next mission comes… you'll be summoned. Dismissed."
We all nodded. And vanished.