Ascendance of the Flash by Kamikaze132

Chapter 12

Naruto exited Tsunade's office, his mind working furiously. If Sasuke had managed to kill Orochimaru, even though weakened, it was safe to say that the Uchiha now posed a credible threat to any shinobi in the field. Now that his name was about to be entered in the Bingo book, people were bound to go after him. His sharingan would have undoubtedly gotten more powerful since their last meeting, and depending on what tricks Sasuke had in his arsenal now in addition to the power of the cursed seal, Sasuke could potentially take on any shinobi below S-rank and win.

He paused and stepped aside as a shinobi nearly barreled into him in his rush to get to the Hokage's office. Raising an eyebrow, he wondered if he should be concerned.

"Urgent news Hokage-sama! Yakushi Kabuto has been assassinated!"

Naruto's mind screeched to a halt. Kabuto had been killed. That shouldn't have been possible, seeing as he was placed under the heaviest guard at T&I. ANBU constantly guarded the place 24/7, and it should have been impossible to sneak by them. Kabuto was a high value prisoner, and a treasure trove of information. He had been brought to Konoha so that the T&I could suck him dry of all the information he had bottled inside. His capture was one of the biggest successes Konoha had had when it came to the snake Sannin.

Deciding to think upon this later, Naruto proceeded to his home. He had a mission to prepare for.

Tsunade nearly trembled with rage as she inspected the scene inside T&I with Jiraiya, her ANBU and Ibiki. The latter kneeled behind her; head bowed. He himself was angry that someone had managed to sneak into his department and kill his prisoner, without him knowing about it until the job was done. For a branch of ANBU that was proud of their impeccable record when it came to managing prisoners, this was completely unacceptable.

"Ibiki."

"Hokage-sama?"

"....how did this happen? And under your watch too?"

Tsunade didn't scream, but she didn't need to. The entire place was saturated with her killing intent, enough to make even the ANBU on site sweat beneath their masks.

"I take full responsibility Hokage-sama. I assure you that my department will investigate this matter thoroughly, and we won't rest until we-"

"That you will Ibiki. You have no choice in the matter. You will not only investigate the breach in security, but you will build it back from scratch. Ryu!"

The commander of ANBU stepped forward. Unlike the entirety of ANBU force whose masks were based on animals, the commander wore the mask of a mythical beast. Not even the ANBU knew the identity of their commander, except for the Hokage. The ANBU commander also never made public appearances because their existence was hidden from even the jonin. Nobody but the ANBU forces and the Hokage was to know of their existence. Of course, it was assumed, and undeniably so, that the commander was a kage level shinobi and nothing less. It was a requirement, after all. Not only that, but the commander was a person who knew more secrets than even the Hokage.

"Hai Hokage-sama!"

The voice that came through the mask was distorted in order to protect the identity of the commander. Not standard issue. "I want to know who was behind this debacle, and I want to know it ASAP. I also want to know why the ANBU couldn't find the assassin. I want no stone left unturned. Am I clear?"

"Crystal clear, Hokage-sama."

Ryu knew better than to disappoint his leader. His job wasn't to ask questions, but to obey each and every order assigned to him. And he would deliver. This was a black mark on the ANBU, and it wouldn't be tolerated it until it was scrubbed clean. His ANBU were in for remedial training sessions, and painful ones at that. To think ANBU under his watch were not able to detect the assassin until it was too late...such incompetence was unacceptable. Heads would roll if he even heard a whisper of a mole within his organization.