---Anbu Otto P.O.V---
Operative Otto had been serving in the Anbu Black Ops of Sunagakure for a full decade now. He was in his late twenties, a seasoned chunin who had carried out hundreds of assassination missions without fail.
Each kill had sharpened his skills, and he felt proud of his record. He was hopeful that he would soon be promoted to jonin rank. That promotion would mark the peak of his hard work and dedication. But whenever he thought about his future, his eyes always drifted toward his current team captain, Operative Raven.
Raven was just a kid, barely out of his teens, yet he was already spoken of as someone who could stand toe to toe with S-rank shinobi.
Otto felt a small sting of jealousy every time he looked at him. Yes, he admitted it to himself. He was a little jealous of the boy. After all, Raven was the Eraserhead of Suna, the one who had played a major role in the death of the Third Raikage.
His mission completion rate was a perfect one hundred percent. Not only that, the Anbu Assassination division commander, Spider, and even the Kazekage himself favored the young operative.
On top of everything, Raven possessed a broken kekkei genkai that could erase a person's chakra completely, stopping them from using any jutsu. Was that not reason enough for any shinobi to feel a bit envious?
Otto had been genuinely surprised when he was told that he would be working under Raven for this particular mission. He had no doubts about the kid's combat abilities.
He knew firsthand how terrifying it was to fight against him. Every member of the assassination department had been forced to spar with young Raven at some point.
The reason was simple. Those training sessions taught them how to keep fighting even when their chakra was depleted. It prepared them for real battles where they might run low on energy and could not rely on ninjutsu or genjutsu.
Otto respected that part of Raven completely. But what he still questioned were the boy's decision-making skills and his ability to analyze complex situations under pressure.
The team gathered as Raven stood in front of them. He began to brief them on the mission. "Our goal for this mission is simple," Raven said. "While we would be attending the auction, we would see all of the people in charge of the auction house and assassinate them all."
Otto listened carefully, his earlier doubts about Raven's leadership starting to fade away. The plan sounded direct and effective at first. But then the young captain continued speaking, and what he said next showed a depth of thinking that surprised Otto.
"But we can't just kill the auction owner and leave," Raven explained. "Danzo would just find someone else to replace them. And he would not be that pained about the loss either. We need to hit him where it really hurts."
Raven paused for a moment, letting his words sink in. His voice remained calm, but there was a sharp edge to it that showed how carefully he had thought everything through. "We would be destroying the place," he continued. "By destroying the place, the ones who would be trying to buy items would get scared, especially the smaller shinobi villages and nobles. They would not attend the auction in the future."
Otto's eyes widened slightly behind his mask. He had not expected such clear analysis from someone so young.
Raven was not just planning a simple assassination. He was thinking about the long-term effects on Danzo's operation. By destroying the auction house, they would create fear among the weaker clients. Those small villages and rich nobles who attended for rare items would think twice before coming again. It was a smart way to damage the entire network, not just one person.
Otto felt his respect for the kid's sharp mind growing with every sentence.
"Of course that would not stop Danzo from still running the auction," Raven went on, his tone showing he had already considered every angle. "He would still have his high value clients who would not get scared so easily. So we would have to make sure that he considers doing another auction selling such items."
Raven's next words came with a hint of confidence. "And for that we would be stealing whatever we could from the auction."
Otto could almost imagine the grin hidden behind Raven's Anbu mask. He was also planning to rob the place clean. That way, Danzo would feel the financial loss deeply and would be forced to organize another auction quickly to recover.
But as Otto processed the full plan, new doubts began to creep into his mind. This time they were about Raven's integrity. 'Wait a minute,' Otto thought. 'Stealing from the auction? Are we really going to take all those valuable items for ourselves? I know we are Anbu and we do dirty work, but this sounds more like banditry than a proper shinobi mission. Is the kid planning to keep the stolen goods or hand them over to the village? If he keeps them, that would make him no better than a common thief.'
Otto shook his head slightly inside his mask, trying to keep his thoughts from showing. 'Maybe he means we steal them to destroy them later or something. But the way he said it, with that tone, it felt like he was enjoying the idea. There is no way though that he would steal, he is trusted by the Kazekage after all.'
Raven then spoke again, "Dress up. We will all be going to the auction. And I already have a way for the Root shinobi to not suspect us."
Otto felt a fresh wave of doubt wash over him. He had a bad feeling about whatever plan Raven had come up with for sneaking into the auction.
The young captain always seemed to have unexpected ideas, and Otto was not sure if this one would be safe or smart. Still, he waited to hear the details.
And he was right.
--------Author Notes---------
I have decided to increase the number of extra chapters on patreon from 15 to 20. Thankyou.
Y'all can now read the next 20 chapters of the fanfic on my pat*reon.
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