Chronicles of the Leaf

"Prologue" - Osami I

"I wanna be a good person. I do."

I looked over to my comrade with a sour expression from the Village Hidden in the Leaves for his response. We were sat on stools belonging to the local Ramen shop of some village we stumbled upon during some mission we took on. I wanted to hear some advice, something really good.

"We don't have a choice in the Anbu."

Oh. I looked down at my empty bowl which was once filled with ramen. Was this role really for me? Did I belong in the Anbu?

"How old are you again?" My comrade asked curiously to which I responded coldly with, "Fourteen."
"Huh."

The third comrade in my squad, Tomoko, had finally arrived with some sounveirs for her friends back at the Leaf Village. She spoke cheerfully, "Hey Daisuke, Osami!"
Whilst my body was hunched over the empty bowl, I looked over to Tomoko and gave her a little wave of acknowledgement. I couldn't understand how friendly and cheerful she was. We weren't friends. We had met only a week ago, and we were about to go on a mission to eliminate a hostile clan. Murder.

Now reunited as a full shinobi team, we traveled on foot into the nearby forest surrounding this little village in the night. It was a quiet walk. We didn't know anything about each other so there was nothing to talk about. All we could do was think. I hate thinking.

Our objective was a cottage owned by some clan I forgot the name of. It didn't matter. It was just the same mission, yet my hands felt wet and sticky. I had to remove my gloves and toss them into a nearby tree in this dense and almost haunting forest as clouds covered the night sky. It wasn't just my hands. Sweat was dripping from my forehead too but there was nothing I could do about it once my Anbu mask was on. Once that mask was on I only had one focus, one mission. My life was just one objective. Nothing else existed. I don't even exist under this mask.

The door creaked as I carefully opened the back entrance of the cottage. I could feel the heat of my partner, Tomoko. I wondered maybe I wasn't the only one who felt so scared deep down. Luckily no one heard our entrance and I slowly stepped inside, careful to not even make slightest sound as I controlled my chakra in order to conceal the sound of my footsteps. In the pitch-black corridor of the cottage, I carefully withdrew my sword from the sheath on my back. I watched as Tomoko formed the Tiger hand seal, igniting a small flame on her finger to light our way. The speed and grace of her movement made clear of her experience and skill as our team's leader. If I asked her for advice, would she have said the same thing?

With our path forward presented in orange light, I had no choice but to push onwards. I began checking every room for our targets. Each time the steadiness of my grip on the sword decreased more and more with anticipation. Then boom.

The ground shook with enough force to bring me to the wooden ground as splits from the walls filled the air around me, piercing my anbu uniform to take blood from my skin like mosquitos. Half of the building had been torn to shreds using some kind of jutsu. I shakily rose up and called out for the team's medical-nin, "DAISUKE!"
I stumbled my way out of the room and saw the devastation brought upon this once peaceful cottage. But there was something else. A family of rogue ninja were fleeing the scene. I furrowed my eyebrows before hearing the grunting of another man. I slowly turned my head then my eyes widened.

"Tomoko..."

Her head had been severed from the neck. In its place was a pool of endlessly dripping blood. I could do nothing but watch as Daisuke fruitlessly tried to heal her with his chakra, exhausting himself beyond his limits. I wasn't shaking anymore. I wasn't doing anything. There was more shock in my body than sorrow, which turned into anger as my body pivoted towards the running family although my head continued to look upon their work. I didn't know Tomoko but I wanted to know what she would've said. I selfishly followed her murderers, despite being the attackers, despite caring more about Tomoko's advice than her life. I didn't care if I was selfish I was just angry, no, enraged. All I could see was the blood.