A New Story

Mission; Ancient Temple last art:

On our way in we passed by a large gated area. It was quite the something to see because instead of a proper 'gate' it had a fence that stretched impossibly high up into the sky, probably a dome covering the whole area because it was restricted after all. The actual gate looked more like a hard sheeted material with the word 'entry' written on it, I'm guessing they had another word on the other side saying exit but I didn't check. Two ANBU were stationed there to greet us and with Mura's clearance we were cleared for entry. There was a lot of really boring stuff up until that point but I was surprised they let us know where the actual entry to the place was, not that we could have entered without the proper authority.

It reminded me a lot about Gaidra's secret path into the Leaf. When she feared we may still be being hunted by rogue ninja sent to stop us from delivering the message of peace between Leaf and Sand. It was an interesting tad bit of information because personally I never knew ANBU had stealthy ways of getting in and out the Leaf without passing by the main gate or over the walls surrounding our Village. The fact that Gaidra showed us the passage way through a deadly forest, given that she really had little choice, was actually quit touching in a way. She shared a secret, something that I otherwise would have never known though it does make a lot of sense given that most low level ninja think ANBU are a myth. They are a secret division after all, answering directly to the Hokage like all ninja but undertaking missions that otherwise never go on record. At least no records I've ever seen though there was probably some high level intelligence department reserved for ANBU mission details and records. Hmm... Anyway we were walking through the dense jungle that was district D5 for quite some time, sector D5 but D as I understand simply abbreviated District.

Yes...

We had been walking through this sector of the forest for quite some time. It was a nice place, nothing really dangerous about it... well except for the killer beach balled sized mosquitoes. Mura said it would be best for us to keep our pace slow because she didn't know when last they updated the markers on her map dipicting traps hidden throughout the area. It must be hard to keep such a large reign secure, but the better question is why? Devoting resources and high level Chunin or possible even Jounin to the task as well as paying them to protect and keep their work secret, B rank missions pay at the least, it seemed without reason. When the Leaf had another sector entirely devoted to breeding killer animals to help secure restricted areas, why instead chose to safe guard this particular place with traps that had to be maintained? It had to be someone with special clearance verified by the Hokage because we had never even heard about this place before, yet they were letting us in now? To say I was on edge would be an understatement, the hairs on my arms were standing on end with every out of place shadow and quickened step made by my companions.

Sure I could jump to the logical conclusion that the reason we were allowed here now was because it was like the mission said, it is a decommission operation after all. That would explain why they assigned us to the task, if they were going to repurpose the place anyway why keep it a secret? To make a little more sense maybe it was hiding a big secret that just wasn't very relevant now? A thousand years later a big bad secret by some long dead clan might not be as shocking when the younger generation doesn't even know who they are. Sending us youth in for the job instead of the clearance cleared ninja who set the traps might make a little more sense then, otherwise well... How well did I know Tenten and Hinata anyway? Would they be willing to kill a comrade just because they were ordered to?

No I was speaking nonsense. They would never devote so much time and effort just to kill me. After all the only reason they used my team as a sacrifice in our mission against Kazumi, was because they needed to build a reputation of rogue Shinobi for her. Come to think of it we were never properly assigned the mission, it wasn't Tsunada or even the mission desk but Tensue who assigned our mission to that strange place in the forest. Rather convenient if we showed up dead, there would be no blame to cast, though by that point they would probably only find our bodies weeks or even months later. All proof that any wrong was done would be easy to discredit, granted the weather and time past.