"You're going to do this mission, Rae," Said her master, irritation in his voice, though he did his best to never let it show in his expression.

"Why? I don't want to and I'm not going to. You took me from that village and now it's finally starting to re-build itself. Yet you want me to destroy it all over again?! I am not going after my own village!" She shot back.

"It's not your village anymore. I took you from it, made you my apprentice, gave you a better life. Maybe a little too much leeway... Now, if you don't do this, I'm sending Isamu in your stead."

Her golden eyes widened. Isamu was their most skilled assassin that her master had under his employ. Not just an average ninja, but a hardened, cold-blooded killer, able to go on a massacre without even being noticed, leaving no traces of himself behind. Rae disapproved greatly when her master, Shujin, hired him into the group. Isamu had no morals. It didn't matter who he killed, or how he did it. He didn't even care about age-slaughtering children came just as easy to him as breathing.

Rae didn't trust him.

"Well?"

"Is that supposed to intimidate me? He's a qualified assassin, let the blood be on his hands!"

"I'll be giving him grounds for complete freedom on the mission, if that's the case. Whatever he wishes to do to those people, so long as they end up dead, I don't give a damn."

Rae grit her teeth, it was barbaric. Her mind churned with her hesitation and frustration. She didn't want to do this... But, at least if it was her, she could make everything go quickly. No one would suffer, the deaths would be painless. It still wasn't what they deserved, but it was a mercy compared to Isamu's methods. "Fine…"

"Good. You have three hours to get ready for your journey. I want you on the road by sundown."

"Yes... Master Shujin..."

The elderly man then shooed the young red head from the room. She was escorted out by his guard, and when the doors shut behind her, she stormed off. Needing to get ready and prepare, though she would do so grudgingly, to attack and destroy a village…

Her old village.

In her room, she grabbed a small backpack. Filled it with the basics: Extra kunai, shurikens, an extra set of clothes, and water and food. It would be a seven day journey to her old home… the Hidden Sound Village. Heavens, she didn't want to go back there. There were too many memories. Most of them bad.

She slapped herself.

"Snap out of it!" She yelled, then sighed, she was becoming too soft. Maybe this was something she needed to do, to harden herself. She wan't the little girl from her old life. She was a killer all her own. And she had been too young when Shujin had taken her to really be sure that her life was good before this. He always said he had rescued her. There was no reason to doubt that. Life here was good. And, despite her reservations sometimes, she was good at what she did. She was good at being a killer.

Rae shook her head, she was barely twenty, she was still young. As every elder had said to her at some point, she would understand her place in the world as she got older. Everything would become clearer with age. She believed that.

Her resolve strengthened, she walked into the sacred room of the temple that served as her new home.

The group of ninja that she was a part of was known as the Priests, a branch from the rest of the group that Shujin employed. They were only ever seen as a religious group ranging in age from infants to the elderly. A perfect cover for the truth. Though, the ones who were considered young adults, Rae being in that category, were the ones who carried out the dastardly missions. The elderly were their council, who gave out missions or who approved of new recruits. The infants and children were the ones being raised, apprenticed, as new assassins that would take over once they became of age and the older became too old to take handle the field jobs themselves anymore. It just showed that the elders had everything in balance. If one thing was out of place their entire operation could crumble. Rae didn't want that to happen. This was her home, she grew up here. she learned everything she knew here.

She didn't want that to go away.

Rae knelt before a large wooden symbol that hung in front of her, towering over a dark alter. To any onlooker she was simply praying to her god, but the truth went a little deeper. There was a hidden floor door beneath her. It held all of the Priest's weapons. And when she was sure no one was looking, she opened the hatch and grabbed her sword, a few knives, and some explosives. Then placed them carefully into her pack. The sword, she slung over her shoulder, using a thin rope that she tied around the scabbard as a sort of strap-she kept the blade well hidden on her back, beneath her cloak. Then, shutting the small door and locking it, she stood and uttered a silent prayer, kissing the side of her index finger and then pressing it to her forehead in the way she had been taught. 'Better to play out the part', she told herself. In case there were anyone hidden in the shadows that she had missed.

Rae turned and exited the room, her cloak flowing behind her as she did so. While short, her prayer had been genuine. She wished that the village wouldn't see her coming. A mass panic would make the job more difficult, and her quick executions would turn into a slaughter, as she couldn't let anyone escape. The streets would run red and the screams would be deafening.

She didn't want that.