Naruto; You only make one shots when you have writer's block.
Sasuke; Which fic is it for this time?
LC; A Kunoichi's Tail. I need more filler arcs between important episodes.
Naruto; No ideas.
Sasuke; Maybe you should ask your readers.
LC; NEVER! Well...Maybe...NO!...Unless it's a really good idea...NO!
Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto, I am merely using him to relieve writer's block so I can meet my dead line!
In ANBU they teach you lots of things. They train you until your bones break and you drop from exhaustion. Then they do the same thing the next day and the day after that until you can do it for days at a time.
In ANBU they teach you many things.
How to kill and leave no blood. How to find the deepest secrets of the mind without killing the prisoner. How to strike fear while wearing a mask. And how to bathe in blood without a second thought.
In ANBU they teach you more than you can ever know.
Because you will need it.
No one ever knows who the ANBU are, unless your an ANBU. It's in the mask they wear that you know their level of strength. That red paint, that is the blood of their first victim as an ANBU.
It is a sign that they are no longer mere shinobi.
They are the ghosts of the shinobi realm. The thing of nightmares to the missing nin. The monster under the bed for the civilians of their enemies. The unseen protectors to the ones of their home.
These are the demons of the shinobi realm. These are the true monsters.
The missions they take are vital. S-class missions are the ones their village can not survive without. They must complete these missions as well. For if they do not an enemy may strike. People may die.
It is a lot of weight for any man, and that is why it is not given to a man. ANBU are not human. Once you put on that mask, you are a story to tell your children to frighten them at night. You are ANBU.
Some die in ANBU and are replaced. Some leave and quit the shinobi program all together. Still the rare few remain as shinobi for the simple reason that is all they know to do.
These are rare and in between, and these are the most feared. But you can never quit ANBU. Because putting that mask on is the point of no return. There will always be a part of you that looks at everything as a threat to your home. You can never wipe away the blood on your hands.
At night, you will have nightmares of the things you have done behind that mask. But you will not make a sound, you will not move a muscle, you will not even twitch your eyelid.
Because doing that may alert the enemy hiding nearby. Because there is always an enemy hiding nearby. That is what you are taught in ANBU.
Paranoia is your best friend. He is your conjoined twin now.
Of all these things that ANBU learn and are, none are as true as this. ANBU are not. You never know who they are, where they are, or what they are.
Because if you can find an ANBU, then your already dead.