Prompt 18: Unsung: There are some heroes who will never be remembered.

Word Count: 300.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.


The ANBU always intend to be forgotten once they leave.

ANBU operate in darkness. They leap the roofs of their village's buildings after night falls, perform assassination in the cloak of shadows, and avert bloodshed and war in the dark corners of assemblies and parliaments.

They have a dirty job, one of the most dangerous in the world. If captured, by any village, an ANBU will be tortured until they break or die, and ANBU do not break. The stakes are high, the rewards even higher, but they don't expect any favors to be done towards them.

Being faceless has its price, and for the ANBU, it is remembrance.

They will never be remembered or valued; they are the true heroes of wars and conflicts, often averting them altogether, but they are not the ones who are remembered.

ANBU intentionally withdraw from public memory; if they are noticeable, than they are not doing their job correctly. They must always be invisible.

An ANBU is an assassin, a thief in the night who takes their own chances. They give up everything for a village that doesn't return, doesn't make good on its promises to them, and ultimately abandons them to die when they have outlived their usefulness.

They are the ultimate soldiers, obeying orders even when they know those orders are death. But they are not appreciated or remembered.

The heroes everyone remembers are the ones with flair who decimate armies and shatter invasive forces. In reality, the real heroes lie on the ground dead, black uniforms torn and porcelain masks shattered. All for the village, all for naught.

They are ANBU. They are silent, and deadly, and faceless, and naught but shadows. They are the voiceless assassins who avert wars and huddle in shadows, and they will never be remembered.