The black memorial stone stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of the grassy field.
Maybe it had been designed that way. So that people wouldn't forget the ones who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
Yet people did forget.
After the end of the Third Shinobi World War the stone was always covered with flowers and gifts.
There was a path in the grass from the trudging of many feet to the memorial stone . But as time passed people just seemed to forget.
The grass eventually grew back only being walked upon by the ones who couldn't forget , the ones who saw the faces not the names.
The war was taught by people who had read about it , not the ones who had lived through it .
A new generation was born , a generation that had never seen the horrors of war .
To them the memorial stone was just for people who died along time ago , the names on the stone were just that , names .
But they weren't. They were friends , comrades , lovers , and hero's.
But someday , they will too know this pain .One day some of their names will be carved on that stone .
Some will consider it a honor to die for their way of the Shinobi , others will fear to see a familiar name.
The innocent generation will become involved in their own war. Sacrifices will be made and friends will be killed.
Then they will know. When they look at the names carved on the stone , they won't just see names. They'll see their friend's faces.
That is the sacrifice of the Shinobi