The Next Step [Darkkon]

With his interview with Shiro Redfox over it was time to attend to something more pleasant, the promotion of his student Chikara Shurajo. As instructed the ANBU he had sent for her delivered on time, escorting his student to his new temporary office just after Shiro Redfox had left. "Chikara Shurajo here to fulfill her promise to the Mizukage and herself, sir!" She seemed to be quite happy as she spoke, the door shutting behind her to give the two of them some privacy. Erwin wasn't quite sure which promise she was referring to though, Osharu was probably the only one that would know that. "At ease Chikara, I do hope my summons didn't come at an inopportune time." Erwin said in a polite tone, smiling slightly as he motioned for his student to take a seat in the chair across from him.

The fact that it was her sensei behind the Mizukage's desk rather than Osharu may or may not be a surprise to her, he wasn't sure how far the news of his temporary position had spread in the past few days. Nonetheless he was curious as to what this promise entailed, a special deployment perhaps? "I'm sorry to say but Osharu didn't leave me with the details to this promise before he left, is it something I can help fulfill?" He would continue in the same polite tone, providing Chikara didn’t have any immediate questions at least. The news of her impending promotion could wait for the moment, and who knows, maybe this promise involved something not too far from what Erwin had already planned for Chikara.

[Word Count: 257]

Knowing Chikara her silence as she approached his desk and got comfortable in the chair across from him was likely a result of her re-analyzing the situation now that it was her sensei behind the Mizukage’s desk instead of Osharu, or so Erwin thought. She was a cunning little girl, one who could successfully hide behind a cheery facade in front of her peers while simultaneously analyzing them, such talent is hard to come by. She was also getting better at maintaining that facade, which would come in handy should some of her future endeavors require a bit of undercover work. ”No interruptions. You actually saved me from a mouth inspection, courtesy of Shinku.” ”I see.” Erwin said with a smile as he let out a few light laughs. Even though he had yet to meet Chikara’s younger sister there was still the occasional report of her compulsive tendencies. An odd girl but one that showed talent, just like her older sister.

”As for that promise… well when Shinku came, Osharu made me promise to join ANBU, though I was going to do that anyways. And since I think I am ready, I have come to fulfill that promise, though by your question I guess you didn’t exactly know about that so the question becomes… why was I called to your office?” Chikara switched to a more serious tone towards the end, Erwin could see how it would be a confusing situation if he were in her shoes. Nonetheless it seemed rather ironic that her promise to Osharu, and her desire for a career, was the same that Erwin was planning on presenting to her. ”Believe it or not my intentions were to actually present such an opportunity to you.” Erwin started in a polite but more professional tone while he leaned forward, placed his elbows on the desk, and interlocked his fingers.

”You’ve done quite a bit for our city and I thought you deserved a promotion, as well as an invitation to a ’ceremony’ of sorts.” The ceremony Erwin spoke of was the recruitment and induction ceremony for ANBU hopefuls hand picked by the Mizukage and recruitment scouts within the organization, something only known by those that were or had been in the Kage position and members of Kirigakure’s ANBU. ”I can’t go into detail about this ’ceremony’ but I believe it’s just what you were hoping for.” He may not have said it directly but he certainly implied that it was related to the ANBU ”If you’re feeling up to it I can give you directions.”

[Word Count: 355]
[Total: 612]

It may have appeared that Chikara was thinking it over for a moment but with her outburst of excitement Erwin doubted she really did, even if it was potentially part of her act. ”Of course I am feeling up to it!” With her further display of excitement Erwin had a hard time telling if she was actually faking, either this opportunity was truly something she had been dreaming of or she had gotten much better at maintaining her facade, which was good either way. ”Sorry bout that, excited that I shall achieve my dream.” ”No harm done.” Erwin replied with a smile and a light laugh, it was good that she was excited about the opportunity to join ANBU, he only hoped that it would turn out to be something she actually wanted and not a child’s fantasy to be crushed by reality. ”When is this ceremony suppose to take place, or more where is this suppose to take place since the time doesn’t matter if I haven’t a clue where to go.”

”Not too long from now actually, and as for where…” Erwin paused for a moment as he separated his interlocked fingers in order to grab a blank sheet of paper with his left hand and a pen with his right.  ”... It’s actually in this building. Do you know the door with ’Restricted Access’ written on it by the second floor waiting room?” As he spoke Erwin quickly scribbled a string of small symbols onto the lower right corner of the paper, ripped it off, then folded it in half to hide the symbols. If Chikara didn’t know off hand which door it was she could easily figure it out when she got there. ”Go through that door when you leave and follow the hallway all the way to the end. Should anyone stop you show them this piece of paper.” He said as he offered his student the folded piece of paper. ”There will be several doors in the hallway, the one you are looking for is at the very end after a ninety degree right turn. Present this paper to the guard stationed outside of the door to gain entry.”

Erwin returned his hands to their interlocked position once Chikara took the piece of paper, wondering if she would take a peek at it before or after she left. He didn’t expressly say anything that implied she was forbidden to look at what he had scribbled on the paper, all she would see is a line of symbols that meant nothing to anyone without knowledge of the key. ”Any questions?” Erwin would do his best to answer any questions she had without giving away too much detail before letting her go on her way, he would be seeing her at this ceremony but there was a separate entrance for non-initiates. Once Chikara was on her way he would leave the office shortly afterwards, although he would take a more direct route from their current location on the fourth floor. Once Chikara made it to the entrance Erwin described she would be led into a large windowless room where she would be placed with a handful of other ANBU hopefuls in a horizontal line to a table with an equal number of folders on it to initiates present, totaling eight.

The room itself was two stories tall and had a small balcony on the second story, third if you’re going by the building itself, opposite to the initiates entrance with a door guarded by two ANBU members and a set of stairs leading down to the lower story. On the walls were hundreds of ANBU masks of numerous different designs, each with a nameless plaque beneath them. One ANBU member sat behind the table, another one guarded the initiates entrance/exit, and another guarded a tertiary entrance/exit on the left wall coming from the initiates entrance. Next to the table there was an unlit raised stone fire pit. If Chikara went straight there and didn’t get lost on the way she would be the third to last to arrive, each one after arriving in intervals of three minutes through the same door she had. Only once everyone had arrived, or it seemed that no one else was going to make it, then the ceremony would start.

[Word Count: 689]
[Total: 1301]

”None at all. Thank you, sensei.” That made things easy then, Chikara would head off to the ceremony on time. Erwin bowed his head slightly as a respectful response to his student’s bow. As soon as Chikara shut the door behind her Erwin pushed his chair back a bit, stood up, tucked the remaining folders on his temporary desk into the top left drawer, and locked it up before heading off to get ready for the ceremony. Grabbing Osharu’s hat on his way out of the office Erwin ducked down a rather well guarded hallway before heading down to the third floor via a restricted staircase. In a small staging room just off the balcony overlooking the gathered ANBU hopefuls Erwin waited for the pre-designated starting time, straightening his white officer’s trench coat and placing the iconic hat of the Mizukage upon his head.

Shortly after the final ANBU hopeful arrived and took their place in the lineup Erwin would enter through the lone door on the balcony and proceed down the stairs, quietly looking the new recruits over as he walked up to the table with his hands held behind his back and stood to the left of the ANBU member sitting behind the lone table in the room before speaking. ”You all know why you’ve been summoned today, although the words have yet to be spoken. Let me be the first to officially invite you to join the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai. Each one of you have displayed the skill and commitment necessary to earn a position within the Anbu ranks, but in the end the decision is yours and yours alone.” Erwin paused for a moment to let his words sink in, as well as observe the potential initiates in front of him.

”Each folder on the table in front of me holds every piece of public information regarding one of your lives. You have three paths ahead of you. Firstly, take your folder and hand it to the guard stationed by the door you entered from, by doing so you decline your invitation to join Anbu. I will think no less of you for doing so, by joining Anbu your life expectancy will drop dramatically, and if you believe that you can better serve our country from the front lines with the rest of Kirigakure’s forces then feel free to do so.” Erwin paused once more to allow any that didn’t truly desire to join Kirigakure’s dark side to step forward and decline his invitation, although none would. ”Good, it seems that I’ve chosen wisely. The two remaining paths will determine just how far into the shadows you are willing to tread to protect your country and your loved ones.” Erwin nodded to the Anbu sitting at his right who then rose to his feet, pulled out a small piece of paper, lit it on fire by channeling chakra through it, tossed it onto the coals within the raised fire pit next to the table, then sat back down.

As soon as the paper hit the specially crafted coals they were consumed by a steady dark red flame. ”If you desire to lead a double life and dedicate your time to both the light and dark side of our military then take your folder and hand it to the operative beside me. You will retain your rank within the general military, as well as the responsibility, but this will only be a front for your new life. If you desire to erase everything and dedicate your life to advancing our village and our country solely from the shadows then take your folder and drop it into the fire. By doing so you will be sacrificing your identity, any hope of regaining it, and you will become one of the nameless that usher in our city’s future from the shadows. Whatever your choice may be know that you have my respect and my gratitude.” With their paths laid out before them it was time for the recruits to make their decision, some choosing to become the nameless martyrs of Kirigakure while others decided to lead a double existence before returning to their position in the lineup. Erwin wondered which path Chikara would choose for herself.

[Word Count: 700]
[Total: 2001]

The path of a double existence, a wise choice for someone in Chikara’s position. She had her sister to think about, not to mention any friends she had acquired over the years, if she had chosen the path of complete darkness she would be forsaking them. This meant that she would be able to maintain the image she had been building with her progress in wiping out various crime lords, although Erwin doubted that mattered too much to Chikara personally. However it also meant that she wouldn’t be able to undertake missions that put her under cover in areas that would have heard of her, unless of course she was given missions where her current identity could serve as a front for an alternative objective, diplomatic delegations with a hidden agenda of intelligence gathering perhaps.

With all of the recruits back in formation after making their choice it was time to move on. ”Now that you’ve made your decisions I would like to welcome you to Kirigakure’s Dark Side, the Anbu Organization. In the next few days you will be called upon for armor fitting, mask distribution, and code name assignment. Until then you are free to go about your daily routine. I’m sure there’s no need to say this but what occurred in this room today is not to reach the rest of the world, understood?” Erwin asked the recruits in a professional tone, awaiting their responses before continuing with his official dismissal. ”Good, and remember this credo for your future operations within the shadows. ‘Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of our enemy’s fate.’ You are dismissed.”

The credo Erwin mentioned was actually one of his own design that he put in place within the Land of Iron’s SOAR division, and this was the first time it was mentioned within the Land of Water, catching the previously instituted Anbu operatives by surprise. They didn’t expect Erwin to be so well versed with the dark side of a military, it wasn’t typical of a samurai, but they respected him all that much more for it. With the new recruits officially dismissed Erwin would stand by just in case some of them had any questions, and once they all left through the same door they had came he would move on as well. Patting the “faceless” man at the desk beside him while respectfully nodding farewell he would make his way back up the stairs and through the staging room off the balcony, he still had the rest of the day’s agenda to get to.

[Potential Exit]

[Word Count: 442]
[Total: 2443]