Flash to the Future Series (Omakes, Backstories, Deleted Scenes, and More)

ANBU Kitsune Arc: The Commander

Kitsune watched the town burn without a lick of emotion. He was used to it by now - seeing things disappear from existence under the hot blue flames. This had been second town he has destroyed single-handed without any survivors. The first town was a small village in the Hi no Kuni called Furukawa. He had snuck into the place at the dead of night, assassinating everyone under the cover of darkness. By the time he had finished, everyone was either killed by a slash to the throat or a seal. When he completed his mission, like always, he left no evidence. No survivors. Not long after, Furukawa had became only a distant memory. A pity really.

Pulled out of his musings, Kitsune looked down at the child he held in his arms. He had found him behind one of the stables. She had dark blue hair and black eyes that he seemed to get lost in. It was as if he was falling into a dark abyss of his own sins and he felt a pang in his chest as he stared at those teary and fearful eyes. Although she was only 1 year old, it was as if she knew her fate. As if she knew he would be the one to end her life before it even began.

He tried to look away, but her eyes held him. Forcing him to look at innocent life he was about to take. The arm that held her shook as his eyes remain locked in with hers. Her face. It would punish him. Her beautiful alabaster skin would stay imprinted in his mind. Her short blue looks would be the color he would see every time he thought about his mission. The sound of her small sobs for her family. For her home. For her death. It would always haunt him in his sleep. He didn't know how long he stood with the child his arm.

A kunai appeared in his left hand as he continued look at the infant. 'No witnesses....' he said to himself. Steeling himself, he raised his kunai, his eyes never hers. Seeing the pointy object pointed at her, the little girl began to shake. She closed her eyes and scrunched her face. His eyes stayed trained on her as his hand became a swift blur. Her blood splattered across his mask as her throat was instantly slit. Her body no longer shook and her small form became limp in his arm. Her eyes stayed closed as a tear fell from each eye. The body that was once warm with blood was now cold and slowly matching the color of her hair.

Kitsune slowly walked toward the area that flickered with blue flames, her blood drawing a trail behind him. He stopped at the bundle of fire that had once been a home. Giving her once last look, Kitsune threw her body into the blazing inferno. It was instantly consumed, reduced to nothing but sullen ash like the rest of the village. Kitsune just stood by the fire for a while, staring at it blankly. He didn't know when his feet had finally carried him toward what was once the village entrance. He subconsciously waved his hand, extinguishing the fire, leaving nothing but charred earth. His body was on autopilot as it took to the misty trees of the Water Country. Someone would arrive soon and he didn't need another person added to his growing list of kills.

He traveled for several hours, making his way off the island before he ran across the sea. By the time he arrived to the Fire Country, he was winded and he decided to set up camp not far from its border. After he captured a few fish and prepared them, he allowed them to cook over the fire as he sat under a tree with his knees to his chest.

His stomach felt like it wanted to lurch as the little girls face plagued his mind. He didn't know why he did it. Why he took missions like this. Perhaps it was a sick pleasure he felt when he would wipe the lives of the innocent off the face of the earth. Maybe it was his envy of their purity and virtue that he thought he could gain if you removed their lives. Or maybe it was his way of sparing. Sparing them from exposure to such a dark world void of light. This world. It will kill even the slightest flicker of light from your soul and slowly suck the very life from you. You won't even recognize yourself anymore and your eyes become as lifeless as the life around you. It was it's nature. To give life and take it away. It was what took his father from him. And it was what led him down this path of solitude and shadows. It was why he wore this mask.