When it first appeared Iruka 's initial thought was 'I 'm too young to die '. It might have been a silly thought but it was excusable because he was only eleven years old and he had woken up to find an echo of the mark of the ANBU riding on his shoulder. The idea of his soulmate being in ANBU was terrifying enough. Even more terrifying was the idea that they must be quite a bit older than him. ANBU was the place of the most elite and darkened shinobi; they were the beasts that fed the nightmares of small children, the shadows that struck fear in to the hearts of the most hardened warriors. It was not a place for young ones. And his soulmate had just joined up.