The Shinobi With The Straw Hat

"I'm coming, dad!"     

I was born as the only child of a good family. My father was engeneer and my mother was a nurse.     

The two of them were always busy, I was often alone at home. I passed the time looking at movies and such.     

At school, I was a good pupil. I had good marks and the teachers loved me, but for this reason my classmates didn't like me in any way.     

Because of this, I was insecure from a young age. At the age of twelve I began getting bullied for thousand and one reasons.     

"Why are you always silent? I just want to punch you in the face!"     

"Look at your weak body, your a bitch! Hahaha!"     

Comments like this, I heard everyday from the morning until the afternoon.     

When I got home, I never talked about it to my mother nor my father. I didn't want them to worry about me, they already had so much in their minds.     

I was weak and developed cowardice because of all the constant bullying.     

But one day I decided to change everything.     

It was the 5 February 1990, I remember this day like it was yesterday.     

I was shopping with my mother, she was looking for jewelry. It was her birthday and she wanted to buy something for herself.     

We found a store packed with all kinds of jewelry.     

"Hello, madam! What kind of jewelry are you looking for? We sell EVERYTHING, please, take a look."     

My mother looked around and one precise jewelry picked her interest. It was a beautiful collar with a red like golden heart.     

She wore it, she was beautiful. I remember looking at her lovely face.     

"Kentaro, how does it look on me?"     

"You look like a princess, mom! Haha, you should buy it."     

My mother bought the collar, she spent a month's salary for it. It's crazy when I think about it.     

We left the jewelry store and my mother was given a bag with the collar in it.     

We only walked for a few meters until this one man stopped us. He had a large kitchen knife in his right hand.     

"Give me the bag, or else you'll see what will happen."     

My mother was the kind of woman to never let herself get mistreated. She refused to give the bag, but her answer was not the good answer.     

The man began getting agitated and jumped on my poor mother. He stabbed her over fifty times.     

While he was stabbing her, my twelve year old self tried to stop the man.     

I punched him in the back of his head, his back and even tried to pull him from his clothes.     

But I was a weak little boy. The people who were passing by just looked at my mother getting massacred.     

The man suddenly stopped stabbing her and fled the scene, I fell to my knees next to my dead mother.     

Her face, I will never forget it. She had her eyes and mouth open in shock.     

I felt her body turning cold and her skin getting paler, I don't know why but my body wouldn't let me cry.     

I just stood there by her side looking into her eyes.     

Thirthy minutes later the police arrived at the scene. They called for an ambulance, even though it was clear that she was dead.     

They called my father and he came to the scene. He looked at my mother's lifeless corpse in shock, he began crying so much.     

After this event, life was a nightmare. My father had quit his job and became an alcoholic.     

He always got mad at me and told me that my mother's death was my fault, because I was weak, as he said.     

I began working on myself and my body. I decided to become stronger, to protect what I valued in this world.     

I did push ups, squats and every other types of exercises to strengthen myself.     

Six years passed like this, I was eighteen. I had become a strong man and needed to find a job to get out of my father's presence, I could not live in this house anymore.     

I decided to enroll in the Japanese National Police Agency. To arrest and take down thugs, murderers and the likes of them.     

This was my way to take revenge for my mother's death.     

Before I could fully integrate them I had to pass physical tests and basic intellectual tests.     

I passed them easily and integrated the agency, working in the undercover unit.     

Honestly, it was not bad. I was walking the whole day in the tramways and the streets of Tokyo.     

When I spotted things that were not tolerable, I would just arrest them and do what I had to do.     

I did this for five years, until I was twenty-three years old.     

But I had enough of this undercover shit! I wanted to do something where I was more implicated in taking down criminals.     

That is why when I turned twenty three, I left the undercover unit to try my luck joining the special assault team.     

The special assault team was Japan's counter-terrorism unit. They took care of hostage crisis, organized crimes and terrorist threats.     

Every year they hold selections and recruit those who pass it.     

It was the 12 December 2001 that I joined the selection.     

It was the most ardeous experience in my life, The selection was six months long and the real training was also six months long. In total I had to endure one year of pure suffering.     

The first six months, they test our mental and physical limits. Are we mentally strong enough? Are we fit enough? Are we disciplined enough? Are we courageous enough?     

They only looked for the one percent. After the end of the six months, eighty percent of the group had been eliminated.     

We were fifty remaining and only now was the real training starting.     

We learned how to jump with a parachute and how to manouver in the air in all kinds of ways during the air assault training.     

We learned how to clear buildings and eliminate hostage holders and terrorists in the counter-insurgency training     

We learned to operate efficiently and independently in teams of six to twelve in harsh environments, like jungles, mountains and the seas. This was the airborne ranger course.     

In the end of the training, out of the fifty, only nine remained.     

I was proud of myself, I had succeeded, I had surpassed my limits and became part of the Elite of the Elite.     

The 20 December 2002, I was officially part of the Japanese special assault team.     

"Kentaro Takahashi, congratulations! You are officially part of the Japanese special assault team! This badge and beret are the symbols of your success! May you serve the nation with honor!"     

I wore my badge and beret with pride. Little did i know that it was the beginning of the end.