Twelve Guardian Ninja

The were a group of 12 elite warriors, who pledged their lives to protect the Daimyo of the Land of Fire. The members are identified by the marked loincloths they wear. It would seem that some time, before the group was disbanded, some underground organization put a bounty on most of the members. Sora had dreamed of being part of this group.

Background
A group formed before the start of the story, the 12 Guardsmen of Fire have for a long time protected the Daimyo. All the original members are dead, but the group stayed alive.

However about ten years before the start of the story, half of the original members began to believe that only the Daimyo should lead the Land of Fire and planned a coup d'etat against the Hokage, and later conquer the rest of the countries. Kazuma tried to remove the Daimyo to replace him with a puppet Daimyo, but he was stopped by Asuma, since the Daimyo didn't support the revolting guards. The ideals split the group in two which led to a fight between them, where only Asuma Sarutobi, Kazuma and Chiriku survived.

Fire Temple Filler Arc
In the anime filler arc it is revealed that another one of the guardsmen, Kazuma, survived the fight between the two groups. Staying true to his thoughts, he decided that the Land of Fire only needed one king and tried to annihilate Konoha, only to be stopped by and later been killed by Asuma.

Members
All the known members are deceased.
 * Kazuma
 * Kitane
 * Nauma
 * Tou'u
 * Seito
 * Asuma Sarutobi
 * Chiriku