Will of Fire: Kakashi Hatake

Chapter 8

"Water style, water shield jutsu!"

A wall of water surrounded Akira. She looked around in surprise, expected to have been hit with a huge blast of fire. But she was perfectly safe. The fire sizzled out when it made contact with the water.

"Water style, water dragon jutsu!"

A dragon made out of water charged at Somaru. His eyes widened, but he didn't have a chance to run. The water dragon swallowed him and sent him flying through the air when it thrashed, and he landed halfway across the training field completely soaked.

He struggled to get up. The wall of water fell away from around Akira. She didn't have a drop of water on her. She looked around, confused.

Behind her in the treeline, Kakashi stood glaring at Somaru.

"Kakashi?" Akira asked, bewildered. She had been so focused on her battle with Somaru that she hadn't felt him approach. He started to make his way over to her.

"What the hell?" Somaru groaned from where he was. He finally pushed himself up into a sitting position, coughing.

"Are you okay?" Kakashi asked her. He looked down at her, and Akira could actually see a little bit of worry in his eyes. His ANBU mask was on his hip, and he had both eyes open.

Akira nodded, still taken aback from Somaru's onslaught of attacks.

Somaru stood and turned to glare at them. Or more accurately, at Kakashi. "Why'd you interrupt our spar?" He yelled.

"That didn't seem like a spar to me." Kakashi said coldly. "You don't use jutsu like that against comrades, especially that close."

Somaru stomped over to them and tried to get in Kakashi's face. But he was still a head shorter than him, so it looked funny.

"Mind your own business!"

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "Fight fair, and I will. Akira won that spar. You turned it unfriendly when you struck and her back was turned. I thought you were supposed to be her teammate?"

Somaru glared up at him, water dripping down his face. He huffed, but stormed away from them. He knew he was beaten, and he knew there was no way he could take Kakashi in a fight.

Akira watched him go, feeling a mix of sadness and anger. Kakashi was right. Somaru had been fighting unfairly. But he was still her teammate.

"What he did was wrong. He will come around to apologize later." Kakashi said.

Akira nodded and dropped her eyes to the ground. She clenched her fists. But when she did, fresh blood oozed out of the cut on her forearm, dripping onto the grass at her feet.

Blood dripped down the rock, staining the dirt below.

Akira dropped to her knees, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Akira?" Kakashi's worried voice sounded far away.

All she saw was blood. Her parents' blood. Teku's blood. The blood of every enemy she had even injured. She couldn't stand it. She wanted all the blood to disappear into the earth. She wanted the earth to swallow it all and make it go away. She raised her fist and struck the ground as hard as she could.

A sudden crack echoed around the training field.

"Akira? What's going on?"

Akira felt Kakashi place a gentle hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes, and was shocked to see the ground in front of her cracked wide open. It started at her fist, and stretched for twelve feet out in front of her. Her jaw dropped open at the sight.