✔️Heal My Heart {Kakashi Hatake}

31 | when all of a sudden

Kakashi had Itachi walk out alone, for reasons unbeknownst to me. He told me to conceal myself and follow the Uchiha out, but make sure he doesn't know I'm there. While the orders were questionable, I've always been good at hiding; when I was a little younger, I figured out a way to use my Kekkei Genkai to absorb myself into a plant and conceal my chakra completely.

I obediently stepped into a tree on the side of the training ground, and as soon as my senses blended with the plants, I discovered that most of our squad were hiding in the treetops. What on earth were they doing there?

I followed Itachi as he continued calmly down to where only a couple of the squad were lounging against some training posts.

The others reached into their pockets and pulled out handfuls of shuriken and kunai. Anger flared up in me.

Kakashi must have known, because he put a hand on the trunk of the tree I'd stepped into. "Wait," he murmured, and I heard him as clearly as if he were saying it into my ear. Reluctantly, I waited and watched.

The ANBU in the trees flung their missiles, and they rained down on Itachi like a shower. The Uchiha didn't even blink, but walked calmly through them. I couldn't see his movements, but somehow by the time they ran out of shuriken, he was stood completely unscathed. When he turned, I saw his sharingan blazing.

"What is the meaning of this?" Kakashi demanded, striding over with Tenzō on his heels. I had learned that Kakashi had two types of anger; false anger, which he used only to intimidate, and genuine anger. It was hard to tell the difference between the two unless you knew him well, since he rarely manifested either type. What he was glaring at the others with now was false anger. Although all of them were flinching away from him now, his real anger was much scarier.

"W-we only wanted to test his skill, sir," one ANBU confessed, bowing low in apology and staying down.

"You could have simply asked him to demonstrate," Kakashi replied coldly. "I don't want any members of this squad turning on the others." He tapped lightly on a tree nearby, a signal that I could now reveal myself.

I stepped out of the trunk and turned my own glare on them. I was well aware that my dirty looks were terrifying to those around me; I had mastered the "mom-glare" long ago, and used it often.

"You didn't even hide well!" I reprimanded them scathingly. "None of you were even trying! It took me a heartbeat to find you, and I detected every one of your movements. What if there had been an enemy hiding around? You'd all have revealed your positions, and would probably be dead by now." I seethed. "Besides that, you could have hurt Itachi! Are you all so thick and untrusting that you need to see for yourselves if Lord Hokage has made a right decision? If he wanted you to test Itachi, I'm sure he would have asked-"

"Miyoshi," Kakashi interrupted. "That's enough now. I think they get the message."

Instead of responding, because I knew he was right, I made a tree drop one last ANBU who had been hiding up there, away from my lecturing. I recognised him as Kō.

"When you do something stupid, stand and accept the consequences," I spat. He shuddered.

"I thought you agreed with us-"

"There is no excuse to attack a comrade. A friendly sparring match would have demonstrated Itachi's skill well enough, you didn't need to set a death trap," I said coldly.

"On a lighter note, you did a great job, Itachi," Kakashi said. The raven-haired boy nodded in acknowledgement, but I noticed his curious gaze turn to me. I got the sudden feeling that I was being pulled apart and examined closely, like he was trying to figure me out. I gave him a little smile, but my head tilted and my eyes narrowed, asking a silent question. He only glanced away with a shake of his head so small I almost missed it.

"So what mission do we have?" Tenzō asked, trying to change the topic. Many of the squad looked visibly relieved, and Kō released what looked like a lot of tension in his shoulders.

"I'm afraid it's fairly boring," Kakashi replied. "We're escorting a Feudal Lord to the Land of Iron. We don't expect any trouble, but he's a Feudal Lord, so of course he paid for the highest protection money can buy."

"That doesn't sound like something you'd need a whole squad for," Itachi said.

"It's not." Kakashi agreed. "I only called everyone out so I could introduce Itachi. There actually only need to be six of us on the actual escort."

"So who's actually going?" Called one ANBU whose name I didn't know. I frowned.

"You're too soft on these guys. They're so disrespectful."

"Maybe." Kakashi glanced at me before continuing. "Okay. I will be going myself, and I'll be going in front. At the back, I want Itachi. You're going to keep a lookout with your Sharingan." Itachi nodded. "Good. On the left flank, I want Yugao and Tenzō. On the right flank-"

Kakashi broke off as a hawk screeched above us. It dived down and dropped a scroll into his hand, before flying off again. Kakashi opened the scroll and I could feel his alarm as clearly as if it was my own.

"It's an emergency summon. Lord Hokage wants all of us in his office, now."

"All of us?" Tenzō repeated. "Why does he need all of us?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I'm not one to question orders. We should probably go, it looks important."

"Want me to carry everyone?" I offered.

"Ah... no thanks." Kakashi shuddered slightly, still recovering from the journey to the headquarters that morning. "Let's go."

We set off at a typical ANBU sprint. We reached the Hokage tower in just a few minutes, and after glancing back, I was satisfied to see that Itachi had kept the pace well.

Kakashi knocked on the door to Lord Third's office, and was admitted immediately. We all filed into the office and bowed respectfully.

"We received a summon, sir," Kakashi stated.

"Yes. We've received an alert of a missing-nin causing trouble in the Land of Fire, and I need to send out an emergency dispatch of ANBU. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, Team Ro is the only full team available."

"What about our escort mission?" Questioned one ANBU.

"I'll assemble a team of Jōnin to go instead." Lord Hokage replied. "Can I trust you to take care of our intruder?"

"Of course, sir." Kakashi dipped his head in a lazy bow. "We'll set off right away."

The Hokage relaxed a little. "Good luck. You are dismissed."

Kakashi signalled with two fingers for us to head out.

"So what's the plan?" I asked. "Or are we just going to wing it? I'm good at winging things."

"I have a plan," Kakashi said. "I'll explain when we get there."

"Get where?" I called, but he'd already gone ahead. I grumbled to myself, then followed.