Will of Fire: Kakashi Hatake

Chapter 19

The three rogue ninja stepped into the quicksand pit, unaware of what was going on until they couldn't lift their feet.

"What the hell?" The lead one asked.

Akira unsheathed her sword and jumped from the tree, flying straight at the ground in front of them. She landed in a crouch and sprang forward. She decapitated the leader of the group, and the genjutsu fell away. The other two ninja stood there in shock. She swung her sword at them, slicing through both of their necks with one move. They crumpled, bleeding out and choking on their own blood. They were dead in under a minute.

Seek landed next to her.

"Let's seal their bodies away and take them back to the leaf."

She nodded, and released the three ninja from the quicksand pit, which then hardened back to normal. They quickly sealed the bodies into a scroll, which Seek tucked into his waist pouch. Then they set off back to the village after Akira used an earth jutsu to make the blood disappear deep into the ground.

"That was a good tactic. Quick and efficient, and undetectable without a sensory shinobi," Seek said as they jumped through the trees. Akira nodded in response, feeling a little bit nauseous.

They weren't the first people she had killed, and she knew they weren't going to be the last. But it didn't mean that she had to like it. But the rogue shinobi had been terrorizing innocent civilians that promoted business within the leaf village. Therefore, they were a threat to the village's prosperity, and had to go.

When they made it back, Akira waited outside of the office on guard while Seek gave the mission report and turned over the scroll to the analysis team. Then he joined her outside, and the two of them made their way back to headquarters.

When they reached headquarters, Seek led Akira down a hallway that she hadn't been down yet.

"Where are we going, captain?" She asked.

Seek turned his head slightly so she could just barely see the front of his mask. "It's time for you to get your tattoo."

Akira smiled. Finally.

He led her into a small room that looked just like every other room in the building. Gray walls, simple lighting. But this room had a reclined chair in the middle of it, with a lamp hanging over the chair. A small metal table was set up beside the chair. One other shinobi was in the room. It was the same one that had fitted Akira for a uniform.

Seek took off his mask, and Raven did as well. Akira followed suit and stepped further into the room.

Raven gave her a small smile. "Welcome." She waved her over to sit in the chair. She did so, leaning back and resting her mask in her lap.

"Akira, do you know what our tattoos symbolize?" Seek asked, standing at the end of the chair so Akira could easily look up at him.

"The will of fire," she responded. She had asked her father that very question when she was a child.

Seek nodded. "Yes. Do you know what that means?"

"It's the will to protect the village, right? The will to carry on fighting despite the odds to protect those who can't fight."

Seek nodded again. "Yes, but it has a deeper meaning than that. The will of fire is a symbol that the ANBU Black Ops carry with us on our shoulders, to remind us that we are protecting not just our comrades, and not just the village, but our family. Our village is our family. The will of fire connects us, and those who carry it within ourselves have sworn to protect the village at all costs, carrying on the will of previous generations, and passing it to those who come after us. The ANBU represents secrecy, yes, but we also represent the will of fire in living, breathing form. We cast aside our fears and doubts so that others may smile. They are our strength. And we are their shield. So long as we have each other, we will not fall nor waver. We protect our future by protecting those who cannot protect themselves."