Will of Fire: Kakashi Hatake

Chapter 19

He said it with such passion, Akira felt a fire blazing in her own chest. She thought of all the people that she had come to appreciate over the years. Comrades and civilian alike. And their smiles. Akira wanted to protect them all. Just as her father had protected her. Just as Kakashi had protected her.

"Akira Daisuke, are you prepared to lay down your life for your comrades and your village? Are you prepared to carry the will of fire with you on every mission, and protect those who are unable to protect themselves?"

Akira grinned. "Yes sir!"

Seek smiled back at her. "Then I officially acknowledge your rank within the ANBU. Carry this symbol proudly. Carry with you the Will of Fire."

+++

The tattoo had hardly hurt at all. And afterward, Raven had used medical ninjutsu to immediately heal it. The whole process had taken about half an hour, and then she and Seek were heading out to the training field to meet up with the rest of the team.

They congratulated her upon her arrival and complimented the tattoo on her right shoulder. Akira grinned under her mask and thanked them. She was truly a member of the ANBU now.

"Alright, pipe down."

Everyone turned to Seek, awaiting orders. They still had a couple of hours of daylight left, and it would be spent training.

"For the rest of today we are going to breaking from our normal training routine and doing something a little different."

Akira was suddenly aware of eight chakra signatures arriving at the other end of the field. She turned her head to look in that direction, and was surprised to see Team Ro making their way toward them.

Juke and Bat followed her gaze.

"Are we doing another joint training session, sir?" Juke asked.

Seek nodded. "Yes, in the form of a intel gathering operation."

Akira turned her attention back to Seek as Kakashi's team came to a stop nearby.

"In an effort to improve teamwork and communication between team members, our teams will be competing against one another. First time to get back to their base with the intel scroll wins."

"But sir, our teams are unevenly matched. They have two more members than we do." Bat protested.

Seek cocked his head. "I didn't ask for anyone's opinion," he said coldly. "I expect us to figure it out. Now," he turned to face Kakashi. "Have you set the boundaries?"

Kakashi nodded. "Western boundary is the river. Northern boundary is Coinshi Road. Eastern boundary is headquarters, and southern boundary is the wall. Team Ro will hide their intel in the northern half. Team Ky, the southern. The border is the dry creek bed. No killing allowed!"

They had a wide area to cover. And only six of them, against eight. Akira liked those odds.

"Teams, hide your intel. We have fifteen minutes to hide it and come up with a strategy. At the end of those fifteen minutes, the operation begins."

Seek and Kakashi pulled stopwatches out of their pouches and lined them up next to each other. Then they both hit start on a timer.

"Go!"

Seek led the way into the forest, Kakashi leading his team in the opposite direction. Akira and the rest of her teammates were hot on Seek's heels.

Seek must have already had an idea for where to hide the intel, because he had beelined right toward a tree that had a small hole at the base of it. He placed the scroll in the hole, off to the side where it could not be seen. One would have to reach their arm into the hole to find it.