Will of Fire: Kakashi Hatake

Chapter 21

She stared at her uncle's likeness carved into the rock. He stared out back at her. She wondered if he would be proud of her, or if he would be angry. Lately she had felt like she couldn't live up to the expectations that she gave herself. She couldn't take care of his son. She couldn't help her team. She felt like a failure in his eyes now. It didn't matter how many missions she completed, how many people she killed in the name of the village. The one person who mattered most to her uncle she couldn't hardly do anything for. And the people that had mattered most to Akira, she had either lost to tragedy, or worse.

Akira sighed and crossed her arms. She felt the scab on the inside of her wrist twist and pull apart as she did so. A stark reminder of her failure. The anger that she felt towards herself. A drop of blood leaked out of the cut.

She felt cold, despite the warm fall night air. Her chest felt empty, and it hurt.

"Uncle Minato," she whispered, "I'm sorry."

She was pulled from her thoughts when Seek landed on the wall next to her.

"Morning," he said gruffly. He still had his morning voice.

"Morning."

They didn't exchange another word until Juke arrived. Then Seek ordered them to head out.

As they ran through the woods, Akira expanded her senses around her to search for other chakra signatures. It had become second nature for her when she was on missions now. In the village, she had used the skill less and less often. But on missions, she was always paying attention.

They ran until mid-morning, until they finally arrived at the road that they knew their target would be traveling along. Their mission was intel gathering and total annihilation. Danzo had ordered no witnesses to be left behind. The target in question had been running a drug operation out of his village for the past few months, and his subordinates all knew about it and played a role. The drug operation had started to reach Konoha, and some of the ninjas on guard had found drugs in a couple travelers' bags. Danzo had not been happy. But it was also rumored that the village hidden in the mist was funding the drug operation, and that was the main focus of this mission.

Despite Team Ky being under the hokage's direct control, Danzo had begun to worm his way into their business. More and more often, Team Ky was either divided for missions, or they were tasked with intel gathering and infiltration into other territories. Team Ky had became known for their special techniques that aided in interrogation. Specifically, Akira had become known for it. But Lord Third did not want her to be in the interrogation unit itself, so she was able to stay with her team.

"Juke, you and I will take out the guards. Fox, target the noble and separate him. Bring him to the secondary location we discussed."

Juke and Fox nodded in confirmation. Then they split up and hid in different places surrounding the ambush site.

Akira infused chakra into the ground in the road. The tendrils of her chakra were almost undetectable now. She had spent long hours trying to perfect the technique, but her efforts were greatly paying off.

An hour and a half later, the noble's carriage came rolling down the road.

Akira let out six short whistles, shaping them to sound like a bird call. There were six guards with the noble. She felt Seek and Juke shift positions slightly, preparing to jump into the fray.

She eyed the carriage carefully, studying it's movement. Based on the shift in weight that she could see when the carriage hit a bump, she expected the noble to be at the back. The front wheels moved more than the back ones did when they hit a rock in the road. The carriage was drawn by two horses, with one of the guards at the reins. The other five were spread out around the carriage, and each had a sword on their back. They were dressed the same, in fancy-looking robes. But that didn't fool Akira. Each one of them had control over their chakra. They were shinobi.