Seek led the way back to the village. After the initial shock of seeing the cave, Juke and Seek calmed down back to normal. They traveled quickly since they were losing daylight. The carriage had come a little later than they were hoping. Not that it mattered to Akira anyway. There was nobody she was dying to see at home. She didn't care to hang out with her friends anymore, and instead spent most of her free moments training. They reached the gates shortly after sundown.
"Fox, come with me. Juke, you're relieved of duty for the day. See you at the training ground tomorrow, seven sharp."
Juke nodded. Then they parted ways, Akira and Seek to head toward the Hokage's tower.
When they reached it, they quickly made their way to the Hokage's office. Outside the doors were two ANBU members, one of which Akira recognized as Kakashi. The other one she didn't know. But he had a strange chakra signature that put her a little on edge.
"Dog," Seek greeted, sounding a bit glum.
"Seek," Kakashi greeted in return. "How'd the mission go?"
Seek gave Akira a sideways look, then turned back to Kakashi. "Successful. But we have another issue brewing now."
Akira refused to make eye contact with Kakashi. She didn't particularly feel like interacting with anyone at the moment. The thought of trying to sustain a conversation made her sick to her stomach with dread. The weight of the world was on her shoulders and that was the last thing she wanted.
"Lord Danzo and Lord Third are in a meeting at the moment. Do you need to speak with both of them?" Kakashi asked.
Seek nodded, and Kakashi turned and knocked three times on the door.
"Enter," Lord Third called.
Seek pushed open the doors and lead the way inside. As Akira walked past Kakashi, he subtly reached out and brushed the back of her hand with his fingertips. It sent a chill up her spine.
Seek and Akira bowed in front of Danzo and Lord Third as Kakashi shut the door behind them. They were in the meeting room, and the two elders were sitting on the couches in the middle of the room.
"Report," Danzo commanded.
"Lord Danzo, the target has been neutralized successfully, and the requested intel has been gathered." Seek said.
Akira picked up where he left off. "We confirmed that the nobles of the village involved with the operation have been receiving the majority of their funding from the village hidden in the mist. There are several other nobles and businesses within Memoshi Village that are involved with the operation. In return for the funds that were sent, the nobles have been sending the profits back to the hidden mist. However, we learned that they have also been sending intel as well. The target stated that a spy from the land of water has infiltrated out ranks, and has been sending intel to the hidden mist for the last few months. His name is Mirai Kuskin, alias is Hirshin."
"What intel has the spy been collecting?"
"Intel regarding our numbers, mission assignments, and how much information we have on the hidden mist."
Lord Third lowered his head, frowning deeply.
Danzo sneered. "Seek, you will lead a mission back to Memoshi Village tomorrow, and eliminate all other nobles and business operatives involved in the drug operation. Since half of your team is occupied elsewhere at the moment, you may choose three members of Team Ro to assist you. Fox, you will confirm that there are no others involved, and that all members of the operation are dealt with. Use any means necessary. I will see to it that this spy is eliminated promptly."
Akira lowered her chin slightly. "Yes sir," she said, her voice cold.
"You are dismissed."
Akira and Seek stood and bowed, then exited the room.
Seek stopped outside of the door, and waited until it had shut again, facing the wall. Akira stood next to him, looking down at the ground. Seek turned his head slightly toward Kakashi.
"Did you catch all that?" He asked.
Kakashi bowed his head in a nod. "I did. Anybody in particular?" He responded in a low voice.
"You, Blight, and Goat."
"Time?"
"Five a.m. sharp."
"You got it."
"Fox, you're dismissed for the day. I will inform Juke of the plan."
Akira nodded and started her way back down the hall. She was aware of Seek and Kakashi talking behind her, though she couldn't hear what they were saying. She had a feeling they were talking about her.
As soon as Akira stepped out of the building, she jumped up to land on a nearby rooftop. She put her hands in her pockets and walked across it, kicking pebbles around. It was twilight now, the last rays of the sunset illuminating her path.
Part of her looked forward to going on a mission with Kakashi again. They hadn't been on a mission together since her very first one within the ANBU. And that hadn't exactly gone to plan. But the other part was dreading the next day. She didn't enjoy torturing people, but her kekkei genkai was perfect for it. Her medical knowledge gave her more insight to the human body, so she knew how to make things hurt in ways that were almost unbearable.
She reached the edge of the roof and effortlessly leaped to the next one. She continued on her way until she reached her apartment building, then she dropped to the ground and went inside.
Akira stripped out of her ANBU gear and stepped into the shower. She turned the water on as hot as it would go and just stood there, staring at her hands.
The scab that was on her left wrist had scabbed over again since that morning. It was a wound that she had received while training the day before. One of her kunai had slipped when she was creating a new set, and she had accidentally cut herself. It was a stupid mistake, but one she felt like she deserved.
For some reason, she didn't react the appropriately to the stinging pain of the wound. She found it was a distraction from the raging turmoil of emotions she felt most days. She rarely smiled anymore. Not since that mission. But that wasn't the only thing on her mind. The guilt of not being able to help Naruto and failing her uncle weighed heavily on her. She couldn't help but blame herself for his situation in a way. It was the same guilt she felt about her parents' deaths. She still wondered if she had acted differently that night if they would still be alive. Then Naruto would have family to look after him. At least he wouldn't be alone.
Akira shook her head. She barely even knew the kid. But he didn't deserve to grow up like he was. Just the other day she had caught a shop keeper kicking him out of a store, yelling at the poor kid.
She washed herself quickly, scrubbing hard at her skin. Then she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, drying off with the towel on the rack. She pulled on her pajamas and brushed her teeth, then opened the door to her room. She crawled into bed without eating dinner.
+++
The next morning, Akira was once again the first one to arrive at the gates. She stood on the wall with her arms crossed, looking out across the village again at the Hokages' faces.
A few minutes after, Juke showed up.
"Already back at it," he said, annoyed. "Didn't even get a day off."
"Lord Danzo probably doesn't want word getting back to the mist that we are aware of their presence within the village."
Juke nodded. "Who's going to deal with the spy?"
"The foundation, I'm assuming." The foundation was Danzo's faction of the ANBU. They were the most secret branch, secret enough that many members of the ANBU didn't even know it existed. "Danzo said he would address the issue."
Juke sighed. "Well, at least we know it'll be taken care of."
Akira smirked. "That's for sure."
They waited in silence for another few minutes. Then Blight and Goat showed up. Seek and Kakashi were the last ones to arrive, showing up together.
"Everyone here?" Seek asked. He swept his eyes over the group, doing a quick headcount. "Okay, good. The plan is simple. We will go in in pairs, identify the nobles in question, and at nightfall we will assassinate them and their guards. Then we will target the businesses involved with the drug operation. One team per business. The last team will locate the prisoners and free them. Locate any intel they may have on the operation or on the mist village and collect it. Clear?"
They nodded.
Seek lowered his chin slightly and cleared his throat. "The two man teams will be as follows: myself and Blight, Juke and Goat, and Dog and Fox."
Akira raised an eyebrow. She was being paired with Kakashi?
He went on to identify the names of the nobles each pair would be targeting, as well as the businesses. Akira and Kakashi would be targeting the highest ranking noble involved, and then they would go find the girls being held captive.
"Alright, let's move out."
They leaped off the wall and into the trees, speeding from branch to branch. Akira once again opened up her sensing ability to her surroundings. All was quiet in the forest.
No one spoke for almost the entire day until they got within sight of the village. Then Seek motioned for them to split up into their teams, and make their way into town. Everyone else went different ways, except for Akira and Kakashi, who continued straight.
They would first have to identify the target and confirm his identity. Then they would have to identify which of their subordinates were involved with the drug operation. At least the nobles in Memoshi Village tended to be flashy.
Kakashi and Akira stopped in the forest, just outside of the village.
"Let's stop for a second to eat something," Kakashi said.
Akira simply nodded in response. She crouched down on a branch overlooking a river that flowed on the north side of the town. Kakashi crouched down next to her and pulled a small leather bag out of his back pouch. He pulled the strings to open it and pulled out a food pill. He handed it to Akira, then pulled out one for himself.
Akira swallowed the food pill and chased it with water from her flask. She swished water around her mouth then swallowed it, moistening the inside of her mouth. She replaced her flask back into her pouch.
Kakashi followed suit with his leather bag and his own flask. Then he stood on the branch.
"You ready?" He asked, looking down at her.
Akira stood and nodded.
"Let's go."
The two ninja moved swiftly through the village, keeping to rooftops and shadows to avoid detection. They eavesdropped on passersby below them, and eventually they were able to discern which house their target lived in. They camped out a few houses down, hiding in a rooftop garden. Akira focused her sensory ability on the house to scout for how many guards the noble had. She detected four present at the moment, but the noble wasn't home.
"Four guards, target not present," she informed Kakashi. He nodded curtly.
"Once we get a better idea of their numbers we can form a plan of attack." He pointed at an air duct on the roof. "That will be our entry point. Keep your chakra use low for now so we don't attract any unwanted attention."
"Yes sir," she replied.
Kakashi glanced at her, but didn't say anything. She still hadn't met his eyes. She hadn't for the whole way out here, and wasn't about to now. They had a mission to finish.
"How have you been?" Kakashi asked in a low voice.
Akira clenched her jaw and shrugged. She didn't want to have this conversation right now. "Fine."
"That was a lie," Kakashi said. "Wanna try that again?"
She sighed. "Do we really need to do this right now?"
Akira hadn't really talked to Kakashi in weeks. Their schedules never seemed to match up, and she didn't run in the morning hardly at all anymore. He didn't leave food out for her on the windowsill because of this. They both knew that that was not an ideal arrangement anymore. Nor had they been training together much.
"Yes, we do." He said. There was a bit of irritation in his voice. A sharpness to it that told her he wasn't backing down.
"Fine. I'm not fine. But we have a job to do, captain."
Kakashi sighed. "Did I ever tell you what Obito told me a long time ago? About missions?"
Akira bit her lip to keep from snapping in annoyance. She did not want to have a conversation. She just wanted to get this mission over with. Why had Seek paired her and Kakashi together? And why did he have to bring up Obito? "No, what?"
"He told me that those who break the rules in the shinobi world are scum. But those who would abandon even one of their friends is worse than scum."
"What does that have to do with the mission we are on now?"
Kakashi turned his head to look at her. She could feel his eyes on her, but kept her gaze on the target's building.
"The point is, it's more important to take care of your friends than it is to complete a mission."
"Are you telling me you feel like I have abandoned you?" She asked haughtily.
Kakashi shook his head. "Not in the slightest. I'm telling you that I'm not going to abandon you. I know you're hurting, Akira. Making people explode is not you."
She scoffed. "Did Seek tell you about that?"
"Yes he did. What's going on?"
Akira sighed. He had her backed into a corner. "I guess I'm just angry at the world right now."
"Angry at the world or angry at yourself?"
"Both."
He was silent for a moment, as if trying to decide what to say. Then he did something that shocked her into looking at him. He grabbed her hand.
Akira hadn't realized that she was making a fist and squeezing it until Kakashi had gently pried open her fingers to hold her hand, intertwining their fingers. She looked down at their hands, then up at him.
"What are you doing?" She asked, completely bewildered.
"Returning the favor," he replied quietly. He stared forward at the target's house. Akira gave him a confused look, then returned her attention to the house. She squeezed Kakashi's hand, and he squeezed back. It was weird, holding his hand, but it wasn't entirely uncomfortable. She could sense sadness in his chakra. A deep sadness that resonated within her own chakra.
They stayed in the garden, hidden behind two bushes so that they couldn't be seen from the entrance but had a clear view of the house for the remainder of the day until the sun started to set. Kakashi didn't let go of Akira's hand the entire time.
It wasn't until the sun had almost completely set that the noble finally returned to his home. Akira immediately perked up upon sensing his arrival. Kakashi looked at her expectantly. She counted eight more guards with him. He was definitely one of the top dogs of the town.
"He's finally here."
Kakashi let go of her hand and drew a kunai. He shifted his position so he was ready to pounce. "How many are there?"
"Twelve, not including the noble."
He nodded. "Let's take out the guards first. What are their locations?"
"Two on the top floor, three in the middle of the house. The rest are at the bottom, with the noble."
Kakashi hissed in annoyance. "Alright, we won't be able to separate the noble from them most likely."
Akira pulled a kunai out and held it in a reverse grip at her side. She moved into a crouch. "Right." The sun had fully set now.
"Let's go."
Kakashi lead the way across the buildings. They landed silently on the roof, and he pulled the cover off of the air duct and crawled inside. Akira followed suit, replacing the air duct cover behind them.
It was uncomfortably warm in the air duct, and Akira found herself sweating after only a minute or two of crawling along. They reached an opening, and Akira crawled up so she was next to Kakashi and staring down into what looked like some sort of laundry area. There, two guards dressed in robes were talking to each other in hushed voices.
"Did you hear that Sir Shimi didn't return from his excursion yesterday?" One of them asked the other.
"Yeah, but I didn't hear what happened."
"No one knows. And they couldn't find a body either."
"What do you mean body?"
"His guards were found dead in the road around his carriage. Their feet looked like they had been swallowed by the earth. But Sir Shimi wasn't among them."
The second guard turned pale and his eyes widened. "Do you think it was her?"
Akira and Kakashi exchanged a look.
"The red demon from the leaf?"
Akira felt Kakashi's chakra darken beside her. He lowered his chin slightly, and his grip tightened around his kunai.
It was her first time hearing her nickname too. She felt a little bit of pride at the nickname.
Akira silently opened the air duct and dropped down into the room, startling the two guards. Bloodlust churned in her chakra, freezing them in place from fear. They were weaponless. And thus hopeless.
"It was," she said coldly. Then she charged. Blood sprayed the walls of the room, and across her mask. The bodies of the men dropped to the ground, lifeless.
Kakashi dropped into the room behind her without a word. Akira stepped over the body of the second man. Their heads lolled dramatically, now barely attached to the rest of their bodies.
"Akira."
She stopped in her tracks and turned her head to the side. She could see Kakashi out of the corner of her eye now. He was staring at her, sharingan eye wide in surprise. She couldn't see his other eye, but the sharingan glowed red in any light. He didn't say anything else.
Akira turned back to the door and crossed the room. She decided demon was fitting for her.
They made their way through the mansion, Akira leading the way and sensing for where the guards were. They came upon a hallway that had three guards in it, and Akira and Kakashi disposed of them in seconds. They kept to just using kunai for the attacks, avoiding the use of chakra to limit the amount of noise that they made. They came to a staircase and jumped to the bottom of it, landing in a large kitchen. Two more guards were in there cooking.
The two guards turned upon hearing their entrance, and one of them dropped a pan. Kakashi leaped forward and stabbed the guard who had dropped the pan through the chest with his kunai. He held the man's arm and slowly lowered the body to the ground, while the other guard stared in horror at him.
Just then, another guard entered the kitchen. "What was that? You guys oka–"
Akira threw three shuriken into the man's chest, cutting off his question. They sunk in with solid thunks, and blood dribbled out of the wounds. Then she leaped forward and sliced through his neck, preventing him from making anymore noise. He grabbed the counter in shock then slid to the ground, where he slumped against the closed door, effectively holding it shut now.
"You-you–"
Kakashi cut the remaining guard off by pointing his kunai directly at the man's throat. The tip barely pricked him, but it drew a drop of blood.
"How many of you are involved in the drug operation?" He asked, his voice deep and menacing. His sharingan glowed, sending a shiver down the man's spine.
"A-all of us."
"Are there any more of you that are not currently here?"
The man shook his head slightly, trying to avoid cutting his own neck on Kakashi's blade. "No, just us."
"Good." Then Kakashi killed him. He flicked some of the man's blood off his blade as the man sank to the ground, a hole through the side of his neck and straight through his jugular.
He bled out in under a minute.
"The rest of them are with the noble. They're down the hall from here, through the door at the end of the hall on the left." Akira said. She shifted the body of the guard that was blocking the door.
She was about to open the door but was stopped by Kakashi grabbing her wrist. "I'm taking the lead on this one."
"But–"
"No arguments," he said, cutting her off. "I'm still your superior."
Akira glared at him but stepped back from the door. He was right, as much as she hated to admit it. Defying him would be a mistake, and she knew that. He let go of her wrist and pulled the door open slightly to peek down the hall. Upon seeing it was empty, he pulled the door open wide enough for them to slip through. Akira followed, hot on his heels.
They crept down the hall, and when they reached the door they stood on either side of it, listening intently.
"We need to move our operation quickly. The leaf knows, and the mist has already pulled funding from us. There's no way we will be able to continue here. However, the mist has offered us refuge amongst their citizens. If we leave promptly, we may be able to escape before the leaf comes knocking at our door."
Kakashi and Akira exchanged a look. They had already confirmed their target to be involved in the operation, but this was just icing on the cake.
He reached out and turned the door handle. He pushed it ajar, just enough to let a little light from the room beyond into the hallway.
"Oh good, Kamaru, you're back." The noble called out. But when he didn't get an answer, Akira felt his emotions in his chakra shift into uneasiness. "Kamaru?"
Kakashi burst threw the door, throwing shuriken as he entered. They found their marks in two of the guards' throats. Akira was right behind him, and charged at the guard standing to the noble's left. She unsheathed her sword and decapitated the man as Kakashi did the other guard. Then she turned to the noble and raised her sword, pointing it at his neck.
The noble had risen from his seat at their entrance, knocking his chair over backward. Kakashi stepped in front of him and held a kunai to the man's throat.
"The red demon, and the copy ninja..." the man said under his breath, glancing between the two ANBU members with wide eyes.
"You know us? That means you know our village, right?" Kakashi asked him, voice low and almost a growl.
"Yes I do." The noble swallowed hard and straightened a bit, raising his chin in defiance. "But I will not cower to the likes of you assassins."
"We don't care if you cower or not," Kakashi said coldly. "But you will give us the information we want."
The noble spat on Kakashi's mask.
Anger flared in Akira. She raised her hand up in front of her body, two fingers held upward, funneling chakra into the ground. They were standing on velvet carpet, but below that was a layer of cement. And cement was made of rock. A tendril of quicksand ripped open the carpet, drawing the noble's attention downward. His eyes widened slightly, but he did a good job of covering the fear that Akira knew he felt.
"That was a mistake." She snarled. The quicksand tendril lashed itself around the man's throat, choking him and raising him into the air. He kicked his legs back and forth and clawed desperately at the quicksand.
"Fox." Kakashi snapped.
Akira broke out of her anger, and turned her head to look at Kakashi. He was glaring at her, clearly very angry. Akira lowered the man back to the ground and took a step backward. She lowered her hand and the quicksand receded.
The man sunk to his knees upon being released, coughing. He rubbed his neck, then raised his eyes to glare at Akira.
"Stupid demon, you don't scare me!" He croaked out.
Kakashi sheathed his katana and kunai, then formed three hand signs. Lightning crackled to life covering his hand. He grabbed the man by the collar of his robes and dragged him into a standing position. The man clawed at Kakashi's hand, but his fingers uselessly scratched the metal guard on the back of Kakashi's glove.
"It's me you should be scared of right now." Kakashi growled. He pulled his right arm back, the one currently wielding a chidori. "How many others are involved in your operation?"
The man clamped his mouth shut. Akira's grip tightened around her katana. She returned it to the sheath on her back.
Kakashi moved his hand closer to the man's chest. The lightning started to strike the man, sending small shivers throughout his body in response to the electricity. The robe covering his chest burned away in a circular pattern, and the skin underneath it started to turn black.
"You're going to kill me anyways. What's the point of telling you anything?" The man snarled.
"You have a choice here. You can give me the information I want and have a painless death by my hand, or I will let my comrade torture it out of you, and your death will last much longer, and be much more painful. What will you choose?"
The man glanced over at Akira. At the blood on her mask. Bloodlust was seeping out of both Akira and Kakashi now, and it was no doubt overwhelming the squirming noble.
"Alright fine!" He snapped. "There are three others involved. But one went missing yesterday. And two businesses in the north end of town. We run our operation out of their basements."
Kakashi pulled his hand back slightly. The noble seemed to relax a bit. But then his mouth and eyes shot open as Kakashi plunged his hand through the man's chest and out his back, sending a spray of blood onto the wall behind him. Kakashi let go of the man's collar and pulled his hand out from the man's chest. He slumped to the ground, dead from having his heart literally blown out of his body.
He turned and faced Akira straight on. Kakashi removed his mask and glared at her. "What the hell was that?" He snapped.
Akira took off her mask as well, but didn't meet Kakashi's eyes. "He spat on you."
"That does not give you excuse to overstep. We're lucky we got any information out of him at all after the stunt you pulled!"
Akira closed her eyes and formed a fist with her free hand. She turned her head to the side, hiding her face from Kakashi with her bangs.
"You're out of line, Akira. Get it together."
Kakashi strode past her. Akira fought the urge to punch the table, trying to control her anger. Her hands were shaking, and her face felt hot. She clenched her jaw, grinding her teeth together. She heard him leave the room behind her.
Akira took a deep breath and put her mask back on, still trying to reel in the anger she was feeling. That man, that disgusting excuse for a human being, was selling drugs and people as slaves to other nobles. He deserved to be tortured. He deserved to die in the worst possible way. She only wished she could have gotten her hands on him instead of Kakashi. And then he had the nerve to spit on Kakashi. As if he were somehow above him.
Akira pulled a kunai out of her weapons holster on her thigh. She crouched down next to the noble, glaring at him in disgust. The man's head was at an angle, staring at the underside of the table. His tongue had slipped from his mouth and was dangling out of the corner of it.
Akira stabbed downward with the kunai, impaling his tongue and cheek and plunging the kunai into the floor. Blood that had pooled in his mouth started to seep from the wound as she stood without the kunai and walked away.