Will of Fire: Kakashi Hatake

Chapter 18

But she hadn't been the one that was hit.

Kakashi had intercepted Orochimaru, sharingan blazing red, his own killing intent radiating out from him. He had knocked Orochimaru's arm and kunai away at the last possible second, causing the tip to just barely graze the front of Akira's right shoulder. His chidori had gone straight through Orochimaru's shoulder. He pulled his arm out, and Akira was shocked to see the amount of blood that was on it. His hand and forearm were quite literally dripping Orochimaru's blood onto the ground.

Orochimaru leaped backward, seething.

"I'll make you pay for that, Hatake." Then he was gone. Akira searched with her sensory ability, but he was far away, and then his chakra signature disappeared completely.

Her knees felt weak, and Akira fought against her body to avoid dropping to her knees right then and there. In front of her, Kakashi lowered his hand to his side, still dripping blood.

Nobody said a word for a moment, everyone in utter shock from the confrontation.

"We need to head back to the leaf village," Kakashi demanded, his tone icy and unwavering. "Blight and Trig, attend to Sparrow and Fly. Fox, stay on high alert. I want to know immediately if anyone comes within five hundred meters of this area."

"Yes sir!" Two of Kakashi's team members said loudly. They ran over to where Akira had put Sparrow and Fly.

"Yes sir," Akira said quietly. Kakashi didn't even look back at her. He walked away, over to where Seek and Bat were standing. Akira raised her hand to the wound on her shoulder and covered it. It stung a bit, but not so much as to warrant any healing jutsu or a bandage. It wasn't bleeding much either.

"Let's get out of the open to a safer location."

The two teams of ANBU retreated into the forest and into a small cave nearby where they set up camp. Akira took up a position above the cave in the shadows, while Juke, Bear, Bat, and three of Kakashi's teammates took up positions in the surrounding forest. Everyone else remained in the cave. Sparrow and Fly were both in critical condition, and the medical ninjas were hard at work trying to save them.

Akira focused hard on keeping her sensory range as far and wide as it could go. She was able to track all of the ANBU shinobi easily and didn't sense anyone else in the area for a while. The lull in action allowed her to finally try and steady her shaky breathing.

The scrape on her shoulder had scabbed over, so it didn't hurt anymore. But it didn't change the fact that she kept seeing Orochimaru's eyes every time she closed hers. The amount of power he possessed had been astonishing. It chilled her to her bones. She suppressed a shudder.

Soon came nightfall, and the six shinobi in the trees withdrew to closer ones, decreasing the perimeter of defense. Akira popped a food pill, trying to fight off the exhaustion she felt. No one had spoken to her in hours, and she stayed sitting in the shadows of a rock. There was no natural light within the forest, other than that of the crescent moon and stars above them. They didn't dare light a fire in the cave so as to avoid being spotted from afar. The only life Akira could sense beyond their makeshift border was of forest wildlife.

When darkness truly fell, three of the guard shinobi retreated into the cave, leaving herself, one of Kakashi's men, Bat, and Juke outside to stand guard. Akira could sense the healers below her still working to stabilize Sparrow and Fly. From what she could tell, Sparrow was out of the danger zone, but Fly was not yet there. Both of the healers now worked on Fly.

When the moon was about halfway through its path in the sky, marking the time to be about one in the morning, Akira was fighting hard to keep herself from falling asleep. She shifted her sitting position multiple times, purposely keeping herself uncomfortable and refusing to lean against anything. She had drained her chakra to well below half in the fight earlier, and after being awake for so long and traveling so far she was exhausted. It was about another thirty minutes before anyone exited the cave again.