Will of Fire: Kakashi Hatake

Chapter 21

Akira absentmindedly rolled the ramen cup between her hands on the roof of the building. From where she sat, she had a direct view of Naruto's apartment. She watched him sit down at his table with a cup of ramen in front of him, the cup steaming. He had a smile on his face, but Akira knew better. She could feel the sadness in his chakra.

He said a quick prayer, then dug into his ramen. It was gone in just two minutes.

Naruto sat at the table, staring into the empty ramen cup. His smile had disappeared, and his stomach was still growling. He grabbed at his stomach with one hand, and a tear started making its way down his face.

Akira grabbed the ramen cup and stood. Then she jumped down to his apartment window. She landed on the wall beneath it, using her chakra to stay on the wall. She set the ramen cup on his windowsill, then pulled the second one she had out of her pouch on her belt. She set it next to the first one and rapped her knuckles on the glass. Then she jumped away.

She crouched in the shadows of the roof, watching as Naruto jumped up from his chair and ran across the room. He threw his window open, the pane of glass slamming into the frame at the top. He gasped, and then grinned. Akira smiled slightly as he scooped up the ramen cups and ran back into the kitchen. But it was as much as she could do for him for the time being, and it made her sad.

Akira had kept her word to Lord Third, and had done her best to avoid any direct interactions with the kid since she met him. But that didn't mean she couldn't operate from the shadows. Akira had scared more than a couple bullies away, but made sure to vanish before Naruto caught sight of her. She made it a point to make sure he was eating, and kept an eye on his food supply in his little apartment. When she could, she would leave him an envelope with extra spending money on his counter. She paid for his rent, and set aside money for him each month to cover the basic living expenses. Lord Third would deliver the money for her.

Between covering her own expenses and Naruto's, it didn't leave her with much money leftover for herself so she hadn't been able to go out with Yuhi or Ranka as often. But it was a price she was willing to pay.

It had been a over a year and a half since her first encounter with the kid, and Akira was now fourteen. In that time, Akira had thought about Naruto a lot. She felt bad for him. She knew what it was like to be without parents, but at least she had had hers growing up. She still hated the ninetails, but she knew that it wasn't his fault that he carried it. Uncle Minato had sealed it inside him to protect the leaf village. That wasn't something she could fault him for. But she did hope that she would never have to face the beast again. Lord Third had emphasized to her that her uncle had wanted Naruto to be known as a hero. She did her best to honor his wishes.

Naruto boiled more water and poured it into his second cup of the night. He was dancing around his kitchen, chanting some silly song he had made up about ramen. Akira smiled sadly. Then she jumped away, heading back to her own apartment.

She had an early morning the next day. Lately she hadn't been able to go on runs as often because Lord Third had been assigning Akira's ANBU team more and more missions. Seek liked to get an early start, and they often left the village before the sun was even peeking out over the horizon. In turn, they were often back much earlier in the day, but it meant Akira couldn't get her normal morning routine in anymore.

She put on her mask, then jumped out of her window and headed to the gate. Today she would be going on a mission with just Seek and Juke. They were on their way to assassinate a noble who was robbing a small village at the edge of the land of fire. Frog, Mink, and Bear were away on another mission. They were guarding a convoy of traders that had hired a high level of protection.

Akira was the first one to reach the gates. She stood on top of the wall overlooking the village. From there she could easily see all the way to the hokage's tower, and behind it, the wall with the four faces of the hokage.