Will of Fire: Kakashi Hatake

Chapter 33

Lord Third left shortly after the meeting, with Kakashi's team, Bear, and Frog in tow. Owl and Deer reported that their replacement team had arrived a few hours later, sent with a messenger hawk. Akira had been the one to receive the message, as Kakashi and Seek were in the map room discussing something. Seek had stationed Akira on the lookout, then the two captains had disappeared.

She waited until they came back upstairs to deliver the message.

"Good, they should be able to meet up with Lord Third quickly then," Seek said with a sigh of relief. Neither Owl nor Deer had been on the team for very long, and clearly, it put him on edge that they didn't have a senior member with them.

"They'll be fine on their own, captain. They've been with the ANBU long enough now," Akira said.

Seek shook his head. "It's not that that worries me. It's the Mist Village."

"They'll avoid starting a war right away," Kakashi mused. "They wouldn't dare attack right after a negotiation attempt. Remember, this is the Mist we're up against. They don't exactly have allies in the other villages."

"Well, neither do we."

"What about the Sand?" Akira asked.

Seek and Kakashi shared a look. "Having the same enemies doesn't always make you allies," Kakashi said. "If the Mist were to attack, we can't count on them for help. The Sand wouldn't want to engage in another war."

Akira frowned and looked at the ground. Sometimes she still felt like a rookie. Especially when it came to relations with other villages.

"But it does give you better trading opportunities," Seek added.

"If you count the sand they always track in, sure."

Akira bit her lip to keep from smiling at that.

"Anyways, Akira, we have something we'd like to discuss with you," Seek said.

She looked up at him and furrowed her eyebrows. "Sure, what about?"

Seek and Kakashi exchanged another look. Then Seek smiled at her. "I want you to become my replacement as captain of Team Ky."

What?

Her jaw dropped. "Huh?" Was he playing a prank on her? If he was she didn't appreciate it much.

Seek chuckled. "You heard me. I'm going to be retiring from the ANBU soon. Lord Third and I have discussed this, and we both believe that you are the best person to take over as captain."

It didn't make a lick of sense to her. Why should she be captain? Akira didn't feel like she had any outstanding leadership skills, quite the opposite in fact. And she wasn't the most senior member of the team either. There are plenty of other shinobi in the ANBU that Akira felt deserved it more than she did.

"But...what about Bear? He has way more experience than I do."

"I talked to him about it. He doesn't want to be a captain. But he agreed that you have the potential to be one." Seek put a hand on her shoulder. "I know you have your reserves, especially after what happened to Sparrow and Bat." Akira dropped her head, shame and guilt flushing her face with heat. "I think it's time I told you about my first mission as a captain."

Kakashi walked out onto the balcony, leaving Akira and Seek alone in the observatory. Akira raised her head back up to meet Seek's eyes. Seek pulled his hand away and motioned for her to sit at the small table in the room with him. Once they were seated, he began his story.

"On my first mission as a captain, we were assigned a routine track and assassination of a rogue shinobi from the Land of Earth. It was supposed to be a cut-and-dry mission, go out, track the bastard, kill him, and bring him back in for an autopsy. But...it was anything but that." He ran a hand through his hair. He suddenly looked very tired. Akira could see the streaks of gray running through his dark locks. The lines on his face were more apparent as if the memory of the mission was an extremely heavy burden he was carrying at that moment.