Will of Fire: Kakashi Hatake

Chapter 37

Seek glared at Akira over his cereal. He had his spoon halfway between his bowl and his mouth.

"I'm sorry?" He asked, in a scathing tone.

Akira cringed backward away from his furious stare. She knew it wasn't great, but hadn't thought he would react this bad.

"You have to have someone with you while you are doing the jutsu in case he wakes up?"

"Yes sir," Akira said apologetically.

Seek set his spoon down in his bowl and leaned back in his chair. "That limits us strategically."

"Yes sir," she said again. It was true, it did require that a second member of their team also be incapacitated for the duration of the jutsu. It had to be done to prevent the target from yelling out and attracting guards. In the worst-case scenario, Akira could handle the task on her own, she just preferred to avoid that so she could focus on her jutsu. The drunk man waking up in the middle of it had been very startling.

"She had success with the man last night, which shows that her jutsu is a possible tool we could use in the assassination," Kakashi interjected. "Right now, it's our best option if we want to make it look as natural as possible. Heart attacks are prevalent in older people."

"Yeah, but what if he's in good shape?" Seek asked.

"Medically, it's still possible. Especially at his age."

Seek sighed heavily and rubbed his face. "Say we go with your technique as the method. Two people go in, one stands guard outside. Correct?"

"Yes sir," Akira said.

"Obviously you have to go in, who would go in with you? We will have to decide that before we leave."

Kakashi nodded in Akira's direction. "That's where the second part of the plan comes in, right Fox?"

"Yeah."

Whyyyy, Kashi?!

She did not want to be the one to explain the plan. Akira genuinely did not think it was as good as Kakashi seemed to think so. What did she know? She was still so young, and she hadn't had enough experience with other villages before this mission. Akira was afraid she would make a fool of herself in front of both Seek and Kakashi.

Seek looked at her expectantly. Akira cleared her throat, then began.

"For the next three days we are here, I propose we spend that time scoping out our guy, his house, and the shinobi rotation in the village. There are three of us, so we can easily accomplish all three things. It will also set us up for success with the actual event."

Seek raised an eyebrow. "Who would be assigned to which role?"

"I would watch the house, Dog would tail him, and you would do the rotation. Then later, Dog and I would go in, and you would keep watch."

He didn't say anything for a moment. It seemed like time was stretching on forever to Akira as Seek mulled over her plan. Her palms grew sweaty, and she wiped them on her pant legs. This was not the outcome she wanted. What if he hated the plan? What if he thought she was an idiot for even proposing it?

"I like it."

"Wait, what?" Akira asked in disbelief.

Seek gave her a weird look. "What do you mean, what? I value your input, and I think it's a good idea."

Kakashi smirked, drawing a glare from Seek. He looked back at Akira and sighed.

"You still don't have enough confidence in yourself, Fox. Gotta work on that. You have good ideas, there's a reason you're my second." He smiled slightly. "You need to have confidence if you're going to be captain."