Will of Fire: Kakashi Hatake

*Special* Kakashi POV 4

Reference: Chapters 22 and 23

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"She's gotten worse, Kakashi," Seek said under his breath.

Kakashi nodded. He had picked up the fact that Akira was slowly pulling away from him over the last few months. Seek had kept him in the loop about her progress in training and on missions, and he was shocked to hear that her torture methods were becoming more and more brutal.

"I'll try and talk to her."

Seek shook his head. "We've been sent on more and more missions like this. But the problem is, Fox is really good at what she does. It's a little scary."

Kakashi ran that information through his head. Seek was right. Akira was extremely good at what she did. She was as good at interrogating people and getting information out of them as he was at assassinating people. But one was much darker than the other. And this time, Seek was really shaken.

"What did she do?" 

Seek formed a fist with his right hand. "She crushed a man's genitals. He had it coming, he was assaulting young girls and keeping them locked in cages. But then she made him explode. He was still alive when she did it."

Kakashi's eyes widened. Tenzo gasped. Kakashi had forgotten the younger ninja was there. A ghost of pain arched through his own nether region in sympathy with the man. Then he became nauseous as the realization of what Seek had said set in.

"He was alive?" Kakashi hissed.

Seek nodded. "She suffocated him with her quicksand, then made him explode. I've never seen anything like it, Kakashi."

Had she really fallen so far?

Seek walked away, leaving Kakashi to his thoughts. Akira had changed drastically in the last year. She never smiled. They barely saw each other, due to them both now being in the ANBU and constantly being pulled away for missions. He had started to miss her being around and bothering him. But he could tell that she had fallen into a deep depression. Maybe she had always been depressed, and he just didn't notice. That only made him feel worse.

"Sir?"

Tenzo broke Kakashi out of his thoughts.

"Yeah."

"That girl that was with Seek, that's who you were talking about right?"

Kakashi nodded.

Tenzo cocked his head to the side. "She doesn't look like much."

Kakashi scoffed before he could catch himself. Sure Akira was still short, she only came up to about his chin, and she had a slight build. But she was strong after years of intense training. He had to break out his sharingan the last time they had really fought, and that was over a year ago.

"Appearances can be deceiving. She's a hell of a lot stronger than she looks."

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"The red demon of the leaf?"

Kakashi's blood ran cold. He tightened his grip on his kunai and grit his teeth, anger contorting his facial features beneath his mask.

Red demon?

Akira removed the grate and dropped down into the room before he could stop her. She straightened and faced the two guards, who were staring at her with fear etched all over their faces. The amount of bloodlust emanating from her chakra even made Kakashi a bit nervous.

"It was." Her voice was stone cold. Akira drew a second kunai, then she ran at the guards.

In one swift movement, she slashed the men's throats so deeply that their heads fell backward onto their shoulders and they dropped to the ground. Blood gushed from the wounds. As they died, they made wet choking noises and their hands contorted strangely at their necks. Thankfully, death came quickly.