Will of Fire: Kakashi Hatake

*Special* Kakashi POV 2

Reference: Chapter 11

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When the chunin exams rolled around, Kakashi got extremely lucky with his station post. He stood overlooking the arena from above on the roof of the Hokage's stage, guarding the important members of the lands of fire and wind. Kishi had taken up the post with him, so Kakashi had a feeling that some strings had been pulled. They watched the fights below them eagerly.

The first round had been Somaru and one of the sand genin. Somaru had won, though it was by stabbing his opponent in his stomach. His fire jutsu had improved greatly. Minus the ending, Kakashi couldn't help but be impressed by his fight. Somaru would no doubt become a chunin.

The next round was one of the other leaf genin and another sand genin. The sand genin took that round.

The third round was between Yuhi and one of the other leaf genin. Their round lasted a while, both parties seemed pretty evenly matched. But Yuhi seemed to have the upper hand, seeing as any time she would receive a more grave injury she would heal herself. Though it was draining her chakra quickly. Eventually, the round went to Yuhi, who was able to get the upper hand on her opponent in a taijutsu exchange.

Then the moment finally arrived that Kakashi and Kishi had been waiting for. Akira's fight.

Akira stepped out onto the arena floor, and many spectators started whispering in hushed voices. She was the youngest person to take the chunin exams in many years. But rumors of her abilities had been spreading. She was the last known member of the Daisuke clan within the village, and her Uzumaki bloodline showed in her bright red hair. Her earth style was unorthodox, but extremely well developed after her training with Kishi.

The sand genin that she was facing stepped out into the arena as well. He was tall, over a head taller than Akira. He was also much larger, and Kakashi was fairly certain the genin was bigger than even him or Guy.

"This will be interesting," Kakashi said under his breath to Kishi.

"Just wait and see. You may yet be surprised by Akira's abilities."

They did just that. Kakashi and Kishi waited expectantly for the match to start. When the proctor finally made the call to start, neither genin moved right away.

It was hard to hear what they were saying from so far away, but Kakashi was picking up the bare minimum. The sand genin was taunting Akira, telling her to quit now and go back to the academy to finish her education before she tried to step into the big leagues. He promised not to hurt her if she would just throw the match.

Akira wasn't taking the bait. She moved into a ready position, feet spread and arms in front of her body. The sand genin sneered, then did the same.

The sand genin charged at Akira. Akira ducked under his blow and in between his legs, coming up and standing behind him. She spun to face him as he turned around. He ran at her again, this time with a flurry of blows, all of which she dodged. Even from their high vantage point, Kakashi could tell that Akira was just toying with the other genin.

"She's way faster than him," Kakashi said in surprise. He knew she was fast, but didn't think she was that fast. Then again, she had been training with Kishi and himself, both of them being incredibly quick themselves.

Kishi nodded. "He's big, but he's slow. It was always the biggest flaw in his training. He tries to overwhelm his opponents with his size, but if his opponent is adept at fighting larger people it negates that strategy."

Kakashi watched in amazement as Akira practically made a fool out of the sand genin. She dodged every one of his attacks, no matter how fast they came. She seemed like she was constantly a step ahead of him. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't lay a blow on her.