The moment that thought hit him, Hatake Kakashi tensed. If the Nine-Tails' chakra was starting to loosen, then they were in serious trouble.
He remembered all too well how terrifying that monster was. Twelve years ago, it took his own teacher sacrificing himself to force the beast back into a seal. If the Nine-Tails broke out now, who would be able to seal it again?
Was he supposed to rely on Sarutobi Hiruzen, already old and worn down?
And even if the Third Hokage managed to reseal it, the second the Nine-Tails broke free, its current Jinchuriki would die. Where would Konoha find another one? Becoming a Jinchuriki wasn't something you forced on just anyone. Not everyone could withstand a Tailed Beast.
Villages chose their Jinchuriki carefully. None of them were ordinary.
And the Nine-Tails was the strongest, most terrifying of all the Tailed Beasts. Even if you added every other beast together, they still couldn't match the Demon Fox. Trying to keep something like that sealed long-term? Ordinary people didn't stand a chance.
Only members of the Uzumaki Clan could handle it.
And at this point, as far as anyone knew, Uzumaki Naruto was the only Uzumaki left.
Thankfully, judging from what Kaede Kitahara had written, it didn't seem like the Nine-Tails could actually break the seal yet. Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, would eventually resolve the issue completely.
Which made sense. If the Nine-Tails had really broken loose, how would Naruto ever rise to the peak of the ninja world? How would he become its savior?
Still, Kaede's meaning was clear. The Uzumaki Clan was famous for its sealing techniques, but there was nowhere left to learn them now.
Once, the Uzumaki Clan had been a powerful house with its own shinobi village. But Kirigakure wiped it out. Compared to the Uchiha Clan's fate, it was hard to say who had suffered more.
But what did this have to do with Konoha? What sin was Kaede implying Konoha carried?
"The Nine-Tails? What's that?"
Compared to Kakashi, who knew far more and thought even further ahead, Uchiha Sasuke understood very little. His clan had been wiped out too quickly. Common knowledge that any shinobi should know had become mysteries to him.
He had no idea what the Nine-Tails was. He only had a vague feeling that he might have heard the name somewhere.
But from what Kaede Kitahara was saying, that dead-last had real talent and was only being held back because this thing called the Nine-Tails was messing with his chakra. Was that why he seemed like such an idiot?
If that was true, then it made sense. How else could someone like that end up saving the entire world?
But how had he never heard of this so-called Uzumaki Clan before? Not once had anyone in the village mentioned it.
Were they wiped out too, just like the Uchiha Clan?
And if so, it must have happened before he was born. Otherwise, he would have at least heard their name.
Which meant… that dead-last was just like him. The last survivor of a destroyed clan.
For some reason, Sasuke felt a flicker of sympathy rise up.
Both of them were orphans of powerful clans. If anything, Naruto had it worse. Sasuke at least had some remnants of his clan's legacy. Naruto? He could barely afford to eat.
Then a sudden thought struck him.
The Nine-Tails… the Nine-Tails.
In that video, Uchiha Itachi had said he came for Naruto, that he came for the Fourth Hokage's legacy. Sasuke hadn't understood it at the time. But now… wasn't it possible that the Fourth Hokage's "legacy" was actually the Nine-Tails?
What exactly was this thing, that someone like him—no, that the organization he belonged to—valued it so much they would try to capture it?
He felt like he was brushing up against something important.
They waited a while longer, but when Kaede Kitahara didn't update anything further, the two of them finally went to rest.
—
The next day, Kaede Kitahara didn't continue training Uzumaki Naruto. He'd received a sudden assignment that required him to leave the village.
Which honestly worked out. He worried that if he interfered too much, Naruto might miss the chance to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu. And if that happened, the consequences would be huge.
After all, that technique was the foundation for Naruto's rise to power.
It was only because Naruto started with an absurd one-hundred-chakra-bar level reserve that the jutsu found its ideal user.
And more importantly, the world still needed its destined savior. The second savior, Uzumaki Boruto, was Naruto's son. The entire future depended on this lineage.
Kaede didn't want to disrupt the fixed future. He wouldn't survive the Otsutsuki Clan descending decades later. Every one of those beings started at a level comparable to the Sage of Six Paths. There were only a handful of people in the entire ninja world who could face them.
Someone like him, far as he'd come, was strong by today's standards. But against the Otsutsuki? He'd be dead in seconds. Even Uzumaki Nagato or any random Kage Level ninja would force him to run for his life.
He needed time to grow.
The three of them—Kaede Kitahara, Amakusa Ryuji, and Hyuga Keiko—moved quickly between the branches, maintaining a combat-ready formation even while traveling.
Suddenly Kaede stopped. He lifted a fist, signaling them to halt. The other two froze immediately.
"What's wrong?" Amakusa Ryuji asked.
"We're taking a break. No pushing ourselves nonstop," Kaede said.
Their mission today was a B-rank assignment: pursue and eliminate a missing-nin named Suzuki Ryuto. His estimated strength was elite Chunin level.
He'd once followed Orochimaru. When Orochimaru defected, Suzuki Ryuto fled as well to avoid the village's purge.
He'd been missing ever since, until he was spotted near the Land of Fire's border. So the village sent the three of them to track him down.
The mission scroll said they should bring him back alive if possible. If not, bring back the body.
Kaede found that strange. Usually, missions involving hunting missing-nin were handled by the Anbu. They were the specialists.
Yes, shinobi were all trained for combat, but Anbu training was on a completely different level.
A missing-nin who'd once been an elite Chunin… after all these years, he might have reached Tokubetsu Jonin or even full Jonin level. Sending a Chunin squad after someone like that…
Was that really appropriate?