At least if this really was Danzo acting on his own, Kaede Kitahara could rule out the Third Hokage as the one targeting him.
Danzo held high authority in Konoha, but everything he did was buried in the dark. If Kaede died here today, his death would mean nothing. And the reverse was just as true. Root didn't have an official order, so carrying out Danzo's private command meant that if they died out here, it would also mean nothing.
Hyuga Keiko and Amakusa Ryuji didn't understand why Kaede had the mind to put in his colored contacts when they were seconds from a fight. Did he have bad eyesight? Was this really the time?
But they were already standing on his side. Keiko especially, knowing how Root operated, wasn't hesitating for a second.
She didn't want to die here.
Soon, the four Root operatives caught up. The clearing ahead was empty.
They immediately went on alert. The monkey-masked captain felt the Kikaichu crawling across his finger, sensing lingering chakra. Their targets hadn't left.
"Over there."
He pointed toward a patch of bushes. The goat-masked and eagle-masked operatives shot forward like arrows, flinging shuriken as they moved.
They hit nothing. The bushes hid an empty patch of ground.
"Wait, no!"
The eagle mask reacted a split second too late. The ground wasn't empty. A simple trap lay set, and an explosive tag fluttered lightly in the breeze.
"Detonate!"
With a sharp shout from the youth hidden above, the explosive tag ignited.
The eagle mask was far too close to dodge. The blast swallowed him entirely, hurling him back in a shredded heap. He was instantly gravely wounded.
The goat mask had kept more distance and dodged the blast radius by instinct.
But before he could even breathe, a shuriken dropped from above and buried itself in the eagle mask's throat. Already half-dead, the man couldn't react. He died instantly.
"Damn it!"
The monkey mask finally snapped back, fury and panic mixing. One simple trap had killed one of his best subordinates. They'd underestimated their targets badly.
The intel said Kaede Kitahara had only been a Chunin for one year, and the other two had just been promoted. Basically elite Genin at best.
Their arrogance had cost them from the first second.
He looked toward the voice and spotted the three figures standing on the tree branches above, staring down coldly.
"So bold, Kaede Kitahara. You dare murder Anbu on official mission!" the monkey mask shouted, trying to seize the initiative.
"Anbu? Please. Does Root do all its dirty work under the Anbu name now?" Kaede replied.
The monkey mask froze. He hadn't expected Kaede to know they were Root.
There was no difference in appearance between them and Anbu. Root had once even been the Anbu's training division.
Most shinobi didn't even know Root existed. Yet Kaede not only knew, he also instantly identified them.
Very abnormal.
He remembered Danzo's warning before they left: this boy might be an outside spy. At the time, he didn't care. Danzo told him to kill someone, he killed them. Simple enough.
But now he saw how accurate Danzo's intuition was. Otherwise, how would this kid know about Root?
"Kaede Kitahara, the village suspects you're a spy from another land. We're here to take you in. Amakusa Ryuji, Hyuga Keiko, this has nothing to do with you. Don't throw your lives away."
He tried to break their unity.
But both Ryuji and Keiko stared back at him without flinching.
The monkey mask knew his disguise had failed. They were aware of Root. There was no fooling them now.
"Attack!"
At his order, the three remaining Root operatives split toward their targets.
The monkey mask charged straight for Kaede. The fox mask lunged for Keiko. The goat mask aimed for Ryuji.
Kaede's team leapt down at the same moment.
"Take out the captain first."
That thought snapped through Kaede's mind as he quietly activated his Sharingan.
The single-tomoe spun to life. Everything around him seemed to slow.
The Sharingan's benefits went far beyond simple perception. Even if it wasn't as direct as the Byakugan, Kaede could sense everyone's chakra clearly now.
The monkey mask had the largest chakra presence, easily at normal Jonin level. Far above what the old Kaede could have handled.
But now? That wasn't the case.
The monkey mask saw Kaede dive toward him and felt a spark of delight. His only worry had been Kaede escaping. Instead, the boy rushed in.
A tide of Kikaichu exploded from his sleeves, swarming toward Kaede.
"Wind Release, Great Breakthrough!"
Kaede roared and unleashed a blast of wind from his mouth. A roaring gale crashed into the cloud of insects.
His chakra reserves now dwarfed even most elite Jonin. Chakra was a fusion of physical and spiritual might, and his growth was obvious.
His only real weakness was the small number of jutsu he knew. As a normal Chunin, he had the academy basics and a handful of low-level C-rank techniques.
This was one of them.
"What…?" the monkey mask whispered.
Kaede using Wind Release: Great Breakthrough was in the intel, but it shouldn't have been like this. A C-rank jutsu had erupted into a monstrous storm.
Same jutsu. Completely different power.
There were no useless jutsu, only useless shinobi. And Kaede's strength proved it.
The Kikaichu were scattered in an instant, unable to get close.
Kaede closed the distance in a blink. His kunai stabbed straight for the mask's face.
The monkey mask jerked back at the last instant, barely dodging. Cold sweat poured down his back.
He almost died right there.