Kaede Kitahara finished the job so fast it was almost anticlimactic. In barely any time, every ninja in the building was dead. He sealed Suzuki Ryuto's head inside a scroll, stuck a few shuriken into the other corpses to destroy their brains, then turned and headed out.
"Let's go report back."
Two days later, the three finally reached Konoha's front gate. The trip back had been tense but uneventful. To avoid giving Shimura Danzo any chance to send another Root squad after them, they'd taken a different route home and hardly stopped to rest.
By noon that day, they rushed through the village gates at last.
After registering their return and confirming they'd been on a mission, the Chunin guarding the gate let them through.
Their first stop was the Hokage Mission Office to turn in their assignment. Everything went smoothly. A simple B-rank mission, after all, just tracking down and killing a missing-nin who used to be an elite Chunin.
Soon after they handed in Suzuki Ryuto's head, an Anbu member arrived to take it away. The Yamanaka Clan would inspect the memories, as always.
As Kaede and his teammates had discussed beforehand, they didn't report the Root ambush. They acted as if the incident never happened.
Once the final paperwork was done, the Jonin in charge of recording missions, a member of the Nara Clan, glanced at Kaede.
"Mission process confirmed. Your payment will be deposited into your accounts within the month."
Kaede's team nodded without argument.
"Come on, come on, we finally made it home. I'm treating everyone to barbecue. After days of eating nothing but food pills, my mouth's gone numb."
Amakusa Ryuji stretched both arms up.
The mission had worn them down. Not just the exhaustion of travel and food pills but the constant pressure of possibly encountering another Root squad. Ninjas were still human. They needed a break.
"So generous? You're really splurging." Kaede laughed.
Barbecue wasn't cheap in Konoha.
"Of course! You saved me last time. I still owe you big. Let's go!"
They walked out of the Hokage building joking among themselves, only to see a small group heading straight toward the entrance.
Kaede's eyes narrowed.
Team 7. The main cast of Shippuden. Right there in front of him.
Leading the group was a beaming Uzumaki Naruto, followed by Uchiha Sasuke and Sakura. In the rear walked none other than the Copy Ninja himself, Hatake Kakashi.
Kakashi paused when he noticed Kaede, then quickly pieced things together. Yesterday's diary entry. The timing. Today should be the day Kaede returned from his mission.
He simply hadn't expected to run into him immediately.
He had to pretend he didn't know Kaede, of course. Their paths weren't supposed to have crossed.
The second person whose expression changed was Uchiha Sasuke. When he saw Kaede, he couldn't hide a flicker of excitement. In his mind, Kaede might be one of the very few Uchiha left in the entire world.
As for Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke no longer counted him as Uchiha at all. A murderer, a traitor, someone unworthy of the name.
Naruto noticed Kaede and immediately lit up.
"Bro Kaede! Hahaha, look! I'm a ninja now!"
Naruto bounded forward, proudly sticking out his ninja headband.
"You didn't expect that, right? I passed the academy test and Kakashi-sensei's test. I'm a real Genin now."
"Congrats, Naruto."
Kaede gave him a thumbs-up. Even though he'd literally been hunted down because he'd interacted with Naruto, he didn't regret anything.
"Hehe!"
Naruto grinned ear to ear. He didn't have many friends, especially not people who treated him without hostility. He wanted Kaede to see what he'd achieved.
"Bro Kaede, lemme introduce my teammates. This is Sakura." Naruto's expression shifted into something playful. A look that said, you know what I mean.
Kaede chuckled. Oh, he knew. At this point in time, Naruto was head over heels for Sakura and would stay that way for years. Hinata wouldn't get her chance until the Fourth Great Ninja War.
"And this grumpy face is Uchiha Sasuke."
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched, but when he looked at Kaede, he swallowed the retort.
"And this is my teacher, Hatake Kakashi!"
Naruto waved him forward.
Behind Kaede, both Ryuji and Hyuga Keiko stared. The Copy Ninja. Konoha's Number One Technician. A living legend.
They bowed their heads politely. They were mid-rank Chunin. Kakashi was an elite Jonin. The difference was massive.
"You guys here to pick up a mission?" Kaede asked.
"Yup, yup! This is our first mission as Team 7!" Naruto said proudly.
"You just returned?" Kakashi asked casually, deadpan face unchanged.
He already knew the answer from the diary. This tiny, unassuming trio had just counter-killed a Root squad. Their power rivaled many Jonin teams, and yet they were just three newly promoted Chunin.
"Yeah. Just finished," Kaede said.
"We're heading back to rest. See you later."
After saying goodbye, Kaede and his team walked off toward the barbecue shop.
"The first mission. Being young really is something," Ryuji said. He remembered how excited he'd been when he first became a ninja. How much he'd looked forward to his first assignment.
Then the three shared a laugh. They all knew what kind of missions newly graduated Genin got.
Trash cleanup. Catching cats. Chasing runaway dogs.
Fun at first, boring soon after.
But years later, looking back, even those missions would probably feel precious. No death, no blood, no final goodbyes. Just harmless, simple work.
Something they would never get again.