Then again, it wasn't surprising. Uzumaki Naruto was the protagonist. His starting stats included a chakra pool a hundred times larger than Hatake Kakashi's. Sure, part of that was because Kakashi's chakra was constantly being drained by the Sharingan, but even so, Naruto's chakra reserves were insane.
And that absurd healing factor Kakashi first noticed? At this point, it was hard to tell whether it came from the Nine-Tails or Naruto's own body.
"At this growth rate, I'll never catch up to Naruto. But reaching Kage Level chakra within a month should be doable," Kaede Kitahara calculated.
He wasn't simply gaining power. He was fusing bloodlines, altering his own body. It wasn't like receiving a ready-made skill such as the Flying Thunder God. It was more like biological reconstruction.
In early Shippuden, Kage Level was the absolute ceiling. If he could learn some strong ninjutsu or draw a few powerful skills, he'd become a bona fide Kage Level fighter, explosive enough to self-destruct with style.
Soon he noticed the biggest gain wasn't just the doubled chakra. His Sharingan had evolved again, jumping from a two-tomoe hypnotic eye to a three-tomoe copying eye.
"This is great. I can learn ninjutsu way faster now."
Kaede nearly burst with excitement. Kakashi was famous for copying over a thousand ninjutsu. That alone showed how broken the copying ability was.
With a three-tomoe Sharingan and the Uzumaki Clan's beginner-tier Sage Body, he only needed to learn enough jutsu to push his combat power straight into Kage Level.
At that point, the Konoha Crush Plan, Root's pursuit, or anything Danzo threw at him would be manageable.
He just had to play it safe for a bit longer, draw a few more prizes, and everything would fall into place.
"Dog Danzo, just wait. I'll take your head myself." Kaede clenched his fists.
Danzo had crushed him with pressure before, but now Kaede could finally breathe.
With his current chakra reserves and physical strength, he was confident he could crush an average elite Jonin. Unless Danzo personally chased him, Kaede had nothing to fear from any Root ninja.
Root only had one Kage Level fighter, and that was Danzo. And Danzo's real level? Judging from his fight against Uchiha Sasuke, he was basically the doorman of the Kage Level club. Without his handful of Sharingan and Hashirama Cells, he would've been a frail old man stuck at elite Jonin.
Even the Third Hokage, once a top-tier Kage, had declined with age. By now he was barely holding onto the threshold of Kage Level. Give it a few more years and he'd drop below it completely.
The ninja profession was unforgiving.
—
Kaede headed downstairs, ate a quick meal, then put in black contact lenses to hide his Sharingan and stepped outside. He needed to learn jutsu, and Sharingan absorption required direct observation.
Aside from Flying Thunder God, he only knew a few C-rank Wind Release techniques. In terms of actual ninjutsu, he was at the level of a standard Chunin.
The only reason he'd killed a Tokubetsu Jonin earlier was because his physical stats crushed the gap between them.
He wandered toward several training grounds to look for practicing ninjas. Even C-rank ninjutsu would be worthwhile for him.
It wasn't exactly moral, but in the ninja world, could this really be called stealing?
Since he had just completed a mission, there wouldn't be new assignments anytime soon. In times of peace, all nations had surplus ninjas and too few missions. Many working ninjas lived paycheck to paycheck.
Sunagakure had turned on Konoha largely because the Wind Daimyo kept outsourcing missions to Konoha, starving their own village's economy. Fewer missions meant fewer resources, fewer trained ninjas, and a downward spiral that pushed them toward desperation.
Even garbage-collecting assignments were snatched up. Officially it was for "training Genin," but everyone knew the real reason was squeezing cheap labor. Most Genin barely survived on mission income.
Mules existed in every world.
Even as a Chunin, Kaede was still technically a mule, just a higher-grade one.
Only upon becoming a Jonin could someone escape that grind. At that point, they were closer to being partners in the village's structure. Even the Hokage had to go through the Jonin Council's vote before being confirmed.
Beyond Jonin were the department heads and deputy heads who ran Konoha. They were part of the true upper echelon. Danzo, for example, was formerly the head of Root.
Kaede arrived at a public training field. Despite the early hour, many ninjas were already practicing. The equipment was basic, far inferior to the private, premium training halls with mobile targets for shuriken practice, fire-resistant dummy stands for Fire Release training, and simulated environments.
Kaede scanned the grounds. Most Genin were practicing taijutsu and throwing techniques, nothing impressive. Their skill was worse than his own.
But two Chunin caught his attention. One of them was practicing Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire.
He wasn't being cautious, since no one expected viewers to copy a jutsu. After all, ninjutsu required instruction and comprehension. Watching hand signs wasn't enough.
Unless you had the three-tomoe Sharingan.
And with the Uchiha Clan nearly wiped out, no one expected a stray Uchiha to be hiding behind black contacts.
Kaede activated his Sharingan, concealed under the lenses. The three tomoe spun, copying the technique instantly.
Phoenix Sage Fire, huh? Good. It belonged to him now.
He slipped away to an empty spot nearby to test it.
"Fire Release, Phoenix Sage Fire."
A volley of blazing fireballs burst from his mouth, slamming into the river beside him and sending a cloud of steam billowing up.
The power, the control, even the flow of the jutsu were far superior to what the Chunin had shown.
His first stolen jutsu was a complete success, and Kaede couldn't help the satisfied smile spreading across his face.