The return trip took far less time than the journey out.
By the third day, the group had already arrived back in Konoha. According to protocol, Kaede Kitahara and Hatake Kakashi, as the leaders, went first to report to the Third Hokage.
Hatake Kakashi was called in alone.
The Third Hokage lifted his head from a mountain of documents. This matter involved the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, the last survivor of the Uchiha Clan, and Hatake Kakashi himself, a man who could very well become the Fifth or even Sixth Hokage in the future.
Everything concerning Kakashi's team mattered greatly to him.
"Two of Kaede Kitahara's teammates returned earlier," the Third Hokage said. "They also captured the missing-nin Rokusho Aoi. Anbu extracted the battle footage from his mind. The one who defeated him was Kaede Kitahara? How do you assess his strength?"
To be honest, a missing-nin like Rokusho Aoi, who was only around elite chunin level, would never have drawn the Third Hokage's attention if he had not stolen the Second Hokage's legendary Sword of the Thunder God.
But after Anbu, specifically members of the Yamanaka Clan, searched his memories, they uncovered a great deal about his betrayal. At the same time, they learned that Kaede Kitahara had defeated him with ease.
According to the records, Kaede had been completely average during his academy days. After becoming a genin, he was still unremarkable. Even leading up to his promotion to chunin, every piece of information painted him as ordinary.
"At the very least, he has elite jonin-level strength," Hatake Kakashi answered honestly.
"Really?"
The Third Hokage's eyes lit up.
In any village, jonin were the backbone. Elite jonin were the face of the village. The kind you could send out and have the entire shinobi world take notice, like Kirigakure's Seven Swordsmen.
Ninjas at that level often earned their own titles.
Hatake Kakashi's reputation as Konoha's technician and the Copy Ninja came from the fact that he stood at the top even among elite jonin.
And now someone like that had appeared without the slightest warning?
The more he thought about it, the stranger it felt. Strength like that did not just appear out of nowhere unless it had been hidden all along.
"What do you think the chances are that he's a spy?" the Third Hokage asked after taking a slow puff from his pipe.
Kakashi stiffened.
This was a question he had seriously considered before. Kaede's situation was undeniably strange. He had approached Uzumaki Naruto, the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, for no clear reason, and his strength had risen at an alarming rate.
Even the goodwill he showed seemed abrupt.
But after reading Kaede's diary repeatedly, Kakashi had begun to understand his intent.
Through that inexplicable ability to glimpse the future, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke seemed destined to become saviors. And ahead of them lay a terrifying crisis that only they could resolve.
Otherwise, they would not be called saviors.
Kaede's actions felt like early investment. Early goodwill.
Kakashi had experienced this himself.
He had graduated from the academy at six. He had barely passed through it at all, just enough to avoid being illiterate. Soon after, he became a chunin. By the time others were graduating at twelve, he was already a jonin.
Along the way, he had received goodwill from all sides. Many people saw his potential and tried to invest in him, offering small favors that he would one day have to repay at great cost.
When he was younger, he did not understand it.
As he grew older, he finally did.
Now, Kaede was doing the same thing, especially since he was confident that Naruto and Sasuke's future achievements would be extraordinary.
Not knowing the outcome was gambling.
Knowing the outcome was investment.
"The chance that he's a spy is low," Kakashi said. "No village would send out an elite jonin as a spy. That would be far too wasteful. I had my doubts before as well, so I checked his background. His family has been residents of Konoha since the village's founding. The odds of him being an outsider are very small."
"Then could he have been bought off by someone else?" the Third Hokage asked.
He considered it, then dismissed the idea himself. Every mission this team had carried out was fully documented. There was little to suggest outside influence.
The only suspicious thing was Kaede's sudden rise in strength. According to Kakashi's evaluation, he had elite jonin-level combat power. That was far too abnormal.
When there were no clues at all, that itself became the biggest clue.
Especially when it involved Uzumaki Naruto, the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, and Uchiha Sasuke, the last heir of the Uchiha Clan.
Seeing the Third Hokage's suspicion deepen, Kakashi hesitated, then spoke.
"I think I know why his strength skyrocketed in such a short time."
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at him, waiting for an explanation.
"Kaede Kitahara carries the Uchiha Clan's bloodline," Kakashi said. "He awakened the Sharingan."
He chose to reveal part of the truth to cut off the Third Hokage's doubts.
"How do you know?" the Third Hokage asked sharply, eyes wide.
"You know this, Hokage-sama. I have a Sharingan myself. I can sense the chakra of the Sharingan. When he uses it, he can't hide it from me."
Unable to mention the diary, Kakashi could only disclose limited information.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's first instinct was disbelief. Then another thought crossed his mind. Had Kaede transplanted a Sharingan?
But that idea was quickly dismissed.
After the Uchiha Clan's destruction, Hiruzen knew exactly where every Sharingan had gone. There was no way even one could have slipped out unnoticed.
The room fell silent.
Hiruzen trusted Kakashi's judgment. Still, he had never imagined that another Uchiha bloodline would suddenly emerge in the shinobi world.
It overturned everything he thought he knew.
Then he remembered something.
The Uchiha Clan was different from the Hyuga Clan. The Hyuga strictly avoided marrying outside the clan to preserve bloodline purity. The Uchiha had no such rigid restrictions.
That meant there had always been the possibility of Uchiha blood spreading outside the clan.
Kaede's family had lived in Konoha since the village's founding, but the Uchiha Clan's history stretched back thousands of years. Over that time, how many clan members had married outsiders? How many Uchiha women had married into other families and taken different surnames?
The possibility was not small. It was very real.
The problem was that after a few generations, such bloodlines usually became extremely thin. Thin enough to be almost negligible.
Kekkei Genkai, however, were incredibly dependent on bloodline purity. The purer the blood, the higher the chance of awakening. That was the fundamental reason the Hyuga Clan practiced internal marriage.
The result was a stark contrast.
Most members of the Hyuga Clan could awaken the Byakugan. Their awakening rate was so high it made the Uchiha jealous to tears. Meanwhile, the Uchiha Clan, also a dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai family, had a very low awakening rate.
In truth, many people in the shinobi world carried traces of Kekkei Genkai blood. Those genes usually remained dormant rather than dominant. The chance of awakening was barely better than winning the lottery.
Kaede Kitahara had won that lottery.
He had truly awakened the hidden Uchiha blood within him and manifested the Sharingan.
That explained many things, including his sudden explosive growth in strength. Situations like this were common among Kekkei Genkai clans.
"Then do you think he poses a threat to the village?" the Third Hokage asked gravely.
In the past, he had paid little attention to Kaede. If not for Kaede's inexplicable contact with Uzumaki Naruto, a chunin like him might never have met the Third Hokage more than a handful of times in his life.
But now it was different.
An elite jonin with Uchiha blood who had awakened the Sharingan could become a massive threat if his sense of identity shifted toward the Uchiha Clan.
After all, the village had played an unsavory role in the Uchiha Clan's destruction. And Uchiha Itachi had indeed carried out the massacre under orders.
"Probably not," Kakashi said, shaking his head. "From what I've seen, his sense of belonging to the village runs deep. He doesn't harbor any hostility toward Konoha."
Aside from his sharp tongue, of course.
The Third Hokage nodded noncommittally.
He would not make a judgment based solely on Kakashi's words. But Kaede Kitahara had now earned his personal attention.
Deep down, he also hoped Kaede posed no problems.
If that was the case, the Sharingan could reappear within the village, carried by a brand-new bloodline family born and raised entirely in Konoha, severed from the past. A family without the thousand-year burden of glory from the Warring States era.
That would be immensely beneficial to the village.
"I understand," the Third Hokage said. "That will be all for today. You may go. I'll have this mission's rank adjusted to C-rank later. And on your way out, ask Kaede Kitahara to come in."
And in his heart, he truly hoped that Kaede Kitahara was exactly what he appeared to be.
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