"Yes."
Hatake Kakashi nodded and walked down the corridor. He spotted Kaede Kitahara waiting around with nothing to do.
"Kaede, the Hokage wants to see you."
"Got it."
Kaede nodded and went in calmly.
Normally, after a chunin team finished a mission, they would at most hand things over to the jonin team leader. Meeting Sarutobi Hiruzen in person was almost impossible.
This time, he had not even finished writing his report before being summoned. It was obviously related to the special nature of this mission.
Kaede knocked. A voice came from inside almost immediately.
"Come in."
The moment he stepped inside, he felt smoke drifting through the room. His expression did not change as he walked up to the Third Hokage.
Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at him. A faint glint flashed through his cloudy eyes before he smiled kindly.
"Chunin Kitahara, you did very well on this mission. Kakashi told me you played a crucial role. Without you, even he might have ended up in serious trouble."
"That's overstating it, Kakashi-senpai," Kaede replied evenly.
He was not being polite. He genuinely believed it. Those people could never have killed Uzumaki Naruto. The Nine-Tails inside him was watching everything. Even if Kakashi had been defeated, the most likely outcome would have been the Nine-Tails' power erupting.
Even a small leak of that power was enough to make an ordinary jonin suffer badly. Push it further, let a few tails emerge, and even kage level fighters would go down.
Seeing Kaede remain so unassuming, Hiruzen nodded.
"The memories extracted from Rokusho Aoi have already been reviewed by Anbu," he said. "You handled this matter beautifully. The mission rank will be adjusted accordingly to S-rank. This should be your first S-rank mission, correct?"
"Yes," Kaede answered.
Even now, he felt a trace of disbelief. He never imagined that someone like him, a small-time chunin cannon fodder, would one day complete an S-rank mission.
But his heart was calm. Everything felt natural. With strength came these things sooner or later.
"Good. That's how the younger generation should be. It's how Konoha continues to thrive," Hiruzen said, growing animated enough to stand.
"As an additional reward for this mission, I'm authorizing the transfer of the Second Hokage's Sword of the Thunder God to you. I hope you won't disappoint the village's expectations."
Kaede froze for a moment.
He had not expected that at all.
Then it clicked. They must have seen his performance through Rokusho Aoi's memories and judged his potential, making an early investment.
He had no objections.
The Sword of the Thunder God might have looked unimpressive in old stories, even getting shattered by Uzumaki Naruto's Rasengan. But anything that served as the Second Hokage's personal weapon was no ordinary blade.
Rokusho Aoi's level had barely allowed him to use a fraction of its power.
A weapon that formed a blade of light the moment chakra was poured into it, with lightning damage on top, was devastating against ordinary ninja.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
Kaede let genuine excitement show on his face.
Only then did Hiruzen feel satisfied. Kaede had been so calm up to now that he almost seemed like some scheming old monster.
"This isn't just a reward for your performance," Hiruzen said with a sigh. "It's also a bit of thanks from me as an elder. Speaking of which, you know Naruto's identity, don't you?"
Kaede could feel Hiruzen's gaze pinning him in place. It was a test.
Because he had gotten close to the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki?
At this point, denying it would be pointless. Hiruzen was not asking a question. He was making a statement.
Kaede nodded.
"I didn't know at first. But after spending time with him, I figured it out. He looks a lot like the Fourth Hokage. And I once heard that the Fourth's partner was from the Uzumaki clan."
Hiruzen sighed, took another pull from his pipe, and slowly exhaled the smoke.
"You're right. He is the child of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato. Teaching him Rasengan was the best gift you could have given."
He paused, then asked, "Aren't you curious why the Hokage's child is treated the way he is?"
"I trust the village has its reasons," Kaede answered immediately.
He knew very well that this was not a simple matter. Naruto's position was unique. He was the Fourth Hokage's orphan and the village's jinchuriki, a living deterrent. Yet he had grown up like that.
To say Hiruzen harbored malicious intent toward Naruto would be pushing conspiracy too far. But it was also undeniable that Naruto had not been properly cared for, and Hiruzen bore responsibility.
Hiruzen chuckled softly and did not pursue the topic further. He also did not ask where Kaede had learned Rasengan.
Every ninja had secrets.
"You may go now," Hiruzen said. "I've already made arrangements for the Sword of the Thunder God. Collect it on your way out."
"Yes."
Kaede nodded and left the office.
After he was gone, some time passed before Hiruzen spoke again.
"Bring me all available records on Kaede Kitahara. Everything from the past years. And send people to investigate his activities in detail, his relationships, and how his strength has progressed."
"Yes, sir."
The Anbu squad leader who had been standing silently at the edge of the room vanished in a Body Flicker Technique.
Not long after, the door was pushed open again.
An old man wrapped in layers of bandages walked in. It was Shimura Danzo.
"You're free enough to come see me today?" Hiruzen asked, glancing at his old friend.
"I heard that Kaede Kitahara has returned," Danzo said.
"What, you're interested in a mere chunin now?" Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. The last time, Danzo had already argued with him over Kaede.
"He's no mere chunin," Danzo replied. "According to Anbu reports, his combat strength is conservatively assessed at jonin level."
Anbu's conclusion was not as precise as Kakashi's, but based on Rokusho Aoi's memories, it was clear that Kaede possessed jonin-level combat power.
Hiruzen frowned.
Even after being stripped of authority, Danzo was still meddling. Anbu was supposed to answer directly to the Hokage. No one else was meant to interfere.
Yet Danzo repeatedly exerted influence through Root.
Root had originally been created to train talent for Anbu. Danzo had turned it into his own private power base.
"So what if he is?" Hiruzen said coldly. "I may have concerns, but your tone only makes me more uncomfortable."
"I told you before that there was something wrong with him," Danzo said. "Hand him over to me. I'll make him spit out every secret he's hiding. He approached the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki without restraint and even dared to kill Anbu operatives."
At this point, any lingering doubt Danzo had about the fate of the Root squad he had sent was gone. They had definitely died at Kaede's hands.
A person's strength did not jump from chunin to jonin overnight. From a rational standpoint, Kaede must have had jonin-level power long ago and deliberately kept it hidden.
That level of calculation was dangerous.
Someone like that lurking in Konoha was a problem. A big problem.
And Danzo believed he had seen through it from the start.
"Kill Anbu?"
Hiruzen froze. He had not known about that at all.
But he knew Danzo's methods well enough. Ruthless. Dark. Unrestrained.
Almost immediately, the pieces fell into place.
"You sent people to assassinate him," Hiruzen said heavily. "Not Anbu. Root. Just because he interacted with Naruto?"
Anbu might be heavily infiltrated, but Danzo could not secretly deploy an Anbu squad without Hiruzen noticing. Only Root operated as Danzo's independent kingdom.
Hiruzen also knew that Danzo placed seals on Root members to prevent any betrayal.
If orders bypassed him entirely, it could only have been Root.
Danzo realized he had slipped, but he forced his tone.
"I sensed something off about him. I wanted to eliminate a hidden danger for the village. And now it's proven I was right. Hiruzen, you're still too soft."
Hiruzen snapped back immediately.
"Enough. Your nerve has grown far too large. Who gave you the authority to act against Konoha's own ninja?"
At that moment, everything Hiruzen had struggled to understand finally made sense.