It was not that Kaede Kitahara did not want to kill Shimura Danzo right now.
He simply did not have absolute confidence.
No matter how underwhelming Danzo might be, no matter how much people mocked him as merely standing at the threshold of Kage Level, he was still Kage Level.
On top of that, he carried an arm full of Sharingan.
His margin for error was absurd.
When Uchiha Sasuke awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, his strength had firmly stepped into Kage Level territory. Even then, he had nearly exhausted himself trying to kill Danzo.
That was with Uchiha Obito standing nearby, making Danzo wary enough not to go all out.
Danzo was also constantly surrounded by Root elites. He rarely left Root headquarters, and his range of activity was small.
Sasuke had only succeeded because he caught Danzo outside Konoha.
If Danzo had remained inside the village, Sasuke would have had no chance.
And then there was the Third Hokage.
Kaede understood it clearly.
No matter how angry Sarutobi Hiruzen became, he would never truly kill Danzo.
They had decades of camaraderie.
Danzo was someone he was used to relying on.
Who was Kaede in comparison?
There was a principle Kaede understood very well.
You do not drive a wedge between close allies.
Just like Jiraiya, who had ultimately shown mercy to a fleeing, gravely wounded Orochimaru.
On the surface, ninja were killing machines.
But how many could truly treat themselves as nothing more than that?
Which meant the death of the Third Hokage would be the best opportunity.
He also needed time to grow stronger.
Less than half a year remained.
But look at how far he had come since receiving the diary.
Breaking through Kage Level in every aspect was almost inevitable.
Time was on his side.
There was no need to rush recklessly.
Most importantly, he had Flying Thunder God.
Kaede was confident in his own survival.
Amakusa Ryuji and Hyuga Keiko, on the other hand, felt suffocated.
They knew Danzo was behind this.
They knew it.
And yet they could do nothing.
They had to pretend everything was normal.
If word got out, it would cause disaster.
It was not just about strength.
It was about status.
One Chunin.
Two Genin.
If they accused Danzo, would anyone believe them?
Even if someone believed them, would they dare to?
If someone like Hatake Kakashi, a famous elite Jonin, made such an accusation, that would be different.
"Ninjutsu: Multi-Shadow Clone Technique."
Compared to the frustration of his teammates, Kaede felt nothing.
This was expected.
Why get angry over something already anticipated?
Five Shadow Clones split off.
"Take care of them," Kaede instructed. "Then bring their heads to the Bounty Station and collect their rewards. They wanted my bounty. No reason to waste theirs."
They were Missing-nin from various villages.
Of course they had bounties on their heads.
The clones quietly carried them away.
Before heading back inside, Kaede cast a distant glance toward a house far away.
Then he turned to Hyuga Keiko and Amakusa Ryuji.
"That's enough for tonight. Get some rest. Stay alert."
They nodded solemnly.
This mission had seemed like routine patrol duty.
Instead, complications kept surfacing.
But as ninja, they were used to that.
Behind a distant house, Tsunade stood in her bathrobe, not stepping into view.
"Tch. That kind of perception… that kid doesn't look like an Uchiha. He looks more like an Uzumaki."
She clicked her tongue.
She had only glanced over from afar.
Even at that distance, he noticed?
That kind of visual acuity was ridiculous.
"It's the Sharingan, huh? What a convenient Kekkei Genkai."
She remembered reading in Kaede's diary about him awakening the Sharingan.
He did not bear the Uchiha name.
But in her eyes, that no longer mattered.
After reading the diary, she sensed ninja approaching.
In a small town in the Land of Fire, ninja activity was not unusual.
But sneaking around at night was.
So she threw on a robe and came out to check.
And witnessed Kaede effortlessly subdue a group of Missing-nin with the Sharingan.
She immediately understood he had no intention of taking them back to Konoha.
He planned to exchange them for money at the Bounty Station.
That place was not unfamiliar to her.
She had taken jobs there before.
She had to make money somehow.
Konoha's stipend was not enough to sustain a gambler of her caliber.
"That kid awakened the Sharingan less than half a year ago. And he's already using genjutsu at that level?"
She was genuinely shocked.
A simple Tree Binding Death had completely immobilized a Jonin.
That was total genjutsu suppression.
"Another illusion-type ninja, huh? The Uchiha Clan always produced those. Combined with the Sharingan, it's a perfect match."
She counted silently.
In the entire shinobi world, how many Uchiha remained?
Uchiha Madara, an old monster who once stood alongside her grandfather to end the era of chaos.
Uchiha Itachi.
Uchiha Sasuke.
All geniuses.
Sasuke would even be called a savior in the future.
And Kaede Kitahara.
He claimed in his diary that his talent was average.
In Tsunade's eyes, that was nonsense.
If Kaede's standards defined genius, then there were barely any geniuses left in the world.
He had handled tonight's incident flawlessly.
Aside from her, no one in town had noticed.
"That kid isn't simple."
Tsunade murmured.
Now that she knew she would become the Fifth Hokage in the future, she had begun unconsciously evaluating people from that perspective.
Talents worth remembering.
Back inside, Kaede muttered to himself.
"That should've been Tsunade. No one else in town has that kind of Chakra."
Even though he had minimized disturbances, he had still drawn her attention.
"At that distance, in the dark, she shouldn't have seen my Sharingan."
He calculated the gap.
He believed she could not possibly have noticed his eyes.
He did not know she had already learned about his Sharingan from the diary.
His assumption was meaningless.
Nothing happened for the rest of the night.
At dawn, the three of them set out for the Land of Wind.
After being attacked once at night, Kaede decided not to rest in populated areas anymore.
They would avoid settlements entirely and head straight for the ruins of Roran to confirm whether the seal remained intact.
They abandoned their original pacing plan and traveled at full speed.
On the seventh day, they crossed the desert from the Land of Fire into the Land of Wind.
The ruins of Roran came into view.
Sandstorms howled.
Wind roared past their ears.
"This is it?" Amakusa Ryuji asked through his face covering.
Kaede and Hyuga Keiko were dressed the same, gazing into the distance.
"It should be."
Kaede compared the map.
In truth, he compared it with the memories of The Lost Tower.
When Uzumaki Naruto first arrived at Roran in that story, the scenery had looked just like this.
Broken structures sprawled across the desert.
Once, Roran had been a miracle.
Mukade, under the alias Anrokuzan, had used the Dragon Vein to raise towering buildings overnight.
After that battle, the citizens followed Queen Sara and left, forming a merchant caravan.
Now, only ruins remained.
"Let's check whether the Fourth Hokage's seal is intact. Then we're done," Hyuga Keiko said.
She was tired of the Land of Wind's environment.
Sand everywhere.
Blistering heat by day, freezing at night.
Even as a kunoichi, she had reached her limit.
Kaede nodded.
They sprinted down from the dunes.
For ordinary people, quicksand was deadly.
For ninja, it was manageable.
Soon, following the map's markings, they entered a massive structure.
According to records, the Fourth Hokage's seal lay within.
"You've finally arrived. I've been waiting here all day."
A cold voice echoed from the shadows ahead.
Kaede looked up.
A figure in a black cloak patterned with red clouds stood there, watching them.