Land of Fire.
Border region.
In a room at a small inn in a border town, Danzo sat cross-legged on a cushion, a map of the Land of Fire spread out before him.
He had clashed with Kirigakure's ninja several times recently, striking back with ruthless force and leaving no survivors.
"If things continue like this, war is inevitable. Sarutobi, your stance is still too soft... Striking first is the most appropriate course of action in a situation like this."
Danzo muttered to himself as he studied the map.
In his view, Sarutobi Hiruzen's approach was far too conservative. He only responded to the probing actions of other villages. But given the current state of affairs, it would be far better to launch a preemptive strike and crush one of the villages first.
With Konoha's current strength, concentrating its forces to overwhelm one of the other Great Villages would not be difficult. But if they ended up fighting a long, drawn-out war against a united front, it would become a serious problem.
To Danzo, Sarutobi simply lacked the resolve to bear the burden of being labeled the aggressor. But that was a necessary step on the path to unifying the ninja world, sacrifices had to be made.
Whoosh!
Just as Danzo was deep in thought over the map, a Root ninja appeared silently in the room.
Danzo didn't even glance up, continuing to look at the map as he asked coolly,
"What's the situation back in the village?"
Even though he was stationed on the frontier, he had left some Root operatives in Konoha to monitor the village's internal affairs and report back at regular intervals.
The Root ninja responded in a flat, emotionless voice: "Lord Hokage's attitude hasn't changed. He still requests that you maintain the current situation… Orochimaru has returned to the village with intelligence on Sunagakure, but the details remain unclear…"
The operative proceeded to report the events in order of importance.
Danzo listened with a neutral expression.
After nearly thirty minutes, the Root ninja continued:
"…Kakashi's older brother, Hatake Kaede, killed an elite Kirigakure scout. He's suspected to possess talent and strength surpassing even Kakashi's."
"Hm?"
Danzo paused, a flicker of surprise flashing in his eyes.
Not because the information was critical, compared to the other reports, this one was relatively insignificant, but because everything else had gone as he had expected. This was the only unexpected variable.
"Is the report confirmed?"
"It is."
The operative replied firmly.
Danzo narrowed his eyes slightly, deep in thought.
"So the eldest son of White Fang possesses that level of talent… and has been hiding it all this time, huh?"
Hatake Sakumo's death, Kaede and Kakashi's father, was something Danzo had been directly involved in. Though, in truth, his original intent had never been to drive Sakumo to suicide.
Sakumo had abandoned a mission to save a comrade, that was an unexpected variable. However, Danzo had manipulated the villagers' attitudes afterward. Even the rescued comrade had been subtly guided to cast blame rather than show gratitude.
All of this had been aimed at suppressing Sakumo's influence.
Back then, Sakumo had practically been chosen as Hiruzen's successor for the Fourth Hokage position. Danzo couldn't stand by and watch that happen.
What he hadn't expected was that Sakumo would fall into deep self-doubt and ultimately take his own life. That hadn't been part of the plan, Sakumo, despite being a political rival, was still a valuable asset for Konoha.
If Danzo had become the Fourth Hokage, Sakumo could have been used as a powerful tool.
After a moment of silent contemplation, Danzo spoke.
"…Continue your report."
Kaede's situation had raised some interesting thoughts, but stationed here on the frontlines with Kirigakure, Danzo didn't have the time or attention to spare. That would have to wait until he returned to the village.
The Root ninja nodded and resumed his report.
…
Back in Konoha, Behind the Village
Two months had passed since Kaede had taken down the elite Kirigakure scout.
During that time, Kaede continued attending the academy as usual. But after the incident where he instantly defeated Hyuga Homon, all the students began to look at him with newfound awe.
Even the girls, especially those like Yuhi Kurenai, became even more infatuated.
If even someone like Hyuga Homon could be easily defeated, Kaede must already possess at least chunin-level strength. Even if he wasn't quite as strong as Kakashi, he surely wasn't far behind. It was clear the rumors about him being mediocre were dead wrong.
Their admiration had even progressed to the point where these precocious girls started doing… "overly forward" things, which Kaede found both amusing and exasperating. Their age made the situation all the more ridiculous to him.
Over the two months, his training had produced remarkable results.
Thanks to his ability to accelerate time, Kaede's actual age had just passed nine, but his physical age was nearing eleven. Both his taijutsu and chakra capacity had steadily grown.
From barely reaching the threshold of elite chunin, he had now grown to be considered outstanding even among that level.
His mastery of the Hatake sword style hadn't advanced to its second stage yet, but he had successfully unlocked the first two gates of the Eight Gates technique!
Though the first and second gates didn't provide explosive power boosts, they still marked significant progress for Kaede.
Hah! Hah!!
In a clearing deep within the forest, Kaede was vigorously training.
"The third gate… still not quite there."
After panting heavily for a while, he paused and muttered, feeling the "lock" on the third gate within his body had yet to loosen enough to force open.
In the Eight Gates system, the third gate was a turning point.
The first gate allowed full use of one's physical power, a decent boost, but not game-changing.
The second gate focused on recovery, extracting energy from the body to combat fatigue.
Only from the third gate onward did one start to tap into true explosive potential.
"If I can open the third gate, and combine it with the Hatake sword style and the White Fang blade, even without using Time Acceleration, I should be on par with a special jonin."
Kaede murmured to himself.
After mastering the Eight Gates, his strength was no longer something that could be neatly measured by standard ranks.
At his speed, any enemy who couldn't keep up was basically doomed to fall within a move or two.
Only those from the Uchiha clan with Sharingan or the Hyuga clan with Byakugan could barely be considered able to put up a defense—barely.
After all, seeing his movements didn't mean they could match them.