"N-No way..."
"That has to be a lie. There's no way Captain Hikari could..."
Watching the scene unfold before them, the three Hidden Stone ninja who had already been gripped by fear now looked on with expressions of utter disbelief. Their eyes were filled with shock and denial.
That man was a highly trusted, elite jonin of the village!
How could he die at the hands of some kid?!
….
"Looks like I was worrying for nothing."
Might Duy also looked in Kaede's direction. Seeing the jonin from the opposing side fall to Kaede's blade, he breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he couldn't help but be amazed by Kaede's talent and strength.
Kaede was in the same class as his son, Might Guy, and at most only ten years old this year, yet he already had the strength to defeat a jonin!
This is what they call a prodigy?!
"Guy... looks like you'll have to work even harder if you want to catch up to him and Kakashi..."
After murmuring that to himself, Duy turned to look at the three remaining Hidden Stone ninja.
Noticing Duy's gaze shift toward them, the three Hidden Stone ninja simultaneously froze in place. Cold sweat poured down their foreheads, dripping nonstop.
That bastard who sent the intel!
What do you mean "only two average Konoha ninja"?!
These two are monsters!
….
"Run!"
Almost in unison, the three turned and sprinted along the riverbank, trying to flee. There wasn't even a sliver of will left in them to keep fighting.
But in front of Might Duy, who had opened the Sixth Gate of the Eight Inner Gates, escape was simply not an option.
They hadn't gotten far before their feet suddenly stopped.
Duy had flashed past them like a shadow and now stood right in their path.
Then—
They heard something incomprehensible like "Feel the burning youth!" and before they could react, a heavy blow landed on their bodies. They were sent flying backward, vision going dark, consciousness fading instantly.
"Huff... huff..."
After finishing off the last three Hidden Stone ninja, Duy closed the Sixth Gate and collapsed to sit on the riverbank, gasping for breath.
Kaede searched the corpse of the Hidden Stone ninja jonin named Hikari but didn't find anything of value. He walked over to Duy and asked,
"You alright, senpai?"
"Huff... huff... I'm okay..."
"But... for a while... I might be out of commission..."
Duy remained slumped over, breathing heavily.
Even for him, someone capable of opening the Eighth Gate, the side effects of opening the Sixth Gate were still severe. His body would be fatigued for a long while, with lingering muscle soreness.
"It's fine. Just rest, senpai. I'll handle the rest from here."
Kaede gave a small nod.
As long as Duy wasn't seriously injured, everything was manageable. Since he could now open the Eighth Gate, simply opening the Sixth Gate wouldn't cause lasting harm.
Kaede then turned to look at urabe Daisuke and the others on the opposite side of the river.
…
At this moment, urabe and the others still wore dazed expressions. The battle between Kaede, Duy, and the enemy jonin had completely shattered their understanding of what was possible.
On one hand, jonin from one of the Five Great Ninja Villages were far more powerful than those from their own Kusagakure.
On the other hand, the Konoha ninja duo they had thought to be "nothing special" had displayed power that could only be described as shocking.
"So this is the strength of shinobi from a Great Ninja Village..."
urabe Daisuke murmured in disbelief.
As Kaede's gaze swept over, he finally snapped out of his daze, his mind racing. He turned to look back at his companions.
But just then, one of them suddenly stepped forward, pressing a blade to the neck of the young lord they were meant to protect.
"Don't come any closer!!"
Kunikki glared at urabe Daisuke, sweat dripping from his brow and fear still lingering in his eyes.
When he'd passed along intel to Land of Grass, he never imagined that a Konoha squad made up of a weirdo and a kid would possess such terrifying strength!
Even an elite Hidden Stone ninja squad had been wiped out!
He knew the next step would be a thorough investigation into any traitors. Fear consumed him, he realized he wouldn't be able to hide his actions. His only hope now was to use the hostage and escape.
"So it was you! Why?!"
Urabe Daisuke stared at Kunikki, eyes full of fury.
Kunikki gritted his teeth.
"The daimyo had already abandoned this mission. There's no way the clans will continue to support him. You're the one being naive!"
"You—!!"
urabe glared daggers at him.
Just then, a hand silently reached out and grasped Kunikki's wrist, effortlessly prying the knife from his grasp and hurling him several meters away where he landed hard on the ground.
Having done that, Kaede calmly turned to urabe and said:
"I don't interfere in family affairs."
"Thank you very much!"
Urabe immediately fell to his knees and bowed deeply in gratitude to Kaede. Then he picked up the blade Kaede had taken and walked toward Kunikki with a cold expression.
Kaede had no interest in the internal power struggles over the daimyo succession of some small Land of Grass town. He didn't bother listening to the rest of their discussion and instead began to reflect on the earlier battle.
"That guy should've been a standard Hidden Stone ninja jonin... My strength lines up with what I expected. After mastering Chidori, it's not hard to kill a jonin."
Even after only opening the first gate of the Eight Inner Gates and using Chidori once, he had easily split apart an A-rank Earth Release jutsu and killed Hikari in one stroke.
If he went all out, even facing an elite jonin, he could likely gain the upper hand easily, and even kill them quickly.
This battle had confirmed something he already suspected:
Sheer numbers mean little in front of him.
If he could kill a jonin in an instant, then even multiple jonin working together wouldn't matter, if they couldn't keep up with his speed, he could take them out one by one.
And if the numbers were truly overwhelming, he could still rely on his speed to retreat.
"Unless they have something like the Three Tomoe Sharingan to track my movements, even forbidden or secret techniques are meaningless if they can't activate them in time."
After coming to that conclusion, Kaede quietly exhaled.
In other words—
With his current strength and skillset, as long as he didn't face a Kage-level opponent or get completely surrounded by overwhelming numbers, even a squad of jonin wouldn't pose a real threat. He could advance or retreat at will.
That level of power gave him a certain degree of self-preservation in the ninja world. After all, Kage-level enemies were rare, each village only had a handful, if any, and they formed the very top of their respective power structures.
Just then—
An image of Namikaze Minato flashed through Kaede's mind.
He recalled the future scene from the upcoming war: Minato instantly killing fifty jonin, shocking the entire ninja world.
A smile tugged at the corner of Kaede's lips.
"Instantly wiping out fifty jonin, huh..."
Maybe I could give that a try, too.
************
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