Inside the Hokage's office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stood in front of his desk, gazing pensively at two maps laid out before him.
One was a map of the entire ninja world, while the other focused on the Land of Grass and part of the Land of Fire border.
"Lord Hokage."
Kaede walked into the office.
Seeing Kaede enter, Sarutobi snapped out of his thoughts. His furrowed brow eased slightly as he said, "Looks like you returned safely. I assume you're here to report what happened in the Land of Grass?"
Kaede replied solemnly, "I encountered a large number of Iwagakure shinobi in Shogetsu Town, possibly over a hundred. I didn't investigate too deeply due to their numbers, so their objective remains unknown for now."
"That's the advance unit from Iwagakure."
Sarutobi didn't appear surprised. Konoha's scouts stationed in the Land of Grass had already reported this intelligence some time ago.
He looked at Kaede with a hint of appreciation. "You did well not to recklessly attempt to gather intelligence. Many young shinobi fall victim to their lack of caution and lose their lives because of it."
For prodigies like Kaede and Kakashi, the real concern wasn't their growth in strength, but rather their judgment of the situation, and their evaluation of their own capabilities.
An advanced unit of over a hundred shinobi would definitely include many sensory-type ninja. Stealth reconnaissance would be extremely difficult, and recklessly probing their ranks would only lead to danger.
If surrounded by that many enemy ninja, even his own students like Orochimaru and Jiraiya would be in serious trouble, let alone Kaede.
"..."
Kaede had already guessed that Hiruzen was likely aware of Iwagakure's movements, so he wasn't too surprised. And since the Hokage didn't ask about the escort mission, it seemed he wasn't particularly concerned with it, so Kaede opted not to bring it up.
After pondering a moment while looking at the map, Hiruzeni said, "Since you've just returned from the Land of Grass and are familiar with the terrain, you'll accompany Orochimaru to confront that Iwa advance unit."
There was no way Hiruzen would sit idly by while Iwa forces moved into the Land of Grass. Even though there was no intel yet suggesting an invasion of the Fire Country, that was only a matter of time. He had to act before worse news came.
Had Kaede returned a few days later, he would've been assigned to a follow-up support squad. But since his timing was just right, it was better for him to deploy immediately alongside Orochimaru.
"Yes."
Kaede nodded and added, "Also, Lord Hokage, there's one more thing I need to report…"
He briefly explained Might Duy's situation.
Sarutobi showed a flicker of surprise. He hadn't expected that among the ranks of Genin, there was someone whose strength already rivaled that of a Jonin.
There was no reason for Kaede to lie about something like this. And at Kaede's level, he wouldn't misjudge such a thing. That meant Might Duy was truly a hidden talent yet to be discovered.
Even if Duy didn't meet the standard in areas like leadership or strategy to be a full Jonin, someone with Jonin-level combat strength alone was a valuable asset!
Jonin-level strength was rare. These were the elite shinobi who formed the backbone of any village.
Take Kakashi for example.
He graduated at age five and became a Chunin at six, but now, even at age nine, he still wasn't at Jonin level, according to Namikaze Minato's own assessment.
Kaede had even more outstanding talent than Kakashi, but he still hadn't quite reached that point either.
"All right. understood. Have him come see me."
Sarutobi nodded at Kaede.
He intended to meet with Might Duy personally to assess his true capabilities and determine how best to position him within the village.
"Yes."
Kaede gave a short nod and left the Hokage's office.
When he returned to the first floor at the mission desk, he saw a Jonin now in charge of mission assignments, having replaced Shiranui Hanjian. The Jonin was questioning Might Duy in detail about the recent mission.
As Kaede walked down the stairs, the Jonin looked up and his gaze briefly showed surprise. He had already learned from Might Duy that Kaede had killed an Iwagakure Jonin!
A Jonin!
Jonin and Chunin were two completely different concepts.
Chunin were numerous in any village, even more than Genin. That's because most Genin could advance to Chunin as they matured.
But Jonin? Fewer than one in ten Chunin could ever reach that level, even counting Special Jonin!
Kaede, at only ten years old, had killed a Jonin... If there hadn't been a severed head as proof, the Jonin interrogator would have found it hard to believe.
You had to understand..
The fastest Jonin promotion in Konoha's history happened at age fourteen. And that shinobi's name was Orochimaru!
Even with all the evidence, the Jonin couldn't help but ask Kaede, "Earlier during your mission in the Land of Grass... was it really you who killed that Jonin?"
"..."
Kaede tilted his head and glanced at Might Duy, giving him a look that clearly said, "This wasn't what we agreed on."
Might Duy scratched his head, a little embarrassed. "Sorry, I'm not very good with words... and I couldn't just take credit for your achievement."
Kaede sighed. "Yes, I killed him."
Just as he expected, Might Duy was too straightforward. There was no way he'd take credit for slaying a Jonin, even if they'd planned for it.
But it was fine.
If this meant attention, then so be it.
With Kaede's current level of strength, even if he attracted the attention of Kage-level opponents, he might not win, but he could definitely escape. There weren't many in the ninja world who could truly threaten him now.
Originally, he wanted Duy to get the credit so he could be promoted to Special Jonin more smoothly. But even without that achievement, with his demonstrated strength, Sarutobi would likely still promote him, though it might draw some criticism.
As for the alternative, joining the Anbu, that was basically off the table.
The mask would be useless for someone like Duy, and his personality just wasn't suited for covert operations. Sarutobi would never assign him to the Anbu.
"Hoo…"
Hearing Kaede's confirmation, the Jonin couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath, his gaze toward Kaede becoming solemn and respectful.
To him now, Kaede was practically the second coming of the White Fang of Konoha in his youth!