Konoha.
Inside the Hokage's office.
At the back of the office, a shadow clone of Kaede sat expressionlessly, acting as a tool to sign off on piles of documents.
In one corner of the desk cluttered with paperwork, a Flying Thunder God kunai was stabbed firmly into the surface.
Swish!
Kaede's true body appeared silently next to it.
With a snap of his fingers, the shadow clone behind the desk vanished with a puff of white smoke.
"Finally back, huh? Come on, let me out, I was only two episodes away from finishing that show."
The voice of the Nine-Tails echoed in Kaede's mind.
Kaede rolled his eyes. "Do you even know what time it is? You wanna wake the whole village watching TV now? Just stay put and be quiet."
After tidying up his desk a bit, Kaede left the office. A guard stationed outside saw him and immediately saluted.
"Hokage-sama, welcome back."
There was a noticeable difference between Kaede's real body and his shadow clones. The clones usually wore the ceremonial robe of the Fifth Hokage, while the real Kaede preferred loose, casual clothing; this was intentional, to make it easier for others to distinguish between the two.
Most shinobi went out of their way to make their clones indistinguishable from their real bodies, to avoid detection. But Kaede didn't care. He didn't need clones to guard against assassination or ambushes, he only used them to approve documents or relay Konoha's intel to his main body when he was away.
"Mm."
He gave a slight nod to the ninja, then walked up to the fifth floor, pushed open the door, and stepped into the living area.
Since Rin and Kurenai were now among his personal guards and responsible for relaying his commands, they needed to remain close by and were each assigned rooms on the fifth floor.
Kaede's gaze swept across the room.
"Hm..."
His eyes froze briefly, then he casually deactivated his Tenseigan and continued on to his bedroom.
Right, still getting used to the Tenseigan. It wasn't easy to control just yet, and he ended up seeing some things he wasn't meant to see.
On the plus side, it was rare to see Kakashi not reading one of those little pervy books. That was progress.
Kaede entered his room and walked to the window. After a brief pause, he placed his hand gently on the wall, channeling a trace of Six Paths power into the barrier that encompassed the entire fifth floor.
The previous barrier was already strong enough to block most sensory techniques, but now, infused with Six Paths chakra, it would be completely impervious, unless someone had Rinnegan or Tenseigan of the same level, they wouldn't be able to sense anything inside.
With that done, Kaede lay down on the bed.
This recent trip had yielded some incredible gains: the awakening of his Tenseigan, and the successful unlocking of the Six Paths Mode. He had officially stepped into the realm of the Six Paths. For once, he could truly sleep in peace.
In terms of pure Six Paths power, he was now at what could be called the "first tier" of that level.
But thanks to his mastery of time-based abilities, even someone at the second tier of the Six Paths, like Six Paths Madara, wouldn't pose a real threat to him.
The only threats left were beings at the third tier or higher: Otsutsuki Momoshiki and Otsutsuki Kaguya. But Kaguya couldn't regain her full strength anytime soon, so she wasn't a concern.
As for Momoshiki, whose time-freezing ability used to be overwhelming, he was no longer as dangerous now that Kaede possessed the Tenseigan.
Time-freeze really was a fearsome power. Undeniably so.
But Momoshiki's version of it only stopped movement, not consciousness, Sasuke, who had the Rinnegan, remained aware but unable to act when under its influence.
In essence, Momoshiki's "time freeze" was more like a glorified space freeze when faced with the Rinnegan.
True time-freeze is terrifying because it stops everything, body, thought, even perception. It's like cutting a chunk out of reality itself. No matter what happens during that time, the victim remains utterly unaware.
At most, they'd feel something was off after the freeze ends.
But space freeze is far less potent.
It can prevent movement, but not thought. And because the mind remains active, it's technically possible to find ways to counter it. Time-freeze, by contrast, is absolute, unless you're immune from the start, you're stuck.
Since the Tenseigan and Rinnegan are powers of the same tier, Kaede's consciousness wouldn't be affected by Momoshiki's time-freeze.
As long as his thoughts remained free, he could use his own time-based powers, and that meant he could counter Momoshiki.
So.
Momoshiki was no longer such a serious threat.
Of course, to completely surpass him and eliminate the danger for good, Kaede would still need to grow stronger.
He wasn't planning to fuse with the Ten-Tails, which would likely lead to Kaguya's immediate resurrection, which he wanted to avoid. So he had two safer options for advancing his power.
The first was to locate Nagato and take his Rinnegan. By absorbing its ocular power, Kaede might evolve his Tenseigan to an even higher level, possibly even into Kaguya's mythical Rinne Sharingan, or perhaps something entirely new, like a "Reincarnation Tenseigan."
The second was to master the Eighth Gate of the Eight Gates Released Formation, entering the "Eight Gates Formation Mode", and then combine it with his Six Paths Mode.
He had given it a lot of thought.
Evolving the Tenseigan was a path of spiritual and ocular advancement, while opening the Eighth Gate was a physical and chakra-based evolution. If he could merge the two, he might not even need the Ten-Tails or Infinite Tsukuyomi to reach Kaguya's level.
He might go beyond it.
"Looks like the path forward is pretty clear."
Kaede murmured to himself.
After thinking for a moment, he set aside those long-term goals and turned to the more immediate tasks.
One of them involved Obito's eye, his Mangekyo.
Kamui was undeniably powerful. Even without a Sage's body, and despite lacking Eternal Mangekyo power, it was still incredibly useful. Just possessing it could allow a ninja to fight on par with Kage-level opponents, even with low chakra reserves.
After a moment of reflection, Kaede decided to give it to Kakashi.
He was his little brother, after all. Couldn't let him fall too far behind. With that eye, Kakashi would be capable of facing even someone like Kaguya, and at least making a difference in battle.
"It's a pity Kakashi's chakra reserves are still a bit low. Once he hits Kage-level, I can teach him Sage Mode too. That way, he could cultivate a Sage's body and unlock an equivalent of Obito's Eternal Mangekyo."
"Though now I'm curious… would Kakashi's future kid inherit the Sage body… or the Sharingan?"
Kaede pondered that for a moment.
Yeah.
He should probably help Kakashi arrange a marriage at some point.
That way, everything would be neatly set up.
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Completed version available on Patreon Patreon.com/Veltoria