At first glance, the mission looked strange. Someone had hired Kakashi's team to protect him while he built a bridge, yet the mission assigned to Kaede Kitahara's squad was to secretly guard Kakashi's team. The scroll even highlighted one point in bright, unmistakable ink: protect Uzumaki Naruto at all costs. If they had to choose between lives, even if everyone else died, Naruto had to return to Konoha safely.
Anyone else reading that would have been confused. But Kaede Kitahara wasn't.
Because Kakashi's team wasn't normal.
Other than Sakura, every member of that squad carried something exceptional.
Uchiha Sasuke was the last descendant of the Uchiha Clan. His Sharingan was a legacy Konoha couldn't afford to lose. When the Uchiha Clan was still around, they were considered a threat. Now that the clan had been wiped out, the last survivor was something Konoha had to protect.
Of course, that only applied as long as Sasuke remained ignorant of the truth behind the massacre.
And Uzumaki Naruto spoke for himself. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was Konoha's only strategic deterrent. The village had already lost most of the powerhouse shinobi who once dominated the ninja world. The era when Konoha could take on entire armies and still win was long gone. With the Third Hokage aging and growing weaker, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had become the village's last remaining trump card.
Hatake Kakashi might have seemed ordinary compared to the other two, but that was only on the surface. To the higher-ups, he was the future reserve Hokage: a student of the Fourth Hokage, a shinobi only one step below Kage Level, and Konoha's Number One Technician.
Aside from Shimura Danzo, the village elders all saw Kakashi as the natural successor to the Hokage title. If not the Fifth Hokage, then the Sixth.
Given the state of the village, no one else fit better.
That was how special Kakashi's team truly was, even if very few people realized it yet.
Kaede Kitahara finished reading and handed the scroll to his teammates.
"You'll be following them from afar. Unless absolutely necessary, do not intervene," Sarutobi Hiruzen said.
He had high expectations for Kakashi's team. He wanted them to grow through experience, but he didn't want them dying in the process.
Kaede Kitahara understood the intent, but one thing still bothered him. Why them?
Shouldn't a strong Anbu squad be assigned to protect such an important team?
Anbu elites were rare, yes, but Kakashi's team was too important. A single Anbu squad escorting them would have made perfect sense.
Meanwhile, their squad—on paper—was barely above cannon fodder. If an enemy strong enough to overpower Kakashi showed up, throwing them into the fight would only add more bodies to the pile.
It didn't make logical sense.
Before he could think deeper, Sarutobi Hiruzen dismissed them and told them to prepare. They would depart together at sunrise.
Hiruzen watched the three leave and let his gaze linger on Kaede Kitahara. There was a nagging suspicion in his heart. After all, the request for backup had come from Hatake Kakashi himself.
The original plan didn't include sending support.
Kakashi's strength was enough to contend even with Kage-level opponents, at least for a short while. Ordinary Jonin were no issue for him. If Kakashi couldn't protect his team, no one else could.
What surprised Hiruzen was that Kakashi had specifically asked for Kaede Kitahara's squad. Hiruzen barely remembered them. Konoha was full of similar Chunin squads. He had only refreshed his memory by reviewing their files.
Originally, they had been a standard Chunin-led squad. When their instructor, Akai Akimoto, was promoted to Tokubetsu Jonin and entered Anbu, leadership transferred to Kaede Kitahara.
Seeing the file jogged Hiruzen's memory. This was the civilian Chunin who had grown close to Uzumaki Naruto, teaching him techniques and treating him as a friend. Naruto rarely had people like that in his life.
Later, Danzo had accused Kaede Kitahara of harboring ulterior motives and trying to get close to the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Danzo had wanted to arrest him. Hiruzen had rejected that suggestion.
He knew Danzo's methods better than anyone. Once Root took someone in, the truth stopped mattering. Black became white, and white became black.
Danzo believed the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki should be a weapon without emotions, without bonds. Feelings only slowed down the speed of an attack. But Hiruzen disagreed. Naruto was too important. If he had no bonds in the village and lost control…
He would destroy all of Konoha.
And then what? Hiruzen would have to use the Reaper Death Seal on his own student's child?
He pushed those thoughts aside and returned to his mountain of paperwork.
After leaving the Hokage Tower, Kaede Kitahara said, "That's it for today. Go prep your gear. We leave early tomorrow."
With a mission ahead, it was no time for brutal training.
"Got it."
The two used the Body Flicker Technique and vanished.
Kaede Kitahara returned home, choosing not to train more. He told his mother, Fangko Kitahara, that he would be leaving for a mission the next morning.
If the mission went according to the scroll, he would be gone for at least a month. Maybe longer. They couldn't return until Tazuna completed the Naruto Bridge.
And after the Land of Waves came the Chunin Exams, the first major climax of Naruto. The story truly opened up after the Konoha Crush.
"Be careful out there." His mother spoke softly.
She had seen this scene many times since marrying into the Kitahara family. Even her husband had died on a mission, his body never recovered. Now her son was following the same path.
But this was the fate of ninja families. They weren't quite a true ninja clan yet, but they were close enough.
"Don't worry, this is nothing. Shippuden hasn't even started yet." Kaede Kitahara grinned.
Shippuden hadn't begun, and with his current power, he could handle himself. He was already brushing against Kage Level. Even if he faced a real Kage, he could still retreat safely.
Besides, tonight was the night.
His next lottery draw.
Hopefully he would get something worthwhile.
Thinking of that, Kaede Kitahara headed upstairs at once, stepped into his room, and opened his diary to record the day.