Kitahara Kaede slipped into the role of squad leader with practiced ease. It was not as though today were truly the first time he had taken command. Ever since his promotion to Chunin, he had already led several missions in all but name, and because peacetime assignments were rarely dangerous, Akai Akimoto had long since begun stepping back. What happened today was less a transfer of responsibility than a formal acknowledgement of something that had already become reality.
"Today's task is picking up trash. Ugh. Another boring one." Xiang Tianyuanlong dragged out the complaint as soon as he saw the mission slip, his entire face radiating misery.
"When a real mission comes, you'll probably get so scared you won't be able to move again," Hyuga Keiko shot back without mercy.
Her words landed with perfect accuracy, instantly bringing up a memory none of them had forgotten. The first time Xiang Tianyuanlong had encountered an actual ninja clash, the killing intent of an enemy Chunin had frozen him in place so completely he could barely breathe, let alone fight. Even a nameless Special Jonin—someone who would never so much as appear in the original story—still possessed an overwhelming edge over an ordinary Genin.
"That was ages ago, all right?" Xiang Tianyuanlong protested, refusing to accept the humiliation. "Sensei already said I'm strong enough to become a Chunin now. When the next Chunin Exams come around, I'm definitely passing."
Kitahara Kaede gave a faint nod. His two teammates had indeed reached the basic threshold of Chunin. Under normal circumstances, advancing would not have been especially difficult for either of them. Unfortunately, the next Chunin Exams would not unfold under normal circumstances at all. They would be walking straight into a hellish storm.
The Sound and Sand Villages' joint invasion of Konoha was drawing closer and closer. In the end, among that famous exam cohort, only Nara Shikamaru had been recognized and promoted, and that was because of his exceptional composure, judgment, and command ability. Everyone else, no matter how talented, had simply become part of the chaos. In the early days of Naruto, becoming a Chunin still required the mind to lead Genin and the ability to shoulder responsibility—not like later, when the standards seemed to loosen until the whole system practically stopped pretending.
"Let's go," Kitahara Kaede said, waving a hand to cut the bickering short. "The sooner we finish today's work, the sooner we're done with it."
***
They spent the entire day working through the mission. Or rather, they spent the entire day collecting rubbish from one street after another, from alleys and public squares and the edges of the village walls. By the time the sun began to sink, the job was finally over, the mission was confirmed complete, and Kitahara Kaede received the ten thousand ryo reward without the slightest sense of achievement.
After returning home, he ate the dinner his mother, Kitahara Yoshiko, had prepared for him. The familiar warmth of the meal settled the weariness in his body, but the moment he finished, he went straight to his study. He took out the sealed scroll he always carried, broke the seal, and the finely made diary appeared before him once more.
As usual, he picked up his brush and began writing the day's entry.
May 11th, sunny. [Akai-sensei actually got promoted to Special Jonin. That's a good thing on the surface, but him being transferred into the Anbu definitely isn't good news. The Konoha Crush is about to begin, and staying at the Third Hokage's side isn't safe at all. He could very well end up getting killed by Orochimaru.]
[This is still the era before Shippuden turned Kage-level fighters into walking background props. Back in this period, Hatake Kakashi could still contend with Orochimaru. Even if he went all out, he probably couldn't manage a mutual kill, but Orochimaru's oppressive aura was still absurdly strong. Later on, though, after he somehow devolved into Snake Auntie, it felt like anyone could beat him up—human, dog, whoever. But I've already said it before: times change.]
Once he finished writing, Kitahara Kaede let out a slow breath. He had written the truth exactly as he remembered it, but even now the coming disaster still felt surreal. The village bustled on as though tomorrow would be the same as today. No one around him had any idea that beneath the calm surface, the fuse had already been lit.
***
At that very same moment, in the Hatake clan's ancestral home, Kakashi received the notification that the diary had updated.
He immediately tossed aside the towel he had been using to dry his hair, crossed the room in a few quick steps, and opened the diary on the table. His eyes swept over the new entry with astonishing speed. At the same time, the dossier lying beside him—everything his people had managed to gather on Kitahara Kaede—remained open and within reach.
The intelligence was clean and straightforward. Kitahara Kaede's father had been an ordinary Chunin who died on a mission years ago. He now lived with his mother, Kitahara Yoshiko. The Kitahara family had been among the local residents present when the First Hokage established Konoha. They were not part of any great ninja clan, had produced no particularly dazzling geniuses, and possessed nothing that stood out—yet their history and lineage were spotless.
His former teacher was listed as Akai Akimoto, Special Jonin.
Kakashi frowned, picked up a pen, and struck out the words Special Jonin. In their place, he wrote special Jonin.
"Already promoted?" he murmured under his breath.
That discrepancy did not trouble him much. If the promotion had happened today, then the information lag was perfectly understandable. The dossier had been collected through ordinary channels. There was nothing especially secretive about the Kitahara family, so the report had never been treated as sensitive intelligence in the first place.
But that was not what mattered.
Kakashi's gaze locked onto one phrase in the diary, and his pupils contracted sharply.
Konoha Crush Plan.
Those words alone were enough to put a veteran like Hatake Kakashi on full alert. Battlefields, betrayals, ambushes, covert operations—he had seen too much to dismiss something like that as nonsense. And if Kitahara Kaede were not a spy, then how was he supposed to explain this? The man not only seemed to know an invasion was coming, he even knew the plan's name.
Kakashi looked back down at Kaede's file. An ordinary Chunin. Mediocre talent. Hardworking, yes, but only promoted half a year ago, and by every assessment he possessed nothing beyond the strength of a standard Chunin. For Kakashi, that realm belonged to a past so distant it was almost another lifetime. He had become a Chunin nearly twenty years earlier. With his natural gifts, even making Jonin should have been simple.
But the gifts he received after that had exacted a price far too steep.
His fingers rose unconsciously to his left eye—to the Sharingan Obito had left him. Over the years, Kakashi had looked upon the world through that eye for so long that entire stretches of his life now felt blurred, as if wrapped in mist. His father was gone. His mother was gone. His teacher and his teacher's wife were gone. Obito was gone. Rin was gone too.
Even now, after so many years of hardship had forged his heart into something hard and controlled, the old ache still stirred. It never truly disappeared. It only became easier to hide beneath habit.
The pain lasted no more than a moment. Kakashi forcibly steadied his thoughts and returned to the diary.
Konoha. Destruction. Orochimaru.
Any one of those was enough to make a person tense. Put together, they formed a warning that could not be ignored.
Orochimaru was not just another missing-nin. He was one of the legendary Sannin, a monster whose name alone could make seasoned shinobi feel pressure in their lungs. A terrifying existence recognized as standing on the same tier as the Kage of each village. Back when Orochimaru defected, Kakashi had pursued him—and had nearly died for it.
Yet the diary's wording made Kakashi's brow knit tighter. According to Kitahara Kaede, if Kakashi fought Orochimaru with everything he had in this era, he still would not be able to drag the man down with him. That was the judgment of someone writing with calm certainty. Could that really be true?
Kakashi was not arrogant enough to dismiss it outright. Orochimaru belonged to the same level of monsters as his father once had. Calling him a Kage-level expert was completely accurate. But if Kakashi could not even guarantee mutual death... then how deep did the gap still run?
And then there was the line that made even less sense.
"Later on, he became Snake Auntie..." Kakashi muttered, expression flattening.
What exactly was that supposed to mean?
He could not make sense of it at all. Even if Orochimaru somehow turned into some so-called Snake Auntie, how did that lead to the absurd claim that anyone could beat him up—human or dog alike? The image refused to form in his mind. The very idea was so bizarre that it almost felt mocking.
Almost.
But the rest of the diary had been too precise for him to laugh it off. That was what made it so disturbing. Every new entry only deepened the mystery surrounding Kitahara Kaede and the invisible force protecting him. The truth was clearly being dangled in front of him, piece by piece, yet the moment he tried to touch its source directly, death itself seemed to press a blade against his throat.
Kakashi lowered the diary a fraction, his expression turning dark and unreadable. If the Konoha Crush was real, then a major attack on the village was already in motion. If Orochimaru was involved, then the scale of the threat could not be underestimated. And if a nameless Chunin like Kitahara Kaede truly knew all of this in advance... then the future ahead of Konoha was far more dangerous than anyone realized.
Outside, the village still looked peaceful. The night lay quiet over rooftops and streets, and warm lights shone from ordinary homes as if nothing at all were wrong.
But in that quiet room within the Hatake compound, Kakashi knew one thing with absolute certainty.
Something enormous was coming.