Inside the Land of Fire, in Konoha, within the Hatake Clan territory.
Hatake Kakashi stared at a diary on the table in front of him, falling into deep thought.
Written on the cover of the diary was Kitahara Kaede's Diary (Hatake Kakashi Copy).
This diary had just fallen from the sky onto the desk in front of him, which had made him quite nervous for a good while; even after carefully inspecting the inside and out, he found no traces of any traps or ninjutsu.
Keep in mind that this was the Hatake Clan territory, and although the entire Hatake Clan now only had him as a single true clansman, there were still quite a few other collateral branches with Hatake bloodline; it was impossible for an ordinary person to pull any tricks right under the nose of Konoha's Number One Technician.
After all, he was Konoha's Number One Technician, standing among the very top tier of ninjas beneath the Kages of various villages.
Having confirmed it was non-toxic, he opened the diary.
It really was a diary, but why was the content of this diary so strange?
Year 63 of Konoha, May 1st, Sunny
[Set out to suppress the rampaging mountain bandits.]
May 2nd, Sunny
[What a hellish world this is. I hadn't even killed a chicken before, yet today I killed several bandits in a row, though those bandits were completely devoid of conscience.]
May 3rd, Sunny
[On the return journey, no accidents occurred.]
May 4th, Cloudy
[Finally returned to Konoha, the tense heart can finally relax.]
May 5th, Sunny
[Nothing to do today, cultivating at home.]
May 6th, Sunshowers
[Nothing to do today, cultivating at home.]
May 7th, Sunny
[Nothing to do today, continuing to train.]
May 8th, Partly Cloudy
[Completed a C-Rank Mission today, tired.]
Up to this point, it was all trivial daily life matters. Hatake Kakashi furrowed his brow; this looked like the diary of a Konoha ninja named Kitahara Kaede, recording everyday life events.
Yet the act of keeping a diary was not very common for ninjas, let alone writing in it every day, because a diary could easily leak a lot of critical information, and to a ninja, intel was extremely important.
However, the content that followed made him involuntarily frown.
May 9th, Sunny
[Passed by the Ninja Academy today, saw the infamous Uzumaki Naruto, really completely ostracized by everyone. Demon Fox? Heh, foolish villagers, truly utterly laughable.
Yet I didn't dare to step forward and interact with him; who knows if there were Anbu in the surroundings who would come right up and take me down, since I'm just a plain and unremarkable Chunin anyway, someone who could only act as cannon fodder in times of war.]
Seeing this, Hatake Kakashi abruptly sat up straight. Of course he knew who Uzumaki Naruto was—he was his teacher's posthumous child, with the legendary Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed inside him—but how did this Kitahara Kaede figure it out?
The only ones who knew Uzumaki Naruto was the posthumous child of the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze were a very small handful of Konoha Higher-ups, along with himself as the former disciple of the Fourth Hokage.
And those who knew the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox was sealed inside him were not many; ordinary villagers only knew him as the embodiment of some demon fox, thinking of him as the incarnation of the colossal Nine-Tailed Demon Fox from the Nine-Tails Rampage twelve years ago.
Even the majority of ninjas were not very clear about it, yet judging by Kitahara Kaede's wording, he seemed to know something.
Kitahara Kaede, a Chunin!
He was certain that there was zero information about a Chunin named Kitahara Kaede anywhere in his mind.
To be precise, the ninjas throughout Konoha were as numerous as the hairs on an ox, and even among many Jonins he might not recognize all of them, let alone those Chunins.
The ones who could become widely known were often the minority of elites who had carved out their own reputations, and even among Jonins, such people were uncommon.
In his heart, he had already begun to suspect whether this fellow named Kitahara Kaede might be a spy from other villages. He almost immediately wanted to go find this Kitahara Kaede, but the moment the thought arose, an invisible, terrifying pressure descended upon him.
He instinctively sensed that if he took that step, he would instantly die without a trace!
Kakashi immediately dismissed the thought, but he still suspected someone was lurking around his house and promptly activated sensory ninjutsu to perceive the surrounding situation.
Although he was not a sensory ninja, as the renowned Konoha's Technician, he did know some sensory ninjutsu, only it was far from as precise as a sensory ninja's, and the range was far inferior to a sensory ninja's as well.
Yet within his perception, he still failed to discover a single person.
Could there really be such a person in this world?
Impossible; even Hokage-sama couldn't accomplish all this silently, let alone perceive his own thoughts.
As long as he wanted to go find this Kitahara Kaede, that immense terror would instantly well up.
He couldn't figure it out, but one thing he could be certain of was that as long as he didn't think about finding Kitahara Kaede, this terrifying pressure would not be generated.
Hatake Kakashi touched his back, which was already completely soaked in cold sweat.
No, he had to find a way to figure out the origin and background of this Kitahara Kaede. He also discovered that as long as he didn't think about directly going to find Kitahara Kaede, he wouldn't trigger that terrifying pressure.
This suggested that he could think of a way to understand it from the side, such as finding a way to transfer the files regarding Kitahara Kaede. This obviously did not break any taboos.
However, if there truly was such an entity terrifying to the extreme, what was his purpose?
Obviously, he did not intend to keep secrets for this Kitahara Kaede, and even actively exposed the secret of Kitahara Kaede's diary. Why was that again?
There were too many mysteries, and he could not figure it out at all.
However, he quickly saw the last entry in the Diary.
May 10th, Sunny
[After picking up the mission and going home today, I saw Hatake the 50/50 from afar on the road. It was the first time I truly saw this Konoha's Technician who shook the entire Shinobi World continent. Below Kage Level, he should be in the first tier of experts. But what a pity, after Shippuden, combat power like this could no longer keep up. When all is said and done, this is a world of the Legend of the Eyes; without a bloodline, you are nothing.]
Hatake the 50/50?
Was that referring to him?
Hatake Kakashi froze. He had even originally wondered if their Hatake Clan truly had someone named Hatake the 50/50. Although he was the only proper member of the Hatake Clan left, some relatives with distant bloodlines still existed.
As a result, looking at the description that followed, Konoha's Technician—this clearly referred to him.
Yet when did he ever get a nickname like Hatake the 50/50?
And what was Shippuden? What was a world of the Legend of the Eyes, where without a bloodline you were nothing?
He knew what a bloodline was; it should be referring to Kekkei Genkai. But who said that without a Kekkei Genkai you were nothing?
His father had no Kekkei Genkai, yet with a single blade in hand carved out the mighty reputation of the White Fang of Konoha, and he himself had likewise forged the renowned title of Konoha's Number One Technician.
Although Kekkei Genkai were very powerful in this world, and their starting point was much higher than that of ordinary shinobi, they still could not be called invincible.
For instance, he had never possessed a Kekkei Genkai, yet from childhood to adulthood he had always been number one among his peers, and among those he left in the dust, there was no lack of scions from major clans with Kekkei Genkai.
The Uchiha Clan, the Hyuga Clan, and so on.
Most of these people were no match for him either.
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