Kitahara Kaede's Astonishing Strength

Fortunately, if it could be confirmed that this was Danzo's personal operation, then at least it ruled out the possibility that the Third Hokage intended to target him as well.

Danzo held a high position among Konoha's Higher-ups and wielded great power, but his actions could not stand the light of day.

If Kitahara Kaede died here today, then his death would be for nothing.

But the reverse was true as well. Root had no official authorization and was carrying out Danzo's private orders, so if they died here, their deaths would be for nothing too.

Although Hyuga Keiko and Soten Genryu did not understand why Kitahara Kaede still had the mood to put in cosmetic contact lenses when a fight was about to break out—was he nearsighted?—they were already standing on the same side as him.

Hyuga Keiko, especially, was resolute now that she knew Root's methods.

She did not want to die here.

Before long, Root's four-man squad caught up to them, only to find the clearing empty.

They immediately became alert. Insect crawled between the Monkey Mask Ninja's fingers, and their aura indicated that the others had not left.

"They're over there."

The Monkey Mask Ninja pointed toward a bush with a flick of his hand. The Sheep Mask Ninja and Eagle Mask Ninja behind him charged forward like startled rabbits, hurling several Shuriken at the same time.

Yet they came up empty. It was clearly an open patch of ground, with nothing there at all.

"Not good!"

The Eagle Mask Ninja instantly realized something was wrong. The clearing was not completely empty—it held a crude trap, its Exploding Tags fluttering in the wind.

"Explode!"

With the boy's sharp shout, the Exploding Tags detonated.

The Eagle Mask Ninja, who was closest, had no chance to evade. He took the blast head-on and was severely wounded in an instant.

The Sheep Mask Ninja was farther away and reacted in time, escaping the blast radius.

But in the next moment, a Shuriken fell from above and plunged directly into the Eagle Mask Ninja's throat. Already badly injured, he had no way to dodge and died instantly.

"Dammit!"

The Monkey Mask Ninja immediately understood. A mere crude trap had killed one of his capable subordinates. In the end, they had simply underestimated their opponents too much.

The intelligence stated that Kitahara Kaede had been a Chunin for a year, while the other two had only recently become Chunin. Essentially, they were not much different from Elite Genin.

That underestimation had gotten one of them killed right from the start.

He looked toward the source of the shout and saw Kitahara Kaede's group standing on the branches of several trees, watching them coldly.

"What nerve, Kitahara Kaede! You actually dare kill Anbu carrying out official duties!" the Monkey Mask Ninja shouted, trying to seize the initiative.

"Anbu? Heh. Does Root always use the Anbu name when they go out to do dirty work?" Kitahara Kaede said calmly.

The Monkey Mask Ninja froze upon hearing that. He had not expected Kitahara Kaede to know they were Root ninja.

In appearance, they were no different from Anbu ninja.

Root was even the training base for Anbu ninja, and in earlier days, the two had originally been one organization.

Ordinary ninja did not even know Root existed. Yet Kitahara Kaede not only knew, but had easily identified them as Root rather than Anbu. There was something very abnormal about this kid.

He recalled Danzo's instructions before the mission. The kid was very likely a spy from another village. At the time, he had not cared—so long as Danzo told him to kill someone, he would kill them.

Now that he thought about it, Lord Danzo truly was farsighted.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain why Kitahara Kaede knew Root existed.

"Kitahara Kaede, the village suspects you are a spy from another village and intends to arrest you. Soten Genryu, Hyuga Keiko, this has nothing to do with you two. Do not make a mistake!"

The Monkey Mask Ninja tried to drive a wedge between the members of the Kitahara Kaede Squad.

But Soten Genryu and Hyuga Keiko remained expressionless, completely unmoved.

The Monkey Mask Ninja knew that his attempt to pass themselves off as Anbu had completely failed. Since they knew of Root's existence, they would not be fooled.

"Move!"

The Monkey Mask Ninja shouted. In an instant, Root's remaining three members lunged toward their respective targets.

The Monkey Mask Ninja headed straight for Kitahara Kaede, while the Fox Mask Ninja pounced at Hyuga Keiko and the Eagle Mask Ninja charged toward Soten Genryu.

Kitahara Kaede's group leaped down at the same time.

Take down their captain first!

The thought flashed through Kitahara Kaede's mind as he quietly activated his Sharingan.

The One-Tomoe Sharingan was an Insight Eye. In an instant, everything around him seemed to slow down in his vision.

The Sharingan's benefits went far beyond that. While it was not as direct as the Byakugan, Kitahara Kaede could still easily sense everyone's Chakra.

The Monkey Mask Ninja had the greatest amount of Chakra, already fully at the level of an ordinary Jonin.

Though he was still far inferior to the current Kitahara Kaede, if Kitahara Kaede had encountered him before obtaining the Uchiha bloodline, he would likely have faced certain death.

When the Monkey Mask Ninja saw Kitahara Kaede charging straight down at him, he was delighted. He had feared Kitahara Kaede would flee, but not only was he not running, he actually dared to rush at him.

In an instant, the Monkey Mask Ninja unleashed a swarm of Kikaichū that blanketed the sky and surged toward Kitahara Kaede.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

Kitahara Kaede shouted, unleashing a violent gale from his mouth that blasted straight toward the Kikaichū.

By now, Kitahara Kaede possessed far more Chakra than an ordinary Elite Jonin. Chakra was a special power formed by combining physical energy and spiritual energy.

One could well imagine how much his physical constitution had improved.

However, his greatest problem was that he knew too few ninjutsu. After all, he was only an ordinary Chunin. Aside from the Three Techniques taught at the academy, he only knew a handful of C-rank ninjutsu.

This was one of them.

"What?" The Monkey Mask Ninja was stunned. The intelligence dossier had indeed noted that Kitahara Kaede could use Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, but this ordinary Wind Release technique had now formed into a terrifying storm.

They were both C-rank ninjutsu, yet in different hands, they could unleash completely different levels of power.

The saying that there were only useless people, never useless ninjutsu, was perfectly demonstrated by Kitahara Kaede at this moment.

The Kikaichū that the Monkey Mask Ninja had painstakingly raised were instantly scattered by the wind, unable to approach Kitahara Kaede.

At the same time, Kitahara Kaede had already charged in front of him, driving the Kunai in his hand straight at his face.

At the critical moment, the Monkey Mask Ninja hurriedly retreated, narrowly evading Kitahara Kaede's sudden attack.

The Monkey Mask Ninja broke out in a cold sweat.