Fortunately, if this could be confirmed as 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 in Konoha and wielded immense power, but he could not operate in the open.
If Kitahara Kaede died here today, then his death would have been 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 also have been for nothing.
Although Hyuga Keiko and Soten Genryu did not understand why Kitahara Kaede still had the mind to put in cosmetic contact lenses when a battle was about to begin, they wondered if he was nearsighted.
But they were already on the same side as Kitahara Kaede, and Hyuga Keiko, who understood Root's methods especially well, was even more resolute.
She did not want to die here.
Before long, Root's four-man squad caught up with them. At that moment, the area was completely empty.
The group immediately became alert. Insects crawled between the Monkey Mask Ninja's fingers, and their aura indicated that their targets had not left.
"They're over there."
The Monkey Mask Ninja waved his hand and pointed toward a nearby thicket. The Sheep Mask Ninja and Eagle Mask Ninja behind him charged over like rabbits released from a cage, hurling several shuriken from their hands at the same time.
However, they came up empty. It was clearly an open patch of ground, with nothing there.
"Not good!"
The Eagle Mask Ninja immediately realized something was wrong. Yet that open patch was not truly empty—it held a simple trap, with an exploding tag swaying in the wind.
"Explode!"
With the young man's sharp shout, the exploding tag detonated.
The Eagle Mask Ninja, being closest, had no way to evade it. He was caught squarely in the blast and instantly suffered severe injuries.
The Sheep Mask Ninja, on the other hand, was farther away and reacted in time, escaping the explosion's range.
But in the next instant, a shuriken descended from above and plunged directly into the Eagle Mask Ninja's throat. Already grievously wounded, he had no chance of dodging and died instantly.
"Damn it!"
The Monkey Mask Ninja immediately realized what had happened. A mere simple trap had taken out one of his capable subordinates. In the end, they had underestimated their opponents too much.
The intelligence said that Kitahara Kaede had been a Chunin for one year, while the other two had only become Chunin not long ago. Essentially, they were not much different from Elite Genin.
That underestimation had caused them to lose one man right at the start.
He looked toward the source of the voice and saw Kitahara Kaede's group standing on the branches of several trees, watching them coldly.
"What nerve, Kitahara Kaede! You dare kill Anbu carrying out official duties?" the Monkey Mask Ninja shouted, trying to seize the initiative with his accusation.
"Anbu? Heh. Does Root use the Anbu name whenever it goes out to do dirty work?" Kitahara Kaede said flatly.
The Monkey Mask Ninja froze when he heard that. He had not expected Kitahara Kaede to know that they were Root ninja.
In appearance, they were no different from Anbu ninja.
Root was even the training ground for Anbu ninja. Further back, the two had originally been one organization.
Ordinary ninja did not even know Root existed, yet Kitahara Kaede not only knew, but had easily determined that they belonged to Root rather than Anbu. This kid was highly unusual.
He recalled Danzo's instructions before departure. The kid was very likely a spy from another village. At the time, he had not thought much of it; as long as Danzo told him whom to kill, 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 of Root's existence.
"Kitahara Kaede, the village suspects you are a spy from another village. We are here to take you into custody. Soten Genryu, Hyuga Keiko, this matter has nothing to do with you two. Do not bring ruin upon yourselves!"
The Monkey Mask Ninja attempted to drive a wedge between the members of the Kitahara Kaede Squad.
But Soten Genryu and Hyuga Keiko across from him remained expressionless and utterly unmoved.
The Monkey Mask Ninja knew that his attempt to impersonate Anbu had completely failed. It seemed they knew Root existed and would not be fooled by them.
"Attack!"
The Monkey Mask Ninja roared. In an instant, Root's remaining three members pounced toward their respective targets.
The Monkey Mask Ninja aimed directly at Kitahara Kaede, while the Fox Mask Ninja lunged at Hyuga Keiko, and the Eagle Mask Ninja charged toward Soten Genryu.
Kitahara Kaede's group also leaped down at the same time.
Take out their captain first!
That thought flashed through Kitahara Kaede's mind as he quietly opened his Sharingan.
The One-Tomoe Sharingan was an Insight Eye. In an instant, everything around him seemed much slower in his eyes.
The Sharingan's benefits went far beyond that. Though it was not as direct as the Byakugan, Kitahara Kaede could still easily sense everyone's chakra.
The Monkey Mask Ninja possessed the greatest amount of chakra. He was already fully at the level of an ordinary Jonin.
Although he was still far inferior to Kitahara Kaede as he was now, 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 that Kitahara Kaede would flee, but not only was he not running, he actually dared rush toward him.
In an instant, the Monkey Mask Ninja unleashed a swarm of Kikaichū that filled the sky and surged toward Kitahara Kaede.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Kitahara Kaede shouted, spewing a fierce gale from his mouth that slammed directly into the Kikaichū.
Kitahara Kaede now possessed far more chakra than even an ordinary Elite Jonin. Chakra was a special power formed from the combination of physical energy and spiritual energy.
One could imagine how much Kitahara Kaede's physical abilities had grown.
However, he still had one major problem: he knew too few ninjutsu. After all, he was merely 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 had indeed noted that Kitahara Kaede knew Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, but this ordinary Wind Release technique had now created a terrifying storm.
They were both C-rank ninjutsu, yet in the hands of different people, they could unleash completely different levels of power.
The saying that there were only useless people, not useless ninjutsu, was displayed perfectly through Kitahara Kaede at that moment.
The Kikaichū that the Monkey Mask Ninja had painstakingly cultivated were blown apart in an instant, unable to approach Kitahara Kaede.
By then, Kitahara Kaede had already closed in before him, driving the kunai in his hand straight toward his face.
At the critical moment, the Monkey Mask Ninja hurriedly retreated, narrowly avoiding Kitahara Kaede's sudden strike.
The Monkey Mask Ninja broke out in a cold sweat.
Before you continue