A large number of Rogue Ninja operated within the Land of Fire, coming from all sorts of backgrounds. Some were ninja from wandering Small Ninja Villages, while others were missing-nin from various villages. However, there were many ninja villages in the Shinobi World, and as long as they were not missing-nin from the Five Great Villages, most would not cause too much trouble.
After all, the strength of Small Ninja Villages was only so-so, and the missing-nin who came from them were generally average as well. Many so-called Jonin from Small Ninja Villages could not even defeat an Elite Chunin from the Five Great Villages in a real fight. They could only be considered a minor nuisance.
But if other Kage villages were involved behind the scenes, then that would be another matter entirely.
Still, none of that had much to do with Kitahara Kaede. After completing the mission, he could not simply call it a day as the team captain. He still had to write a work report.
"Why did I still have to write a summary report after becoming a ninja? Was that reasonable?"
Because Rogue Ninja had been involved, exceeding the mission's original classification, they had received more money, but they also had to rewrite the summary report.
However, aside from the original mission payment, Kitahara Kaede had made other gains on this trip. The bandits had actually possessed more than ten million ryo in savings, all obtained by robbing trade routes. They had not yet had the chance to move it elsewhere, so it naturally ended up in the hands of Kitahara Kaede and the other two. Of course, it was impossible not to turn at least some of it over to the village during a mission like this.
In the end, following customary practice, Kitahara Kaede decided to hand half over to the village in exchange for it turning a blind eye to the matter. Of the remainder, the three agreed that Kitahara Kaede would receive three million ryo, while the other two would each receive one million ryo.
Neither Hyuga Keiko nor Soten Genryu had any objections. After all, without Kitahara Kaede, both of them would have died there this time. Besides, even one million ryo was an astronomical sum.
Based on the missions they could accept and the speed at which they completed them, an ordinary Chunin could not save up one million ryo in an entire lifetime.
That was without even considering the possibility of dying midway through a mission.
By the time Kitahara Kaede finished his summary report, it was already late at night.
But he was in no hurry to sleep. Instead, he opened the Diary.
[Seriously, why did I still have to work like a beast and write reports in the Shinobi World? Was that reasonable? Soten Genryu nearly got himself killed on this mission. Being cannon fodder in such a dangerous world really was not easy. You could die at any moment, especially when you did not have any protagonist's halo.]
Within the Hatake Clan territory.
Hatake Kakashi sensed the update to the Diary and hurriedly opened it. It was Kitahara Kaede's usual round of bored complaints.
A protagonist's halo?
What was that?
Though Hatake Kakashi did not quite understand it, he vaguely guessed at its meaning from the name alone.
Hatake Kakashi's lips twitched slightly. He felt nothing in particular upon reading that Kitahara Kaede's teammate had nearly gotten himself killed.
He had experienced such things too many times in his life. It was nothing unusual.
However, when he saw Kitahara Kaede complain about writing work reports, he could not help laughing aloud. He had suffered through that pain as well. For most ninja, writing a work report was probably more troublesome than fighting on the battlefield.
[Still, the Sharingan was useful. Awakening the Sharingan increased my chakra reserves by at least a third in a short time. No wonder there had always been rumors that when facing the Uchiha Clan, you had to flee in a one-on-one fight, while two against one was the only way to stand a chance.
Still, it was a pity that there were too few Sharingan battles. There were only two truly classic ones. Aside from Fifty-Fifty's brief clash with Itachi, there was that battle where they held back.
Awakened the Sharingan?
Hatake Kakashi drew in a sharp breath!
What had he just seen?
Awakened the Sharingan?
Everyone knew that the Sharingan was the Uchiha Clan's special Kekkei Genkai. Outsiders could not simply awaken it for no reason.
He also possessed a Sharingan, but it had been entrusted to him by his teammate, Obito Uchiha, as a gift upon his promotion to Jonin before Obito's death.
Because he was not a member of the Uchiha Clan, he could not deactivate the Sharingan and had to keep it active for long periods. As a result, his chakra reserves had become a weakness.
The Hatake Clan was, after all, a ninja clan with a heritage and lineage. While it did not excel in chakra reserves, generations of refinement had ensured that its chakra reserves were far greater than those of ordinary civilian ninja.
Yet even that had become insufficient.
But his Sharingan could absolutely not be described as awakened.
Only members of the Uchiha Clan could awaken one—or at the very least, someone with Uchiha Clan blood.
At that thought, Hatake Kakashi hurriedly pulled out Kitahara Kaede's records.
They clearly stated that Kitahara Kaede's ancestors had merely been ordinary native residents of Konoha. Could one of his paternal or maternal ancestors have possessed faint Uchiha Clan blood?
Hatake Kakashi could only speculate in that direction, because Kitahara Kaede's ancestors were clearly not members of the Uchiha Clan, and there was no record of marriage into the Uchiha Clan.
If he truly had Uchiha Clan blood, then it might have to be traced back to the Warring States Period before the village was founded.
And even if he did have Uchiha Clan blood, it should have been exceedingly diluted. Otherwise, the Kitahara family's ninja talent would not have been so ordinary.
Yet judging from the circumstances in which his eyes had opened, it fit the Uchiha Clan's usual pattern quite well. He had likely watched his teammate nearly get himself killed and awakened his eyes amid an urgent life-or-death crisis.
Hatake Kakashi had plenty of experience with that. After all, one of his former teammates had awakened the Sharingan under extreme pressure and killed his opponent in a counterattack.
Based on what Kitahara Kaede had written in the Diary, Hatake Kakashi could even picture the scene: at the critical moment when Soten Genryu was about to be killed, Kitahara Kaede somehow awakened the faint Uchiha Clan blood within him and opened the Sharingan.
That was also the Uchiha Clan's standard method of awakening their eyes.
He was simply utterly shocked that Kitahara Kaede had Uchiha Clan blood, and that he had even awakened his eyes. Could such diluted blood really awaken the Sharingan?
It truly was incredible.
By that reasoning, aside from Uchiha Itachi and Second Pillar, there was now one more member of the Uchiha Clan in the Shinobi World?
But could he still be considered a member of the Uchiha Clan?
Still, Sharingan battles?
They had not been unusual in the past. The Uchiha Clan held sparring matches internally. But now, they were exceedingly rare.
There was only Second Pillar in all of Konoha, plus himself, who counted as half, perhaps?
Fifty-Fifty's brief clash with Itachi?
Fifty-Fifty was himself—that much Hatake Kakashi knew. But who exactly was this Itachi?
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