Danger Encountered

"Leaf, Hokage, hah!"

These past few days, every time he left the clan grounds to head to the ninja academy, he always felt like someone was watching him, yet he could never find them. He didn't have any Chakra sensing techniques—everything relied on his innate alertness to detect this abnormal surveillance.

After all, he was a reserve candidate for a nature spirit; how could he lack some kind of sixth sense?

Still, even though he'd noticed someone spying from the shadows, he couldn't pinpoint their location. It wasn't until he thought of Kushina that it suddenly clicked—the Third Hokage might have sent someone.

With that realization, he understood the key point and decided to play it cool for a few days, waiting for this feeling of being watched to pass.

But that sixth-sense-like warning left him restless, sapping his mood to bond with his deskmate.

Tō seemed to have lost her interest in teasing him these past two days as well, focusing instead on her lessons.

"This bastard's still stuck to me. It's been a week, and he's still tailing me, nonstop." He couldn't help but think maliciously about flushing out this rat and giving it a proper lesson.

Bored out of his mind, he left the ninja academy.

Over the past few days, children had been dropping out one after another—those who couldn't refine Chakra or had very low Chakra potential, deemed unfit to become ninjas and ordered to go home.

In fact, a week had passed since the academy teachers taught Chakra refinement techniques. Anyone who still couldn't grasp the skill by now truly wasn't worthy of being a ninja.

Sending such people to the battlefield would only waste their lives. They weren't even qualified to be cannon fodder—cannon fodder needed to be at least a genin.

Kaede walked further away, heading to a small hill not far from the Uchiha clan grounds. Few people came here; it was very quiet, and he often trained in this spot.

For example, now he planned to learn Chakra control techniques—walking on water.

Climbing trees was child's play; he'd mastered that long ago and had moved on to the harder step of water-walking. Walking on a calm lake was different from walking on a rushing river.

A calm lake was much easier.

To hide his talent, he'd practiced on a quiet little lake for the first few days, only switching to this river today. At least this way, he could reduce suspicion from the Anbu tailing him.

Focusing his mind, he attached Chakra to the soles of his feet and stepped onto the turbulent current.

Instantly, Kaede felt the difference.

It was like stepping on slippery oil—controlling his balance was extremely difficult. The rushing water constantly dispersed the Chakra clinging to his feet, forcing him to continuously gather more to replenish it.

During this process, the Chakra attached had to stay roughly at the same amount—neither too much nor too little.

Too much, and he'd burst the water's surface, sinking his foot in; too little, and the current would sweep him away. In an incredibly short time, Kaede grasped the pattern. The next step would be fully mastering the technique of walking on turbulent water.

But remembering the Anbu watching from the shadows, he deliberately disrupted the Chakra under his feet and instantly plunged into the water. The swift current carried him downstream into a small lake.

"Pfft!"

He poked his head out of the lake, spat out a mouthful of water, wiped the moisture from his face, shook his dripping hair back, and swam to the shore with a dog paddle before throwing himself back into training.

The Anbu observing from the shadows would surely report every detail about him to the Third Hokage. And that was exactly why he needed to present Sarutobi Hiruzen with a different image of an Uchiha youth—one with some talent, tirelessly striving toward the goal of becoming a ninja, brave and fearless in the face of hardship, sunny and cheerful, well-liked by his classmates, and dreaming of becoming Hokage.

An Uchiha like that would be the perfect target for the Third to promote the Will of Fire and control the Uchiha clan. Just like Itachi and Shisui. A naive youth was the best prey for a big bad wolf.

Infiltrating the Hokage faction was the first step to climbing the ladder. If he lingered in the false prosperity of the Uchiha, he would inevitably end up as a corpse alongside the "brain-dead" Fugaku family.

Changing the Uchiha with his own will wasn't the time yet. Even his father, a jonin, had no real say in the clan's affairs, let alone him. His age, strength, and reputation couldn't sway a clan that had lasted a thousand years—a clan already rotting and on the verge of collapse.

Right now, his priority was to leap out of the Uchiha's targeted vortex, get closer to the real power holders, and gain the chance and time to grow.

So this was a time to act. First, let this Anbu see what kind of person he was, then relay it to the Third, planting a first impression in the Third's mind. When the Third eventually took an interest and wanted to meet this different Uchiha, it would earn him some bonus points.

After all, the Third wasn't some pure white lotus, and his acting wasn't great. If the old man's eyes were too sharp and saw through him, wouldn't he end up as cannon fodder in secret?

Of course, all of this hinged on one premise: that the Third didn't intend to annihilate the Uchiha clan, but rather, as he hoped, to improve relations between the clan and the village. Given the Third's consistently indecisive style, Kaede figured there was a good chance he'd aim for improvement, not destruction.

Still, while he was trying to mesh with the Third, it'd be best if that troublemaker Danzo didn't stir things up—otherwise, surprises would keep piling up.

"This kid's really putting in the effort. Different from those annoying Uchiha." The observing Anbu, codenamed "Sparrow," hid in the dense foliage, watching quietly.

Kaede continued practicing Chakra control in the river, struggling to keep his body steady as he stood on the water's surface.

"Hm~" He suddenly increased the Chakra attached to his feet. The water exploded, and he leaped high, twisting like a carp flipping midair. A rock, fist-sized and flying at high speed, shot past beneath him.

It was fast—the wind it kicked up stung his face. The rock missed Kaede, flew further, and slammed into a tree by the riverbank as thick as a man's embrace.

The rock buried itself in the trunk. A crackling sound rang out, and the tree fell with a crash.

Kaede stared at the tree snapped in half, swallowing nervously, his lips dry. If not for that stabbing sixth sense warning him to dodge, that hit would've punched a hole right through him.

"Who's there? Get the hell out here!" Furious, Kaede's gaze turned icy, flashing with dangerous light as he shouted.

Even though he knew whoever threw a rock with that kind of force was no pushover, he still didn't run.

There was an Anbu tailing him. If real danger came, they wouldn't just look the other way. After all, even if he was an Uchiha, he was still a Leaf villager—the Anbu had a duty to protect him.

Seizing this chance, he could put on a good show and see just how strong an Anbu ninja really was. In his mind, Anbu had never left a good impression—mostly just getting killed in an instant, with less presence than Ichiraku's Ōtsutsuki.