Harvest

Having used the Flying Thunder God, he was already standing at the edge of the cliff. Given how familiar he was with it now, this was the farthest he could sense the Flying Thunder God Formula.

Fortunately, as he grew more familiar with it, his immense Soul Power would let him sense it from farther and farther away.

"She really was so fair, so soft, so delicate. I should've done it a few more times while I had the chance. What a mistake." Kaede looked at his right hand, feeling as though it still carried Pakura's scent.

"Good thing I put the Flying Thunder God Formula on her. Heh heh! Beautiful, you won't escape my grasp." According to the original course of events, the higher-ups in Sunagakure would betray her to the Mist Shinobi.

Though he was still savoring the memory of Pakura, he hadn't forgotten what he'd set out to do. He hadn't gone there just to watch a beautiful woman bathe.

"Why do I feel like I've been in danger of turning into Jiraiya ever since I became his student? I wasn't like this before. Right, it must be contagious—Jiraiya-sensei passed it on to me." Kaede conveniently pinned the blame on Jiraiya.

Putting those distracting thoughts aside, he focused on the memories of his Shadow Clone.

The Shadow Clone swam underwater from the lake to the camp entrance, used the Transformation Technique to take on Pakura's appearance, and got into the camp with the proper password.

The Sannin had just attacked the Sand Shinobi's front lines, leaving the camp nearly empty. Only a handful of elite ninja remained to keep it running.

The Central Command Tent was deserted when the clone slipped inside. The Sand Shinobi elites who belonged there had probably gone to repel the Sannin's attack. Facing the Sannin, the Sand Shinobi would have to commit all their elite forces; otherwise, the Sannin would tear their defensive line to shreds.

The Shadow Clone searched through the documents that had come and gone, but they were all outdated orders and appointments. Nothing stood out. The only useful thing it learned was that the Sand Shinobi's commander this time was Ebizo, an advisory elder of Sunagakure.

That matched Orochimaru's guess.

"Important documents wouldn't be left here. They're either hidden somewhere secret or destroyed after being read." The Shadow Clone looked around the tent, but found no useful documents or any unusual hiding place.

It was about to leave in disappointment when a pillow in the tent's adjoining bedroom caught its eye. Something beneath it peeked out at one corner, and looked a lot like a document.

"Surely he wouldn't be this careless. Could it be a trap?" To be safe, the Shadow Clone immediately sensed the main body's location, ready to use the Flying Thunder God if anything went wrong, taking the document with it.

It lifted the pillow with a Kunai. Beneath it was an unsealed envelope. "This doesn't look like an official document. More like a personal letter."

Carefully, it opened the envelope with the Kunai and unfolded the letter. "As expected, it's a letter from Ebizo to Chiyo."

It began with a greeting, followed by words of consolation for Chiyo, telling her to come to terms with Sasori's sudden departure without a word. Then it went on to express concern about the war. There were no specific military plans, but useful information could still be gleaned from between the lines.

One passage read, "...Rasa has only just taken over as Fourth Kazekage and urgently needs to stabilize the village. I'll hold Konoha's forces at the front lines. Elder Sister, you need to unite the village behind Rasa as soon as possible..."

After the Third Kazekage went missing, the Sand Shinobi had been attacked by the Cloud Shinobi of the Land of Lightning and must have suffered heavy losses. Rasa had performed well in the defense, and the Sand Shinobi leadership had put him forward as Kazekage.

That was already known.

But this passage also made it clear that the Sand Shinobi must have suffered significant losses this time.

Another passage read, "...I believe Pakura is a very dependable girl. She also has great standing among the village's ninja. But right now, the Sand Shinobi need to hear only the Fourth Kazekage's voice..."

"So the Sand Shinobi are already planning to abandon Pakura." With Sunagakure in such dire straits, the village urgently needed to unite and follow a single leader: the Fourth Kazekage.

Pakura, a hero of the Sand Shinobi, had too much influence. At a time like this, that made her a destabilizing factor. The Sand Shinobi leadership must have feared that, after losing the contest for the Fourth Kazekage's position, she might do something rash.

After reading the entire letter, Kaede was able to confirm two things.

First, the Sand Shinobi's forces were limited. They no longer had the strength to launch an attack on the Land of Fire and could only defend themselves.

Second, there were serious internal problems among the Sand Shinobi. After the Fourth Kazekage took power, tensions remained within the village, and it urgently needed stability. It wouldn't start another war for quite some time.

"This should count as intelligence that could affect the course of the war." After memorizing the letter's contents, Kaede put it back in the envelope and returned it to its original place, then slipped out of the tent.

He continued wandering around the camp and noticed that the number of Sand Shinobi seemed unusually high. A quick scan revealed that most of them were only at Genin level, and many were around his age.

That meant the Sand Shinobi might have sent students from the Ninja Academy onto the battlefield. They seemed to be scraping the bottom of the barrel.

After all, the Third Great Ninja War had only just begun. From what Kaede remembered, it would last for several years, with the prolonged fighting nearly bringing Konoha to its knees.

Yet the Sand Shinobi had already thrown their last reserves into battle. That showed just how badly the Cloud Shinobi's attack on Sunagakure had crippled them.

Kaede summed up what he'd learned during the infiltration mission on a sheet of paper, then leaped off the cliff and climbed toward the opposite side.

Konoha's front-line camp...

"You don't look like you're feeling well. Is it because of the infiltration mission the day before yesterday?"

"Good morning, Jiraiya-sensei." Kaede greeted Jiraiya with a yawn, looking listless. Jiraiya had just finished inspecting the defensive line.

"If you're too tired, get some rest first. You might have to return to the village with a message, so you need to be well rested." Jiraiya might have taken Kaede on as a student on a whim, but now that he had, he wouldn't neglect him.

"It's nothing serious. I was just so focused the day before yesterday that I haven't recovered yet. I've been having trouble sleeping lately, so I haven't been getting enough rest." It was true that he hadn't slept well, but insomnia wasn't the reason. It was her.

Every time he closed his eyes to rest, the image of Pakura with nothing on would appear in his mind. That breathtaking glimpse of pale skin left him restless all night, unable to fall asleep.

His first taste of a woman had left him unable to keep his composure.

The two were still chatting when a sinister voice spoke. "Kaede-kun, I'll have to trouble you to take this sealed message back to the village."

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru."

He still took his duties seriously. He had no desire to become another fool who failed a mission and was forced to kill himself.

Kaede took the sealed message and tucked it into the sealing scroll in his sleeve. "Jiraiya-sensei, I'll be going now."

"Go ahead. Be careful on the way." He knew the road back to Konoha should be safe, but still reminded Kaede to take care. Wartime was different from peacetime; even within the Land of Fire, ninja from other villages might have infiltrated.