Harvest

He had already appeared at the cliff's edge using the Flying Thunder God; based on his current familiarity with the technique, this was the farthest distance at which he could sense the Flying Thunder God's formula.

Fortunately, as he grew more accustomed to it, relying on his vast soul power, the range he could sense would only increase.

"Really white, soft, and tender. I should have gone for a few more—what a miscalculation," Kaede muttered, staring at his right hand, feeling as though Pakura's scent still lingered on it.

"Good thing I placed the Flying Thunder God's formula on her. Heh heh! Beautiful lady, you can't escape my grasp." According to her original fate, she would be sold out by Sunagakure's higher-ups to the Mist Shinobi.

Though he savored Pakura's scent, he hadn't forgotten his real purpose or what he had gone there to do—he hadn't made a special trip just to watch a beauty bathe.

"Why do I feel like since I took Jiraiya as my master, I'm in danger of being assimilated? I wasn't like this before. Right, it must be Jiraiya-sensei's influence rubbing off on me." Kaede conveniently pinned the blame on Jiraiya.

Pushing aside the ripples in his heart, he seriously reviewed the Shadow Clone's memories.

The Shadow Clone had swum from the lake to the camp's entrance, used the Transformation Technique to take on Pakura's appearance, and smoothly entered the camp with the password.

Because the Sannin had raided Sunagakure's forward positions, the camp's interior was extremely hollow, with only a few elite shinobi maintaining its operations.

Sneaking into the central command tent, he found it completely empty; the Sand's elite forces here must have gone to block the Sannin's assault. Facing the Sannin's attack, the Sand had no choice but to deploy all their elites, or the Sannin would tear their defensive line apart.

The Shadow Clone rifled through the official documents coming and going—all outdated orders and appointments, nothing noteworthy. The only gain was learning that this operation's Sand commander was Sunagakure's advisor elder, Ebizo.

This matched Orochimaru's speculation.

"Important documents wouldn't be left here. Either there's a hidden storage spot, or they've been destroyed after reading." The Shadow Clone scanned the tent, finding no useful files or special locations.

About to leave in disappointment, a pillow in the partitioned bedroom caught his attention. Beneath the pillow, a corner of something peeked out, looking similar in style to a document.

"Would they really be this careless? Could it be a trap?" To be cautious, the Shadow Clone instantly sensed the main body's location, ready to grab the document and use the Flying Thunder God if anything went wrong.

Using a Kunai to lift the pillow, underneath lay an envelope, not yet sealed. "Doesn't look like an official document—more like a personal letter."

Gently opening the envelope with the Kunai and unfolding the letter inside, "Sure enough, it's a letter from Ebizo to Chiyo."

From the opening greetings, to his advice for Chiyo regarding Sasori's sudden departure—telling her to take it easy—to his worries about the Sand's current war, though there were no specific military arrangements, useful information still lay between the lines.

One passage read: "...Rasa has just succeeded as the Fourth Kazekage and urgently needs to stabilize internal affairs. I will hold off Konoha's forces at the front. Sister, you must quickly get Rasa to unite the village..."

After the Third Kazekage's disappearance, Sunagakure had been attacked by the Land of Lightning's Cloud Shinobi, suffering no small losses. Rasa had performed well in that defensive battle and was recommended by the Sand's higher-ups to become Kazekage.

This was already known information.

But from this, it could also be seen that the Sand's losses this time must have been severe.

Another passage: "...This child Pakura, I believe she is very reliable. Her prestige among the village's shinobi is also high. But now, the Sand only needs the Fourth's singular voice..."

"It seems the Sand is already planning to abandon Pakura." In the Sand's current predicament, they urgently needed to unite the village under one leader—the Fourth Kazekage.

As the Sand's hero, Pakura's prestige was too high. At this moment, it became an unstable factor. The Sand's higher-ups likely feared that she, having failed to secure the Fourth Kazekage position, might take extreme actions.

After reading the entire family letter, Kaede could confirm two points.

First, the Sand's military strength was limited; they no longer had the power to raid the Land of Fire, only enough to defend themselves.

Second, there were sharp internal issues within the Sand. After the Fourth Kazekage's ascension, internal conflicts existed that urgently needed resolution, and they would not launch external wars for a long time.

"This should count as intelligence that can influence the war's direction, right?" Kaede memorized the letter's contents completely, stuffed it back, returned it to its original place, and slipped out of the tent.

He continued wandering around the camp and noticed that the number of Sand shinobi was clearly abnormal. Under Kaede's simple perception, most of the camp's ninja were at Genin level, many around his own age.

This meant the Sand might have already sent Ninja Academy students to the battlefield—a sign of desperation.

Keep in mind, this was just the beginning of the Third War. With Kaede's foreknowledge, he remembered the war lasted several years, with an extended front that nearly drained Konoha.

And the Sand had thrown their last living forces onto the battlefield from the start. Clearly, the Cloud Shinobi's attack on Sunagakure had inflicted damage that crippled them.

Kaede summarized the gains from this infiltration mission, wrote them on a sheet of paper, leaped down the cliff, and climbed toward the opposite side.

Konoha's forward camp...

"You seem to be in low spirits. Is it because of the infiltration mission the day before yesterday?"

"Jiraiya-sensei, morning~" Kaede yawned listlessly, greeting Jiraiya, who had just finished inspecting the defenses.

"If you're too tired, get some rest. You might need to deliver a letter back to the village, so you should recharge." Though he was a cheap disciple, since Jiraiya had taken him on, he wouldn't neglect him.

"It's nothing serious. I was just too focused the day before yesterday and haven't adjusted yet. It's been keeping me up at night—I haven't rested well." Not resting well was true, but the reason wasn't insomnia—it was her.

Every time he closed his eyes to rest, Pakura's unclothed figure would naturally appear in his mind. That startling flash of white kept him restless all night, unable to sleep.

First taste of flesh, and he could barely handle it.

As they chatted, a sinister voice interjected. "Kaede-kun, I'll trouble you to deliver this confidential letter back to the village."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."

He had to be diligent about his assigned task. He didn't want to become the next fool forced to commit suicide over a failed mission.

Taking the confidential letter, Kaede sealed it into the sealing scroll inside his sleeve. "Jiraiya-sensei, I'll be going now."

"Go on. Be careful on the road." Though he knew the route back to Konoha should be safe, he still warned him. Wartime was different from peacetime—even within the Land of Fire, enemy shinobi might have infiltrated.