Another day of patrol had co to an end.
Kitahara Kaede returned to his residence and perford his routine check.
Finally, it had arrived.
He lifted the floorboard, retrieved the slip of paper, and decrypted it.
The first half followed the standard format, specifying the ti and location:
*Tomorrow night, midnight, the coastal reef area northeast of the village.*
The final line made him pause.
"We will speak in person."
For five years, all communication had been via one-way notes. The word "et" had never once appeared.
This was the first ti.
Kitahara Kaede stared at the decrypted text, pondering it for a while.
If sothing could be explained in a note, there was no need to risk a face-to-face eting.
Either there was a major mission that couldn't leave a paper trail, or his superior wanted to see for themselves what this pawn, planted five years ago, had grown into.
He couldn't guess which it was.
He would find out once he arrived.
He burned the note, erasing all traces.
The next problem was more practical: how to leave the village?
Leaving without a legitimate reason was a punishable offense in any shinobi village.
The Hidden Mist's ANBU had sensory barriers and patrol sentries stationed around the village. Any ninja caught wandering outside without a travel record would, at best, be detained for interrogation, or at worst, killed on the spot.
He needed a legal reason to depart.
A mission.
***
The next morning, at the Mission Desk.
Kitahara Kaede scanned the mission board and picked a solo patrol—clearing suspicious traces along the northeast coastline, expected to be a round trip within the day.
The direction was perfect.
He signed the papers, took the slip, and left the village.
He finished the patrol by evening and filed his report.
Then, he didn't return.
He continued northeast along the coastline for about two kiloters, eventually stopping in an area dense with jagged reefs.
It was still early.
He found a wind-shielded rock to sit on and closed his eyes to conserve his energy.
***
Midnight.
The fog was thick, and the moon was mostly obscured by clouds; visibility in the reef area was less than ten ters.
Kitahara Kaede did not stand at the agreed-upon spot.
Instead, he hid in the shadows of a high reef to the side, suppressing his breathing, waiting.
In five years, he had never even heard his superior's voice, let alone known what they looked like.
Regardless of who ca, he wanted a clear look first.
After about three minutes, a silhouette appeared in the mist.
A woman.
Her build was slender, but not frail.
She wore a sleeveless, backless top that revealed the lines of her shoulder blades, dark tight-fitting shorts, and purple arm guards.
A forehead protector was tied around her brow.
The hourglass symbol.
Sunagakure.
Kitahara Kaede's gaze shifted upward.
Long green hair tied into a bun, with orange bangs framing her face. Under the moonlight, her eyes were also orange.
He recognized her.
Pakura.
One of the few Kekkei Genkai users in Sunagakure.
Her Scorch Release could create searing fireballs out of thin air, instantly evaporating the moisture within an opponent's body.
Aside from the lineage of the Third Kazekage and their Magnet Release, Sunagakure had almost no Kekkei Genkai users.
Pakura was a rare exception.
An elite since childhood, she grew into one of Sunagakure's most outstanding kunoichi.
She had a disciple nad Maki with whom she shared a close bond.
And then, there was her tragic end.
In order to negotiate peace with the Hidden Mist, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, needed a bargaining chip of sufficient weight.
The Hidden Mist specifically demanded Pakura.
She had killed too many Mist shinobi on the battlefield.
Rasa agreed.
He sent her into the Hidden Mist as a sacrifice.
pierced by a thousand arrows, she died in a foreign land.
A woman who had spent half her life risking everything for Sunagakure had been sold out by her own village.
Kitahara Kaede leaned against the rock, watching Pakura.
She stood among the reefs, her head tilted slightly.
She didn't know about those things yet.
Right now, she was still managing a spy network for Sunagakure, moving through the wind and mist with unwavering loyalty.
Kitahara Kaede's mind raced.
He had originally thought that Terumi i was the only target for this simulation.
But now, Pakura had appeared.
During character allocation, he had spent three points on "Family Background" to obtain the identity of a Sunagakure sleeper agent.
It hadn't been a waste.
Terumi i was one path.
What if he added Pakura to the mix?
Terumi i: the future Fifth Mizukage, possessor of dual Kekkei Genkai.
Pakura: a Scorch Release user with formidable strength.
Moreover, Pakura's destined path was naturally a tragedy—betrayed by her village and dying miserably abroad.
If, before that happened, he beca the person she trusted most and stood by her the mont she was betrayed...
That kind of script was guaranteed to be S-rank.
Furthermore, the two paths did not interfere with each other.
Terumi i was in the public eye within the Hidden Mist, while Pakura operated in the shadows. One light, one dark.
Parallel lines.
As he was thinking, Pakura suddenly turned her head, her gaze sweeping toward his hiding spot.
He had been discovered.
Kitahara Kaede stepped out from the shadows.
The two of them were five paces apart.
Pakura's eyes fell on the Hidden Mist protector on his arm, lingered for a second, and then moved up to his face.
She recited the first half of the code, and he replied with the second.
It matched.
"How long have you been hiding in the shadows?"
"Not long."
"Why didn't you show yourself imdiately?"
"I've never seen my superior's face. I wanted to confirm first."
Pakura studied him for two seconds.
Observing before appearing was a tactically sound move; there was nothing to fault.
But she was concerned about sothing else.
"You recognized ."
It wasn't a question.
"Lady Pakura, user of the Scorch Release, Jonin of Sunagakure," Kitahara Kaede paused. "I pieced it together from fragnted information gathered in the Hidden Mist."
Pakura arched an eyebrow.
A low-level pawn who had been deep-cover in the Hidden Mist for five years, almost entirely cut off from the outside world, was able to identify her on sight based on physical characteristics.
Surprisingly intelligent.
The next second, she moved.
There was no warning.
A whip-kick swept in from the side, the whistle of the wind aiming straight for the side of his neck.
For an average Genin, the kick would have landed before they even reacted.
Kitahara Kaede stepped back half a pace, crossing his arms to block the strike at his neck, trapping her calf and sliding one foot back to dissipate the force.
The mont Pakura's foot hit the ground, her kunai was already out of its sheath, stabbing forward in one fluid motion.
Kitahara Kaede ford hand signs.
"Water Wall!"
A wall of water erupted from the seawater between the reefs, blocking the space between them.
The tip of the kunai pierced the water wall and was deflected by the swirling current.
Pakura retracted her hand and took two steps back.
The spray of water fell and was scattered by the sea breeze.
She looked at Kitahara Kaede.
The counter-move to the kick had been effective, and the release of the Water Style was crisp.
Pakura slid the kunai back into the holster at her waist.
"How old are you?"
"Twelve."
She didn't say anything more.
Kitahara Kaede noticed her shoulders relax slightly.
"What is the current situation in the Hidden Mist?"
Kitahara Kaede selectively shared a few things.
"Recently, there are significantly more shinobi leaving the village on missions than usual, and several permanent patrol teams have been redeployed."
He paused.
"It's the rhythm of war preparation. I suspect the Hidden Mist may be considering intervening in the Great War."
Pakura glanced at him.
Such things could indeed be noticed through observation, but not many people could piece together that conclusion from such fragnts.
She asked a few more details, and Kitahara Kaede answered each one.
He also ntioned the current state of the graduation exams.
Thirty-seven went in; twelve ca out.
Pakura's brow twitched, but she didn't comnt on it.
"If the Third Mizukage confirms participation in the war, continue to monitor troop deploynts."
"Understood."
She turned and took a few steps deeper into the mist.
Then she stopped.
She looked back.
"Stay safe."
Just two words, spoken with a casual tone, as if it were an afterthought.
But such words did not belong in a conversation between a superior and a pawn.
A pawn is a pawn; their safety is irrelevant—only the completion of the mission matters.
Without waiting for an answer, her figure flickered and disappeared into the mist.
***
The reef area fell silent, leaving only the sound of waves crashing against the shore.
Kitahara Kaede stood there for a while.
"Stay safe."
She spoke the words naturally, as if they were more than just a polite formality.
If she could be this considerate toward a low-level pawn she had never even t, she must be even kinder to her own disciples.
People who wear their hearts on their sleeves like that are the ones who suffer the most when their own village eventually stabs them in the back.
Kitahara Kaede turned and began walking toward the Hidden Mist.
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