By a river in Konoha, Kazahana Koyuki, still dressed in her princess costume after slipping away from her guards, sat catching her breath. Beside her, the horse she had ridden hard was panting just as heavily.
"Well, you weren't easy to find."
She had barely lifted her head when she saw a boy around fifteen or sixteen standing before her. He had short hair, a refined face, and wore a Konoha chunin flak jacket.
Instinctively, she tried to get up and run, but Kaede Kitahara pressed her back down with one hand.
"No need to run, Princess Kazahana Koyuki."
The moment he called out her name, her body trembled violently. Fear flashed across her eyes, and she froze as if struck by lightning.
Seeing the panic on her face, Kaede smiled faintly. "Relax. I'm not here on Kazahana Doto's behalf."
At those words, her tension visibly eased. The bloody coup from her childhood had left a deep scar on her psyche.
Over the years, she had hidden her identity so thoroughly she had nearly forgotten her own name. If not for the director suddenly insisting on filming a sequel and returning to the Land of Snow, she might have forgotten she was the former daimyo's daughter altogether.
After all, Doto's reach didn't extend into the Land of Fire, let alone Konoha.
And more importantly, he had no idea where she had fled. If she hadn't become a famous actress, he might never have found her in this lifetime.
"But it's only a matter of time before Doto tracks you down," Kaede said calmly. "As an actress, you're bound to be discovered sooner or later. In fact, his agents have already made it to Konoha. How long do you think you can keep hiding?"
He didn't explain how he knew this. He simply stated it as fact.
"What should I do? What do I do?" Koyuki looked at him, panic creeping back into her voice.
"Have you ever thought about overthrowing Kazahana Doto and reclaiming your position as daimyo?" Kaede asked directly. "As the former daimyo's daughter, your claim is legitimate. Your people are still suffering under his tyranny. As their princess, have you never once thought about saving them?"
"Saving them? How am I supposed to do that?" she shot back, both frightened and angry.
"I can't beat him. He'd kill me. He has the support of Yukigakure. If I go back, I'd just be another ghost."
Kaede studied her for a moment, recognizing the fear rooted deep within her. Then he spoke plainly.
"What is Yukigakure, really? Just a small ninja village tucked away in a remote country. How does it compare to Konoha?"
That made her pause.
Since leaving the Land of Snow, her perspective had broadened far beyond what it once was.
"There's no comparison," she admitted.
Yukigakure was just a village in the truest sense, with only a handful of ninja. Konoha, on the other hand, was a massive militarized city. In both scale and strength, they weren't even in the same league.
"He only has a few ninja from Yukigakure backing him," Kaede continued. "At best, they're jonin-level. For Konoha, that's nothing. Without them, Doto isn't worth fearing."
Koyuki blinked, suddenly realizing how simple it sounded when put that way.
Compared to Konoha, what was Yukigakure?
But for years, she had been bound by childhood fear, like a young elephant chained by something it couldn't break free from—even after growing strong enough to do so.
Doto might seem terrifying to her, but to Konoha, he was insignificant.
"I've saved up ten million ryo from acting," she said after a moment. "I want to hire you to kill Kazahana Doto."
"You trust me that much?" Kaede raised an eyebrow, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"I don't trust you," she replied bluntly. "I trust Kakashi. If he handed this mission to you, then he believes you can handle it."
Originally, Kaede had taken on a B-rank escort mission. But if it involved overthrowing a daimyo, it would easily rise to S-rank—and Konoha might not approve of interfering in another country's politics, even if it was a small nation.
Still, a mission report could always be filed afterward. By then, the outcome would already be decided. Since he would technically be protecting his client, Koyuki, any involvement in the coup would be considered incidental.
Even Danzo wouldn't be able to find fault.
And once Koyuki ascended as daimyo, she would naturally align herself with Konoha. The village leadership would welcome that outcome.
Kaede sorted through the implications in an instant and laid them out for her.
"I understand," Koyuki said, quickly grasping the situation. "If the payment isn't enough now, I'll make up the difference once I become daimyo. By the way… I still don't know your name."
Her personal savings were limited, but as daimyo, she would command the resources of the entire Land of Snow. Even a remote country could afford an S-rank mission.
"Kaede Kitahara."
After finalizing their agreement, Koyuki stopped trying to run. She agreed to cooperate with the film crew and depart for the Land of Snow the next day.
This time, she wasn't just going to shoot a movie.
She was going to reclaim her country.
—
The next day, Kaede assembled his own squad along with all members of Hatake Kakashi's Team 7 to escort the film crew to the Land of Snow.
Since the country lay far to the north of the continent, the journey required both land and sea travel. It took more than twenty days before they finally arrived.
Standing at the bow of the ship, Kaede felt the biting cold wind brush against him. With a thought, he ignited his chakra, forming a thin, transparent layer around his body that blocked out the chill entirely.
Behind him stood the members of Team 7 and his own squad.
Over the past few weeks, they had spent day and night together, naturally growing closer.
With both an Uchiha and a Hyuga in the group—two clans famed for their dojutsu—it was inevitable that they would occasionally spar aboard the ship.
Though the scale of their matches wasn't large, it still left the film crew in awe.
It wasn't often they got to witness battles between high-level ninja.
During this time, Kaede mainly focused on setting structured training plans for everyone, especially Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke.
Naruto worked on strengthening his fundamentals while mastering the Rasengan completely.
The key sign of progress was that he no longer needed a shadow clone to help form it. Relying on assistance to shape the Rasengan meant he hadn't fully grasped it yet.
After more than half a month of Kaede's guidance, Naruto had not only mastered the Rasengan but had even developed the Big Ball Rasengan.
Since he hadn't yet learned Sage Mode or accessed the Nine-Tails' chakra, he couldn't use techniques like Wind Release: Rasenshuriken the way Kaede could.
Even so, the power of the Big Ball Rasengan far surpassed his previous Rasengan. Naruto's growth was undeniable.
In contrast, Sasuke frequently left the ship to train on the sea's surface, practicing Thunder Breathing.
For ninja, walking on water was simple—just channel chakra to the soles of the feet.
At the same time, it served as excellent training for chakra control.
Over these weeks, Sasuke had fully mastered Thunder Breathing.
His combat ability had improved significantly, reaching a level comparable to a tokubetsu jonin.
If one of them wasn't careful, they might even fall to him.
With both Thunder Breathing and Chidori at his disposal, Sasuke was essentially a younger version of Hatake Kakashi. Coupled with his two-tomoe Sharingan, his combat strength was astonishing.
Kaede hadn't neglected Haruno Sakura either. In addition to teaching her genjutsu, he passed on the three medical ninjutsu he had obtained through the system.
It had to be said—Sakura's talent in medical ninjutsu was remarkable.
Even though she started later, her mastery of the Mystical Palm Technique, the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique, and the Chakra Scalpel quickly surpassed that of Hyuga Keiko, who had trained longer.
The realization dealt Keiko a heavy blow.
She had always considered herself quite capable. Under Kaede's strict guidance and generous resources, she had reached elite chunin level at fifteen or sixteen, nearing tokubetsu jonin—a small genius in her own right.
But after witnessing the talents of Team 7, she finally understood what it meant to be outclassed.
Sasuke was a known prodigy, that much was obvious.
But his teammates were just as exceptional.
Sakura, in particular, seemed overshadowed by the brilliance of Naruto and Sasuke, yet she was far from ordinary.
Reaching Kage-level strength in her late teens placed her among the top talents in Konoha's history.
Her performance would be no worse than Tsunade's—and might even surpass the speed at which Tsunade herself reached that level.
While Tsunade had paved the way for her, Sakura's own talent was undeniable.
People simply focused too much on Naruto and Sasuke and overlooked that Haruno Sakura was a genius in her own right.
Otherwise, how could she stand alongside them as part of the New Sannin?