2:00 p.m.
The conference room was already packed with jōnin.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu walked in.
A flicker of surprise crossed the eyes of Uchiha Fugaku, Hyūga Hiashi, and the others—Shimura Danzō wasn't here.
Even with Root disbanded, he was still a Hokage advisor and a jōnin. By rights, he should attend a jōnin meeting—unless Hiruzen hadn't informed him.
The same thought surfaced for Fugaku, Hiashi, and the rest: Danzō likely wasn't going to be brought back into play. For the big clans, that was undeniably good news.
"Today's jōnin meeting has only one agenda," Hiruzen said, taking the central seat and getting straight to the point. "How to handle the Kirigakure envoy arriving next Monday."
He looked to Nara Shikaku. "I'll announce their roster first," Shikaku said, standing. "Suikazan Fuguki… Terumi Mei…"
Kitazawa only recognized—or rather, remembered—two of the names.
Suikazan Fuguki, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. In the original timeline, he and Hoshigaki Kisame were ambushed by Konoha's Morino Ibiki and others; accused of leaking intel, Fuguki was killed by Kisame, who then took Samehada.
The other was Terumi Mei—the future Fifth Mizukage. Unlike Fuguki, she had plenty of screen time in the original story, one of only two female Kage alongside Tsunade, terrifyingly strong with two kekkei genkai: Lava Release and Boil Release.
Judging by those two alone, the lineup screamed sincerity—even if Mei wasn't famous yet at this point in time.
"Since Fuguki of the Seven Swordsmen is leading the delegation, we should give this due weight," Hiruzen said, putting on a show. "Suggestions for our negotiating team?"
"Talks with outside villages are usually handled by Shikaku," Homura mused.
The Nara are Konoha's brain trust—great at strategy and at the table.
"What do you think, Shikaku?" Hiruzen asked.
"I think Tsunade-sama is more suitable than I am," Shikaku replied, dead serious.
"What's with all the roundabout theater?" Tsunade clicked her tongue.
"I hereby appoint Tsunade as Konoha's negotiating representative, with full authority to conduct the talks with Kirigakure," Hiruzen coughed lightly and declared.
Not just Tsunade—everyone got it immediately. Hiruzen and Shikaku were staging this. The post has no real power, but it represents the village's face. Hiruzen going out of his way to seat Tsunade front and center made the subtext obvious.
Looks like there's no suspense about the next Hokage, the clan heads concluded in unison.
"Next, let's settle the rest of the negotiating team," Hiruzen continued. Tsunade's name alone carried weight, but sending only her would look stingy—and he knew she didn't enjoy negotiations. Better to pad the team as insurance.
Kitazawa yawned. He'd killed Raiga; to avoid poking the Mist in the eye, he wouldn't be joining the delegation. The meeting was dull for him anyway.
Fortunately, it didn't drag on. Half an hour later, it was over.
Kitazawa stepped out. Tsunade stayed behind to meet with her panel of judges.
"Itachi?" Kitazawa noticed Uchiha Itachi waiting by the door.
"Map of the Land of the Sky," Itachi said, handing over a scroll.
"Thanks." Kitazawa unrolled it—so it was near the Land of Birds.
"A small matter," Itachi said. "I'll take my leave. If you need anything, just ask."
To someone who didn't know better, he might look like a helpful do-gooder. But the Uchiha are proud—they only extend respect to a very few. Tsunade happens to be one of them. Kitazawa was basking in her reflected glow. On his own, with his current status and strength, he still wouldn't make the Uchiha sit up and take notice.
After saying goodbye to Itachi, Kitazawa headed back to the Academy.
Tomorrow was Saturday. He planned to take Kabuto and the others to the Land of Birds. It's a small country between Wind and Earth—moving fast, they could make it a three-day round trip.
Before, facing Shinnō had left Kitazawa a sliver of doubt. Now, with Senju Chakra Mode, he only hoped Shinnō would put up enough of a fight to make it fun. To avoid a wasted trip, he sent a shadow clone to Land of the Sky overnight. If Shinnō was there, he'd bring Kurenai and the team. If not, they'd wait till next week.
5:00 p.m.
Training wrapped for the Advance Class. Kitazawa called everyone over, including Hatake Kakashi and Maruboshi Kosuke.
"Next Thursday and Friday we'll hold the term's second monthly exams," Kitazawa announced.
"The monthly exam's finally back!" Naruto whooped. He's the type who learns a new jutsu and immediately wants to use it; he'd just picked up Wind Release: Gale Palm and was itching for a chance. He'd also lost to Neji and Sasuke last time and had a score to settle.
"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered beside him, head already aching—the perfect contrast to Naruto's hype.
Sasuke's hand slid reflexively to his sword hilt. He intended to keep his top rank, just like last time. Two straight first-place finishes would prove his strength. He was confident, too—his Leaf-Style Kenjutsu had leveled up, and he could even barely pull off Leaf-Style: Willow.
Neji's expression tightened. One week left—could he master Eight Trigrams: Thirty-Two Palms in time? He was four strikes short. With Thirty-Two Palms in hand, he'd feel much better about facing Sasuke and Naruto.
"Sakura, want to make it a contest?" Ino taunted. She'd learned four jutsu from Kitazawa in a row and her confidence was sky-high.
"What kind of contest?" Sakura saw right through her—still, she couldn't back down against her best friend. She'd already mastered Water Style: Water Formation Wall and Water Style: Wild Water Wave; used correctly—one defense, one offense—her odds weren't bad.
"Whoever places higher in the combat exam," Ino beamed. "Loser treats."
"Deal," Sakura said without hesitation.
"What a fiery, youthful spirit!" Naruto gave a thumbs-up. "Sasuke, let's make a bet too!"
"I'm not interested in rematching someone I've already defeated," Sasuke said coolly.
"As expected of Sasuke-kun!" Sakura swooned. "So cool!"
"Naruto, I'll take you on!" Rock Lee flashed a grin; his teeth practically sparkled.
"Great! Let's have a taijutsu showdown bursting with youth!" Naruto shouted.
"Count me in," Kiba chimed in. "Whoever ranks lowest buys Ichiraku ramen."
"No problem!" Lee agreed instantly.
"You walked right into that," Tenten sighed. "Don't bet on rankings with them." Lee was fine in combat exams, but his written scores were a disaster. Tenten could already guess who'd place lowest.
"It's fine!" Lee waved it off. "Win or lose, it's all youth!"
"…" Tenten was speechless.
Shino adjusted his glasses. He didn't care for rivalry, only for his kikaichū mutation experiments. The water-resistant strain still hadn't appeared and was lagging behind his fire-adapted strain. He guessed Fire Release's lethality forced rapid evolution, while Water Release was comparatively gentle.
"Kids really do have energy," Kosuke chuckled.
Kakashi nodded reflexively—then realized, wait, was that a jab at his lack of energy?
"Go prepare well," Kitazawa reminded them. "After this monthly, the next one is finals. Make the most of these two chances." The Academy runs on three terms a year; the third is the shortest—just under three months.
"After finals, do we become second-years?" Naruto raised a hand.
"In the Advance Class, we don't split by grade," Kitazawa said—then smiled. "But yes, you're one year closer to graduation."
"I'm not in a rush," Naruto scratched his head. He wanted to be a full shinobi, but he also loved his time at the Academy.
"Graduation's still a ways off," Kitazawa said. "Alright, head home."
"See you, Kitazawa-sensei!" the students chorused as they left.
"'Til next time." Kitazawa said goodbye to Kosuke and Kakashi and went home.
The next morning—
Still asleep, Kitazawa was flooded with returning memories: his shadow clone had confirmed the situation at Land of the Sky, then dispelled itself.
"Looks like we're lucky," he sat up and stretched. According to the clone, Shinnō was in Land of the Sky right now.
Kitazawa glanced at the still-sleeping Kurenai, slipped out of bed, dressed, and headed to the team's training spot.
"Kitazawa-sensei." Kabuto, Aburame Torune, and Uchiha Izumi walked over at once.
"Meet at the village gate at 1:00 p.m. We're heading out on a mission," Kitazawa said without preamble.
"What mission?" Kabuto asked after acknowledging the order.
"In terms of difficulty, about S-rank," Kitazawa answered honestly. "But it isn't a Konoha-issued mission, so there's no S-rank payout."
Kabuto's face turned serious. S-rank was the real deal, nothing like their past B-ranks. As for payment, none of them minded—after Kitazawa killed Raiga, he'd given them a cut of the 1.2 million ryō, despite them never even seeing Raiga, let alone helping. It was basically free money.
"Our destination is the Land of the Sky," Kitazawa said with a small smile. "Details later. You can dig up whatever intel you can in the meantime."
"Yes, Sensei." Kabuto perked up—he'd never even heard of Land of the Sky. A perfect challenge for his intel-gathering skills.
"See you this afternoon." Kitazawa patted Kabuto's shoulder. He was doing this deliberately—Kabuto had talent; it would be a waste not to cultivate it. If Kitazawa became Hokage, Kabuto could easily take Danzō's place. Every village needs someone to handle the dirty work—just not as dirty as Danzō.
Kitazawa left the Academy and headed back to Kurenai's place.
"Back already?" Kurenai was awake, sitting on the sofa in a black silk nightdress.
"Up this early?" Kitazawa teased.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she flushed and glared at him. She had been a little… unrestrained last night. For some reason, she felt Kitazawa had gotten even stronger.
"Ahem." Kitazawa paused. "We're heading out on a mission this afternoon."
"What mission?" she sniffed. "Don't tell me it's another B-rank."
"S-rank," he grinned. "You'll like this one."
"S-rank?" Kurenai's brow knit; her tone shifted. "Isn't that too dangerous?"
"What, are you scared?" he pinched her cheek.
"Of course not," she folded her arms. "I'm worried about Izumi and the others." An S-rank meant they might well face a jōnin. Izumi and the rest were only chūnin—that was risky.
"Kabuto's a jōnin now, and you're effectively a special jōnin. Three jōnin on an S-rank isn't a big problem," Kitazawa said lightly. As a canon-reader, he knew Land of the Sky had numbers, but only Shinnō truly had jōnin-class strength.
"True," Kurenai relaxed. "You did kill Raiga, after all." In her mind, most jōnin they might meet would be ordinary. With Kitazawa around, danger seemed remote.
"I'll make breakfast," he said, not bothering to explain further.
In truth, Shinnō amped by forbidden medical arts was far beyond Raiga. With the Medical Forbidden Technique: Body Revival Technique, he could keep the Eight Gates open for long stretches—but it was a knockoff, weaker than Might Guy or Might Duy.
After breakfast, Kitazawa and Kurama Yakumo headed next door. Once he finished treating Tsunade, he went straight to the mission desk in the Hokage Building.
Taking down Shinnō was personal; to leave the village properly, he still needed Hiruzen's sign-off. The Hokage warrant Tsunade had given him was for solo use only. To keep it simple, he picked up a bandit-suppression mission to the Land of Birds as cover.
At Konoha's gate, Kurenai, Kabuto, Torune, and Izumi were already waiting. After a bit of small talk, they registered with the two gate guards.
"Move out!" Kitazawa swung his arm, and the five of them headed off at speed.
"Kitazawa-sensei," Kabuto produced a scroll. "Intel I gathered on Land of the Sky."
"Land of the Sky?" Kurenai frowned. "I've never even heard of that village."
"That's normal," Kitazawa said as he skimmed the scroll. "They were wiped out in the Second Shinobi World War."
"No wonder," Kurenai said—she'd barely been born back then.
"We're going to Land of the Sky?" she asked. "Didn't it get destroyed?"
Kabuto glanced at Kitazawa—he wanted the answer too.
"It was destroyed, but some shinobi survived," Kitazawa said. "They've been building strength for years, trying to take revenge on Konoha."
"Is this a secret mission from the Hokage?" Kurenai asked, curious now.
"No," Kitazawa said plainly. "Their leader, Shinnō, has a medical technique I want."
"So he's a fine medical-nin, or you wouldn't be interested," Kurenai laughed.
"Don't underestimate him just because he's a medic," Kitazawa closed the scroll. "He can fight."
"Got it," Kurenai nodded.
"Sensei, which route do we take to the Land of Birds?" Kabuto asked once they'd finished chatting.
"Which do you think?" Kitazawa countered.
"Through the Land of Wind," Kabuto decided after a moment.
"Why not the Land of Rain?" Kitazawa asked, amused.
"Since the Third Shinobi War, Amegakure has cut off contact with the outside world. No one knows what Hanzō is thinking," Kabuto analyzed. "Given Rain's history with Konoha, I think the Wind route is safer."
"You've got a good student, Kitazawa," Kurenai said approvingly.
"When you're a squad leader, you'll have good students too," Kitazawa smiled. "Alright, we'll take the Wind route."
Kabuto's analysis was far from the truth, but that wasn't his fault. Even shinobi from the Five Great Villages wouldn't guess that the once-invincible Hanzō was already dead. At his peak, he could pressure the three Sannin by himself—and they are the Sannin thanks to him.
Different era, different meta: Hanzō was an early-patch god who ended up running into a late-game monster.