Returning to the Hokage's office, Kaede poured himself a cup of tea. After taking a couple of sips, he flipped through the documents on his desk.
Due to Konoha's current three-tiered decision-making system, not many documents made it all the way to him. The ones that did were matters requiring his personal judgment, such as Jonin promotions, large-scale funding decisions, and other critical issues.
Nara Shikaku, along with the heads of the village departments and elite Jonin, handled most of the everyday affairs as the first level of authority. Matters requiring higher clearance would be forwarded to Tsunade, who served as an advisor.
Anything Tsunade couldn't decide on ultimately landed on Kaede's desk.
"Hm?"
As Kaede sifted through the stack of paperwork, a particular intelligence report caught his eye, prompting a moment of surprise. He picked it up and read through it carefully.
The intel concerned Takigakure, the Village Hidden by a Waterfall.
Back when the Five Great Shinobi Villages were first established and leading up to the First Great Ninja War, Takigakure was considered the sixth most powerful village, just behind the Big Five. It had even been granted a tailed beast by Hashirama Senju, specifically, the Seven-Tails.
Over time, however, Takigakure declined in power, eventually being surpassed by Amegakure, which itself had been destroyed by Kaede later on.
Takigakure had always maintained a relatively friendly relationship with Konoha. So even though it bordered the Land of Fire, Konoha never made any aggressive moves toward it. But recently, that had started to change, Konoha had begun applying pressure, aiming to make Takigakure into a subordinate ninja village.
It was impossible to unify the shinobi world without bloodshed.
Kaede was capable of kindness, but also had a strong and ruthless side. He didn't hesitate to eliminate resisting shinobi, prioritizing the wellbeing of civilians, whose numbers far outweighed those of the ninja.
What mattered to him was ensuring that the everyday people didn't suffer during the process of unifying the nations, avoiding war, plunder, and destruction wherever possible. The resistance of other ninja villages didn't concern him.
To him, their resistance was meaningless.
The report didn't describe any direct conflict between Konoha and Takigakure, but rather detailed how the mounting pressure from Konoha had left the latter increasingly uneasy, especially since their current Seven-Tails Jinchuriki had grown old and could no longer fully control the beast's power.
In response, Takigakure rushed to replace the Jinchuriki.
But the rushed process backfired. Their sealing technique wasn't strong enough, and a mistake during the process caused the Seven-Tails to break free and go on a rampage.
Takigakure had been weakened by repeated wars. Their total number of active shinobi was barely a thousand, and none had strength approaching the level of the Five Kage. They were completely helpless against the berserk tailed beast. The village was nearly destroyed, and the Seven-Tails disappeared in the chaos.
Well, "disappeared" wasn't entirely accurate.
Since the village had housed the beast for so long, they had ways of tracking it. The real problem was that they no longer had the strength to do anything about it.
With the village in ruins and the tailed beast out of control, what remained of Takigakure quickly made a decision: surrender and pledge allegiance to Konoha.
"Seven-Tails, Chomei…"
Kaede contemplated the situation for a moment, then called for one of his Hokage Guards and gave an order:
"Accept Takigakure's surrender. Notify Shikaku to deploy 2,000 shinobi to the Land of the Waterfall to stabilize the region."
News of the village's destruction wouldn't stay secret for long. Soon, chaos would sweep across the land, fueled by panic and unrest.
"Yes, sir."
The Hokage Guard bowed and immediately left to carry out the command.
A few moments later,
A swirling black vortex appeared in the office, and Kakashi stepped out of it, landing in front of Kaede.
"Should I head to the Land of the Waterfall?" Kakashi asked. "We still need to get the Seven-Tails under control."
"No need."
Kaede stood up and stretched, then said, "I'll handle it myself. I haven't left the village in nearly three years. If I stay here any longer, I'll end up like that fox, this is the perfect chance to get out and move around a bit."
Kakashi blinked in surprise, then considered it for a moment. "Then… Big Brother, who do you plan to bring with you? Rin? Kurenai? …Honestly, I think you should bring them all. If you leave one behind, I might not be able to handle the fallout."
Kaede tilted his head and looked at Kakashi. "Now that you mention it, I haven't checked your training progress in a while. Come on, let's head to the back mountain. I want to see how far you've come with your Sage Body."
"Uh… about that… I just remembered I have something to do… Let's do this another time."
With an awkward cough, Kakashi summoned another swirling vortex and vanished on the spot.
After reaching a certain level with the Sage Body, Kakashi no longer suffered any side effects from using Obito's Mangekyo Sharingan. However, lacking Uchiha blood, he still couldn't manifest the power of the Eternal Mangekyo.
To do that, he'd need to fully master the Sage Body, only then could it merge with the eye's power and evolve gradually to the eternal level.
Kaede shook his head with a sigh.
He had initially planned to go alone, but on second thought, Kakashi's suggestion had some merit. Given the nature of the Seven-Tails, it would be a fitting source of power for Yuhi Kurenai.
Rin was already the Jinchuriki of the Three-Tails. Making Kurenai the host of the Seven-Tails seemed quite appropriate.
A short while later,
Kurenai arrived at the office carrying a tray of tea and snacks.
She set them down on a side table, and Kaede called out to her. "Kurenai, come here for a moment."
"Hmm?" Kurenai blinked at him.
He wanted her to come closer?
Was this what she thought it was?
Was he about to…?
Her mind started to spiral with all sorts of thoughts. A soft blush colored her cheeks, but she didn't hesitate. She stepped toward him with gentle, shy obedience, there was something irresistible about her quiet charm.
Kaede could more or less guess what she was thinking just from her expression.
Honestly… Anko's been a terrible influence.
This was the Hokage's office, and she was imagining what kinds of things?
Activating his Rinnegan, Kaede took her hand and sent a thread of chakra into her body to assess her condition.
Kurenai had studied the art of cell activation, but her chakra still hadn't reached the level of a Kage. She couldn't yet train in Sage Mode or develop the Sage Body.
"Not sure if this will work…"
After completing the scan, Kaede frowned slightly in thought.
If she had a Sage Body, even an incomplete one, she could easily handle the power of a tailed beast. There would be no compatibility issues.
But with just cell activation, things weren't so clear. If her chakra wasn't compatible with the Seven-Tails, the bonding process could be difficult, even if the beast was cooperative.
Still…
With him overseeing the process, as long as the compatibility wasn't extremely bad, like oil and water, she should be fine.
"Kaede, uh, Hokage-sama…"
Kurenai could feel his chakra flowing through her. When she saw the light in his eyes, she realized he was examining her body.
Her knees weakened slightly, a blush spread across her face, and she felt a fluttering sense of embarrassment and anticipation.
Kaede let go of her hand and said, "Kurenai, go get ready. I'm heading to the Land of the Waterfall, and you'll be coming with me as my escort."
"Huh? Y-Yes! Of course!"
A wave of joy surged through Kurenai's heart.
To be his escort… to travel alone with him, was this his way of expressing his feelings?
The happiness hit her so suddenly that her voice trembled with emotion.
Watching her leave, Kaede couldn't shake the feeling that she had probably already picked out names for their future children.
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Completed version available on Patreon.com/Veltoria