Land of Fire, Hidden Leaf Village, Hatake Clan Compound.
Hatake Kakashi stared at the diary on his desk, lost in thought.
The cover read: Kitahara Kaede's Diary (Hatake Kakashi Copy).
The diary had literally fallen from the sky onto his desk moments ago, which had him on edge for quite a while. He'd inspected it thoroughly—inside and out—but found no trace of any mechanisms or jutsu at work.
This was the Hatake compound, after all. Sure, he was the only direct bloodline member left, but there were still plenty of distant relatives with Hatake blood around. No ordinary person could pull off a stunt like this right under the nose of Konoha's Copy Ninja.
He was, after all, the Copy Ninja—one of the strongest shinobi standing just below the Kage level.
Once he'd confirmed it wasn't some kind of trap, he opened the diary.
It really was just a diary. Though the contents were... odd.
Year 63 of Konoha, May 1st, Clear skies
[Heading out to deal with some bandit trouble.]
May 2nd, Clear skies
[What kind of messed-up world is this? I'd never even killed a chicken before, and today I had to take down several bandits. Though I guess they had it coming—they were scum anyway.]
May 3rd, Clear skies
[Heading back. Nothing unusual happened.]
May 4th, Overcast
[Finally back in Konoha. I can finally relax.]
May 5th, Clear skies
[Nothing today. Training at home.]
May 6th, Scattered showers
[Nothing today. Training at home.]
May 7th, Clear skies
[Nothing today. More training.]
May 8th, Cloudy
[Finished a C-rank mission today. Exhausted.]
Up to this point, it was just mundane day-to-day stuff. Kakashi frowned. This appeared to be the diary of a Leaf ninja named Kitahara Kaede, just recording everyday events.
Keeping a diary wasn't exactly common for shinobi—especially not daily entries. Diaries could leak critical information, and for a ninja, intel was everything.
But the next entry made him sit up straight.
May 9th, Clear skies
[Passed by the Academy today and saw the infamous Naruto Uzumaki. He really is completely ostracized. A demon fox? Ha! Ignorant villagers—it's almost laughable.
Still, I don't dare approach him. Who knows if ANBU is watching, ready to haul me in? After all, I'm just an ordinary Chunin. If this were wartime, I'd be nothing but cannon fodder.]
Kakashi straightened up immediately. Of course he knew who Naruto Uzumaki was—his late teacher's son, with the Nine-Tails sealed inside him. But how did this Kitahara Kaede know?
Only a handful of high-ranking Leaf officials knew Naruto was the Fourth Hokage's son—and him, as Minato's former student.
As for the Nine-Tails being sealed inside him, even fewer people knew that. Most villagers just thought he was the Nine-Tails—that he was somehow the fox itself reborn after the disaster twelve years ago.
Even most shinobi weren't clear on the details. But reading between the lines, this Kitahara Kaede seemed to know something.
Kitahara Kaede. Chunin.
Kakashi was certain he had no memory of any Chunin by that name.
To be fair, Konoha had countless shinobi. He didn't even know all the Jonin, let alone the Chunin.
The ones who became well-known were usually elite few who'd made a name for themselves. Even among Jonin, that was rare.
His first instinct was to wonder if this Kitahara Kaede was a spy from another village. He almost went to find him—but the moment the thought formed, an invisible, terrifying pressure crashed down on him.
Instinctively, he knew: if he took even one step forward, he would die.
Kakashi immediately abandoned the idea. But he still suspected someone was lurking nearby, so he activated his sensory jutsu to scan the area.
He wasn't a sensory-type ninja, but as the famous Copy Ninja, he knew a few sensory techniques—though his range and precision were nowhere near a specialist's.
Yet his scan revealed nothing. Not a single person.
Could such a thing even exist in this world?
Impossible. Even the Hokage couldn't do something like this—appearing without a trace and reading his thoughts.
The moment he thought about finding Kitahara Kaede, that overwhelming dread returned.
He didn't understand it, but one thing was clear: as long as he didn't try to seek out Kitahara Kaede directly, that terrifying pressure wouldn't appear.
Kakashi felt the back of his shirt—it was completely soaked with cold sweat.
He had to find out who this Kitahara Kaede was and what was going on. He'd noticed something important: as long as he didn't think about directly finding him, the pressure didn't trigger.
That meant he could investigate indirectly—like pulling Kitahara Kaede's personnel file. That should be safe.
But if there really was some incomprehensibly powerful entity behind this, what was their goal?
Clearly, they weren't trying to keep Kitahara Kaede's identity secret—in fact, they'd deliberately exposed his diary. But why?
Too many mysteries. He couldn't make sense of it.
Then he saw the final entry in the diary.
May 10th, Clear skies
[Picked up a mission assignment today. On the way home, I spotted Fifty-Fifty Kakashi from a distance. First time I've actually seen the legendary Copy Ninja in person. Below Kage level, he's definitely top-tier. Shame that after Shippuden, his power level just can't keep up anymore. At the end of the day, this is a world ruled by eyes. Without a bloodline limit, you're nothing.]
Fifty-Fifty Kakashi?
Is he talking about me?
Kakashi froze. For a moment, he wondered if there was actually someone in the Hatake clan named "Fifty-Fifty." Sure, he was the only direct descendant left, but there were still distant relatives with Hatake blood.
Then he read the rest—"Copy Ninja." That was definitely him.
But when did he get the nickname "Fifty-Fifty Kakashi"?
And what the hell was "Shippuden"? What did "a world ruled by eyes" mean? "Without a bloodline limit, you're nothing"?
He understood bloodlines—kekkei genkai. But who said you were nothing without one?
His father didn't have a kekkei genkai, yet he'd carved out a legendary reputation as the White Fang with nothing but a blade. And Kakashi himself had built his own legend as the Copy Ninja.
Sure, kekkei genkai were powerful. They gave you a head start. But they weren't invincible.
He'd never had one, yet he'd been the best among his peers his entire life. And plenty of those he'd left in the dust came from bloodline clans.
The Uchiha. The Hyuga. And so on.
None of them had been a match for him.