Not to mention Senju Hashirama, who pushed the Sage Body of the entire Senju Clan to its absolute peak.
Tsunade had to gather chakra for years and release it through her Yin Seal, but Hashirama could use that kind of power passively, as if it were nothing. Ordinary people only needed a small injection of Hashirama Cells to massively increase their chakra and healing ability. Hashirama's entire body was made of those cells.
Compared to a monster like that, the fact that Uchiha Madara could fight him to a standstill was already incredible.
Kaede Kitahara's rate of growth wasn't slow either. Hyuga Keiko, who could see his chakra directly, was constantly stunned. Amakusa Ryuji couldn't see chakra, but the power gap spoke for itself. Kaede Kitahara had gone from being on par with them to the point where he could crush him with one hand. The change was enormous.
Even their original teacher, Akai Akimoto, didn't come close to Kaede Kitahara's current strength.
Sometimes they even tried mixed sparring. The two of them teamed up and still couldn't beat a single shadow clone.
Privately, Hyuga Keiko and Amakusa Ryuji agreed that Kaede Kitahara was already at legitimate Jonin level.
But they didn't understand one thing. In the history of the ninja world, geniuses appeared in every generation. Even if they hadn't met many, they had heard of them. The most famous example was Uchiha Itachi, a prodigy their age.
They weren't in the same class, but they were close, so they had seen Itachi at the academy.
Itachi had been a real prodigy, the center of attention wherever he went. Meanwhile, the three of them hadn't even made it into Class A. They were placed in Class B, which already counted as decent.
Class A was mostly filled with children from ninja clans. A civilian getting into Class A meant near-supernatural talent.
Normally, geniuses built their reputation young. Very rarely would someone fifteen or sixteen years old, an age where one's future was basically set, suddenly explode in strength.
If Kaede Kitahara had some secret encounter, they should've known about it. They always traveled together, did missions together, hardly ever separated. It would've been almost impossible for him to hide anything.
No matter what they suspected, they understood one thing clearly. They didn't know why Kaede Kitahara was so desperate to raise their strength, but it was ultimately good for them.
Having someone like Kaede Kitahara as a sparring partner was the kind of blessing no one got even in several lifetimes.
Right now, the only weakness he had was the number of jutsu he knew. But overall, his strength definitely surpassed most elite Jonin and was closing in on Kage Level.
With the acceleration from the Uzumaki Clan's Sage Body, he was confident that by the time of the Chunin Exams, he would at minimum reach Kage Level. The only difference would be that he lacked powerful jutsu.
But that could be fixed. For example, he had already worked out the Rasengan on his own. If he added Wind Release chakra to it, he could create the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. His half-finished Flying Thunder God was improving as well. As his chakra increased, the sensing range of the marked kunai had expanded to cover the entire village.
If he could obtain the next stage of the Flying Thunder God, he would be able to use the technique in actual combat.
He still had several months before the exams began. Plenty of time to draw some strong jutsu from the system.
Just as the three were locked in intense training, a figure landed in the distance.
Kaede Kitahara turned and saw someone in Anbu attire wearing a mask.
Because of the last attack from Danzo's Root squad, he didn't relax at the sight of someone dressed like Anbu.
Hyuga Keiko and Amakusa Ryuji both tensed up as well. They had also participated in the ambush against that Root team. If anyone tried to settle accounts with Kaede Kitahara, they wouldn't escape either.
"By order of the Hokage, Team Kitahara is to report to the Hokage Tower immediately."
The Anbu confirmed they'd heard him and then vanished.
"Looks like a real Anbu this time, not those Root guys." Amakusa Ryuji let out a breath.
"Let's go. Looks like the Hokage needs something from us." Kaede Kitahara shrugged.
"We're actually being summoned by the Hokage?" Ryuji's voice cracked with disbelief. Outside of occasionally spotting the Third Hokage when picking up missions, a Chunin-level team like theirs had no reason to see him face-to-face.
They cleaned up quickly and headed straight for the Hokage Tower.
With an Anbu guiding them, they entered the Hokage's office.
The moment Kaede Kitahara stepped inside, he sensed at least four Anbu hiding in the shadows, ready to attack at any moment. They hid themselves well, but his enhanced perception made it impossible to fool him. Even without sensory training, his body was strong enough to sense things instinctively.
"Hokage-sama," the three greeted in unison.
Sarutobi Hiruzen set down his old pipe. A gentle smile tugged at his lips. "You three—Kaede Kitahara, Amakusa Ryuji, Hyuga Keiko—you were members of Akai Akimoto's squad, correct?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Kaede Kitahara replied.
Akimoto had joined Anbu recently, though they had no idea what mission he was on now.
The room was hazy with smoke, and Hiruzen looked a bit embarrassed. He opened the window to let fresh air in. "My apologies. I've been smoking for decades. Hard habit to break."
The three stayed silent.
Hiruzen continued, "I called you here because I want you to complete a B-rank mission. Here are the mission details. Take a look."
He handed the scroll to Kaede Kitahara, who unrolled it and froze.
The mission was related to the Land of Waves.
Despite his interference, Kakashi's team still ended up taking their destined assignment. They had accepted the mission earlier today and would head out tomorrow morning.
And his team's mission was simple.
They were to secretly escort Kakashi's team and make sure they completed the Land of Waves mission successfully.