While Kaida was away on his mission, Shisui went to his mother to share the good news he had.

"Mom, where are you? I have great news for you!" Shisui called out as he entered his house.

"I'm in the kitchen, honey. Just wait in the hall, I'll be there in two minutes," Hae Uchiha, Shisui's mother, replied.

But Shisui, too eager to wait, went straight to the kitchen.

"I told you to wait in the hall. Why did you come in here?" Hae asked, putting the pot down from the fire.

"Mom, leave all this. I have something really important to tell you," Shisui said.

"Okay, come here, sit, and tell me what you think is so important," Hae replied, sitting on a small chair in the kitchen.

"Mom, today the Third Elder gave me a mission to escort a boy to his office. He’s an Uchiha who awakened his Sharingan at the age of 7—well, almost 8—but still, he's a genius to awaken it so early."

"It’s great that the clan has found another genius, but I still don’t get why you couldn’t wait two minutes to tell me this," Hae asked, a little puzzled.

"Mom, that boy is none other than Kaida Senju," Shisui said with a wide smile.

For a moment, Hae was silent, trying to connect the name Kaida Senju to the boy Shisui was talking about. She first thought of 'Kaida Uchiha,' but then she remembered her long-lost friend, Aiko Uchiha. Since Aiko was disowned by the clan, Hae had only met her a few times.

Aiko always talked about her son—how cute and good he was. Hae had met the boy a few times herself. When the Nine-Tails attacked, the clan believed Aiko and her husband had died, and naturally assumed their child perished with them since their home was destroyed.

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But now, her son was telling her that her nephew was alive, and not only alive but a ninja. Though she was sceptical, she knew Shisui wouldn’t joke about something so serious. Still, she had to ask:

"You’re not joking, are you?" Hae asked, her voice trembling.

"No, Mom. I even invited him to meet you, but he was in a bit of a hurry. I think he left on a mission, so he declined and said he’d visit after completing it," Shisui explained with a calm smile.

"Oh my god... he’s alive. Thank the heavens! But if he’s alive, where has he been all this time?" Hae asked.

"He lived in an orphanage. But don’t worry, Mom, I checked into it. It’s a good orphanage, so I don’t think Kaida had too many problems living there," Shisui replied.

"That poor boy had to live like an orphan, even though he had family. The world is too cruel."

"I think because of that, he holds some resentment towards the Uchiha clan. He even declined the Third Elder's proposal to come back to the Uchiha compound. But I don’t think he’s particularly angry with us. He seems quite mature for his age. Let’s try to make him feel more comfortable with us when he returns."

"Yes, just bring him here as soon as he’s back from his mission."

"Okay, Mom."

After that, they continued talking about Kaida and Shisui's other missions that weren’t confidential.

...

After Renji and Hiroto packed their belongings, they stepped out of the palace, where Yukihiro and the team were waiting.

'Just you wait, brat. Once we return to the village, your whole ninja career will end. You’ll learn the consequences of threatening me,' Renji thought, glaring at Kaida.

"Yukihiro, are you all ready to leave?" Hiroto asked with a smile.

"Yes, Hiroto-sama. We will follow the same arrangements as before. As per Lord Third's orders, you will also need to take a soldier pill since we can’t take any risks with your safety."

Hiroto nodded and took the soldier pill given to him by Yukihiro, followed by Renji. Once they were out of the Land of Noodles, the team used a carriage to maintain the village's reputation. After exiting, Kaida carried Hiroto while Yukihiro carried Renji.

Just as they were about to take a different route, Ryota approached Yukihiro and said, "Sensei, someone is following us."

Yukihiro, hearing this, gave a simple order to his team. "Follow me." After traveling 10 kilometers in a different direction from the original path, Yukihiro suddenly stopped and turned to Ryota.

"How many people are following us?"

"Only two, Sensei."

"I assume they are taking the same path we did to get here?"

"Yes, Sensei."

"Okay, Kaida, make a shadow clone and send it with mine a little ahead. We will set an ambush. If the clones can deal with them, great. If not, at least we’ll buy time to shake them off and head back to the village as soon as possible."

Kaida nodded and made a shadow clone, thinking, 'So Sensei doesn't want to face them directly unless necessary. Smart. Judging by the fact that only two are following us, they are either elite Jonin or Chunin specializing in tracking. We'll find out soon enough.'

Both made shadow clones with 50% of their chakra and sent them one kilometre ahead while continuing to move. Two kilometres later, the two ninjas following their path arrived. Completely clueless about the ambush, they were caught off guard by a barrage of wind blades from the shadow clones and were impaled before they could react...

************

(A.N: Konoha is planning a little surprise for Kaida! Let's see what he gets and how it changes his life from now on!)