Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 106 The Immortals Don't Lie to the Immortals

Both are resurrection techniques that involve exchanging one life for another. Compared to the Samsara Rebirth Technique, the Self-Rebirth Technique is indeed somewhat inferior, as it cannot restore youth. However, Kaede Tsukasa can use zombies to share the cost of the technique.

For him, the value of the Self-Rebirth Technique even surpasses that of the Reincarnation Technique.

"If it's just about reviving the current me, not many zombies are needed as sacrifices. But if we add the Hashirama clone and the Sharingan to me, the number of zombies required will be extremely large."

Kaede quickly assessed the situation, realizing that he needed to set up a large-scale ritual to devour the life force of all the zombies in one go, and then stop the ritual after they were completely resurrected.

The little bit of life force he had just gained had now completely dissipated—the dead in the defiled earth could not retain life force for long; this was something only the living could do.

Then you need to find a place where many zombies gather, and make sure your ritual won't be disturbed.

Over the next two days, the Konoha patrols, which routinely patrolled the Land of Fire, noticed that the zombies seemed to have become more active.

"Hey, did I see wrong? Did another zombie just run past?"

"You're not mistaken, my nose smelled it too. Many of the moving corpses still carried the stench of dirt and decay, clearly indicating they had been dead for a long time and had been suddenly awakened from the earth..."

"Hmm, judging from what other teams have said, this phenomenon seems to be happening more and more frequently. I wonder what Lord Kaedeji is doing."

None of the patrol members reported this to the village. Seriously, it was obvious that Lord Kaedeji was using magic. Whatever his purpose—whether it was assembling troops for a military operation, researching corpse-escape ninjutsu, or just playing around for fun—it was none of their business.

Report it to someone? Who would they report it to? Does the Konoha ghoul, Tsukasa Kaede, really intend to mobilize a horde of zombies to attack Konoha? That's a rather lame joke.

Inuzuka Tsuru wiped his nose, then remembered something and excitedly whispered, "Hey, have you guys heard? A woman has appeared at Kaede Tsukasa's house!"

"A woman? That's normal, isn't it? He's at the age where he can get married... Wait, you mean, was that woman a corpse? Hiss, Lord Kaedeji's fetish is certainly unique."

"Idiot, that's not what I meant. If you want to die, don't drag me down with you. Is that something you can just guess? That woman is supposedly a disciple that Jiraiya-sama recruited from outside!"

"Disciple?! Isn't Minato Jiraiya's disciple? Even the other two members of Jiraiya's team aren't qualified to call themselves Jiraiya's disciples!"

"But that is indeed the case. Jiraiya-sama recruited disciples from outside, just like Kaede-sama brought back Hidan."

A group of people patrolled while gossiping enthusiastically.

Swish!
A passing zombie paused and looked in their direction. The group immediately lowered their eyes and remained silent. Once the zombie was gone, they resumed their heated discussion.

The patrols are working less, and the frequency of incursions from other villages is decreasing, giving them more free time.

These zombies were the ones they saw. But what they didn't see were people who had been dead for a long time in a more distant place. As long as their bodies hadn't immediately decomposed and they still had even the slightest bit of value, they were all awakened by Kaede Tsukasa.

Just as Kaede Tsukasa was focused on collecting zombies.

Orochimaru returned silently, and the situation was extremely dire.

"Hehehe, Kaede-kun, it's so good to see you safe and sound. Your spoils are doing very well too. As soon as I entered the village, I heard some people talking about Konan. Jiraiya is probably searching for Konan like crazy. He must want to know what exactly happened in the Land of Rain."

Orochimaru's face was deathly pale. Even though he had changed into clean and tidy clothes, he could not hide the smell of blood on him. This time, all his injuries were his own doing. It seemed that he had withstood at least one Shinra Tensei.

Kaede sat in his chair, idly flipping through the experimental data in his hands, his mind far from it: "Minami is clever; she knows how to use the village's power to put pressure on me, but it's useless."

“King Kaede, this is something I really don’t understand… If you’ve taken a liking to this woman, you could have easily taken her under control and placed her in a base somewhere else.”

“There’s no need for that. I have ways to keep Xiao Nan under my control, but you don’t, which is why you need to do this.”

"Heh, you're really confident. What if Konan tells the village that you're dead..." Orochimaru's eyes were dangerous as he deliberately stood a little further away.

Kaedeji put down the documents in his hand and stood up: "She won't talk. It's one thing that I have a way to shut her up, but it's another that she knows what to say and do. Let's talk about you first. Judging from your appearance, you've suffered a crushing defeat. Did you suffer a great loss at Nagato's hands?"

"Pretty much. Nagato's power is increasing at a visible rate. The power of those Rinnegan seems to have no upper limit; its level depends entirely on the limit that Nagato can withstand..."

This is what gives Orochimaru the biggest headache. It's like Nagato doesn't have any kind of bottleneck in strength. With hatred and anger in his heart, the power of the Rinnegan can always be developed more quickly. The current Nagato is considered strong even among Kage-level ninjas. He starts with a bunch of hand seal techniques that are too difficult to counter.

Orochimaru sneered, "Kaze-kun, how about we make a trade? If you tell me how you escaped the Impure World Reincarnation, I'll tell you Nagato's latest eye technique. You kidnapped his comrade, driving him crazy and making him want revenge on me."

Orochimaru was so close, so very close, to extract the Rinnegan, but he almost died at Nagato's hands as Nagato used the Rinnegan to lure him into attacking!
Orochimaru clearly had the advantage in combat experience and decision-making ability, but Nagato possessed a soul-extracting eye technique that could be activated instantly!
This is outrageous. A genius ninja has to work his life off to learn a forbidden technique that seals the soul, but Nagato can use it casually, even without hand seals.

If he hadn't sensed something was wrong and used a shadow clone to withstand Nagato's head pat, he would have been dead long ago.

Even after fighting the entire Second World War, Orochimaru had never been so close to death.

"There's no need for that. I'm not interested in the Rinnegan. I have my own things to do."

Kaede Tsukasa stood up: "I've taken the corpses you haven't used yet. And the ninjas from the enemy village that you secretly captured without telling our village, I'll turn them into zombies and take them with me."

"Hmph, first you undo the Impure World Reincarnation technique, then you start collecting zombies... planning to use the Reincarnation Technique to revive yourself? I never thought Impure World Reincarnation and Reincarnation Technique could be combined in this way. Kaede-kun, you really are a genius."

Orochimaru seems to have understood Kaede Tsukasa's plan. From the beginning, Kaede Tsukasa needed to use the Impure World Reincarnation technique, with Hashirama's experimental subjects as sacrifices, to create an impure body. Once resurrected, he would likely directly possess the power of Hashirama's cells.

"The next time we meet, I'll probably see that you've mastered Wood Release. That's truly remarkable. The Senju clan has paid such a high price to achieve this, and you've accomplished it with such skill."

Even Orochimaru had to admit that Kaede Tsukasa's plan was truly insane. If any part of it went wrong, there would be big trouble. However, considering that Kaede Tsukasa must have prepared a backup plan for himself, and that he had indeed succeeded, Orochimaru couldn't say anything more.

"Hasn't Senju Momoka already become a crippled Wood Release ninja? With such a successful example, they should be able to rest easy," Kaedeji said calmly.

He wasn't surprised that Orochimaru had seen through his plan. At this point, whether he saw through it or not was no longer meaningful to Kaede Tsukasa.

Aside from sealing techniques, nothing can stop Kaede Tsukasa.

"Your plan is truly ingenious. To be honest, I've been trying every possible method to develop a secret technique for changing bodies all these years, but I never imagined that it could be achieved in this way. My only regret is that I can't obtain your Reincarnation Technique." Orochimaru's face showed deep regret.

Both Impure World Reincarnation and Reincarnation of the Living are indispensable, unless he can master other resurrection techniques, but how is that possible?

However, it's hard to say how genuine the expression on his face is, because Orochimaru is pursuing immortality. Using Kaede Tsukasa's series of plans to change bodies is too risky, far less "safe" than his still undeveloped Reanimation Jutsu—which directly devours the other's soul and takes over their body.

Kaede Tsukasa stood up and brushed past Orochimaru.

He is now dead, and whatever turmoil will occur in Konoha after Danzo's return will be irrelevant to him.

The number of zombies has gathered to a sufficient extent. In the coming period, he will leave the village and find a quiet place to complete the ritual.

As for the specific location, Kaede Tsukasa already has clear coordinates—it's definitely not within the Land of Fire, as this is the most fertile area in the ninja world, with the largest population and an overwhelming number of sensory ninjas.

In this world, there exists a country that, although vast in territory, is mostly desert with little value and sparsely populated.

The land of wind.

Kaede immediately left Konoha and traversed the Land of Fire at high speed. Under his control, the zombies gathered in one stronghold after another. Every time he appeared, it meant that a large number of zombies were sealed into scrolls and taken away.

Orochimaru looked at his laboratory, remained silent for a long time, and finally made up his mind.

If he had successfully obtained the Rinnegan, then selling Danzo would have been worthwhile. But now, he had to face Danzo's wrath—though Danzo's wrath was utterly useless.

"Having so many seasoned flies around can get annoying sometimes... It seems that human experimentation can only go this far for now. Simply transplanting Hashirama's cells won't give the Senju clan the power of Wood Release unless I take out more Sharingan from the Uchiha clan, but that's not how it works..."

Orochimaru chuckled softly.

To obtain a sufficiently stable power, the bloodlines of the Senju and Uchiha clans must be combined. Even if the Uchiha clan agrees, they will definitely demand that Hashirama's cells be handed over to them.

"This is getting interesting, Danzo. Having suffered such a great loss, you certainly won't let it go. You're probably thinking of ways to get revenge. Everyone thinks I controlled Kaede Tsukasa to take Konan, yet I left her to roam freely in the village." Orochimaru felt things were becoming increasingly unpredictable. ...

Jiraiya didn't know exactly what had happened. When he found Konan, even though he had already heard that Konan had appeared in Konoha, he still found it hard to believe.

"Konan, is it really you...?" Jiraiya looked astonished.

"It's been a while, Jiraiya-sensei. I've been traveling around Konoha and have a general understanding of the village. It truly lives up to its reputation as a great ninja village capable of producing a ninja like you."

When Konan saw Jiraiya, her heart ached, but she had become stronger than when they had parted. Her lips trembled slightly, but she maintained a calm demeanor on the surface.

"What exactly happened? It was Kaede Tsukasa who brought you back, right? How are Nagato and Yahiko? What happened during the time I was gone? Tell me, and I will seek justice for you."

"Stop asking questions, Jiraiya-sensei. Even you can't do anything about it... If I tell you the truth, would you raise a knife against your own comrades in the village? Don't say they aren't your comrades. Even if they aren't, as long as they are still Konoha ninjas, you would never do it."

Konan shook her head. She hadn't turned evil yet, and she still cared about Jiraiya to some extent: "I really want to come to Konoha and see it for myself."

"So it really was an attack by Konoha guys, so... it was Danzo? And there were others too, could it be Kaedeji? No, it must be Orochimaru."

Jiraiya's eyebrows drooped slightly, and his expression became even more dangerous, but there were many things he couldn't understand.

If Kaede Tsukasa attacked Konan and the others, and kidnapped Konan to use as a hostage to threaten Nagato, why did he allow Konan to move freely? And why didn't he mind that information about Konan circulated in the village, confirming that Konan was the Hokage's grand-disciple?
"Danzo, Orochimaru, Kaede Tsukasa, this matter is related to these three guys, right? At least two of them attacked you... There are too many lawless people hiding in the dark side of the village. I will report this to the Third Hokage. Since it concerns you, the old man will definitely take it seriously."

"They value Nagato's eyes more, right? Yahiko and I are just there to make up the numbers." Konan shook her head, seeing it clearly.

Jiraiya looked at his disciple, who had already developed his own ideas, sighed, and then said, "What do you plan to do next? Has Kaede Tsukasa controlled you? You can tell me, and I will try to help you remove the spell he placed on you."

"No need, teacher. We'll handle this. Things always move forward step by step, don't they?"

Konan politely declined, for a simple reason: she hadn't yet figured out what Kaede Tsukasa wanted to do, and the mere fact that he was dead would inevitably cause a sensation throughout the ninja world if word got out.

While people in Konoha Village might lament their loss, people in other ninja villages would only rejoice and wish Kaede Tsukasa were dead.

Before figuring out Kaedeji's purpose and, incidentally, finding out information about Danzo and Orochimaru, Konan felt she could wait a little longer.

……

At this moment, in the desert of the Land of Wind, Kaede Tsukasa appeared. He looked up at the sky to confirm his location, and then took out a map to look at it.

"The zombies I placed here can only move this far. It's really too difficult for the zombies to traverse this endless desert on their own."

Kaede didn't mind. He locked onto a location and headed straight into the desert. Next, he needed to start the resurrection plan here.

"Speaking of which, I have an old friend back in Sunagakure, whom I haven't contacted for quite some time..."

His figure was quickly swallowed up by the vast sandstorm; in such a massive desert, a person appears so insignificant.

Hundreds of kilometers away from Kaedejima, Sunagakure is a village nestled inside a rocky cliff, which provides them with protection from the endless sandstorms.

"Scorpion, what kind of puppet are you planning to research today? I've mastered new puppet technology that will definitely be of help to you!"

A boy excitedly came looking for Sasori of the Red Sand. Everyone who saw this was not surprised, because everyone knew that Mushi and Sasori were best friends. In the entire Sand Village, only Mushi was willing to be Sasori's friend.

Even Chiyo tacitly approved of this happening, hoping that friendship would allow Sasori to develop a stronger bond with the village.

"...It's an insect. Come with me. I do have newer technology, and it's even faster than I expected. I have a feeling that we'll succeed after just one more experiment."

Scorpion led the insects into the basement, past several priceless puppets displayed outside, and arrived at a place that had already been prepared.

The insect was completely oblivious to this, and with his cheerful personality, he was even less sensitive to danger. At this moment, he was looking around with great interest: "These puppets seem to be no different from the ones I saw last time. Did you hide the new puppets you just developed?"

"A new puppet will be coming soon, insect."

Scorpion took out two sharp blades and began to carefully sharpen them, one after another. His already indifferent face now showed even more cruelty and ferocity: "I will definitely like it, but whether you like it or not is another matter."

"Haha, I'll like anything you like. We're friends, aren't we?"

"……friend?"

Scorpion stopped what he was doing, took the knife, and walked step by step toward the other person: "I don't need friends. Fleeting things mean nothing to me. You are not worthy to be my companion. You will only be an obstacle on my path to eternity. Granny Chiyo is too naive. She is even more immature than me in this regard."

The insect felt uneasy and retreated step by step: "Scorpion, what are you talking about? Aren't we friends? We're best friends! That's what the villagers all say about us. Why are you suddenly..."

"I've decided to sever all ties between you and me. Die. After I kill you, I'm going to find my true companions."

After a piercing scream, only the sound of dismemberment remained.

After a while, Sasori of the Red Sand, covered in blood, admired the work before him.

His previously stiff face now showed a rare hint of comfort, both because he had severed the boring ties and because that guy had finally decided to contact him.

"Is it really okay to do this? Killing your comrade, someone everyone in Sunagakure knows about. You have no choice but to betray the village."

The insect that had been dead suddenly made a sound and stiffly turned its head.

Sasori of the Red Sand snorted coldly: "What does it matter? I have already gained enough knowledge from this village. From now on, no one can help me except you."

Only when he looked at the zombie in front of him did a trace of heat appear in his numb eyes.

Corpse Release: In recent years, the name of this secret technique has been widely circulated in the ninja world, and countless people want to glimpse its mysteries. Unfortunately, to date, only Kaede Tsukasa and Hidan have mastered Corpse Release.

Anyone else who wants to join? They'll just have to become a zombie.

“Our paths are ultimately different. You take the path of human puppets, while I take the path of corpses. Your approach involves the extra step of transforming corpses into puppets and then bringing out the puppets’ strength in life, which seems redundant to me.”

"That's because you're a user of Corpse Escape. If you were me, to extend your temporary power to eternity, you would have no choice but to follow my path."

Sasori of the Red Sand snorted coldly. He had his own pride. No matter how attractive the power of Corpse Release was, it could only provide reference value at most. He would never completely turn to Corpse Release techniques.

"You rarely contact me, what's wrong? Tired of being a hero of Konoha? Planning to chase after immortality with me?" Sasori's tone held a hint of expectation.

If Kaedeji speaks up, he will defect without hesitation. He has nothing to say to these guys in Sunagakure; they are just a bunch of transient objects destined to disappear, and they are a waste of his time.

“Something unexpected happened. I need you to get the latest Reincarnation Technique from Chiyo. It’s a crucial bargaining chip for her, and she must have perfected it over the past few years.”

Kaede Tsukasa said, "Although I also improved this forbidden technique according to my own situation, considering that Chiyo was the originator of this secret technique, her ideas are very valuable to me."

"Don't you have countless corpses to use? The ninja world has no shortage of dead ninjas, so why are you still fixated on the latest version in Granny Chiyo's hands?" Sasori of the Red Sand was puzzled, and his intuition told him that something special had happened.

“I may tell you, I am carrying out a crucial plan. If all goes well, once I complete this step, I will truly embark on a more perfect path to immortality. My path can also provide you with important references, which you will definitely find useful… I will not lie to you about this.”

Kaedeji's words came from the insect's mouth: "Of course, even if you don't help, I'm confident I can succeed, but it's still beneficial to increase the chances."

"Okay, I'll get my hands on it. When you do, you have to share your results with me."

Sasori of the Red Sand readily agreed. The value his companion provided, even in terms of emotional value, was simply incomparable to that of any other individual.

(End of this chapter)