Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 12 The Ninjas on a Mission
Ryoma Aburame's fingertips traced the pages of the toxin analysis report, while occasionally parasites crawled across his body, making a soft rustling sound.

But his mind wasn't really on the report. Such reports weren't just being done by the morgue; Konoha Hospital was doing them too, and medical ninjas on the front lines were also submitting fragmented analysis results.

Oil Girl Longma needs to ensure that the departments she controls can participate in the research and development process, so that she is not completely unaware of the process.

After all, he was far inferior to Tsunade in developing antidotes.

Moreover, the death of a group of ordinary ninjas would not cause Aburame Ryoma to hesitate in the slightest. What interested him was the content reported by Morino Isuke, on which information about Kaede Tsukasa's suspected improvement of the "Dead Soul Technique" was recorded in tiny print on the scroll.

And there has been some preliminary progress.

"Compared to ordinary Soul Reaper Techniques, it can control the corpse for a longer period of time. It sounds a bit like a puppeteer, but it doesn't require the use of chakra threads. Does Kaedama Tsukasa actually have the talent to develop ninjutsu? This matches the questionable parts of Kazamatsuri Takuno's dictation."

The thought flashed through Aburame Ryoma's mind, but it was fleeting. He would never regret it. When he stepped forward to select people from those war orphans, he didn't take a liking to Kaede Tsukasa. He didn't think much of him then, and he thinks even less of him now.

The Death Soul Technique isn't an extremely difficult ninjutsu. Even if it could be further developed and perfected, it wouldn't be enough to make Kaede Tsukasa a powerful and influential ninja.

These war orphans are already incredibly fortunate to be alive as Konoha ninjas; they must be encouraged to risk their lives to bring glory and warmth to the village.

"Besides, the improved version of the Soul Reaper Technique might not have been developed by Kaedeji Tsukasa. Maybe he was just trying to learn and master it... You agree, right, Shrine Maiden? No, I should call you by your new name now... Yakushi Nonou." A large number of parasitic worms crawled out of Aburame Ryoma's cheeks.

“If Tsunade knew you were doing this, she wouldn’t approve. There’s a conflict between the Will of Fire and the Root’s ideology.”

Yakushi Nonou emerged from the shadows, pushed up her glasses, and the lenses reflected the light: "Returning to a place like this again, I have absolutely no attachment to it."

Buzz!
Aburame Ryoma's swarm of insects suddenly lunged at Yakushi Nonou's throat, but froze half an inch from her skin—Yakushi Nonou held a tube of pale red liquid between her fingertips and casually dripped a drop out: "This is a toxin I carefully prepared for you, which has a special affinity for the ganglia of parasitic insects."

"So it's still poison. I thought you would directly use the improved Death Soul Technique to deal with it, such as making the corpse explode."

Aburame Ryoma said coldly, "Teaching such evil ninjutsu to war orphans is not your style. The more special talents these war orphans have, the less likely they are to live longer. Instead, they will have to take on more dangerous missions and die even faster."

Yakushi Nonou pondered. She actually had some impression of Kaede Tsukasa. He was in poor health, thin and bony, and looked like he had a lot of bitterness and hatred. He rarely got close to others.

She had been in charge of the orphanage for less than six months when Kaede Tsukasa chose to leave, and they had little contact after that.

Ryoma Aburame actually believes that she taught Kaede Tsukasa the art of the dead soul... Logically speaking, only she has this ability.

Yakushi Nonou did not refute, saying, "Protecting every child who survives the war is my duty. In any case, it's difficult for ordinary genin to survive on the battlefield... This war is even more brutal and bloody than the First Shinobi World War more than 20 years ago. No one can say for sure that they will survive. However, this is not a reason for you to threaten me with the orphanage's funds."

"So you've come to negotiate with me?"

"No, I'm here to warn you."

"You want me to be away from the children you love? The witch who strikes fear into the hearts of nations is just an overly emotional person. You'll be disappointed; soon, even more children will be sent to the battlefield."

Aburame Ryoma said coldly, "The war with Sunagakure is going badly. We need more ninjas to go to the front line, especially medical ninjas who have some ability to counteract Sunagakure's poisons."

The wars against Amegakure and Sunagakure consumed the most medical ninjas, which also meant that the children in the orphanage who had mastered half-baked medical ninjutsu had to go to the front lines.

This is the will of the village; everything is for victory.

Ryoma Aburame said, "I can save two or three of your young children and ensure that the orphanage's funding arrives on time." "What do you want me to do? Infiltrate Sunagakure to obtain information about poison? That's difficult. After Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law were killed by Sakumo Hatake, she's single-mindedly seeking revenge on Konoha. She won't leave any openings for her trump card."

“No, she has a weakness. Chiyo has a grandson.” Aburame Ryoma tossed a prepared mission sheet to Yakushi Nonou. “Use kidnapping, deception, or disguise as the means to obtain as much information as possible. If possible, prioritize obtaining information such as the defense map and financial reserves of Sunagakure.”

As for how to be a spy, Ryoma Aburame believed that he didn't need to instruct Nono Yakushi on how to do it; he only needed to set the desired outcome, and Nono Yakushi would complete the process.

“Sasori of the Red Sand…” Yakushi Nonou looked at the intelligence scroll in her hand and memorized the name.

Not long after, the mission assignment to go to the front line appeared in Kaedeji's hands.

Although Kaede Tsukasa had been mentally prepared for the inevitable return to the battlefield, he hadn't expected it to happen so soon.

"Our opponent is Sunagakure... It seems our efforts have paid off. Compared to others, we medical ninjas can endure poisoning for a longer period of time."

Morino Isuke's expression quickly returned to calm, and he ordered the temporary closure of the body disposal area.

"This is probably the follow-up to the B-rank mission," Kaedeji said calmly.

“After the war ends, some of us might come back alive and continue working in this department,” Morino Isuke said. “We’re leaving in three hours, so get ready.”

No one spoke; everyone was silently organizing their equipment.

For someone like Kaede Tsukasa, who has no clansmen or descendants to care for, it's natural to spend all his money on various ninja tools in case of emergency.

A large number of Chunin and Genin died in the war. Apart from Morino Isuke, who was a Special Jonin and had a slightly higher survival rate, none of the others dared to say that they would come back alive.

"Now that we've come this far, it's okay for me to make more preparations, right?"

Kaede Tsukasa went straight to the memorial stone outside. He had buried many of the unidentified corpses there himself, and now it was time to dig them up.

The new grave in the southeast corner creaked slightly, and the hidden zombie Yu Yin pried open the coffin, crawled out of the tomb, and stumbled toward Feng Jian Si.

There were also sounds coming from under many more tombstones.

"Unfortunately, in the past two months, I have only acquired two Jonin zombies. That should be enough for emergencies, since I am just a Genin."

There were some Jonin corpses sent to the morgue, but Kaede Tsukasa only managed to get his hands on two.

This is the most frenzied time for Sunagakure. As long as Konoha survives this period, they can use their powerful village strength to drag the impoverished Sunagakure to its death.

However, the enemy's frantic counterattack before their defeat requires people like Kaedeji to step in and delay it.

Swish!
Kaede Tsukasa unfurled the sealing scroll and began sealing one zombie after another into it. Each time a zombie was sealed, the character "尸" (corpse) appeared on the scroll.

He certainly wouldn't inscribe a sealing formula; he would use a ready-made ninja tool scroll, which only required sealing a specific object inside.

At dawn, the group of five assembled and headed west towards the Land of Wind.

(End of this chapter)