Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 24 The Fallen Prodigy?

Sometimes, in battle, it's best to minimize grand narratives and focus on building up details to gradually shift the situation in your favor.

That's how it is now. The sacrifice of two Root ninjas, even if each only bought a few dozen seconds to a few minutes of time, even if it only caused some obstacles and delays for the pursuing enemy, is of great use.

When Sandstorm Araki killed Tiger, he watched helplessly as Tiger ignited the explosive tags on its body and exploded. This sudden act caused his blood pressure to spike.

"The two dead guys should be Konoha's ANBU ninjas. I don't remember Konoha's ANBU having this kind of combat habit before. Why are they suddenly grabbing a bunch of explosive tags and self-destructing all the time?"

Sandstorm Araki was furious; this explosion had caused them to waste several more seconds!
What use are two ordinary ANBU Jonin even if their bodies are left intact? At most, they'll become research material for Sunagakure's study of human puppets; they won't yield anything else of value!

But when they were still alive, they self-destructed... Sandstorm Araki suspected that this was not only because he didn't want Sunagakure to get their bodies, but also because he didn't want Kaedeji to get their bodies.

After the sandstorm Araki caught up with the people of Konoha again and easily completed the encirclement and killing, he realized that something was wrong.

"Be careful, lest these guys have explosive tags planted inside them."

A puppeteer used chakra threads to remotely control the corpses. When they saw the stitched wounds on the corpses' necks, they realized they had been tricked.

"To alter a corpse to resemble a specific person in life and then manipulate it... This is the original effect of Konoha's Dead Soul Technique."

"So, we've been tricked again?"

“I think so. We’re not sure how many batches of corpses Kaede Tsukasa have been modified. If there’s a second or third batch, we’ll hardly have a chance. We’re less than three kilometers from the Land of Fire, it’s too late.”

Sandstorm Araki frowned. Neither the goal of retrieving the intelligence nor the goal of capturing Kaede Tsukasa had been achieved.

At that moment, several corpses emitted a series of hissing sounds, and under the "I knew it" gazes of the Sand Village ninjas, they exploded with a bang.

Large amounts of flesh and blood fell like a fine rain, making a soft, dense pattering sound as they landed on the Sand Village ninjas.

Some of the Sand Village ninjas showed expressions of disgust, patting the bits of flesh off their bodies in annoyance.

Araki, being cautious, noticed some bits of flesh fall onto his wound. He frowned, flicked them away with his finger, and ordered, "Don't touch these remnants, lest the enemy has poisoned them beforehand. Everyone continue the pursuit. Never give up until the very last moment. That's what a Sand Village ninja should do!"

The group resumed their pursuit, but were distracted by a group of zombies with altered appearances, making it impossible to stop the people of Konoha. In the end, they could only watch helplessly as Terai led his people into the Konoha Forest.

If they continue the pursuit, they will be more likely to be besieged by Konoha ninjas and suffer even greater losses.

Kaede Tsukasa seemed to hear the howling of the sandstorm, but he was too lazy to turn around and wait patiently for Yakushi Nonou to heal the injury on his hand.

"Losing two fingers will affect your hand seals." Yakushi Nono wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her already dwindling chakra was completely depleted, and her expression was complicated.

For a young ninja who has finally made a name for himself, being unable to perform hand seals properly is undoubtedly a heavy blow. It means that his potential has been locked and he is no longer able to use many ninjutsu.

As for forming hand seals with feet and eyeballs... well, that's an ability that only Kage-level powerhouses can develop, and it's too obscure. Nobody thought Kaede Tsukasa could do that, so nobody even considered it.

Terai and Morino Isuke were both observing Kaedeji's expression. Kaedeji remained calm: "Trading two fingers for your life, Dean, and the valuable information you obtained is truly worthwhile. If I could choose again, I would prefer to lose all my fingers to provide greater assistance to the village."

These words were absolutely impeccable, especially considering that he had actually lost a finger and his potential had plummeted. Instead of being frustrated or losing control of his emotions, he spoke very calmly and movingly.

At the very least, Yakushi Nonou believed it; she was from the Root, yet possessed abundant emotions, making her an anomaly.

Terai's voice softened a bit as he said, "When we submit the mission, I will report your performance to the village truthfully. Your contribution is the greatest to our successful completion of the mission."

"No, this is all thanks to Lord Terai and everyone..."

"Whether you're humble or arrogant makes no difference to me. I'm just doing what I need to do, not discussing things with you," Terai interrupted Kaedeji.

Kaede nodded, raised his hand and cut open the stomach of the zombie beside him, taking out the intelligence report—in any case, this zombie was severely damaged during the long march, and was of no use other than pretending to be a corpse to find an opportunity to blow up the enemy.

That's the good thing about zombies; they can work overtime and briefly perform at a level comparable to or even exceeding their pre-death performance, until they become unusable.

Upon receiving the information, Terai immediately formed hand seals and used the Body Flicker Technique to leave.

Morino Isuke looked at Kaede Tsukasa: "If we can all survive the war, you might have a chance to become the head of the corpse disposal department."

"No, I'm just a Chunin..."

“There’s no difference between Chunin and Special Jonin in most places, you know that.” Morino Isuke shook his head. “Besides, I’ve earned a lot of merits, and I will continue to earn them in the future. It’s impossible for me to take on my original position after I return to the village.”

Although the morgue is only a third-rate department, it can only handle some worthless corpses and can't even get a bloodline corpse.

However, if Kaede Tsukasa were to lead this department, his unique Soul Reaper technique would allow him to maximize the value of the Corpse Disposal Department.

Everyone knew that Kaede Tsukasa had made a great contribution to the successful completion of this A-level mission and was bound to receive recognition from the village.

The team was disbanded.

Yakushi Nonou did not leave immediately. She kept scrutinizing the extremely thin young man in front of her, who looked as if a gust of wind could blow him away.

To be honest, she hadn't really paid attention to Kaede Tsukasa before. Six months after she took over the work on war orphans, Kaede Tsukasa left the orphanage to carry out a mission in the village. During those six months, the two of them didn't exchange more than ten sentences in total.

Kaede Tsukasa always avoids others, giving people the impression of being extremely aloof and unsociable. Moreover, his sickly appearance makes him seem unapproachable.

"However, I must remind you that your skills are ultimately just manipulating corpses; you can never become a war hero that everyone cheers for."

Yakushi Nonou felt a pang of pity, finding it too cruel: "You seem to have even developed a space-time technique that allows you to switch places using the Soul Reaper Technique? That's remarkable. You've already embarked on your own path and are continuously building your own ninjutsu system..."

Her words trailed off as she stared at Kaedeji's hand, which had lost two fingers, speechless. Before his fingers were fully restored, Kaedeji might have had a real chance to advance further, continuously adding various ninjutsu to the Soul Reaper Technique system, but now it was much more difficult.

The hand seals are limited, and some hand seals may never be able to be formed, so how can new matching ninjutsu be developed?
(End of this chapter)