Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 58 The Land of Hot Springs? This is a Trap
"Is that so? I knew it. This mission is completely meaningless. If you had planned to go back to the village, you would have gone back long ago. You wouldn't have been wandering outside for more than two years."

Kaedeji threw out a summoning scroll, summoning a zombie that stood outside the Yellow Springs Swamp. He then formed a hand seal and activated the Void Realm Technique to escape the Yellow Springs Swamp's range.

Only the nameless zombie remained, floundering in the Yellow Springs Swamp, before it was quickly submerged.

"This strange space-time ninjutsu actually uses corpses as spatial coordinates to swap positions... Who were you fighting before?" Jiraiya asked.

"There's no need to tell you that. Reporting to you isn't part of my mission. And you don't need to look at me like that. These supplies belong to ninjas from enemy villages. I wouldn't stoop so low as to use the bodies of my comrades in battle," Kaedeji said, brushing the dirt off his clothes without looking up.

“That’s true. If I find the face of my comrade among those corpses, you’ll already be a rogue ninja, and I’ll kill you,” Jiraiya said in a deep voice.

"Rogue ninja? That term carries far too much weight. Compared to me, who fights using corpses, Jiraiya-sama, your actions are more like those of a rogue ninja. You ran away for over two years without a word, and you couldn't even watch countless comrades die in battle. Do you have the right to criticize me?"

Kaede Tsukasa said calmly, "No matter how bad the techniques I used were, I was still contributing to the village and achieving some merits, preventing the deaths of some comrades. What are you, the Hokage's disciple, doing?"

Jiraiya remained silent. He couldn't refute it, nor could he tell Kaedeji that he was nurturing the Child of Prophecy.

"Your mission is complete. Leave now. I don't want to see you in this country."

"To correct you, my mission actually failed because you refused to go back. Now another defeat has been added to my resume, which is terrible."

Kaedeji shook his head. In fact, he never thought the mission would succeed. In Jiraiya's mind, Nagato's priority was above all else. He said this purely to make his words and actions seem more logical.

"Finally, Jiraiya-sama, I must remind you that your words make it seem as if you have become the master of this country... Only Hanzo of the Salamander could say such a thing."

Kaede closed his eyes, sensed the coordinates of the other zombies, and said, "After I go back this time, I will probably go to the front line. Victory will eventually belong to Konoha, but unfortunately it has nothing to do with you."

He opened his arms, caught the mission letter that Jiraiya threw back at him, and left without looking back.

Although he was very close to Nagato, he had no chance to make a move, nor was there any need to rush into it.

Kaede Tsukasa knew very well that there was still room for improvement in his strength, and he also needed time.

After obtaining the White Zetsu cells, he was able to begin the next phase of his plan. Of course, it would be even better if he could get his hands on the Hashirama clone that Madara had mentioned.

Jiraiya watched Kaede Tsukasa's departing figure, waited another day, and only after confirming that nothing was wrong did he breathe a sigh of relief and form hand seals to dispel his shadow clone.

When all the memories and exhaustion returned to his body in an instant, Jiraiya, who was eating, had his fingers tremble slightly for a moment, which only Nagato noticed.

"Jiraiya-sensei, it seems you've already made up your mind?"

"Well, starting tomorrow, we'll be looking for a new place to stay because I'm going to increase the difficulty of the training. You guys will have to work your butts off to keep up."

Yahiko vaguely sensed something, while Konan let out a spirited cheer, completely unaware of what had happened in the past three days.

……

"What's the rush? There are many Konoha patrols in the Land of Fire, and many ninjas skilled in sensory ninjutsu might detect your presence."

Kaede looked at the pitcher plants growing in the soil next to him.

White Zetsu said, "One of my clones sent back some interesting information about the movements of Iwagakure. Aren't you going back to fight? You might die, so you must be very interested in this information, right?" "Black Zetsu, you should change the way you interact with White Zetsu. If you get this kind of information again, have him report the key points to me directly, instead of talking nonsense in a sarcastic way—so you can be a little more ruthless when you deal with him."

"Understood. When we get back this time, I'll have him change the way he talks to you, but don't get your hopes up too high. Even Madara couldn't change him," Black Zetsu replied.

White Zetsu muttered to himself, "It seems that Iwagakure is planning to take action against the Land of Hot Springs. Kato Dan has led a group of troops to the Land of Hot Springs urgently, but it seems that this is a trap."

"The Land of Hot Water... that must be a trap. Even if they open a second front, they wouldn't invade a vassal state to the north of the Land of Fire. The battle lines are too long."

As mentioned before, Iwagakure and Kumogakure are mortal enemies. Their territories are not directly adjacent; most of their lands are separated by sea, and some border several small countries.

The Land of Hot Water is located north of the Land of Fire and is very close to the Land of Lightning. Why would Iwagakure send troops to such a place to create a second battlefield?

How many troops did Iwagakure send to the Land of Hot Springs?

"There are only about a thousand people, but these thousand people stopped moving after reaching the border of the Land of Hot Water. The one who leads these thousand people is the Four-Tails Jinchuriki."

"Old Zi..."

Kaedeji pondered for a moment, then quickly put the matter out of his mind and returned to Konoha Village.

There was no need to rush the return trip; it took almost five days.

As expected, when Kaede Tsukasa submitted the mission report, stating that Jiraiya refused to return, it immediately attracted the village's attention.

The mission notice contained a secret message written by Jiraiya, which has been confirmed to be true.

This did not cause any ripples. The higher-ups were well aware of the outcome; it was just that a few individuals were more dissatisfied.

"This is outrageous! Does he even care about the village? Anyone else would have been labeled a rogue ninja for such a despicable act! Hiruzen, you've been too lenient with your disciple." Koharu Utatane was furious.

With the decisive battle against Iwagakure looming, it's outrageous and unbelievable that our own elite forces are refusing to participate!
The Third Hokage smoked a cigarette, watching the smoke rise, and slowly shifted his gaze to Kaede Tsukasa, who was kneeling on one knee.

"Kaedejima, you've completed your mission. You were very efficient. Thank you for your hard work. I didn't expect you to be so fast." The Third Hokage smiled and didn't continue discussing Jiraiya's matter.

Mitomon Homura, standing nearby, frowned, about to explode in anger, but Danzo opened his one eye a crack, allowing Mitomon Homura to suppress his rage.

He couldn't muster any real power in front of Danzo. Everyone knew that Danzo was the incarnation and cover for the Third Hokage.

Danzo took on all the dirty work and showed no mercy when he did it.

Kaede Tsukasa replied, "It's what I should do. Perhaps my techniques are more suited to a complex place like the Land of Rain, and I was also lucky enough to find Jiraiya-sama."

"I want to ask you, when you found Jiraiya, what was he doing, and why did he refuse to come back!" Danzo said coldly.

"He deliberately showed himself to block my way, and other than that, I didn't notice anything," Kaedeji Tsukasa replied.

(End of this chapter)