Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 59 I Have the Art of Immortality
This was the first time Kaede Tsukasa had reported his work to the top leader.

For an ordinary ninja to have such an opportunity would be to stand out among tens of thousands of ninjas, an absolute stroke of good fortune that would cause a sensation throughout the entire clan.

However, for Kaede Tsukasa, his ancestral graves are not in this world. As he continues to improve his strength, and since this mission involves the sensitive figure of Jiraiya, reporting the mission situation in person is an inevitable outcome.

He would be quite happy to help the ninjas of this world dig up their ancestral graves to make sure their ancestors are still at peace—by calling out to them.

Danzo continued, "As the captain, you led three subordinates to the Land of Rain, so why did you come back alone?"

“Lord Danzo, I thought you wouldn’t ask such a sensitive question… I didn’t restrain their actions, so they might have been discovered and executed by the ninjas of Amegakure.” Kaede Tsukasa replied.

"Danzo, you've assigned Root ninjas to carry out extra missions again. I clearly warned you." The Third Hokage exhaled smoke. "In that case, you're no longer responsible for the research on Explosion Release Kekkei Genkai. Hand over those Explosion Release corpses to Kaede Tsukasa. The village needs his strength."

The Third Hokage gave a perfunctory reprimand, but everyone knew that such words had no binding force whatsoever. Even if Danzo didn't take it seriously, the Third Hokage wouldn't say anything.

This is more of a reminder and warning. The Third Hokage often used the Crystal Ball Technique to monitor Konoha Village, so he naturally knew about the communication between Root and Kaede Tsukasa. The fact that a large number of corpses have been sent to the morgue for the past five months without any results speaks volumes.

Danzo didn't speak. He just brought it up before the Third Hokage could question him. He didn't care about the lives of the three Root ninjas. His dissatisfaction was only because Kaedeji had acted without permission.

Well, Danzo still couldn't get information about Kaedeji's secret techniques. At most, he could deduce that Kaedeji's strength had increased dramatically, but he didn't know the exact extent of the increase.

"The Land of Rain... Jiraiya refuses to return, my subordinate was killed by Kaede Tsukasa, and the two of them even made contact and had a conversation, perhaps reaching some kind of consensus. It seems that some strange change is taking place in that country. It seems I need to secretly contact Hanzo of the Salamander."

Danzo quickly considered the matter. In any case, he had already planned this for a long time. There was no way around it; the Third Hokage's prestige was constantly increasing, and he was facing more and more restrictions on what he wanted to do. His ambition did not allow him to remain the Third Hokage's henchman forever.

"We need to prepare more methods. We can't always be at Hiruzen's mercy. After the war ends, Orochimaru should be able to obtain a lot of useful corpses and Sharingan..."

Danzo recalled the mysterious and forbidden technique, the Eye Technique, and his heart burned with desire.

With enough Sharingan, he could learn it and gain many resurrection abilities in one fell swoop!

At that point, what will Kaede Tsukasa's Corpse Escape Technique be? Controlling corpses? Nothing special. Danzo, on the other hand, can "revive" multiple times, essentially carrying a resurrection technique with him at all times!
Danzo could at most guess that Kaedeji had increased his strength, but he couldn't have guessed that Kaedeji would learn the Reincarnation Technique and have his strength skyrocket. Therefore, he could no longer judge Kaedeji's true level.

In the end, the Third Hokage concluded the meeting, offering a few words of encouragement to Kaede Tsukasa and awarding him 120 million ryo.

"Just when I was dealing with Madara, I used the Hyakkai Narukami to blow up hundreds of zombies, so I urgently need to purchase a new batch of ninja tools."

As Kaede walked out of the Hokage Building, he realized that money at that time had strong purchasing power; 120 million ryo could buy a lot of ninja tools.

The Uchiha fan he obtained from Madara was also a divine weapon, but unfortunately it couldn't be used casually, so it would just gather dust in the ninja tool scroll for now.

Kaedeji did not rush to leave, but slowed down and waited for Danzo to come out.

"Lord Danzo, thank you so much for getting me out of that predicament."

“You’ve gone too far! You’ve allowed the men I assigned to you to die. Is this how you repay me? I could easily arrest you on charges of treason.”

Danzo coldly said, "I don't know how much you've grown in these five months, but you must understand that what you have now could be lost at any time." "Lord Danzo, those three guys went too far, trying to spy on my secret techniques, so I shook them off and acted alone. Anyway, my secret technique system doesn't need them."

"Hmph, Hiruzen didn't punish you because you did come into contact with Jiraiya, did what you were supposed to do, and he also knows that you weakened Root."

Danzo sneered. He treated his subordinates as tools, but it was a different matter if others took away and destroyed his tools.

The two walked slowly, one in front of the other, until they had walked a certain distance.

Kaede Tsukasa said, "In fact, I have indeed mastered a new forbidden technique that can transfer the life force from a corpse to a living person."

Danzo's eyes widened. Even he was stunned for a moment when he first heard of this forbidden technique.

What kind of forbidden technique is this? It sounds even more outrageous than Izanagi! Just listen to this—transferring the life force of a corpse to a living person?
Doesn't this mean giving a living person life out of thin air?
Vitality represents health, lifespan, chakra, strength, and potential!

"What is the success rate? What is the transfer efficiency?" Danzo didn't ask foolish questions like whether it was true or false, but instead asked the key questions directly.

"The success rate is acceptable, but the transfer efficiency is extremely low. The corpses are already dead, so they don't have much remaining vitality," Kaede Tsukasa said.

"What about living people? Do you just use living people to perform the spell?"

"I can't do it for now. I can't perfectly control a living person, let alone extract their life force. This process is very difficult and involves many details. If I'm not careful, I will fail." Kaede Tsukasa lied through his teeth.

Danzo was overjoyed: "This is the bargaining chip you used to trade those three lives with me? Did you use my three subordinates to cast a spell, and because it failed, you're so sure of it?"

This is easy to guess, because during the five months of ascetic training, Kaede Tsukasa only had the ability to manipulate corpses, and did not kill any living people.

Only by performing the technique on a living person can we know the outcome, especially considering the reality of the "disappearance" of three Root ninjas...

"Think what you want. No matter how I explain it, you won't believe me. So, I might as well just show you my talents. For example, I can increase your vitality, keep your body healthy, and stop you from aging," Kaedeji said.

This is what truly hits Danzo's weak point.

Danzo is already over fifty years old!
The meaning of a ninja living to his fifties is self-evident, and even the proud Danzo could not tolerate the reality of his own decline due to old age.

But if Kaedeji can perform a spell on him, this situation can be changed.

Kaede Tsukasa said, "The reason I'm telling you about this secret technique is because I will use it publicly sooner or later, and this matter will inevitably be exposed to certain people. Rather than being attacked in the future, I'd rather take the initiative to make things clear to you. Of course, if you, Lord Danzo, have any inappropriate thoughts, then I can't be sure what will happen in the future."

This was, of course, just an excuse. If he really needed to replenish his life force, he could simply use the Void Transformation Technique to fly to a deserted place, replenish his energy, and then fly back.

His real purpose was to achieve his next big goal—to change his body.

This process is very complicated, and white blood cells and intercolumnar replicants are not actually enough.

(End of this chapter)