Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 8 New Job
Yakushi Nonou was originally a Root ninja, but had only recently left Root.

She was also the only ninja who managed to leave Root alive while Danzo was still alive.

From Danzo and Ryoma's perspective, while it might not be considered a disgrace, letting a near-perfect top spy like Yakushi Nonou leave was undoubtedly a loss.

There are very few spies as perfect as Yakushi Nonou in the entire Hidden Leaf Village.

Kaede Tsukasa said, “Lord Ryoma, you should also know that I am a war orphan with no talent, so I must cherish every moment and work as hard as I can. My health has always been poor, and I am only able to live until now thanks to everyone’s care. I must do something for everyone through my own efforts and I absolutely do not want to cause trouble for others.”

Ryoma Aburame stared at the young man in front of him, but in reality, he didn't see Tsukasa Kaede at all. His mind was full of analyzing Yakushi Nonou's various motives. As Danzo's right-hand man, he always subconsciously thought about things in a darker direction.

As for Kaede Tsukasa himself? He was completely disregarded by Aburame Ryoma. He was just a genin who had mastered the Soul Reaper Technique, and a defective product that Ryoma had personally rejected back then. He had no talent whatsoever.

He speculated more about the emotional bond between Yakushi Nonou and Kaede Tsukasa, casually flipping through Kaede Tsukasa's information while labeling him with one tag after another.

For example, a lack of potential (signs of a short lifespan), aloofness (actually a fear of contracting germs from others), and an excessive concern for the lives of companions (being ready to turn companions into expendable resources in battle).

Now it's been labeled "Yakushi Nonou" and marked with a question mark.

“You have already established a bond with the village, which is good, but it’s not enough. You need to do more to repay the village’s kindness to you. As for your learning of this controversial ninjutsu from the priestess, I can let it go.”

Aburame Ryoma coldly replied, "I need you to regularly provide me with information about the priestesses."

"Why should I do this? Is this the task the deputy commander of the medical unit gave me?"

“You can choose not to do it, but I will immediately cut off the village’s subsidies for war orphans and send all the war orphans who have completed their studies to the front lines,” Aburame Ryoma said coldly. “Although the intensity of the war has decreased, there is still a shortage of manpower on various battlefields. Funds and manpower should be used to the maximum extent possible.”

The fact that a medical unit could be established during the war had already consumed a lot of the village's resources, so Aburame Ryoma had every reason to cut off economic subsidies to war orphans.

Ryoma Aburame observed Kaedeji's constantly changing expressions, nodded secretly, and concluded that this guy's personality was similar to Yakushi Nonou's, making him suitable for being blackmailed through moral blackmail.

Aburame Ryoma said coldly, "If you refuse, your few acquaintances will be put at greater risk, and you don't want that to happen."

Kaede Tsukasa frowned and said, "As the vice-captain, how could you say such a thing... Do you think our fellow villagers are worthless?"

"When it comes to a mission, comrades are secondary. It seems that the orphanage's approach to raising you war orphans needs a complete overhaul, at least to abandon that childish teaching philosophy. Ninjas are ultimately weapons that serve the mission; besides that, ninjas are nothing."

Ryoma Aburame made no attempt to hide his cold-blooded nature; that's just who he is. In his eyes, ninjas from Konoha could be discarded when necessary, not to mention war orphans, who were nothing more than expendable tools to be considered.

The prevailing social atmosphere now is completely opposite to that of the Naruto and Sasuke era. This is the root cause of why, six years later, Sakumo Hatake was condemned by everyone and ultimately had to commit suicide to atone for the shame of failing his mission while trying to save his comrades.

Shortly after, Kaedeji walked out of the medical unit's office with a blank expression, looking preoccupied.

But I felt nothing inside; I even felt like laughing.

"It seems that Ryoma Aburame has categorized me and Nonou Yakushi as the same kind of people... But the problem is, my technique is not a dead soul technique at all, and I have never received any true teachings from Nonou Yakushi. In Nonou Yakushi's eyes, I am just an ordinary person. She has only been taking over the work of raising war orphans for half a year, and I have already left the orphanage to start carrying out the village's mission."

In the original history, Danzo would take Ryoma Aburame and Orochimaru to the orphanage to blackmail Nono Yakushi, demanding that she rejoin Root and carry out spy missions in various ninja villages, and use Kabuto's life to force Nono Yakushi to comply.

At that time, Ryoma Aburame used the condition of not cutting off the orphanage's financial support as a condition—the Root's style of doing things always carries a kind of oppressive force that comes out of nowhere, and likes to coerce the target person for what they should have already received, so as to minimize the cost of doing things.

It wasn't until Yakushi Nonou died during a mission that Root finally exhausted the last bit of value this shrine maiden had.

No one can leave the Root organization easily after joining; Danzo silently declared this to everyone in this way.

Aburame Ryoma, reluctant to part with Yakushi Nonou, his top-tier intelligence-gathering tool, decides to break the deadlock by starting with Kaede Tsukasa.

“The Root organization can’t possibly place their hopes of controlling Yakushi Nonou on me. Their intelligence gathering is comprehensive, and when necessary, they will play all their cards to force Yakushi Nonou to submit… But what does that have to do with me?”

The person who took care of Kaede Tsukasa was the previous director of the orphanage. That director had already died on the battlefield, which is why Yakushi Nonou came to take over.

"However, at least Aburame Ryoma is willing to spend money to do things, transferring me to the corpse disposal department... From a transporter to a terminal disposal worker, it seems I'll have some free time for a while. Aburame Ryoma is deliberately giving me some worthless corpses to handle, so as to provide me with an opportunity to practice ninjutsu."

Based on this alone, Kaede Tsukasa had a very good impression of Aburame Ryoma. He sincerely praised him, saying that he was indeed worthy of being the second-in-command of Root and the medical ninja. Regardless of Aburame Ryoma's blackmailing methods, at least he had given benefits.

It wasn't until Sasuke killed Danzo and Root disbanded that Ryoma Aburame officially lost his power and status, and disappeared without a trace.

Perhaps he was purged, after all, over the past few decades, Ryoma Aburame has done countless despicable things for Danzo, and countless people hate him to the bone.

“If I fail to produce value that satisfies Ryoma Aburame, I will be ruthlessly discarded… This brief gap is a rare opportunity for me.”

Kaede returned to his dilapidated residence to rest and quickly recover his strength.

As expected, the news that he had killed a Kirigakure Chunin and rescued three of his comrades from the enemy did not cause any stir. Apart from Aburame Ryoma, no one would specifically summon him.

(End of this chapter)