Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 9 Senju's Body
Don't be fooled by everyone's talk of the Will of Fire. It's precisely because the Will of Fire isn't fully implemented that the group led by the Third Hokage keeps talking about it.

The body disposal area is an extremely sensitive place, and the place where the Will of Fire is most needed. If even one person loses their will and betrays them, the resulting losses will be incalculable.

The next day, Kaede Tsukasa arrived at the ravine on the east side of Training Ground 44 in Konoha Village.

This place is more like a large cemetery where incense ash drifts year-round, surrounded by blank memorial tablets, and withered flowers can be seen everywhere on the ground.

Kaedeji pushed open the door to the mortuary, startling several crows that stirred up dust from under the eaves.

To be honest, my first impression of this place was terrible.

Logically speaking, a department that specializes in handling corpses should have high standards of hygiene and could almost be considered a large hospital.

As a result, this place looks like a crematorium at the root.

"As expected, those being dissected are all ninjas from other villages... at least they won't let a nobody like me enter the experimental site where they dissect ninjas from our own village."

Kaede Tsukasa submitted his transfer documents and met with the person in charge here, accompanied by a staff member, while also examining this newly established department.

The village hadn't even figured out how to systematically train medical ninjas, let alone spare enough and good enough medical ninjas to participate in this project of studying enemy corpses.

"It's been a while since any new people have come, let alone someone like Lord Ryoma who was assigned here."

With a soft "plop," a middle-aged ninja, looking quite old, used a scalpel to cut open the chest of a Sand Village ninja, watching as dark red blood dripped into an enamel vessel, listening to the dripping sound as if it were uttering some kind of chilling whisper.

Kaedeji bowed slightly: "You must be Morino Isuke-sama. From now on, I am your subordinate. It seems that our department is not well-staffed."

"Including you, five people is already quite a lot. Any more would be a waste. Either send them all to the battlefield or have them work in hospitals."

Morino Isuke said, "Your workstation is in the special cell recording room. Your first task is to polish the heads that were sent yesterday, especially those from Sunagakure. They really like to cover up their terrible hair with cloth."

Kaede Tsukasa's fingertips brushed against the cold metal nameplate on the morgue. The three corpses were neatly covered with white sheets, and the toes of the last corpse peeked out from the gaps in the cloth, with grains of sand unique to the Land of Wind still stuck in their nails.

"Understood, Lord Morino. Since I began serving the village, I have often dealt with corpses."

This was familiar territory for him, and it felt like coming home.

Gently lifting a white cloth, the Sand Village ninja's bluish-gray expression was forever frozen in that moment of fear, the charred remains of his right arm from Fire Release—perfect material for him to develop Corpse Release.

Once he got into work mode, Kaede Tsukasa displayed impressive skills—as long as he didn't expend chakra, he could always deliver excellent results.

There is enough material here, a large enough space, and a stage where he can properly display his talents.

Occasionally, Kaedeji would issue commands to the zombies on the move, instructing them to perform different actions, without causing much surprise among his colleagues.

Everyone knows that Kaedeji is practicing the Dead Soul Technique again. There are very few people in the entire Hidden Leaf Village who know this kind of ninjutsu.

However, those who can work in the morgue are not righteous and honorable people. Which righteous person doesn't shine on the battlefield, but instead comes to dissect the enemy's corpse?
"Occasionally there will be Jonin material... but I still haven't seen any bloodline corpses."

After disposing of a body, Kaede Tsukasa removed his mask with some regret.

Morino Isuke coldly replied, "Our people keep an eye on enemies with bloodline limits on the battlefield, and the enemy does the same thing. No village can tolerate bloodline leakage; they'd rather destroy the scene than let the enemy easily obtain the body. Have you ever seen an enemy with Sharingan or Byakugan appear on the battlefield?"

Kaedeji shrugged. The idea of ​​Ao fighting Konoha ninjas with a Byakugan in the future remained just a thought. Morino Isuke seemed to suddenly remember something, muttering, "I remember last year on the battlefield in the Land of Rain, several Uchiha clan members went missing after a fierce battle. Orochimaru and the others practically searched the entire battlefield...maybe Amegakure obtained the Sharingan."

“Didn’t the Sannin end the war with Amegakure? There will be negotiations after the war, and they will definitely get their eyes back,” Kaedeji said.

But he knew it was absolutely impossible.

The one who succeeds may not actually be Hanzo; it could also be Madara Uchiha.

Last year, Jiraiya stayed in the Land of Rain to teach Nagato, which means that Nagato obtained the Rinnegan earlier.

Madara, having lost his Rinnegan, needs some Sharingan as a replacement.

"War, indeed, what people believe to be the truth is completely different from the actual unfolding of events."

Whenever he thinks of Madara Uchiha, Black Zetsu, Hagoromo Otsutsuki, and the Otsutsuki descendants on the moon secretly observing the changes in the ninja world, Kaede Tsukasa can't help but sigh at the complexity of this world.

However, these characters are too far removed from him. Right now, he's just a low-level ninja who's secretly developing his abilities, and all he can think about is changing his body.

As time passed, the people in the morgue department seemed to have been forgotten. Apart from the corpses that were delivered regularly and of some value, no one paid any attention to them.

Perhaps only by regularly reporting their research findings and providing even a small contribution to the current state of biotechnology can they prove their value.

Kaede Tsukasa still hadn't seen the bloodline ninja's body, even though he had been paying attention to and understanding all the bodies brought in here.

"So, there really is a higher-level, more secretive department researching the most precious bloodline corpses?"

Kaede Tsukasa was not surprised by this.

Ever since Senju Nawaki died right under Orochimaru's nose, Orochimaru, spurred by this, officially embarked on the path of pursuing immortality.

Considering the brief period of peace between World War II and World War III, during which a series of shady events took place, Kaede Tsukasa was fairly certain that Orochimaru and Danzo had already joined forces at this time.

"After World War II, in order to improve its combat power to prepare for the next Shinobi World War, the village officially launched the First Hokage's cell experiment project and conducted human experiments on Konoha ninjas and villagers, causing great casualties."

"Since they have reached the point where they can directly conduct human experiments, it means that the village has already mastered the preliminary research results of human experiments."

The body disposal work they are doing now, and the various documents they are submitting, will ultimately become the building blocks supporting large-scale human experiments a few years later.

The first generation of cells... Just thinking about it made Kaede Tsukasa's face show a longing expression.

No one knew better than Kaede Tsukasa how agonizing it was to use a weakened body, and no one longed for a body full of vitality more than him.

An ordinary Hokage native has 130 trillion cells. How many cells would a ninja who has trained in chakra and honed their physical abilities have?

What about the Senju and Uzumaki clans, known for their physical prowess?

And... what about Hashirama Senju?

Absolute quantity equals absolute power; without sufficient vitality, everything else is in vain.

(End of this chapter)