Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 94 The Funeral, Not Dead, Back to the Village
Funerals are always solemn, especially Mito Uzumaki's funeral.

In the drizzling rain, a large number of ninjas dressed in black laid bouquets at the memorial stone for Mito Uzumaki, bidding a final farewell to this legendary figure.

The wife of the First Hokage and the first Nine-Tails Jinchuriki passed away suddenly. Although no one knew that Mito Uzumaki died in the battle in the Land of Rain, her passing was not unexpected.

At over seventy years old, she wasn't considered old among the Uzumaki clan, but compared to ordinary ninjas, she was definitely a long-lived person. Moreover, she smoothly completed the handover of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki after her death, which led most people to cast their attention on a certain red-haired girl.

Kushina was already crying her eyes out, constantly wiping away her tears. No matter how hard she tried to be strong, it was impossible for her to suppress her emotions at this moment of public farewell.

"That person is..."

"That's right, red hair. Lady Mito often kept her by her side when she was alive. She must be the new Nine-Tails Jinchuriki."

"At such an age, to have restrained a terrifying tailed beast with one's body is truly remarkable. However, there won't be any..."

"Don't say that! This isn't the right occasion to discuss this kind of issue. Since the village can quietly replace the Jinchuriki, it means they have the means to control the Nine-Tails, so let's not question the possibility of it going berserk."

Whispers continued to rise, proving that while everyone respected Mito Uzumaki, they were ultimately too far removed from her, and they were more concerned about Kushina's condition.

Nobody wants to be peacefully staying in the village and suddenly be attacked by the Nine-Tails in the dead of night.

For a moment, no one stepped forward to comfort Kushina, simply because they were not familiar with her.

Even among her classmates at the Ninja Academy, none of them had a good relationship with Kushina. Most of them provoked and discriminated against Kushina, an outsider who claimed to be the first female Hokage, and were then severely beaten up.

Furthermore, generally no one wants to be close to a Jinchuriki; this phenomenon is common in all ninja villages.

"What? It feels like there are a lot of complicated things in Konoha Village." Hidan was probably the most carefree one. He had only been in Konoha Village for a few days and had spent most of his time undergoing Kaede Tsukasa's devilish training, so he didn't really have much of a feeling about this funeral.

Mito Uzumaki? Never heard of her.

Nine-Tails Jinchuriki? I've heard they're very powerful, but I don't know much about them.

"Is that red-haired woman really that strong? I see a lot of people staring at her, and their eyes aren't very friendly. If I take a sickle and start hacking at her, do you think I can succeed?"

Hidan was itching to get started. He had never seen so many people gathered together in silence in the Land of Hot Water before, and he really wanted to swing his scythe and wreak havoc.

"If you do that, I'll kill you first and turn you into my corpse. This is Konoha Village, and the environment here is completely different from yours. Take a closer look."

Kaede Tsukasa wasn't angry. He knew Hidan was just like that, with no ill intentions—he was just a little excited to see so many people and simply wanted to kill them all; it was all very pure.

"Hidan, you are now my disciple. Countless eyes are watching you at all times. Your words and actions represent me, so you'd better watch your words and deeds," Kaedeji said in a calm tone.

"What? I don't understand the rules of the Great Ninja Village. Nobody bothers me there!"

"Behave yourself, or I'll kill you," Kaedeji said with a smile.

The two did not lower their voices intentionally; they spoke in normal tones.

Those who could participate in Mito Uzumaki's funeral were all people of high status. They were either from powerful clans, powerful ninjas, promising new generation members, or meritorious officials who had made military achievements. This meant that many people had keen hearing and fell silent as they listened to the conversation between the master and disciple.

Strange glances kept coming his way, but most of them didn't dare to linger on Kaede Tsukasa for too long, quickly passing by before finally landing on Hidan, scrutinizing the slender boy who didn't look particularly strong.

A powerful ninja carries innate instincts honed through countless trials in every gesture, yet they couldn't discern anything about Hidan, which only fueled their curiosity.

"When I passed by Training Ground 17, I saw Kaede Tsukasa training Hidan. How should I put it, that Hidan, it felt like he couldn't even beat the students at the Ninja Academy..."

"So he's not good at ninjutsu, genjutsu, or taijutsu? Does he have a lot of chakra? Otherwise, Lord Kaede would never have taken a liking to him."

"Who knows? Countless people in the village hoped to send their descendants to Lord Kaedeji's service, but unfortunately, this guy from another village beat them to it."

People whispered among themselves, scrutinizing Hidan repeatedly, trying to memorize his appearance.

Because this is unusual in itself.

Kaedeji Tsukasa, a powerful ninja from Konoha and a war hero, could be understood to recruit talent from other towns in the Land of Fire instead of recruiting outstanding juniors from within the village.

But why bring back such a carefree, unruly, and even somewhat rude young man from the Land of Hot Water? Moreover, the way this master and disciple interact... how should I put it... they're always killing each other, it's unheard of. Are they really a proper master and disciple?
However, no one would really underestimate Hidan, even though the talent he displayed seemed extremely poor! A master of Corpse Release, leading a weak student—no one would believe that the student had no ability at all.

It remains to be seen when Hidan will truly reveal his talent and what kind of potential he possesses to earn the favor of a powerful figure like Kaedejima.

"Haha, Si, your disciple is very active."

The Third Hokage walked over with his hands behind his back. Because it was raining, he wasn't smoking a pipe. As he passed, the crowd automatically made way for him.

Many of the people who were talking stopped and looked over.

Hidan straightened up and gestured with his hand in the distance: "Who is this guy?"

boom!
Kaede grabbed Hidan's shoulder without even trying, but Hidan's face contorted, his body trembled violently, and he opened his mouth as if to scream, but no sound came out.

“Even I wouldn’t dare to disrespect the Hokage, so you certainly shouldn’t,” Kaedeji said.

"Haha, no need for that. You can let him go now. It's normal for a young man not to recognize me. Simply put, I am the Hokage of this village, someone who will protect this village at all costs." The Third Hokage wasn't angry; instead, he laughed.

This is actually one of the Third Hokage's personal charms. No matter how many bad consequences his inaction caused, it's actually very difficult to provoke him in terms of personality.

Not to mention Hidan's public questioning, which was completely heartless.

"Ouch, it's the Hokage? I never would have guessed—ouch, ouch, ouch!"

“I apologize, Hokage-sama. Hidan has only recently arrived in Konoha and doesn’t know much about things, nor has he received any systematic training. I originally planned to train him until he was nearly fully trained before reporting back to you, at which point I would have him carry out some missions. According to my plan, after a few more months of training, he should be able to become a powerful ninja capable of standing on his own,” Kaedeji Tsukasa said.

"Is that so? Then I'll have to trouble you. A disciple who has caught your eye must have extraordinary abilities. I look forward to his growth in the coming months." The Third Hokage nodded with a smile, showing no doubt whatsoever.

A few months? A powerful ninja who can stand alone?
Listen to this, is this the language a normal human being can speak?
Many people thought they had misheard, but after thinking it over, they felt that someone of Kaede Tsukasa's status would not talk nonsense in this kind of situation. But to let someone with extremely poor basic skills stand alone after only a few months of training... no matter how you look at it, it's just ridiculous!

However, after the Third Hokage's public confirmation, no one would question Hidan's origins anymore, which also meant that Hidan faced no obstacles in Konoha Village regarding his identity.

"Go talk to Kushina. She just ignores what I say. She doesn't feel a sense of belonging to the village." The Third Hokage was at his wit's end.

Someone like him could easily see through Kushina's mindset. To be honest, it's quite common for Jinchuriki to hate their village in other ninja villages.

The future Four-Tails Rōshi, Five-Tails Han, Six-Tails Utakata, and so on, all ran away from the village long ago. Although they were not officially rogue ninjas, their behavior was no different from that of rogue ninjas.

Therefore, the best methods that each village has figured out are either to bind the Jinchūriki to the Kage, or to simply let the Kage become the Jinchūriki, or let the Jinchūriki become the Kage.

It's impossible for the Third Hokage to train Kushina to become the Fourth Hokage. That's absolutely impossible. Kushina had her own ideas from the moment she came to Konoha. Such a person is not suitable to be the next Hokage.

He had originally considered finding an opportunity to match up a talented junior like Minato Namikaze, a true descendant of the Hokage lineage, with Kushina, but a series of changes disrupted his plans, leading to the situation we see today.

However, it was alright. The Third Hokage felt that since things had already come to this, he would just stand by and wait for the situation to develop. He would step in to correct things when something was about to go wrong.

Kaede Tsukasa agreed and, after the crowd gradually dispersed, stood beside Kushina.

"Is this the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki? She doesn't look much older than me. Can she kill me? No way, right? Then I can become the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki too. If I offer the Nine-Tails as a sacrifice to the Jashin, maybe the Jashin will be very happy." Hidan asked carelessly.

"Your evil god might be blown up by the Nine-Tails. It is also a supernatural being that is very different from humans. The Nine-Tails is one of the most powerful special beings that you know. If it wants to kill you, it can do it very easily. It only needs to blast you into endless dust."

Kaede Tsukasa said calmly, "Now, go and cultivate. I will check your cultivation results tomorrow. You should know what the consequences will be if you don't meet the standards."

Hidan shuddered, recalling various painful memories, and hurriedly ran to the training ground.

“Everyone is watching you. You are Lady Mito’s heir.” Kaede Tsukasa patted Kushina’s shoulder heavily. “Take a good look around you. Many eyes are on you.”

"Because I am the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, they didn't know anything about Mito-sama to begin with."

“Not only that, they are also wary of you losing control and going berserk due to excessive grief. No one knows whether you can restrain the Nine-Tails,” Kaede Tsukasa said calmly. “However, if even you can’t do it, then probably no one in the village can.”

"You can't do it either?" Kushina suddenly looked up.

Kaede Tsukasa shook his head: "That's right, I can't do it either. How am I supposed to deal with the Nine-Tails? Am I supposed to use the Corpse Demon Sealing Technique to perish together with it? But if I use Corpse Release: Corpse Demon Sealing Technique, even if I die from exhaustion, I still won't be able to do anything to the Nine-Tails."

Even if he exhausted all his willpower, he could only scrape off a layer of skin from the Nine-Tails at most, and could not completely seal it.

Sadly, while Konoha currently has many strong individuals, the only one most suitable to be a Jinchūriki is Kushina Uzumaki, who received Mito's tutelage from a young age and mastered various sealing techniques.

"Go back and get a good night's sleep. When you wake up tomorrow, it will be another beautiful day. You are yourself first, and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki second." Kaede Tsukasa turned and left.

He wasn't a caring older brother, and didn't have much time to waste on Kushina.

Hidan deserves more of his attention. The power of the evil god has not yet been fully explored. He first needs to raise Hidan's strength to a level no less than his peak in the original timeline, and then consider how to further tap into Hidan's potential.

The upper limit of an evil god shouldn't be like this. Even the Grim Reaper can instantly kill anyone below the Six Paths level. No matter how bad an evil god is, he shouldn't be that much worse.

The news of Mito Uzumaki's death spread throughout the ninja world in no time, causing a huge shock.

Most people were overjoyed, thinking that this living fossil was finally dead. The relic that had been passed down since the founding of the village, the unfathomable Mito Uzumaki, was indeed better off dead.

"No chaos was detected in Konoha? It seems the handover went smoothly. That old hag Mito Uzumaki, I was hoping she would die with Kurama, so that Konoha would completely lose Kurama."

"However, this is also a good thing. It is already remarkable that the new Nine-Tails Jinchuriki can keep himself from going berserk, let alone use the power of the Nine-Tails. This means that Konoha Village will not be able to use the Nine-Tails for many years to come!"

This is crucial!

During World War II, Mito Uzumaki was too old to participate in the war; when the next Shinobi World War breaks out, Kushina Uzumaki might also be unable to participate, which would be advantageous to other villages.

As a result, all the villages that possessed tailed beasts desperately developed tailed beast weapons.

What Konoha, the strongest ninja village in the ninja world, cannot use is the advantage of other ninja villages, and we must do our best to explore it!

At the same time, the Hidden Cloud Village became a laughing stock.

"What?! Mito Uzumaki is dead? Then our kidnapping of Kushina Uzumaki a few days ago... was actually equivalent to kidnapping the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki?!"

The Third Raikage angrily smashed the desk in front of him with a punch.

After all that commotion, the Cloud Village's plan to invade the Land of Fire with three hundred ninjas has turned into a farcical charade? Even without Kaede Tsukasa's glorious feat of annihilating several hundred of them, they would never have been able to successfully kidnap Kushina, who had become the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki.

Konoha Village would not allow it, and Kushina herself would not sit idly by and wait to die.

Ultimately, these three hundred people were destined to be wiped out by the people of Konoha Village; there was a huge gap in the intelligence.

If we had to pinpoint a possible value, it would be to find a way to provoke Kushina into going berserk within Konoha Village. But that was just wishful thinking. In reality, their entire force was wiped out by Kaede Tsukasa alone.

The lives of three hundred Cloud Villagers established Kaedeji's great reputation.

"I'm sorry, Father, if it weren't for me..." Ye Yue clutched her right hand, her face contorted with pain and anguish.

"Shut up! The heir of the Night Moon Clan will never wallow in self-blame and guilt. If you still consider yourself a man, hold your head high! This chance to live was won for you by the lives of three hundred comrades. Do you really want to face their souls with this dejected expression?!"

"Yes, I will find a way to avenge them. I will definitely find an opportunity to kill Kaedeji!"

"Hmm, that's right. Is your right hand still not working?" The Third Raikage frowned as he looked at his son's right hand.

To be honest, it's a bit tricky. This hand is completely useless; it can't transmit chakra or form hand seals. It's essentially sealed.

"The village still hasn't figured out how the technique that sealed your right hand worked. A strange demon cut off part of your soul and ate it. This must be a soul-sealing technique. That Kaedeji was able to use it through a corpse..."

The Third Raikage had never met Kaede Tsukasa in person, but after gathering various pieces of information, he still found it troublesome.

Their Yotsuki clan's Lightning Release Chakra Mode should have been the most unbeatable ninjutsu, and combined with their naturally tall and strong bodies, they were born to stand at the top of the ninja world, looking down on 99% of the ninjas in the world.

Attack, defense, speed – he has no weaknesses in any aspect and can withstand the enemy's ninjutsu bombardment with his body. But now, a guy like Kaede Tsukasa has appeared?
Using corpses to fight is nothing special. They were confident that they could rampage through hordes of corpses, killing countless people without suffering any harm themselves, even under the Lightning Release Chakra Mode. But who would have thought that Kaede Tsukasa would pull out such a trick?

If you can't damage the body, you'll bypass the physical level and go straight for the soul, right?
"No matter how well-trained a body is, it cannot withstand attacks on the soul. Could this be another kind of spiritualization technique? But that doesn't make sense. I've never heard of Kato Dan knowing any soul-sealing techniques."

The Third Raikage repeatedly examined his son's right hand, occasionally transmitting some Lightning Release chakra to stimulate it, but he could not get the hand to function again. The strange runes attached to the palm were practically a visible curse.

There was nothing they could do; there was absolutely nothing they could do. Even the Third Raikage was at a loss. All he could do now was imagine what it would be like to encounter Kaede Tsukasa next time and figure out how to deal with it.

“Even if we are attacked by a spiritification technique, our iron will and powerful chakra are enough to defend against it, so we won’t be completely helpless. But Kaede Tsukasa’s sealing technique is currently completely undefendable. We can only avoid being caught by his corpse.” The Third Raikage pondered.

Ye Yue said in a deep voice, "Father, this is the key. He can single-handedly summon an entire army. To kill him, we must strike quickly, wipe out all the corpses, and exhaust his chakra beforehand, preventing him from using space-time ninjutsu to escape over long distances. But..."

However, if he wants to wipe out the horde of zombies, he has to fight personally and use the Lightning Release Chakra Mode to quickly eliminate them. But this would make it easy for him to come into close contact with the zombies. Who knows which zombie Kaede Tsukasa will arrange to use the technique?

What if every corpse could become a vessel for the spell? It's not impossible, but it's unlikely. There can't be an unsolvable spell. The more perfect it seems, the greater the limitations during its execution and the greater the cost afterward.

However, they couldn't determine the exact price. Yoru only saw his right hand and a mass of something on the corpse being devoured by the Grim Reaper, but he knew nothing about souls and couldn't determine what it was. Could it be the soul of a corpse? That's absurd. Could it be Kaedeji's chakra? It doesn't seem like it.

The Third Raikage's head ached from thinking: "Go and call Tsuchida over. He's sharp-witted, and we need to talk to him about this in detail."

Tsuchida is a strategist-type talent promoted by the Third Raikage. He will become the strategist of the Fourth Raikage in the future, maintaining the operation of Kumogakure and serving as the on-site commander of one of the battlefields during the Fourth Shinobi World War.

……

Training ground No. 17.

During this period, Kaedeji relentlessly tormented Hidan, causing the guy's physical skills to improve rapidly.

In fact, given Hidan's current situation, he will not encounter any bottlenecks for the time being. With the backing of Kaede Tsukasa and Jashin, his physical abilities are already at a high level. Furthermore, with Kaede Tsukasa's Reanimation Jutsu as a foundation, young Hidan's physical abilities will only be stronger than his peak in the original timeline!

Therefore, Hidan only needs to hone his fighting skills, instead of using various arduous training methods to improve his physical strength like Might Guy did.

This means that Hidan is growing at an astonishing rate. Once his taijutsu reaches a certain level, Hidan will already be a powerful and usable ninja.

Although there is still a lot of water involved and many shortcomings.

After Hidan collapsed from exhaustion once again, Kaede looked up at the shade of the trees at the edge of the training ground.

One figure had been observing for some time.

"I'm sorry, Kaedeji... sir, I didn't mean to spy on your methods of training your disciples."

Minato Namikaze jumped down, looking apologetic.

Kaedeji waved his hand: "It's okay. Many people have seen it when they pass by. If I wanted to keep it a secret, I would have gone deep into the Leaf Village forest long ago... There is absolutely no need to keep this kind of pure physical combat training a secret."

As Kaede Tsukasa said, what he had been doing these past few days was to torture Hidan with various zombies. Apart from the Third Hokage, who could use the Crystal Ball Technique to monitor the area for a long time and probably figure out that Hidan was immortal, it didn't really affect anyone else who passed by, even if they occasionally saw some of the content.

What? The training was brutal, and Hidan was covered in blood? Isn't that normal? Lord Kaedeji is a medical ninja and a master of corpse release; isn't it normal for him to heal injuries? Besides, isn't it normal for such a powerful ninja to be strict with his disciples?

"What brings you here?" Kaedeji asked.

Minato Namikaze hesitated for a moment, then awkwardly scratched the back of his head: "This may be rude, but I've always wanted to challenge you."

"Oh? You want to challenge me? Why would you have such an idea?"

"Because we're the only two space-time ninjas in the village, and we use different space-time ninjutsu," Minato Namikaze said with an embarrassed smile. "I have some ideas about the Flying Thunder God Technique and its compatible ninjutsu, but progress on my own is very slow..."

Most people would find it hard to refuse such a gentle and polite person, but Kaedeji is no ordinary person.

“You are no match for me. My space-time ninjutsu is just one of the ninjutsu adapted to the Corpse Escape Technique. I am not the type of person who specializes in space-time ninjutsu.” Kaede Tsukasa refused.

Minato Namikaze? A few years ago, he wouldn't even have been qualified to stand in front of Minato Namikaze, let alone make the guy remember his name.

Of the tens of thousands of resident ninjas in Konoha, how many could Minato Namikaze remember? Later, the situation gradually changed, and some people put Kaede Tsukasa and Minato Namikaze on the same level, believing that the two were geniuses who emerged in Konoha during the Second World War.

But things are different now. No one compares Kaede Tsukasa to Namikaze Minato anymore. There's no comparison, which is unfair to Kaede Tsukasa.

Kaede didn't need to deliberately seek out Minato Namikaze, but Minato Namikaze came to him on his own initiative.

During this period, Minato Namikaze had already begun developing the Rasengan; it seems he not only had the idea but also put it into practice.

Hidan lay on the ground, scoffing, "What a joke! Someone like you think you can take on my teacher? I can handle you all by myself!"

"Is that so, Hidan? With the guidance of Lord Kaedeji, you will surely become an outstanding ninja in the future."

Minato Namikaze showed no signs of embarrassment or anger and prepared to leave.

But Kaede suddenly said, "It's not impossible. Consider it a favor, Minato. If you can defeat Hidan, I can fight you... and even give you some advice on space-time ninjutsu."

Whether it's the second stage of Flying Thunder God Technique, or the third, fourth, or Zero Style, Kaede Tsukasa knows a little bit about it and can just copy the homework.

“As you can see, Hidan still has a long way to go in terms of taijutsu. His physical attributes are good, but his combat skills and combat intuition are terrible, while you are extremely good at these areas,” Kaede Tsukasa said.

One of the key reasons Minato was able to master the Flying Thunder God Technique was his exceptional reflexes, which allowed him to skillfully slit an enemy's throat with a kunai while moving at high speed.

In the future Third Shinobi World War, he achieved the amazing feat of instantly killing fifty ninjas. Such a person would be perfect to train Hidan.

Minato stopped and looked at Hidan seriously: "Is that so? It seems that Lord Kaedeji values ​​you highly... In that case, I am very willing to help Lord Kaedeji train you."

"What? Hey, who do you think you are to be so confident?"

Hidan regained some of his strength, stood up again, picked up his scythe, and aimed it at Minato.

Kaede Tsukasa said, "Minato, let me remind you, you have to be prepared to kill him, otherwise you'll suffer a great loss. He's not someone you can easily deal with."

Upon hearing this, Minato's expression indeed turned serious. He looked at Hidan, who was covered in openings, with suspicion: "Lord Kaedeji, what if we accidentally hurt him..."

"Don't worry about it, just do whatever you want. In fact, you can't kill him... literally, you can't kill him."

Kaedeji's words made Minato even more confused. He didn't think Kaedeji was intentionally humiliating him. So the truth was that Hidan was special... That must be the real reason why Kaedeji took a liking to Hidan.

Swish!
Minato pulled out two kunai and threw them around Hidan, the kunai seemingly haphazardly pinning themselves to the ground.

"Hey, what are you doing? Are you drunk? Your throwing skills are terrible, even worse than mine. Can someone like you really improve my physical skills?"

Hidan swung his scythe with a carefree attitude, and his fighting style was also very open and unrestrained. In the eyes of Minato, who was very meticulous, there were open openings everywhere that he could attack.

Hidan immediately swung his sword, but Minato ducked and dodged it. He picked up his specially made kunai and held it to Hidan's neck. For a moment, he felt that things were going too smoothly, and he became alert because of it.

“It looks like it’s over. If this were a real battle, you would be dead,” Minato said.

"Ha, who told you that? It's only just begun... I won't die either."

Hidan suddenly swung his scythe with great force, and the force propelled his neck close to Minato's specially made kunai, where it was immediately sliced ​​open.

"What's going on? Do you want to die?" Minato frowned, looking at the marks on his kunai with suspicion and uncertainty. He looked down at the marks and confirmed that it was not an illusion.

"Ouch, that hurts! Damn it, I'm going to cut a wound like that on you too."

Hidan roared and launched an attack on Minato using taijutsu that Minato found incredibly clumsy. During the attack, the wound on his neck burst open with each exertion of force, making Minato's heart pound and causing him to constantly glance at Kaede Tsukasa.

This injury is so bad, he'll die if it's not treated soon, right? But Kaede Tsukasa remained unmoved, watching quietly.

Minato seemed to be deep in thought, and then attacked several more times, creating more wounds on Hidan. Gradually, he realized that something was wrong with Hidan. So many wounds should have caused him to bleed profusely, but the amount of blood flowing out seemed to be very small. Often, after a little blood flowed out, the bleeding would gradually stop.

"It's not a self-healing ability; his injuries haven't healed. Therefore, his blood doesn't actually flow as much as a normal person's, which allows him to withstand more injuries than a normal person."

But that alone doesn't seem enough to make Kaedeji take it seriously, unless...

The art of flying thunder god!
Minato finally used the Flying Thunder God Technique, his figure constantly moving between the positions of the kunai, cutting more and bigger wounds on Hidan's body. Then, Minato fell completely silent.

He silently watched Hidan, who was still lively and energetic, at most agitated due to his numerous injuries.

"So, this guy is immortal?" Minato exclaimed in astonishment. How could such a guy exist in the world? No wonder he gained Kaedeji's favor!

Kaede Tsukasa said, "I already told you, Minato, you can't kill him, so go ahead and do it. Training him is also training your own techniques, so you can use them without worry."

At this point, Minato was unable to kill Hidan with any of his ninjutsu, and he didn't know the Reaper Death Seal—although even if he did, he wouldn't use it—which meant that Minato could launch attacks at will.

"Is that so? No wonder Lord Kaedeji said that he could train you into a capable ninja in just a few months. Besides your immortality, you must have other abilities that you can use on me."

Minato held a kunai in one hand and opened the other hand into a claw shape: "Then I won't be polite. Although this technique is not yet complete, if I can use it in battle, I'll definitely gain some valuable experience... Rasengan!"

The chakra visibly spun violently, but was extremely loose, and Minato pressed it down on Hidan's abdomen.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"

Hidan's entire body spun and flew backward, letting out a series of screams of varying pitches, before finally crashing into the wooden stake and slamming to the ground.

The tear marks on his upper body clothing were also very peculiar, consisting of concentric rings.

"Looks like it worked." Minato clenched his fist, somewhat excited, but the power seemed far from enough... He needed to compress the chakra further, so he was stuck here for the time being.

“It hurts so much, it hurts so much!!”

Hidan leaped up, enraged, and swung his scythe at Minato again. The two continued to entangle and stalemate, during which Minato used the Rasengan multiple times, each time creating a great spectacle, but without any real effect.

Kaede Tsukasa watched the entire fight between the two guys.

"It's completely a draw. With the fight going like this, either one side will retreat, or it'll come down to who runs out of chakra first." Kaede Tsukasa found the battle rather boring, but Hidan's taijutsu skills were indeed improving at a visible rate.

Having been repeatedly brutally beaten by someone like Minato Namikaze, and disliking pain, Hidan's mind, no matter how rigid, would start to work. Not to mention, Hidan's acumen in physical combat is actually quite high.

Both of them were immersed in their own worlds, improving their skills.

Kaede Tsukasa was watching this scene, and the Third Hokage was also observing it through the crystal ball.

"As expected of an immortal ninja, I didn't see Kaedeji perform any techniques midway through. Could it be that Hidan's abilities didn't originate from Kaedeji?"

The Third Hokage felt that there were far too many secrets in the ninja world, and all sorts of things would always appear that surprised him.

Fortunately, this special ninja belongs to Konoha Village. The Third Hokage was also very curious. Hidan could not become the kind of ninja that Kaede Tsukasa talked about just by being immortal. What other abilities did he not use?

Could it be some kind of ninjutsu that results in mutual destruction? Hmm, covering your entire body with explosive tags, then charging at the enemy to die together... even if you're reduced to dust, you won't die?

"And Minato, that kid is getting more and more outstanding. He quietly developed the prototype of a powerful ninjutsu, an instantaneous ninjutsu without hand seals? What a genius idea. He hasn't received Jiraiya's guidance for the past few years, but he has already achieved great results on his own."

The Third Hokage sighed, feeling that as he aged, every time he saw outstanding juniors emerging in the village, he felt as if he had been given a boost of vitality.

He watched as Minato, engrossed in testing his new ninjutsu during the battle, pondered, and hesitated whether to tell Kaede Tsukasa to teach Minato the Sky Realm Technique. As both were rare space-time ninjutsu, they must have some commonalities.

Although Minato will definitely not be able to learn the Sky Realm Technique, he might be able to gain something from it by analogy and further develop the Flying Thunder God Technique.

I just don't know if Kaedeji is willing to do this.

At that moment, a ninja guarding the gate came to the Hokage Building to report.

"Lord Hokage, Lord Jiraiya is back!"

"Really? Jiraiya is finally back. It seems he went through a lot of internal struggle."

The Third Hokage was somewhat pleased. It was good that he was back. As long as he was willing to come back, some unpleasant things could be completely forgotten, and many things would no longer be problems.

Even though Jiraiya had unwittingly played a less-than-honorable role in many previous events, indirectly contributing to Mito Uzumaki's death.

This is not an unforgivable thing for the Third Hokage. As long as Jiraiya is willing to come back, everything is negotiable.

Jiraiya walked along the bustling street, watching the traffic, feeling somewhat dazed. His already uneasy heart was now filled with even more fear.

Ordinary ninjas and villagers didn't know what he had done, but how could the village's higher-ups not know? He discovered and concealed the information about the Rinnegan, but in the end, he couldn't hide it from the village or Mount Myōboku.

Jiraiya recalled the scene of the two immortals showing concern and care for Nagato, and felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

How did things escalate to this terrible state? The people who shouldn't know now all know, and all his initial expectations have been shattered.

The only saving grace is that he taught Nagato for three years, and Nagato now has enough strength to protect himself, provided he keeps a low profile and doesn't provoke strongmen like Hanzo. If he can survive, there shouldn't be any problem.

“Given the current situation, Mount Myōboku will be keeping a close eye on Nagato. If I hadn’t stopped them, they would have signed a summoning contract with Nagato right away.”

The so-called child of prophecy, whose future path is caught between Konoha and Mount Myōboku, must have already become unrecognizable by now. Nagato's path will become even more arduous and unpredictable.

"However, I never expected that the lord would actually know the Sage of Six Paths. If the Sage of Six Paths was the one who changed the ninja world in the past, then Nagato is the one who is changing the ninja world now..."

Jiraiya could actually understand Mount Myōboku's actions; they wanted to continue to grasp the trends of the times and ensure the existence and prosperity of Mount Myōboku amidst turbulent waves.

"Wait a little longer. I also need to see what path Nagato will choose in the future. This is very important... Let's go see the old man first, and then talk to Minato. Speaking of which, I initially thought Minato would be the child of prophecy."

Jiraiya chuckled self-deprecatingly, "There should only be one Child of Prophecy, right? Could there be several?"

(End of this chapter)