Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 113 Konoha Village's Newest Super Genius Graduates Ahead of Schedule

The guys from Sunagakure are really in a hurry, and they have reason to be.

In terms of overall national strength, the Land of Wind is the weakest of the five great nations. Most of its territory is barren desert with little output and great economic pressure, so the Daimyo of the Land of Wind always tries to find opportunities to cut the funding of Sunagakure!

In the case of the other four major powers, this operation is truly incomprehensible. With frequent wars, it's one thing not to expand military equipment, but why cut funding?

The Kingdom of Wind had no choice but to give the impression that if it didn't cut spending, the whole country could go bankrupt at any time.

For example, right now, the loss of such important information as the Tailed Beast has caused quite a stir, and now everyone knows that Sunagakure has lost its only remaining Tailed Beast.

"Now that the news has spread far and wide, I'm starting to doubt whether Sunagakure has actually lost a tailed beast... Could it be a deliberate attempt to mislead us?"

"It's also possible that it really was lost. The envoys from Sunagakure were probably waiting for this moment. Now that we've determined that we can't hide it anymore, let's make a big fuss about it."

"Sunagakure... Sunagakure is the village with the greatest grudge against Konoha. If they really lose their tailed beasts, that would be great. They deserve it!"

"Even if what the people from Sunagakure are saying is true, and it really was Lord Kaedeji who attacked the One-Tailed Beast, it's absolutely gratifying!"

"I heard from the envoys from Sunagakure that Lord Kaedeji used Wood Release when he attacked the One-Tailed Jinchuriki... I suspect they were drunk and couldn't distinguish between Corpse Release and Wood Release."

Wood Release? That thing has been gone for decades, okay? How could it suddenly appear on Kaede Tsukasa? So much so that people who heard this comment subconsciously took it as an amusing joke and laughed loudly.

While there were occasional dissenting opinions among the people discussing the matter—such as the fact that attacking the only remaining tailed beast of Sunagakure was an undeniable act of war, and that Konoha should not have done such a thing—overall, public opinion within Konoha did not significantly shift towards condemning Kaede Tsukasa.

Even those who condemned Kaede Tsukasa only dared to whisper and didn't dare to actually go up to him and poke his nose to curse him.

Because Kaede Tsukasa is truly intimidating. He manipulates corpses, leading a large number of them in battle, especially fresh corpses that have just died but are forced to stand up again. Who wouldn't be afraid? What if you yourself become part of the horde and get consumed?
The people of Sunagakure were disappointed once again. They had hoped to see Kaede Tsukasa become estranged from Konoha, but it didn't have any real effect.

There was nothing that could be done about it. With their only tailed beast gone, the entire Sand Village went into a frenzy, mobilizing in all directions and almost turning the Land of Wind upside down. They then began searching the Land of Fire. In just a few days, countless Sand Village teams broke into the Land of Fire and clashed with the Leaf Village's forces.

In the original timeline, the Third Kazekage mysteriously disappeared, causing a huge commotion in Sunagakure. Not only did they send people to fight in other countries, but they also gritted their teeth and decided that no one should have an easy time, thus initiating the Third Shinobi World War.

Now, losing a tailed beast is far more serious than losing the Third Kazekage. There are too few people searching, so it's useless; there are too many people, so it can't be hidden.

The younger generation of Konoha Village also noticed the turmoil within the village and listened to the villagers' mocking remarks about Sunagakure.

"It is true that Sunagakure lost its tailed beast. Lord Kaede was the most experienced ninja in the village when it came to fighting tailed beasts."

"But, he went all the way to the Land of Wind and killed the One-Tailed Jinchuriki while being protected by many Sand Village ninjas? That's too brutal! How did he do that?"

"Obito, why aren't you saying anything? You're the village's recognized genius. Everyone says even Kakashi can't compare to you. You must have your own opinion, right?"

These young people, whose average age is five or six, all looked at a person with a furrowed brow.

Obito Uchiha, a rising super genius, was the undisputed number one in both theoretical and practical classes. Even Kakashi Hatake could not defeat him, and Kakashi regarded him as the strongest opponent who had to be defeated.

"It's quite obvious that the village didn't let public opinion develop freely; in fact, it has already taken action in secret."

Obito pondered that while the One-Tailed Beast was indeed the key to the whole matter, the fact that Kaede Tsukasa had created a forest in the Land of Wind should also be highlighted. In the eyes of uninformed outsiders, it meant that Konoha Village had mastered the mature technology of transplanting Hashirama cells.

Obito said, "Even if it really was Kaedeji who did it, so what? With his current strength, Sunagakure can't stop him at all, and neither can Konoha."

"What! You mean Lord Kaedeji can fight against Sunagakure?"

"...No, that's not what I meant. I meant that no one can stop a space-time ninja like Kaede Tsukasa."

Sometimes, Obito found talking to these people his own age really boring. After witnessing firsthand the existence of people like Madara and Kaede Tsukasa, he lost all expectations of his peers.

In particular, Madara had just found him and told him that Kaede Tsukasa had successfully resurrected and fused with a copy of Hashirama—this left Obito dumbfounded, completely unable to understand what it meant to absorb and fuse with a "First Hokage".

In any case, he is extremely powerful, powerful enough to kill tailed beasts. Obito understands that even Madara has no way to deal with Kaede Tsukasa. Once Kaede Tsukasa is to fully intervene in the Eye of the Moon Project, he will become his biggest obstacle.

"Kakashi!"

"It's Kakashi!"

When Obito heard the voice, he turned his head and glanced at the guy with dead fish eyes. Only this person of his age could make him take a second look.

"Obito, let's go fight a match."

"No, you're too weak. You don't interest me at all. Lord Sakumo should train you properly. Also, I suggest you go and deal with that lunatic Might Guy first. Although his physical skills are somewhat interesting, he's still someone I've defeated."

Obito sighed and shook his head: "Idiot Kakashi, even more idiotic Might Guy, I actually have to compete with you guys, how boring, I'm applying to graduate early."

His performance immediately drew admiration from those around him, especially the girls who screamed and stared at him, shouting things like "So handsome!"

This greatly satisfied Obito's vanity, to the point that he tried his best to keep his face tense and prevent his mouth from stretching to his ears—this was also an extremely difficult training, requiring him to fight against his body's instincts, which was very arduous.

However, Obito did indeed have the qualifications to look down on all his peers. With Madara's careful teaching and training, plus the regular fusion of small amounts of White Zetsu cells, his physique improved imperceptibly, and he had already far surpassed others in all aspects.

That's why Obito knew better than anyone how terrifying Kaede Tsukasa was.

Born into humble circumstances, he only rose to fame at the age of 16, and in just three years he displayed his strength and potential at an astonishing speed, attracting the attention of the world. However, to this day, no one knows exactly what level Kaede Tsukasa has reached.

The mere fact that he swallowed the First Hokage made Obito swallow hard.

If the First Hokage also had a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan, that would be even more outrageous. You know, Obito hasn't even awakened his Sharingan yet, so he can't understand the significance of the First Hokage having a pair of Sharingan. To the point that he can't even look directly at the Hokage Rock now, every time he looks at it he feels like he's looking at Kaede Tsukasa.

Kakashi's expression was serious: "Graduating early, as expected, you finally couldn't hold back. If it weren't for wanting to defeat you, I would have applied for early graduation half a year ago, instead of dragging it out until now."

"Heh, you arrogant bastard, if your skills were half as good as your talk, you wouldn't have gotten beaten up so badly."

Obito was also very stubborn, and his attitude was even tougher. He had now basically figured out how to be a strongman (scratch that) and how to act cool.

Just as Obito and Kakashi were arguing.

A blue-haired woman with a cool and aloof demeanor passed by their group, immediately attracting the attention of Obito and the others.

"This person... Obito, could it be..."

“There’s no mistake. He’s said to be Jiraiya’s disciple, and he’s currently living at Kaede Tsukasa’s house. He hasn’t carried out any missions issued by the village, and it’s like he’s here on vacation. That’s not normal.” Obito said with a serious expression.

Konan is ultimately involved with Nagato and the Rinnegan, and is one of the usable pieces in the Eye of the Moon Plan. Obito is trying to think about the problem from a higher perspective.

Kakashi glanced at Obito. He always felt that this guy sometimes acted too pretentiously, as if he was deliberately imitating someone. But who exactly? At first, he thought it was Kaede Tsukasa, because Obito only mentioned Kaede Tsukasa without adding the word "master," but that didn't make sense.

If you admire someone, shouldn't you address them with respect? Why are you calling them by their first name as if you know them very well?

Kakashi sensed something was amiss, but it was none of his business; he was more interested in how to defeat Obito.

Xiao Nan walked away.

Kakashi snapped his fingers in front of Obito, who was staring intently at him: "I'll graduate early too, and I won't let you have it easy. Let's go on missions together in the future and see who completes the most missions."

"Go to hell." Obito chuckled, raising his chin arrogantly.

"Ah, but your actions now seem rather poor, too deliberate. You'd better learn more advanced techniques from true masters."

"What? You bastard, you want to fight? Come on!!" Obito broke down in a second.

Amidst the crowd of teenagers watching the spectacle with amusement, a girl stepped forward, mustered her courage, and seemed to want to stand between the two to stop them, but Obito pushed her away.

"Get out of my way, I remember your name is Rin, right? You're such a nuisance, leave me alone! Kakashi, let's go, one-on-one! And then tell me in detail about the 'advanced technique' you mentioned, it must be Lord Sakumo's signature move, right?"

Obito's attention was completely drawn to what Kakashi mentioned. There was no way around it; after all, the head of the Hatake clan was a genuine Hokage-level powerhouse. Although he was always low-key and supposedly had a mild temper, he didn't have the arrogant demeanor that matched his crazy killing spree.

But regardless, his skill at showing off was definitely superior. Obito felt that Lord Sakumo was even better at this than the Uchiha clan—no wonder, the Uchiha clan hadn't produced a Hokage-level ninja for far too long; the last one was Madara Uchiha. Obito had seen everything Madara was like. When Madara defeated Kaedeji with a single glance, he thought he had truly witnessed the demeanor of a super strong person, but Kaedeji turned around and revived, becoming even stronger, leaving Madara helpless.

Obito's mind was completely focused on creating his own persona.

As for the random passerby Nohara Rin that he ruthlessly pushed away... Obito didn't care at all. There were just too many girls around him, so who was Nohara Rin?

Wherever Obito went, a group of girls cheered and screamed. He had become somewhat desensitized and found it difficult to have any feelings of liking a gentle and quiet girl. He was a brilliant genius with a name that was known among the village's higher-ups, not the loser in the original timeline who desperately needed people's care and kindness.

The more unattainable something is, the more attention it receives and the more it is held onto as if it were the whole world, becoming incredibly precious. Conversely, one will not receive the same attention at all if something is unattainable.

……

Konan returned to Kaede Tsukasa's house. She now had a relatively comprehensive understanding of Konoha Village and was paying attention to the topics that the villagers were discussing.

Konan showed no reaction to the capture of the One-Tailed Beast; she didn't even know that the Gedo Mazo was a container for sealing tailed beasts.

On the contrary, she did pay a little attention to the fact that the people of Sunagakure were spreading the word that Kaede Tsukasa could use Wood Release, but she quickly lost interest.

There was absolutely no news from the Land of Rain or Nagato... Konan felt like she had become an emotionless talisman-making machine, unable to leave the village, yet unable to use its power to do anything.

Just as Konan activated her paper escape technique to create a new explosive tag.

boom!
The door was forcibly pulled open, and the lock was also ripped off.

"Are you the only one here? Where's that guy, Si?!"

Tsunade rushed in first, looked around, and only saw the calm Konan.

Jiraiya followed closely behind, entering with a helpless expression. Seeing that his disciple was safe and sound, he was relieved.

"I don't know. That guy never tells me what he's going to do. You've asked the wrong person."

Xiao Nan didn't even look up, remaining focused on making detonating tags.

Jiraiya opened his mouth, hesitated, and said, "You've made enough explosive tags during this time, right? That should be enough. I'll go talk to Kaedeji and ask him to set you free."

Xiao Nan didn't say anything, and sure enough, her figure disappeared from the spot immediately. The next second, Feng Jian Si and she returned.

"Tsunade-senpai, I noticed you seemed very anxious, so I rushed over."

"Tsukasa, you bastard, did you already know that a large number of Senju clan members were involved in human experiments? Why didn't you tell me sooner so I could stop them!" Tsunade's forehead veins bulged as she angrily grabbed Kaede Tsukasa's collar.

"It seems you've figured it out. Perhaps it's because I have information about Wood Release that the Senju clan can no longer hide it?"

Kaede Tsukasa remained calm. He had realized before that Tsunade was aware of the human experimentation. At first, he was able to keep it a secret, but as time went on, more and more Senju clan members died on the operating table and could no longer appear in the Senju clan's territory. Tsunade must have made some guesses.

“You must have negotiated with Chief Momoka, right? You must know that she also possesses the Wood Release bloodline limit. This is the will of the clan, not my will. Although I am the secondary person in charge of the transplantation experiment, I cannot stop the Senju clan’s decision, nor do I know how to stop it. You should be very clear about what worries Lady Momoka: the Senju clan has no successors, and even the total number of children has decreased,” Kaedeji said.

Tsunade loosened her grip on Kaede's collar, looking utterly dejected.

While she certainly raised the Senju clan's combat strength, apart from her, the Senju clan was completely unable to compare with the Uchiha and Hyuga clans, and had to organize clan members to transplant Hashirama's cells.

"But...you should at least have told me beforehand!"

"Let me tell you, you will only personally participate in the experiment, which is absolutely not allowed. The Hokage's disciple and the granddaughter of the First Hokage were put on the experimental table to transplant the First Hokage's cells. This is a serious political incident."

Kaede Tsukasa said calmly, "The price of doing this is that, Tsunade-senpai, the entire transplant experiment will be forced to stop because of your obstruction. The village will be unable to carry out research on rapidly improving combat power. When a new round of the Shinobi World War breaks out in the future, more people in the village will die, and the Senju clan will continue to decline... All the disadvantages are concentrated together. I think this is why Lady Momoka is unwilling to tell you."

Tsunade raised her hand and slammed it into the wall. There was nothing else she could do but express her anger and helplessness in this way.

Jiraiya frowned and said, "As a result, the Senju clan has lost more people so far, and only you and Momoka have obtained the Wood Release bloodline limit? No matter how you look at it, you, as the one who initiated it, are one of the biggest beneficiaries. If it weren't for the people of Sunagakure, we wouldn't even know that you have the Wood Release bloodline limit! The relationship between the two countries is extremely tense because of your actions, and they might even go to war."

"You are also the biggest beneficiary of concealing the matter from the village's headmaster Nagato and Konan. The village feels like it lost out. Those comrades who died because you left the war without permission are probably cursing you in the Pure Land."

Kaede Tsukasa replied calmly, "As for the war, there's no need to worry. If the people of Sunagakure don't give up, I will go to war."

Jiraiya's eyes widened in anger, but his imposing aura quickly dissipated, and he was speechless.

To put it bluntly, among the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, only Tsunade truly has no major scandals; the other two have increasingly serious problems.

"How about you let Xiao Nan go? She's already worked hard to make explosive tags for you, enough to arm a large number of zombies, right? When will this ever end?"

Jiraiya was helpless and tried to reason with him gently, because Kaede Tsukasa was genuinely not afraid of him.

Even when they first met and he tried to recruit him to participate in World War II, only to be resolutely rejected, Kaede Tsukasa, who had already mastered space-time ninjutsu, dared to confront him directly. So what about now?

Kaede Tsukasa is already a powerful ninja who possesses Wood Release and Corpse Release, capable of defeating a Jinchuriki single-handedly. He is an undisputed Hokage-level existence.

Jiraiya felt that unless he could instantly activate Sage Mode, he had no chance of suppressing Kaede Tsukasa. In his view, Kaede Tsukasa's Wood Release, at best, could only create a forest. Could he possibly rival the First Hokage with just a few transplanted cells? Impossible.

"Wait a little longer, it's not enough, far from enough. Jiraiya, don't even think about taking her away from me. You should be able to guess that I've tampered with Konan. I won't let her go until she helps me achieve my goal... But as long as I'm satisfied, I'll release her immediately, without having to break my promise with a lame excuse."

Kaedeji made a gesture to see the guest out.

Tsunade and Jiraiya, suppressing their anger, left helplessly—this was Konoha Village, a place that upheld the Will of Fire; were these two really going to attack Kaede Tsukasa?
"Kid, see you at the training ground later, I'm furious right now!!" Tsunade couldn't hold back any longer and turned around, only to find that Kaede Tsukasa had already left using a space-time ninjutsu.

"He's actually still very busy...that bastard!"

Tsunade's breathing quickened, her chest pounding: "I have a way to solve the Senju clan's predicament!"

"Hmm? What do you plan to do?" Jiraiya glanced at her, then immediately looked away. Tsunade had her own partner, and he wanted to avoid suspicion.

"So what if there's no one to carry on the family line? So what if there are no newborns? I'll give birth! I'll raise them myself! I refuse to believe I can't raise a few geniuses!" Tsunade gritted her teeth.

"How many? Don't push yourself so hard! Can Kato Dan handle it?"

"Get out of my way, it's none of your business!"

Tsunade stormed off, leaving Jiraiya, who had just taken a punch, lying on the ground, completely bewildered.

Kaede ignored the two people and went directly to the Land of Rain.

Although Sunagakure is making frequent moves, theoretically they wouldn't be crazy enough to start a war—now is not the time to start World War III, as the various countries have not yet accumulated enough power.

Even if he really goes insane and assembles a large army to invade the Land of Fire, Kaedeji can still rush back in time. At that time, he would be happy to let the guys from Sunagakure experience what it's like to unleash the full power of Corpse Release.

Even during his Edo Tensei period, he could directly control the actions of tens of thousands of zombies, let alone now.

"It's raining again; this country is always crying."

Kaedeji opened his arms, feeling the coldness of the rain.

So, it's time to go see Nagato.

"The last time we met, I was still in the Edo Tensei form. Nagato and the others thought Orochimaru had controlled me and kidnapped Konan..."

This time, Kaede Tsukasa planned to use the One-Tailed Beast as a bargaining chip. To be honest, the One-Tailed Beast would be of little use to him except for providing him with its chakra.

Even in terms of chakra, in terms of sheer quantity, Kaede Tsukasa is no less powerful than the One-Tailed Beast. However, he can use a portion of the One-Tailed Beast's chakra to create the crudest zombie Jinchuriki.

Activating a portion of the Gedo Mazo ahead of time would surely be quite interesting.

(End of this chapter)