Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 116 Four Thousand Surround One Person, Chaos Erupts
"There might only be one? It's Kaede Tsukasa, the culprit who put us in this situation, who actually came here on his own initiative."

A fierce glint flashed in Ebizo's eyes.

Sunagakure was the worst-off of the five great ninja villages, the poorest, and the most distrusted by the state.

Listen to this: the nobles of the Land of Wind are always trying to find ways to cut the military budget of the Sand Village. Is that reasonable? How could such a thing happen in the other four countries and ninja villages?
But it is still a major power. Dealing with countries like the Land of Rain, the Land of Hot Water, and the Land of Demons is incredibly easy for them. They can crush them simply by virtue of their size.

But now a subtle change has occurred. All the countries are watching Sunagakure closely and monitoring the movements of the Land of Wind. Is the Land of Wind, which has lost its tailed beast, still one of the five great nations it once was?
Theoretically, the Third Kazekage, Chiyo, and others are all renowned Kage-level shinobi. However, while those smaller countries are far less powerful than the Land of Wind, they are not without strong shinobi.

A prime example is Takigakure, the village from which both the Seven-Tails and Kakuzu originated. This village was quite powerful and possessed some secret techniques.

If Sunagakure were to lose another batch of powerful warriors and some troops, things would really be hard to say. No great power becomes a great power out of thin air; they all launch wars of conquest, swallowing up other countries to expand their territory and population.

Of course, this is the ninja world, so we also need to increase the number of bloodline clans and the number of secret techniques that can be passed down within our country. These are the foundations we have. Perhaps in a few years, someone will become a powerful ninja by relying on these bloodlines and secret techniques.

The Third Kazekage looked at the young ninja who had brought the news: "Rasa, have you found any trace of Kaedeji?"

"Found him. He was at the forefront, followed by hundreds of corpses dressed in the clothing of various villages. I think that Konoha Village doesn't want to start a full-scale war with us either; they can't afford to fight! It's like they're letting Kaede Tsukasa deal with the trouble he created himself."

"Is there anything special about Kaedeji's appearance? Does he look like a living person?"

"...? I didn't find anything special." Luo Sha asked, puzzled.

Rasa is also a proud man, in the prime of his youth. In addition, he has mastered Magnet Release, which allows him to mine gold from the desert. He keeps some of it for himself as weapons and uses the rest to make up for the village's financial deficit. He has become an important new force in Sunagakure.

Naturally, Rasa gave his answer according to his own way of thinking: "I suspect that Konoha Village may have broken out in internal strife and sent Kaedeji to his death. If we kill Kaedeji, Konoha Village won't say anything."

Rasa himself was the kind of person who would rather kill important members of the village than compromise his control over it. So, in a way, his guess was right – if Kaede Tsukasa really died in battle, the Third Hokage wouldn't really take any major revenge action; it would just fizzle out.

The Third Hokage's duty was to protect the village's young people so they could grow up healthily, while watching them act recklessly and self-destructively was another matter. They were not contradictory.

“This is an opportunity, the best opportunity to kill Kaedeji.” Ebizo’s eyes lit up. “We have an absolute numerical advantage. If we hold on, we can continue to bring in more ninjas from other towns in the Land of Wind to surround and kill Kaedeji.”

"Mobilizing ninjas... Hmph, those powerful figures won't want to see us do that. They'll just angrily question us about why we're wasting so much of the nation's manpower and resources on such a vague and uncertain operation," Chiyo said with a mocking expression.

All three of them were high-ranking members of Sunagakure, essentially holding power over institutions such as national defense, public security, and national security. They were all too aware of the difficulty of dealing with those powerful figures.

The Third Kazekage slowly opened his closed eyes, his killing intent overflowing: "Four thousand against a few hundred, the advantage is on our side! Kaede Tsukasa's forces should be running low. If he really did revive himself using the Reincarnation Technique, judging from the battlefield remnants in the desert, he must have consumed at least a thousand or even more corpses."

As he spoke, the Third Kazekage glanced at Chiyo with strong dissatisfaction: "You are the village's advisor, you should have told me this crucial information sooner."

The Reincarnation Technique was something even the Kazekage didn't know Chiyo possessed; it had actually been given to Kaedeji by that traitor Sasori!
The technique of reincarnation... Rasa listened silently, a hint of excitement in his voice. The fact that the Third Kazekage didn't make him leave, but instead allowed him to stand in the central area and listen, already revealed a very clear intention to cultivate him.

He felt he was getting into the village's core secrets.

"I apologize. This is my dereliction of duty. I failed to keep a close eye on my grandson, which allowed Kaedeji to obtain the secret technique I developed... Because of the Reincarnation Technique, Kaedeji was able to rise rapidly from a Corpse Release ninja with some special abilities but not much potential for development in a very short time."

Chiyo looked dejected. Sasori's two betrayals, his willingness to follow an enemy like Kaede Tsukasa rather than her, had dealt a heavy blow to her spirit.

"Forget it, there's no point in dwelling on this anymore. No one would have imagined that a forbidden technique meant to transfer life force to revive puppets could have such a terrifying effect in Kaedeji's hands, freeing him from the constraints of his frail body and granting him a vast amount of chakra," the Third Kazekage said in a deep voice, his heart filled with frustration.

Much of Kaede Tsukasa's information is not a secret. In the earliest days, the emaciated Kaede Tsukasa even followed Jiraiya in the war in the Land of Rain.

He's so thin he looks like a ghost. Many people who know Kaede Tsukasa think he could die of illness at any moment. It would be strange if he were in good health. If he's in poor health, he certainly won't be able to produce much chakra.

As a result, this biggest shortcoming was made up for by the Self-Reincarnation Technique. The corpses could continuously supply Kaede Tsukasa with life force through the technique, so he didn't care about losing any more life force, and he could also fulfill the original purpose of the Self-Reincarnation Technique - resurrection!
This means that Kaede Tsukasa has actually mastered a resurrection technique that can be used multiple times! This news was so terrifying that even though the people present had thought of this, they hadn't actually brought it up.

But things are different now.

"Kaedeji has come to our door in person, looking quite aggressive. It seems he won't return to Konoha until he achieves some results. He's under pressure to give Konoha an explanation," Ebizo said in a low voice. "We need to kill him now. If we can exchange losing the One-Tailed Beast for killing Kaedeji, it seems acceptable."

Kaede Tsukasa is probably immortal and has defeated the One-Tailed Beast, making him quite powerful even among Kage-level beings. And the fact that he has resurrected himself... he will definitely take advantage of this resurrection to do something. The Wood Release bloodline limit that can create forests is probably Kaede Tsukasa's greatest achievement since his resurrection.

"Having obtained the Wood Release bloodline limit means that Kaedeji Tsukasa doesn't need the corpses to perform the Reanimation Jutsu on him. His own chakra will increase, and since the method of exhausting chakra won't work, the only option is to use sealing techniques."

Chiyo said, "I recently developed a puppet sealing technique to deal with elusive space-time ninjas like Kaede Tsukasa. If I can seal him away even once, he won't be able to escape."

The sealing techniques of Sunagakure are not much stronger than those of Kumogakure, but they are still usable.

Honestly, even the strong members of Sunagakure have a real headache when facing an enemy like Kaedejima, who can fight a whole team by himself, recover health after killing enemies, have an increased health bar, and can teleport away at any time.

If we don't deal with Kaedeji now, it will only become more difficult in the future.

Soon, the Third Kazekage gave the order, and the 4,000-strong force, which had originally only served as a deterrent, immediately began to move slowly toward Kaedejima.

Kaede Tsukasa saw all of this.

"Are these guys planning to wear down my forces first?" Kaede Tsukasa watched from afar.

His stockpile of corpses had indeed shrunk drastically. He had exhausted tens of thousands of zombies in his previous attempts to revive them, nearly depleting his reserves.

However, if it weren't for the fact that the corpses buried within the Land of Fire might cause controversy, he could pull up a whole batch at any time. What this world has no shortage of are the rotting but not yet completely rotten corpses of ninjas.

Now that we've come to the Land of Wind, we don't need to worry about anything, especially turning enemies into zombies on the spot—doing that is second nature to us.

Therefore, if you looked down from high above, you would see a force of thousands of men surrounding a force of hundreds.

Throughout, Kaede Tsukasa stood at the forefront of the horde of zombies with his hands in his pockets, unlike in the past when he habitually had a group of zombies surround him in multiple layers of defense.

Some spies were monitoring the battle remotely using various means—flying in the sky, crawling on the ground, and even using the wide-range sound wave sensing technology employed by the spies from the Hidden Cloud Village. Each spy was doing everything they could to observe.

They originally thought that Kaedeji would make full use of his space-time ninja advantage, constantly ambushing the Sunagakure forces. He would only need to appear instantly, then use the Summoning Jutsu to summon a bunch of zombies to attack the Sunagakure forces' weak points, achieve some results and take a certain number of corpses before immediately retreating, repeating the cycle.

Even a powerful village like Sunagakure would only suffer continuous losses and a greater number of ninja under such flexible and brutal tactics, further depleting its already relatively weak national strength.

But Kaede did not do that.

Instead, they stood still and quietly waited for the enemy to surround them!

"Are they crazy? Without numerical superiority, and without any tactical preparation, they're just going to hold out?!"

"It's incomprehensible, but Kaede Tsukasa isn't a fool. Intelligence indicates that he's a very gloomy and terrifying guy. The battle where he single-handedly wiped out hundreds of Cloud Village troops was an ambush laid in advance."

"They were unaware of the corpses lying in ambush nearby."

"Perhaps Kaedeji is preparing to use his summoning technique to summon a large number of corpses at once, but how many can there be? Could it be four thousand against four thousand?"

This joke isn't funny, and it's also a bit unrealistic—controlling four thousand corpses who can use their ninjutsu in life? Absolutely impossible, and such a guy shouldn't exist!
The spies frantically recorded intelligence and transmitted it regularly in various ways—as for why they didn't wait until the war was completely over to compile a general intelligence report, it was simply because none of them dared to say that they would definitely live to see that day.

They might be discovered by the Sunagakure assassination squad and killed on the spot. As for intelligence, as much as can be sent back using methods such as summoning jutsu, it will always be useful.

Kaedeji quietly observed the group of Sand Village ninjas around him. With his current eyesight, he could even see the sweat dripping from each of their foreheads, as well as their tense and alert expressions.

Even at this moment, they all felt that Kaede Tsukasa was plotting something, and that he might pull out a bunch of zombies and use space-time ninjutsu to teleport his main body—this was the most likely and "simple" tactic they could think of.

But Kaede did not do that; he only had these few hundred zombies at his disposal.

Sandstorm Araki stood beside Kaede Tsukasa, with fine sand particles swirling around him. If you ignored his sallow skin and pale pupils, he would look like a healthy, living ninja.

"Sandstorm Wildwood..."

Rasa looked at the Magnet Release senior with a solemn expression.

In recent years, Sandstorm Araki's reputation has grown even more, albeit as a zombie, but he has rendered invaluable service to Kaede Tsukasa. Sandstorm Araki is present in almost every battle Kaede Tsukasa is involved in. Each time, it's tantamount to slapping Sunagakure in the face.

"I remember that it was Senior Sandstorm Araki who was ordered to capture Kaedejima, and then obtained the Corpse Escape Technique, which he combined with the puppet technique of others..." Rasa recalled relevant intelligence from World War II.

For him, World War II, which ended a few years ago, felt like decades ago. Humans are such forgetful creatures, dwelling on present hatred and disgust.

Beside Kaede Tsukasa were several powerful figures, each of whom had left their mark on the ninja world, but now they had all become disposable items in Kaede Tsukasa's hands.

"Have you observed enough? If so, then we can begin. I can't wait to replenish my supply of zombies. Thanks to Sunagakure for the gift; you will be my best source of corpses."

Kaede Tsukasa spoke. Surrounded by so many people, his expression remained calm. His burly and imposing figure was concealed by his large clothes. He exuded an air of authority without anger, causing some of the Sand Village ninjas to subconsciously swallow.

"Don't get too cocky, damn it. It seems your village has abandoned you, sending you here to die alone... Don't think you can replicate the battle that crushed the Cloud Village forces. The Sand Village ninjas are not the same as the Cloud Village ninjas!"

The Third Kazekage spread his arms, and a large amount of black iron sand poured out from his sleeves.

Luo Sha also manipulates a large amount of gold dust, and the abilities displayed by the two are simply inherited from each other.

On the other side, Chiyo and Ebizo also took out their own puppets.

It can be said that, apart from younger generations like Yekura and Karura who did not participate in the battle, all of Sunagakure's top fighters are here.

"Kaede Tsukasa! You only got to where you are today because of the Reincarnation Technique. Today I will take back this forbidden technique that I developed myself!" Chiyo said sternly.

"Really? Then you'd better try your best. If I kill you, don't blame me... I have a suggestion. How about we play a battle royale game? You guys can escape, and you guys can kill."

After forming hand seals, Kaede Tsukasa slammed his hands on the ground: "I don't even know how strong I am now. Maybe I can reveal a little bit of the true power of Corpse Release. Thank you for stepping forward to help me verify this."

Corpse Escape...The Dance of Burning Sacrifice!
As Kaede Tsukasa formed the hand seals, an immense amount of chakra erupted from his body, and surging blue energy burst forth, transforming into a fierce wind that could be felt directly in one's face!
"This chakra..."

"This is the power that Kaedeji Tsukasa possessed after his resurrection?!"

"How is this possible? This power is no less than that of a tailed beast! Isn't he not known for his chakra reserves?!"

The Sand Village ninjas in the first few rows could feel the overwhelming pressure most directly. Their clothes trembled violently, their expressions changed drastically, and their bodies trembled slightly uncontrollably.

This is outrageous! Just the sheer scale of generating and unleashing chakra is astounding! Just what level has Kaedeji reached?! Chakra shouldn't increase explosively like that. It's clearly closely related to bloodline limits, physical and mental strength, etc. So what's going on with Kaedeji?!
The chakra storm alone violently impacted the Sunagakure forces.

What happens next will only be more terrible.

"Do it!"

The Third Kazekage's eyelids twitched violently, and a large amount of black iron sand surged wildly, densely covering the location where Kaede Tsukasa was.

"Wow ah ah ah ah!"

"He's alone, he's nothing to be afraid of. Let's all attack and kill him!!"

"Wind Release ninjas, first disrupt the enemy's formation! Don't let those damned corpses get in our way!"

"Where's the sealing team? Quickly prepare the sealing spells, we absolutely cannot give him a chance to escape!"

Thousands of ninjas launched an attack, and in an instant, they surged towards Kaedeji from all directions with overwhelming force and astonishing momentum.

If nothing unexpected happens, these people will overwhelm Kaedeji and his zombies in a very short time.

"Hmph, I never thought I'd get to experience what it's like for the Third Raikage to be surrounded by ten thousand Iwagakure ninja." Kaedeji looked at the surging crowd around him and found it all very novel and interesting.

The battles he had previously fought, including defeating the One-Tailed Beast and intimidating Yahiko and Nagato, had not brought him this kind of interesting novelty. At Kaede Tsukasa's level, this feeling would only decrease over time, and eventually he would become like Madara, feeling bored and weary of lower-level conflicts.

But it's okay now.

Of these four thousand men, who knows how many will fall in the first wave of attack...

Finally, the first howl rang out, followed by a chorus of howls.

Those who were turned into zombies in the first batch immediately pounced on their companions, opening their mouths to bite their necks, cheeks, and arms!
With each bite, large chunks of flesh and blood were torn off, chewed quickly, and swallowed impatiently, the mouth full of blood as the bite continued.

And with each passing second, more Sand Village ninjas are turned into zombies.

Not only that, those who were bitten were already invaded by a larger number of viruses in an instant. Under Kaede Tsukasa's technique, they succumbed to the virus even faster than healthy people. Before long, they also turned into zombies and continued to attack the living!

The troops, which were once formidable and well-trained with meticulous teamwork, are now in unprecedented chaos, and the degree of chaos is increasing at an alarming rate and scale!
Various ninja explosions rang out as the zombies clashed with the temporarily healthy people.

Everything happened so fast; no one expected it to be so fierce and violent!

"How could this happen?! Get away from me! Don't bite me, bite someone else!"

"Ugh, it hurts so much, it's so hot, I feel like... Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!"

The zombies moved nimbly, running and leaping quickly, knocking down one Sand Village ninja after another. Although they were constantly being eliminated, the overall number of zombies was increasing!
The zombies are growing stronger by feeding on the flesh and blood of the Sand Village ninjas.

"Don't panic, set up a small defensive formation!"

The Third Kazekage was also taken aback. He swung the black iron sand like a river, clearing out a section of zombies with each strike, but that wasn't enough!
"Magnetic Style: Sand Iron Realm Technique!"

He controlled the iron sand to condense into a huge, spiked polyhedron, which floated in the air, locked onto its target, and then fell to attack, with countless spikes piercing the zombies on the ground.

Normally, this move would indeed be suitable for clearing out the crowd. With the Third Kazekage's powerful mastery of Magnet Release, even if healthy ninjas were accidentally injured due to the dense crowd, there's no time to worry about that now.

They're still normal people now, but who knows if they'll turn into new zombies in a few seconds? Letting them go is the most likely scenario.

"I won't let you succeed... Wood Release: Wood Splinter Technique!"

Kaedeji opened one hand, and numerous irregular branches extended from his palm, making it appear as if an endless stream of trees were growing wildly from his palm, engaging in a large-scale confrontation with the Sand Iron Realm Law in the sky.

Iron sand spikes were constantly being shattered, and wood jutsu was also being pierced. However, Kaede Tsukasa didn't care who won or lost in this clash of ninjutsu. As long as he could delay the Third Kazekage's pace, that was enough.

"Lord Kazekage, the source lies with Maple Leaf Tsukasa! The opportunity has arrived!" Chiyo shouted sternly.

"I know!"

The Third Kazekage frowned as he watched Kaedeji maintain the Corpse Transformation Technique while simultaneously using Wood Release. "Is it really possible to use two ninjutsu at the same time?"
However, he didn't have time to analyze the reasons. Taking advantage of the moment when Kaede Shito didn't make a move, the opportunity he was looking for finally came.

Magnet Release: Giant Iron Sand Needle!

A large amount of iron sand condensed into long needles, which were then aimed at Kaede Tsukasa and fired at supersonic speed. Normally, this attack would have been enough to pierce through Kaede Tsukasa.

"Great opportunity! Sister, let's join forces and use that technique!" Ebizo shouted.

Chiyo and Ebizo simultaneously threw their specially made puppets at Kaede Tsukasa.

This is the puppet sealing technique they developed: Lion's Roar!

If we can suppress Kaedeji, we can seal him away and sever his connection with the zombies!

Kaede watched these guys' performance with a cold expression.

"Well, now we can do something a little more fun and quickly end this boring battle, although it will inevitably cost me a bunch of corpses... Give me all the summoning explosive tags."

(End of this chapter)