Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 121 Pressure from the Entire Village? He doesn't have that kind of morality; how could he be morally blackmailed by the village?

To put it bluntly, Kaedeji Tsukasa had no sense of belonging to this world, let alone the determination to become a loyal ninja of Konoha Village.

Even the name "Kaede Tsukasa" was given to him after he confirmed that he had come to this world—"Tsukasa" means control and management, and he wanted to be able to master his abilities one day.

Now, he can be said to have completely established himself in this world. If he were to focus solely on saving his life, it wouldn't be because Kaedeji is arrogant and conceited, but because no one in the public eye in this world could truly kill him.

Whether it's chakra reserves, combat experience, physical condition, or mobility, Kaede Tsukasa is at the top of the list. Even if he were to be accidentally hit by a technique like the Reaper Death Seal, he could use Izanagi to avoid it.

If Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha were at their peak, they might be able to defeat him in a direct confrontation, but killing him would be impossible.

Unless a Six Paths level expert intervenes and uses space-time teleportation eye techniques at will, the entire ninja world could relentlessly pursue him for months or even years, eventually wearing him down to death.

So, after Kaede Tsukasa single-handedly defeated thousands of Sunagakure villagers, he was already silently pondering what path to take next—to follow the established order and honestly become the village's henchman.
It is indeed a path, but for someone like Kaedeji who lacks a sense of belonging, it seems to have no meaning.

"Let me think... If the village doesn't go too far, I can become the next Danzo in the next few years, obeying orders but not decrees, carrying out actions at my own pace, at most getting a few mild scoldings from the Hokage. But what if the village crosses the line first..."

The best outcome would be for him to defect.

Yes, this is the best approach, and the one that Kaedeji could think of that would be dignified for both the village and him.

But if the outcome isn't so good... then Kaedeji can only apologize. He has been able to establish himself in this world only because he has been protected by Konoha Village for more than ten years. To say that he could be absolutely cold-blooded and use Konoha Village and all the acquaintances in the village as tools and weapons to be consumed would seem a bit too much.

"This is what I wanted to tell you: dignity is good for everyone, but if someone uses me as a threat and doesn't want to give me dignity, then I'm really sorry."

Kaede Tsukasa arrived at Kushina's house and talked with the increasingly mature woman, casually scratching her thick red hair.

Kushina frowned, rolled her eyes, and pushed the steaming teacup toward Kaede Tsukasa: "You haven't come to my place for months, and now you suddenly show up at my house, saying these things... Are you planning to run away with me?"

“This is indeed a feasible approach, but it’s not necessary to do so for the time being. There are still some people in this village that I care about. Some people respect me and are willing to obey my orders, while others have done me some favors. It would be awkward if they suddenly became enemies.”

Kaede Tsukasa downed the tea in one gulp. With his current physical condition, the slight heat was no problem for him: "Even if we become enemies, I can handle it."

"Since you've said that, it means you have other ideas; defection is just one of your options." Kushina looked at the man in front of her.

It could be said that she was one of the few people in the village who could understand Kaede Tsukasa relatively well—perhaps only slightly less so than Orochimaru.

One of the key steps in Kaede Tsukasa's previous resurrection plan was to be summoned by someone using the Impure World Reincarnation technique. Kushina was an important insurance for this step. If things went wrong, Kushina would have to find a way to learn the Impure World Reincarnation technique from the Book of Seals, and then use the Shinigami Mask to break the Reaper Death Seal and release Kaede Tsukasa's soul, allowing Kaede Tsukasa to obtain an Impure World body.

However, things didn't come to that. Kaede Tsukasa had already achieved it, possessing a seemingly unimaginably powerful body and completely breaking free from his old constraints.

If someone can go out and fight a group, they can do it with ease. Now, the Sand Village, which has been hit hard and is half paralyzed, is the most qualified to say about this.

Kaede Tsukasa put down his cup, looked at the woman in front of him with a solemn expression, pondered for a moment, and said slowly and deliberately, "I want to become Hokage."

puff!
Kushina spat out her tea and stared at Kaede Tsukasa in disbelief.

"Is such a big reaction necessary? Becoming Hokage is everyone's dream in the village, and anyone can shout it out loud."

A layer of blue chakra surged from Kaede Tsukasa's body, evaporating all the tea on his body.

Kushina hesitated, "Oh, but it just feels a bit off. Someone who keeps talking about preparing to defect, and even plans to take the village's most important Jinchuriki with him, claims he wants to become Hokage... Is that right?"

“That’s right. Becoming Hokage is the dream of everyone in the village. I’m also a ninja in the village, which means that this has always been my dream too. Isn’t it the same for you?” Kaede Tsukasa asked in return.

Kushina rolled her eyes again.

Yes, that's right. When she first arrived in Konoha, she loudly proclaimed during her self-introduction at the school that she would become the first female Hokage in the village's history, and was ridiculed by everyone for it.

As she grew older and more mature, Kushina roughly realized that it was impossible for her to become Hokage. Being a Jinchuriki was probably only a small part of the reason. More importantly, she was from another village and was essentially an outsider.

Moreover, they arrived in Konoha Village at an age when they had developed their own will and were beginning to form their values.

Would the village's top leadership be handed over to an outsider? That's absurd. Has all the talented people in the number one ninja village in the world died out, and now they're letting an outsider be the leader? They won't even pass the political vetting process.

The Hokage lineage is full of talented individuals and has a well-ordered succession. Each generation has outstanding figures, so there is no shortage of Hokage candidates.

Even if the Hokage lineage were to collapse one day, there would still be plenty of people from various ninja clans watching over it. At the very least, the Uchiha clan members are very keen on becoming Hokage.

Kushina couldn't help but say, "Have you forgotten that your background is even worse than mine! At least I'm a close relative of the Senju clan, the only person in the world who has mastered most of the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques, and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. What about you?"

"I am a war orphan, not even a villager of Konoha, and I have no kinship with the people here... On the surface, I am just a remnant of a town in the Land of Fire that suffered war," Kaedeji said calmly.

Normally, someone like Kaede Tsukasa, with his background, is destined to become a waste material. His education is also highly directional, and he can only be used as a ninja with medical expertise.

To put it bluntly, without a complete education, let alone acquiring a bunch of A-rank and S-rank techniques, it's even less likely that one can become a powerful ninja.

Kaede Tsukasa is an anomaly. He breaks the limits of what war orphans can achieve, becoming a powerful ninja who can even participate in the most confidential projects and, like Danzo, do things that break the rules.

Although he was warned by the village, he single-handedly repelled the Sunagakure forces, further increasing his prestige and reputation, turning the warning into a joke.

Kaede Tsukasa said, "Becoming Hokage with such a background only proves the authenticity of the Will of Fire, doesn't it? If I can become Hokage, so can anyone else. I've already thought of my campaign slogan: 'Once you come, you're a Konoha person, let Konoha be great forever,' and so on..."

Kushina discovered that Kaede Tsukasa wasn't just playing around out of boredom; he genuinely wanted to seize the position of the Fourth Hokage.

But... how could the Third Hokage agree? How could those two advisors agree? How could Danzo and the Hokage's disciples agree? Do they really want to rely on building merit to run for Hokage?
If not... then the election method is...

"You certainly don't intend to honestly build up your reputation and trust, so you plan to..."

"A coup d'état, if things don't go as I expect, then a coup d'état is fine."

"It's difficult. Once it escalates to the point of resorting to force, you'll be facing a whole bunch of Hokage-level ninjas, as well as countless elite Jonin and Jonin's combined attacks."

Kushina didn't mention the large number of Chunin and Genin. For Kaede Tsukasa, who had no shortage of chakra, these weaklings would become his zombies if they dared to show their faces.

Even so, it would be impossible for Kaede Tsukasa to withstand the siege of so many powerful individuals on his own, right?

"Even if I, the Jinchūriki, don't lift a finger, or even step in to help you, even if we win the civil war, Konoha will be pretty much finished. Those who are defeated will become a threat, and the various ninja clans, big and small, may not listen to us." Kushina pondered deeply, trying to figure out how to increase Kaedeji's chances of winning.

"Don't think too much about it now, it's not that time yet. There's an important premise to doing this, which is that if I don't do something, I won't be able to stay in this village anymore... That's what I mean by dignity. Dignity isn't something as cheap as face and self-esteem."

However, based on Kaede Tsukasa's understanding of the village, there might be someone who doesn't want him to live with dignity—who can blame them when his reputation is too high?
One man can form an army, and he can still win! Regardless of how the Sand Village forces were defeated, Kaede Tsukasa was indeed able to hold off an army of several thousand men by himself, and even turn the tables and kill the enemy's top ninjas.

With this kind of strength alone, it's possible that he could prevent the deaths of countless Konoha ninja during the next Shinobi World War. It's even possible that he could single-handedly support an entire battle line and take on the entire army of a ninja village.

Furthermore, Kaedeji's repeated unauthorized actions have likely exceeded the village's limit of tolerance.

When Kaedeji used the Void Realm Technique to leave Kushina's side and return to his own home, he began to wait patiently.

"You didn't die out there?" Xiao Nan looked up at him with some disappointment, then continued to make explosive tags. Every moment, a large number of papers would emerge from her hands, with spells appearing on them.

"Not only did he not die, he's doing quite well. The explosive tags you made for me are really useful. They've given me another interesting tactic. Ebizo was surrounded by countless explosive tags and blown to death."

Without space-time ninjutsu or absolute defensive techniques, and blocked by a bunch of explosive tags, there was indeed nothing they could do.

Konan snorted coldly and continued her work. She felt extremely sad and only hoped that Kaedeji would not use the explosive tags she created to deal with Nagato and Yahiko in the future.

"them……"

"They're doing well, they've become even stronger, and there are very few people in this world who can threaten their lives now. As far as I know, they recently attacked Sunagakure and kidnapped Chiyo. It won't be long before they master the Reanimation Jutsu," Kaedeji said.

"Yahiko and Nagato attacked Sunagakure?!" Konan was shocked, looking at Kaedeji in disbelief—she knew Kaedeji wasn't one to lie easily, nor did she have any reason to lie, but this kind of thing…

Why would those two people with ideals leave their hometown to attack another great ninja village? There must have been some kind of change that she was unaware of.

Fortunately, the attack was on Sunagakure, not on Konoha to rescue her.

But based on her understanding of those two people, this day was bound to come sooner or later... Thinking of this, Xiao Nan suddenly sped up the process of making the explosive tags.

"Ten billion. Once I've raised that amount, I'm leaving. Otherwise, I'll commit suicide and won't give you a chance to threaten them," Xiao Nan said through gritted teeth.

“Sure,” Kaedeji Tsukasa said calmly.

The two fell silent, neither speaking, each lost in their own thoughts.

As time went by, sure enough, public opinion in the village quietly began to change.

At first, only a very few people voiced their opinions—which is actually quite normal. Konoha Village has a large population, and different people have different ideas, so it's perfectly normal to raise objections.

However, the views put forward by this very few people gradually spread rapidly. With the huge amount of traffic generated by Kaede Tsukasa's defeat of the Sunagakure forces and the heavy losses suffered by Sunagakure due to the siege of multiple powerful enemies, its influence grew larger and larger.

People went from wildly praising Kaedeji and mocking their mortal enemy, Sunagakure, to shifting their focus back to Kaedeji.

This time, however, the focus wasn't simply on praising and commenting on Kaedeji's actions and achievements, but rather on taking a more cunning approach.

"Since Lord Kaedejima mastered the Reincarnation Technique so early on, why doesn't he use it to revive his deceased comrades in the village?"

"The Reincarnation Technique? Isn't that the forbidden technique from Sunagakure that's been making headlines lately?"

"Idiot, how could you not know? Lord Kaedejima stole this resurrection technique from Sunagakure a few years ago. I heard it can even be used with corpses to avoid the cost of this forbidden technique—you don't need to give up your own life, you can just let the corpses die again!"

"What? Does that mean you can resurrect the dead by using a lot of corpses? That's too absurd, impossible!"

"Why is it impossible? Everyone knows that Lord Kaedeji was very thin and weak in his early years, with very little chakra. Later, he suddenly gained a large amount of chakra that he could use at will. It is said that he obtained the chakra from many corpses by using the Reincarnation Technique!"

The sound grew louder and louder.

Information about forbidden techniques is always highly classified, as it is in any village. However, this time it has caused quite a stir. More and more people have learned that Sunagakure is being besieged and plundered by various parties because of the Reanimation Jutsu, and that Kaede Tsukasa has long since mastered the Reanimation Jutsu.

The things that Chiyo, a high-ranking member of Sunagakure, said in front of many Sunagakure ninjas, and Kaedeji Tsukasa never refuted, must be true. That's the reputation of a strong person.

The clamor grew louder and louder, and the discussions gradually suppressed many other dissenting voices, eventually converging into one question—why not use magic to resurrect the dead?
Comrades often die in battle while on missions. Since Lord Kaede can manipulate corpses to cast spells, why doesn't he consume the corpses and revive the dead? That would be the greatest use of resurrection magic, wouldn't it?
Some who tried to refute the argument were eventually suppressed—from some perspectives, this kind of discussion, or even coercion, seems to have a little bit of merit.

It makes perfect sense to use corpses that were originally worthless to resurrect the relatives and friends that everyone had lost, right?

Especially for those who have experienced the pain of loss, their expressions are complicated, and they always seem to want to say something but hold back. Reason tells them that they shouldn't act this way; this kind of public opinion is simply the most vicious form of moral blackmail!
Emotionally, however, if there truly were a resurrection spell with such a "low" cost, if it truly gave them the chance to see their deceased loved ones and fill the void in their hearts, such a thing would be truly...

It's hard not to be moved.

But what can anyone say? Should they really follow this public opinion that shouldn't have erupted in the first place and force Kaedeji to step forward and make a sacrifice?

Anyone with a modicum of sense and conscience knows they shouldn't do this, unless Kaedeji Tsukasa voluntarily steps forward and promises to do so—but in reality, there are very few people who have both sense and conscience.

This momentum grew so much that such remarks filled the streets and alleys, and gradually, what started as discussion turned into impatience and complaints.

Kaede Tsukasa, who was thrust into the spotlight, never stepped forward to respond, nor did he feel there was anything to respond to.

The zombies buried throughout the village had been monitoring the entire shift in public opinion, and nothing had escaped Kaedeji's sight. The village must also know that he knew.

But Kaede was unusually quiet.

"How boring. They've used the same methods they originally used on Sakumo Hatake on me? But then again, compared to me, Sakumo Hatake is undoubtedly a more obedient knife, much easier to use than me."

Kaede Tsukasa found the outside noise somewhat noisy and extremely boring.

Using the voices of the entire village to oppress him and create pressure for him? This kind of thing is impossible to succeed, because those who know Kaede Tsukasa's inner self know that Kaede Tsukasa has no concept of morality at all and cannot be morally blackmailed.

Danzo knew, and Orochimaru knew, that even if the Third Hokage and the two advisors couldn't be certain, they could still glean some information from this public opinion test, and most importantly—damage Kaede Tsukasa's reputation.

Yes, they didn't expect to force Kaedeji to his death in this way, nor did they intend to force him to defect. They simply wanted to give him a warning, put pressure on him, and make him reflect on his actions, so that he would eventually behave himself, keep a low profile, and stop taking what he shouldn't have taken or thinking about what he shouldn't have thought about.

If it were Sakumo Hatake who had to bear this kind of estimated public pressure, he probably wouldn't have been able to withstand it. He would have felt deeply ashamed, lost his faith, and committed suicide.

But Kaede Tsukasa wouldn't.

Boom boom boom!
There was a knock on the door.

"Go open the door," Kaedeji ordered Konan.

"..."

Despite her humiliation, Konan obeyed Kaedeji's orders.

The door opened, and Obito walked in.

"How could the village have turned into such a horrible sight in just one day? It's ridiculous."

Obito glanced at Konan, then looked away and focused his gaze on Kaede Tsukasa. When he opened his eyes again, they had switched to a one-tomoe Sharingan.

"You've successfully awakened your Sharingan? Congratulations! To awaken it at the age of six is ​​an unprecedented talent. If word gets out, you'll surely become a legend in the Uchiha clan, and everyone will eagerly await your awakening of the Mangekyou Sharingan," Kaede Tsukasa said, glancing at him.

He wasn't surprised at all. With Madara's methods, it wouldn't be difficult to provoke someone as emotional as Obito and make him open his eyes.

The difficult part is that Madara is dead, so how will Obito awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan?

"Madara is dead. From now on, it will be up to the two of us to walk this path together." Obito's words made Konan's hands tremble. She looked up in astonishment, staring at Kaede Tsukasa and Obito in disbelief.

“I will not hand over Madara’s body to you,” Obito said.

"It doesn't matter if you don't give it to me. I can always find a way to bring Madara out whenever I want. A single Impure World Reincarnation technique will leave you helpless," Kaedeji said calmly.

Obito fell silent. He finally understood Madara's feeling, as if he were facing a freak covered in spikes and with a three-dimensional defense. No matter how he attacked, this guy always found the most direct and brutal way to deal with him.

Using strength to fight? Sorry, Kaede Tsukasa has almost no weaknesses now, and he also has space-time ninjutsu to enhance his mobility. Obito doesn't have the Mangekyou Sharingan, so he can't use genjutsu to kill Kaede Tsukasa—just like when Madara took down Kaede Tsukasa with a single look. Although Kaede Tsukasa deliberately courted death to change bodies that time, it's also true that his resistance to genjutsu isn't that high.

As for using other methods... there's no need to consider it. Just by looking at the treacherous environment of Konoha Village and Kaedeji's indifferent demeanor that left people speechless, Obito knew that Kaedeji had no sense of morality whatsoever.

Cherish your comrades? Perform a resurrection spell on your comrades with whom you once fought side by side, at no cost, and bring them back to life?

There was absolutely no such thing. Kaedeji was completely at ease and unaffected by public opinion.

It was as if Kaede Tsukasa, who had once shouted the Will of Fire, had never taken these people outside seriously from the beginning.

Obito glanced at the stunned Konan: "This woman is listening to our conversation, and she's getting in our way. Should we kill her? That will definitely spur Nagato on and make him grow up faster."

“Alright, Obito, your suggestion is excellent. Then go ahead and let me see how a six-year-old like you can cut melons and vegetables to kill Jiraiya’s prized student.” Kaede Tsukasa stepped aside.

Obito turned to stone on the spot.

(End of this chapter)