Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 172 The Method to Obtain the Eternal Eye
What's wrong with this guy? He's unexpectedly easy to talk to...

For a moment, Orochimaru thought he had misheard and felt extremely uncomfortable.

If it were Kaede Tsukasa here, he would speak to him politely at first, but after being rejected, he would most likely turn on him. Even if he killed him and turned him into a zombie, he would try every means to force him to offer his body and loyalty.

Moreover, Orochimaru was skeptical about Jigen's claim of being the Creator's partner. He was naturally distrustful of everyone, but considering that Jigen was a powerful figure of unknown strength, he wouldn't easily resort to such clumsy tactics as lies to achieve his goals.

At the very least, you can't start with a lie in your very first sentence. Otherwise, all your subsequent words and actions will be fabricated lies, and the flaws will only become more and more apparent.

Orochimaru removed his gloves and carefully disinfected the area with alcohol. Each rubbing was exceptionally meticulous and his movements were smooth, as if he had practiced it countless times.

In fact, Orochimaru had always been proud of his scientific research abilities: "It seems that Jigen or Lord Otsutsuki Isshiki have already met with Kaede Tsukasa... Was the unusually large-scale tremor that came from the ground not long ago also related to your battle?"

“Cixian is the name of the body I am controlling. Once you have completed the creation of the reincarnation vessel for me, I can discard this body and return to my original appearance. You can call me Cixian now, and you can call me by my real name later.”

Cixian's tall figure blocked out the light, casting a large shadow over the interior of the tent: "I did not have a conflict with Fengjian Si. I even wanted to bring him into the organization I formed, but unfortunately I failed. That guy wanted to get the reward I promised first."

"What kind of reward could make someone like Kaedeji Tsukasa drool?"

"Ten tails."

"?"

Orochimaru was silenced once again, and his breathing became slightly more rapid.

The amount of information is simply overwhelming! There's the Creator, the Reincarnation Vessel, the Ten-Tails, and so on. Any one of these pieces of information would be enough for Orochimaru to spend many years investigating the truth, let alone the fact that Jigen has brought all this information to his doorstep!

Honestly, for someone like Orochimaru, the twists and turns of the process aren't the problem; rather, the lack of a clear research direction would be frustrating. Finding the right path requires countless trials and errors, but his lifespan is finite. He could waste months or even years on a single project, while there's a vast amount of unknown information in this world worth exploring.
That's why Orochimaru was so desperate to pursue immortality, and then unknowingly got hooked by Kaede Tsukasa. Jiraiya had already run away, Tsunade had already retired, but he still had to serve Kaede Tsukasa like a slave, leading troops on an expedition to Iwagakure.

Just the fact that Jigen revealed these few keywords was enough to excite Orochimaru to the extreme. By following these paths step by step, it would be easy to produce research results, saving him a lot of time!

"It's actually the Ten-Tails! Although I've seen monsters with ten tails painted on broken rock walls in some ancient ruins, I couldn't rule out that the ancients miscounted or even made it up. But I never expected that the Ten-Tails would actually exist. Could the relationship between the Ten-Tails and the other tailed beasts really be that of the main body and its clones?"

"That's one way to put it, but don't waste time on areas outside of biotechnology. I can give you information on history, but you need to focus all your attention on developing the perfect container for me."

The Karma seal on Jigen's body contains a massive amount of data, a level that the natives of the ninja world could not even imagine, and naturally it contains countless biological knowledge.

As long-lived species, capable of traversing the universe with flesh and blood, each Otsutsuki possesses a wealth of information concerning reincarnation and living a second or third life, naturally leading to extensive research into biological knowledge.

Unlike Momoshiki, who is arrogant, cool, and overpowered, Ichishiki is cold and ruthless. He will not easily reveal a fatal flaw due to carelessness, and naturally pays great attention to biological knowledge.

Knowing this is one thing, but even Isshiki has no idea how to use the frail bodies of native ninjas to cultivate a perfect vessel. Moreover, he is currently under the identity of Jigen and cannot easily take action.

If you don't fight and just lie low, you might be able to survive for another thousand years. But if you fight, you'll die faster every time you fight. It's like trading your life for temporary combat power.

Now that he has been exposed, he knew everything had changed the moment Kaguya's offspring escaped, which is why he needed someone like Orochimaru to join his team.

"Then please guide me from now on, Lord Cixian. It is my honor to serve you. Please do not be stingy with the information you have and tell me as much as possible."

Orochimaru had not yet realized how difficult it was to cultivate a reincarnation vessel. In the original timeline, Jigen found Amado, a super genius in biotechnology, and that's how he obtained the reincarnation vessel. Even the subsequent Divine Tree People were more or less influenced by Amado.

Even if Orochimaru's scientific research ability is stronger than Amado's, it will definitely take a long time to cultivate a reincarnation vessel.

Unfortunately, what Cixian lacks most right now is time. A slight sense of impatience began to stir within his cold heart, however small it may be.

"When will this pointless war end? Will ten days be enough?" Cixian asked.

"It would be a miracle if it could be finished within a year; I estimate it would take at least three years."

"...To help Kaedeji obtain the corpse and chakra?"

"What chakra? This is unknown information again. Please tell me about Kaede Tsukasa first, Lord Jigen. After all, following you might be tantamount to betraying him. Gathering more information about him will definitely benefit our cause."

Betrayal... Orochimaru felt that he had already been incredibly kind by not directly betraying Kaede Tsukasa.

So, for the next period of time, Cixian maintained an indifferent attitude, watching this so-called war between two weaklings.

Although he uses Cixian's eyes and does not possess the farsightedness and X-ray vision of the Byakugan, his powerful perception is still present to some extent, and he has little problem understanding the situation on the battlefield.

The ninjas fought valiantly, but in his eyes they were nothing more than a bunch of insects engaging in a self-indulgent competition. Whether they lived or died, Kaede Tsukasa had already made clear his plans for them.

He even heard many Konoha ninjas shouting things like "For the Hokage!" and "Even if you die, you can be resurrected, and we will never let you go after you are resurrected!"

"Most natives go mad for a tiny minority of natives; indeed, this kind of thing happens on any planet."

In Cixian's eyes, this so-called war was nothing more than the consumables desperately trying to prove their worth to Kaedeji, turning other consumables into less valuable consumables.

In some ways, Kaede Tsukasa seems to be doing the same thing as the Otsutsuki, reaping the benefits of an entire planet. The difference is that Kaede Tsukasa is playing the sustainable game, while the Otsutsuki are all like that—draining the pond to catch all the fish, and then hastily searching for other habitable planets. During this time, Orochimaru also learned about the events that were happening in the Land of Fire and the actions of Nagato, Jiraiya, and others.

"This is quite interesting. You gave the Karma to Yahiko, turning him into a fragmented Otsutsuki, and he unleashed such powerful strength. Could you perhaps make a copy of the Karma for me as well?"

"Wedges cannot be copied at will. Let's talk about it after you help me cultivate a qualified container."

Orochimaru listened without commenting. He had never intended to become Jigen's puppet; all his actions were essentially aimed at obtaining more information from Jigen.

Although we've partnered with Cixian, the war must continue.

In any case, Orochimaru couldn't understand the Otsutsuki's war model of destroying a planet with the power of one or two people; this power was beyond Orochimaru's comprehension.

Even if Kaede Tsukasa wanted to control the ninja world, he couldn't possibly sweep across the entire globe by himself, but the Otsutsuki could.

"Perhaps I can speed up the pace of the war a little. I can't let that Onoki guy get too comfortable." Orochimaru kept issuing various orders and assigning many ninjas to carry them out.

In fact, although Iwagakure has not been defeated on the surface and seems to be in a stalemate with Konoha, their defensive line has been steadily retreating.

Within the Land of Earth, a small but incredibly elite group of Sand Village ninja led by Rasa were plundering everywhere, which was already giving Onoki a major headache.

Worse still, the pressure from the main battlefield is increasing day by day. Various troops from the Land of Fire have arrived on the western front one after another, and the three great bloodline clans of Senju, Hyuga and Uchiha have sent many clan members to participate in the war.

Because other countries and villages have suffered heavy losses, they are unable to organize a new large force in a short period of time—mainly because they do not want to organize one!

Should we organize another attack to give Kaede Tsukasa a chance to cripple them? Anyone who has dealt with Kaede Tsukasa knows that his favorite mode of warfare is large-scale brawls. The more people there are, the more weaker they are, and the more openings they have. As the fighting goes on, more and more people will turn into zombies!

The Third Raikage and the Hidden Cloud Village's actions were clearly the best opportunity, but unfortunately, they all ended in defeat. The Hidden Mist Village's elite troops were even more unlucky, being decimated by the meteor bombardment summoned by Hamura.

Even if these major ninja villages could still muster an army of tens of thousands, they wouldn't easily do such a thing. They would rather continuously send out small and medium-sized teams to engage in a long tug-of-war and attrition with the numerous ninjas and zombies of Konoha Village.

Although it's painful to cut flesh with a dull knife, and you can only watch helplessly as your side's overall strength slowly weakens, it's still better than having your throat slit by Kaede Tsukasa.

Let's drag it out, even if we know it's trading lives for a chance to catch our breath. At least we can breathe, and there's always hope if we keep going... right?

The vast ninja world at this moment is like an enormous millstone, where something called "Konoha Village of the Land of Fire" slowly but steadily grinds particles of all sizes into powder for Kaede Tsukasa to use.

In this situation, as the only remaining large-scale military operation, every move Orochimaru made was reported to Kaedeji.

"Hmm, the frequency of troop movements has increased a bit this month, and the casualties against the enemy have also increased. They killed 1,300 Iwagakure ninjas in just one month? Although they took 500 of them prisoner, Orochimaru is still getting a little anxious."

Kaedeji placed the intelligence report on the table. At his pace, this war, which would affect the entire ninja world, would take several years to resolve.

The original timeline of the Third Shinobi World War, starting from Konoha 47 when Sasori of the Red Sand attacked the Third Kazekage and completely ignited the war, and ending in Konoha 48 when Naruto and Sasuke were born, lasted for a little over a year. Although the intensity of the war far exceeded the sum of the previous two Shinobi World Wars, and even four- or five-year-old children had to go to the battlefield to fight for their lives, it was indeed short in duration.

Kaedeji could not allow such a thing to happen. It would take time for him to deploy the Mugen Tsukuyomi, and it would also take time to replenish the human batteries. Filling Takigakure with human heads would take an unknown amount of time.

But it doesn't matter, Kaede Tsukasa isn't in a hurry right now. He can live forever, so spending a little time is nothing.

If nothing unexpected happens, the Musou Tsukuyomi will definitely be complete by the time Naruto and Sasuke graduate from the Ninja Academy.

Shikaku asked, "Should we send your orders to Lord Orochimaru, instructing him to slow down the offensive and continue to wear down Iwagakure?"

"There's no need for that. The Land of Earth is nothing special; it's not worth me issuing a special order to Orochimaru. What I'm interested in is what Orochimaru reveals through these small actions."

Kaede Tsukasa ignored Shikaku's questioning gaze.

If I'm not mistaken, Orochimaru might already have other ideas... Looking across the ninja world, who else is there that Orochimaru is so eager for?
It's not an Akatsuki organization like Nagato's, not Konoha where Kaede Tsukasa is, and it certainly can't be one of the other major ninja villages. There are only a few possibilities left.

"Is it Ryuchi-dong, or... Jigen?"

It's likely that it will be Jigen, because Orochimaru in the original timeline never learned the Sage Mode from Ryuchi Cave. It's not that he couldn't learn it, but rather that there was no need for him to.

Through the Jugo clan, they obtained bodies capable of absorbing natural energy, and subsequently developed a cursed seal that facilitated Orochimaru's use of the Reanimation Jutsu, even allowing him to seal fragments of his own soul within the cursed seal.

Only Jigen could cause Orochimaru's actions to change in this way, and Orochimaru would definitely have anticipated that Kaedeji already knew what had happened on his side.

"So, Orochimaru is actually already prepared to betray the village and join the Otsutsuki faction?"

As he was thinking, Kaede Tsukasa saw the office door open.

A tall, white figure walked in. Upon seeing this person, Shikaku immediately bowed his head to express his respect, even though he already knew that the person in front of him was actually Obito. However, that did not matter; strength and status compelled Shikaku to show his respect.

"I've arrived. As you said, you possess the method to grant me the eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. Now you can tell me."

(End of this chapter)