Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 225 A few years later, the moment that will determine the future of the world will arrive.

The ninja world has long since changed beyond recognition, with distinct styles of conduct between different levels. The path for low- and mid-level ninjas is the simplest: just give up and go with the flow, because no matter how hard they try, their future is already predetermined.

The Third Shinobi World War is still ongoing, and too many ninjas have realized that their fate is to be sent to the battlefield. Becoming a zombie is not necessarily the worst outcome; at least death is the end of it all. But if they are betrayed by the village in various ways and become prisoners of Konoha... they might wish they were dead.

Yes, betrayal is commonplace, even without Kaede Tsukasa. In factional struggles within the village, the protection of valuable information, and other such matters, there are times when despicable acts of deliberately betraying one's comrades occur.

Now, facing pressure from Kaedeji, the various ninja villages have simply made this behavior public, frantically training genin and sending out large numbers of them on missions. Apart from the village leaders, no one knows which mission will result in them being captured by Konoha as sacrifices.

Takigakure Village remains a forbidden area to this day. Everyone knows that a large number of prisoners are continuously sent into it, and none of them ever come out alive.

If someone has some talent, they might have a chance to be trained by the village, especially those geniuses with the potential to become elite Jonin or even Kage-level. These people will receive special attention, and they will have to consider many things. They can't just lie down and relax; for the sake of the village, they can only fight tooth and nail.

By constantly cultivating and using every means to improve his strength, changing the village's situation is actually quite simple: become stronger, stronger than Kaede Tsukasa. All the predicaments will naturally disappear. But you can imagine how incredibly difficult that is.

Kaede Tsukasa was naturally pleased with the change in the atmosphere of the various ninja villages. He had personally promoted this situation, but he would not maintain it forever.

Because even the top combatants have begun to engage in fierce infighting, Kaede Tsukasa must also take action.

"It's time for this world to move to the next stage," said Kaedeji, watching the fierce battle between Nagato and Orochimaru.

Madara immediately turned to look at him, a hint of seriousness appearing on his face, which was full of cracks and wrinkles: "It seems you've made up your mind to project your technique onto the moon and expand its range?"

At any other time, Madara would probably be very interested in examining Kaedeji's actions, especially to see if Kaedeji's large-scale actions would hinder the Eye of the Moon Plan. Madara was very confident in the Eye of the Moon Plan and the strength of Infinite Tsukuyomi. He thought that Infinite Tsukuyomi, which was performed with the Ten-Tails God Tree, the moon, and the Rinne Sharingan, would not be blocked by Kaedeji's tricks.

But now? After confirming that Infinite Tsukuyomi was problematic, the Eye of the Moon plan has become a joke. Unless doing so can gradually uncover information about that mysterious Otsutsuki, Madara will never do the work for someone else.

Kaede Tsukasa said, "Everyone is trying to improve themselves, and I can't fall behind. Otherwise, I'll be the one who's put on the defensive once they've achieved their goals."

"Hmph, looking so motivated..." Madara was in a bad mood. Everyone else could find ways to improve, but he, a dead man, couldn't, unless he could be resurrected first.

“You don’t have the Rinnegan, so how do you plan to create a moon? That kid Nagato could help you, but you probably won’t use him, otherwise you could have done it already.”

"Ah, that's true, so I need to have another pair of Rinnegan."

"You want to upgrade Obito's eyes to the Rinnegan? That will take a very long time." For some reason, Madara breathed a sigh of relief. This was extremely rare for someone as confident as him. He had never felt anxious about someone's efforts to improve their strength in the past.

Kaede didn't respond, but watched as Nagato violently destroyed Orochimaru's Triple Rashomon with Shinra Tensei, completely suppressing Orochimaru. If nothing unexpected happened, the two would soon be able to determine a winner.

But Orochimaru is Orochimaru after all. Even when facing the Rinnegan and at a disadvantage, he still looks for an opportunity to turn the tables.

“Every time I witness the power of the Rinnegan, it always fills me with even more surprise. However, it’s not that I’m completely helpless. Instead of stopping you, I will kill you.”

Orochimaru's lips curled into a smile: "Even though I know I can't escape after killing you, at least I was able to destroy the Rinnegan before I die, so this trip wasn't in vain. I just wonder if Kaede Tsukasa has a way to repair the Rinnegan? Eyes of this level can't be obtained with a resurrection jutsu, right?"

He leaped back quickly, facing the approaching Nagato, and formed hand seals: "You've fallen into my trap. Your senses have been interfered with by these black boxes... Ten Thousand Serpent Formation!"

He opened his mouth, and countless venomous snakes burst forth, seemingly endless, piling up into a small mountain in just a few seconds, rushing towards Nagato one after another.

"Shinra Tenzheng!"

Nagato launched an unstoppable repulsive attack, clearing the area and shattering all the poisonous snakes, thus creating a path straight to Orochimaru.

Just as he was about to take his next step, Orochimaru's hand seals suddenly changed, and a purple light barrier quickly rose from the ground, isolating a section of the area from the outside world and sealing Nagato inside.

"A barrier technique? You think you can stop me with something like that?" That was Nagato's first reaction, but he quickly realized something.

Orochimaru deliberately used a barrier technique after the Manda Rasengan, most likely because... after using Shinra Tensei, there was a five-second interval during which he could not activate the technique again!
Pfft!

A large amount of purple light rose from the purple light screen, transforming into a dense poisonous fog that was enough to obscure vision. This poisonous fog possessed unimaginable corrosiveness, accompanied by a heart-palpitating sizzling sound, rapidly corroding all matter. It was a completely different kind of boiling escape.

Clearly, Orochimaru hasn't been idle these past few years. He's gained a lot of new knowledge from Jigen and made great progress in his exploration of various secrets.

Nagato's expression turned sinister, his face grim. If he didn't do something quickly, he wouldn't be able to hold out in this confined space, given his physical strength; he would die in a second.

"A brand new barrier technique, so that's what it was for. Not a bad tactic." Madara glanced at it. This unprecedented barrier could be cast by one person alone. He was starting to acknowledge Orochimaru's talent. However, on the other hand, it wasn't surprising that Orochimaru, as someone who followed the Otsutsuki, could come up with such a special technique.

"Aren't you worried about Nagato getting killed? The Rinnegan is very fragile," Kaedeji Tsukasa laughed.

"No, with Nagato's character, he shouldn't be lying here." Madara remained unmoved, simply watching coldly.

Rather than saying he had confidence in Nagato, it would be more accurate to say he had confidence in what he had taught Nagato, and ultimately, he had confidence in his own abilities.

As expected, Nagato did not blindly wait for the cooldown. Instead, when the poisonous mist touched his clothes and was about to corrode them and touch his skin, he immediately...

Nagato slammed his hand on the ground, and immediately a smaller, red barrier appeared within the purple barrier, forming an inner and outer barrier with the Four Black Serpents Formation. The power of this red barrier was immediate, firmly sealing off the poisonous mist and protecting Nagato's safety.

"The Uchiha Flame Formation is also a barrier technique that one person can cast. You even taught him this. Not bad."

Kaede nodded slightly; this was a rare instance of a barrier confrontation.

The Four Black Serpent Formation, in the original timeline, is a barrier technique developed by Orochimaru more than thirty years later. The poisonous mist released from within is powerful enough to corrode the Divine Tree, and it can be said that Orochimaru prepared it specifically to deal with the Divine Tree.

Now, Orochimaru had acquired too much knowledge in advance through Jigen, so he could naturally start preparing early. But unfortunately, this technique was not enough to kill Nagato. Five seconds had passed, and the high-powered Shinra Tensei was unleashed. The repulsive force beyond Orochimaru's imagination instantly destroyed the Four Black Snakes Formation, forcibly erasing it along with the poisonous mist.

Not only that, but the range was also exceptionally large. In his rage, Nagato no longer cared about the damage to Mount Myōboku. The fierce repulsive force he created instantly extended to Orochimaru's location, sending Orochimaru flying in an instant.

Orochimaru's body was blasted apart, with many fragments scattered, and his blood sprayed out in one direction as a mist of blood before dissipating into the air.

"Hmph, so that's how it is..."

In his final moments, Orochimaru twitched the corner of his mouth, as if mocking, or perhaps realizing something.

After everything calmed down, a very deep depression appeared inside Mount Myōboku. Apart from the pile of black cubes that held up, everything else was destroyed. Many of the toad corpses that could have been resurrected by Tsukasa Kaede were killed by Nagato's attack.

Even Kaede Tsukasa couldn't piece it together; he couldn't even find usable toad DNA.

"A massive Shinra Tensei? Not bad, I guess. This move might even be able to shake a bit of a Perfect Susanoo." Kaede Tsukasa was also seeing it for the first time and didn't think much of it.

This move is okay for beating up novices, but it's not very useful at the level of a master.

Nagato, slightly out of breath, returned to Kaede Tsukasa and Madara: "Orochimaru is dead. He paid the price he deserved."

“Wrong, he’s not dead at all. He’ll be resurrected somewhere soon.” Kaede Tsukasa said bluntly. “Someone like Orochimaru, who is involved in such a dangerous operation as attacking Mount Myōboku, would definitely be prepared for failure, whether he fails on our side or on Jigen’s side.”

"Resurrection? Could it be that he has mastered the Reanimation Jutsu and the Impure World Reanimation Jutsu? These two dangerous techniques should not have been revealed to someone like Orochimaru."

“Even without those two techniques, he has a way.”

Ignoring Nagato's worsening expression, Kaede Tsukasa said, "I'm going to carry out my operation. You'd better not get in my way, or our cooperation will end immediately, and I'll take action against you."

"So confident that you can deal with those Otsutsuki after you succeed?" Madara became interested.

But Kaede Tsukasa had no intention of explaining this. He formed a hand seal and began to control the toads that had turned into zombies, driving away the few remaining surviving toads.

Mount Myōboku is so vast that a group of toads did survive, but these so-called survivors can never hope to be free again; in the future, they can only become Kaede Tsukasa's chakra batteries.

"Damn it, Shima and Minato are still alive! They'll definitely save us!"

"Don't have such unrealistic hopes. Do you think they can attack Konoha and rescue us? We are just small fry. We don't even know the background of the person who destroyed Mount Myōboku, let alone be enemies of Konoha."

"I wonder how Jiraiya-sama is doing. I'm sure he managed to escape from the enemy."

The dozen or so surviving toads suppressed their grief and held onto an almost desperate belief. They still bore the heavy responsibility of rebuilding Mount Myōboku, but they didn't know how long Tsukasa Kaede would enslave them.

"These Sage Chakra are better than nothing; at least they can serve a little purpose."

Kaede Tsukasa didn't care about the toads' suffering. He said indifferently, "It will probably take me a few years to improve my strength. I hope that you two can keep up with me in a few years."

After saying that, Kaede Tsukasa used his space-time eye technique to leave Mount Myōboku, leaving Nagato and Madara behind.

Madara asked, "Didn't you take the opportunity to save a few toads? These guys are pretty good summoning beasts."

"There's no need for that. I have many summoning beasts at my disposal, and each one can share my vision. As for Sage Chakra, I can create it myself. There's no need to deliberately build relationships with these ordinary toads."

Nagato only really cared about Jiraiya, the Great Toad Sage, and Fukasaku Sage, and didn't pay much attention to the other toads.

Ban coldly said, "If it takes a few years, then I will continue to teach you cultivation. After a few years of arduous training, you should be able to master my Limbo: Border Prison. With your current physical condition, you can at least create two shadows, which is equivalent to replicating your power twice. The improvement for you will be immense."

In addition to its uses such as instant substitution, it can be said that if Madara had possessed the Limbo: Border Jail eye technique during the final battle, it would be equivalent to five Madaras of equal strength ganging up on Hashirama Senju, giving him the power to defeat Hashirama Senju.

Nagato frowned and said, "If we have the chance, we can also capture the tailed beasts as soon as possible and feed them to the Gedo Mazo. This is also a good idea. Once the Gedo Mazo is strong enough, we might be able to hunt the Ten-Tails directly."

Everyone who has seen the Ten-Tails will always remember it fondly, but they simply lack the opportunity and ability to do so.

At the same time, in the Land of Rice Fields, some people were indeed unable to restrain themselves and were going all out to attack the Ten-Tails.

(End of this chapter)