Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 244 Claw Marks, Claw Stains, Descent
As it turns out, all it takes to go from being cautious and subservient to being arrogant, swaggering, and overbearing is an unimaginable amount of power.

The people present watched as Mizuki's figure gradually merged into the claw marks.

"...Although I knew that the divine art that Lord Cixian could keep thinking about must have extraordinary power, it was still a bit beyond my expectations that it could turn Mizuki into this state. He doesn't even seem to take you seriously anymore, Lord Cixian."

Orochimaru, always eager for drama, figured that ever since the battle at Mount Myōboku, Jigen had fled with Tenzō and Jiraiya, completely ignoring him. This led to Orochimaru being killed by Nagato at Mount Myōboku, and after that, the relationship between Orochimaru and Jigen was so strained that they no longer needed to pretend.

There's no need for any pretense, so Orochimaru makes no attempt to hide his voyeuristic and possessive desires.

"Although I performed the gene transplant surgery on Mizuki throughout the entire process, and made thousands of minor adjustments to Mizuki's body after the transplant, resulting in the person he is today, I do not really understand the power of divine arts." Orochimaru looked at Jigen.

As expected, Jigen did not disappoint Orochimaru, coldly saying, "When you chose someone like this to join Kara, weren't you already prepared to see his personality change drastically? Divine arts don't change the user's personality."

"And these claw marks?"

“It’s a top-tier space-time ability, not just a simple space-time movement. Since he wants to attack Konoha, let him do it after he modifies the Ten-Tails with his claw marks.”

Cixian rested his chin on his hand, tilting his head slightly: "Escape shouldn't be a problem. Even Kaedeji would have a hard time taking him down."

"Oh? The most advanced space-time ability... looks similar to the Flying Thunder God Technique, where you can leave coordinates on the ground with a wave of your hand, and each coordinate can be used for teleportation?"

Orochimaru didn't actually see what was so powerful about Claw Mark. Was it a high-end version of Flying Thunder God? Flying Thunder God also throws kunai around to leave coordinates, but it gives people the feeling of pure teleportation, appearing and disappearing in an instant, without such a clear process of drilling in and out.

Jigen said, "Claw marks are also a kind of weapon, similar to my peg and Kaede Tsukasa's black rod. In other words, Mizuki can manipulate these black marks on the ground like a whip at any time, and he can also create new claw marks instantly. If used directly on an enemy, the claw marks can bind the enemy."

At that time, it's fine to use the claw marks to dismember the enemy into many pieces, or to reach your hands directly into the claw marks on one side, stick them out from the claw marks on the enemy's body, and take out their internal organs.

Orochimaru immediately understood. No wonder it was a top-tier space-time ability, serving as both a weapon and a teleportation portal. Moreover, it seemed to be created instantly, and the caster could decide where to create it with a simple wave of their hand...

I just don't know how far apart we need to be for this kind of remote creation to fail.

"It seems I have created a truly remarkable monster." Orochimaru was somewhat excited. Mizuki was another masterpiece he had painstakingly crafted since Tenzo.

Cixian said coldly, "He's monstrous in terms of ability, and his strength is passable, but he's not very bright. That idiot Mizuki used the claw marks wrong the first time he tried. He can disappear from his spot in an instant and emerge from the claw marks, or he can move from one claw mark to another, but..."

"However, he couldn't move from one claw mark to another without one. Obviously, he didn't leave any claw marks outside the base, so he could only run out of the base to kill people, but he couldn't hide it from our senses... Mizuki is really shameful, but he definitely won't bring this up with us later."

Orochimaru and Jigen chatted casually, but both of them were actually keeping an eye on Mizuki's every move.

They saw Mizuki approach the Cloud Village ninjas with a gloomy expression, waving his hand repeatedly, leaving more than a dozen claw marks that stretched out, some attached to the ground and others appearing directly on the bodies of the Cloud Village ninjas.

"Damn it, what are these things? They seem to exist, but when I touch them, they feel like they don't exist. Are they some kind of secret technique in painting?"

"Stop! We are not enemies, but Lord Tsuchidai's guards! We are here to seek your cooperation!"

"Stop talking nonsense, don't you understand? Lord Tsuchidai is probably in trouble. Kill this guy immediately and rescue Lord Tsuchidai!"

Despite their unease, a group of Cloud Village ninjas formed a battle formation and launched a well-trained attack on Mizuki.

Shui Mu snorted coldly. Facing these weaklings, he was also practicing how to adopt the posture of a strongman.

"How long-winded! He's about to die, yet he still asks so many questions."

Mizuki's hand clenched suddenly, and the claw marks on those people tightened instantly like ropes, binding the Cloud Village ninjas one by one.

Some Cloud Village ninjas, lacking claw marks, intended to attack Mizuki directly. However, Mizuki didn't even bother to glance at them, and just as he was about to be struck by the enemy's Lightning Release, his body vanished into thin air.

It's not like the Fourth Raikage who moves at extreme speed, but rather like the Flying Thunder God Technique, disappearing from the spot into thin air.

"Disappeared?"

The Cloud Village ninja was taken aback, as he couldn't see any movement from Mizuki at all, and even his attempts to sense her yielded nothing.

In the brief moment of his surprise and doubt, Mizuki silently emerged from the claw marks on a Cloud Village ninja's body, which seemed extremely strange, but it was indeed unexpected.

After a series of screams, all the Cloud Village ninjas were entangled in claw marks and died on the spot. Mizuki stood among these corpses, looking down at the claw marks all around him, and was satisfied with his victory.

In the past, any Cloud Village ninja could have easily taken him down like cutting melons and vegetables, but now? He simply waved his hand, shifted his position, and easily wiped out this elite squad.

"Hmph, Orochimaru, if you want to look, just look openly. Why bother sending out snakes to hide in the bushes and spy? But I don't need to bother with you anymore."

Shui Mu glanced at the snakes flicking their tongues and let out a cold laugh.

This is a hearty laugh, but also a conceited laugh.

As for the excruciating pain emanating from his body... Mizuki endured it with his own willpower, preventing Orochimaru from immediately noticing anything amiss. He created more than a dozen claw marks in one go, putting immense strain on his body.

If more were produced, the body would likely show obvious signs of collapse, such as vomiting blood or internal organ atrophy.

Swish!
Shui Mu stepped into a claw mark and slowly crawled inside. The body parts that had disappeared emerged from the claw mark in the hall at the same time.

Orochimaru saw it all.

"Interesting, this kind of spatial transfer is quite similar to the Earth Release techniques of the White Zetsu."

Orochimaru was intrigued, mainly because he had never seen the right-eyed Kamui Obito who was supposed to appear. Otherwise, he would have realized that when the right-eyed Kamui Obito performed spatial transfer, in addition to absorbing himself and external objects as a vortex, he could also make his body feel weightless and gradually merge into the ground.

When Mizuki used the claw marks to teleport himself, it was actually quite similar to the scene where Obito with his right eye Kamui teleported through objects, appearing mysterious and eerie. Tsuchida shouted nervously, "Where are my subordinates?"

"They're all dead. You're still clinging to hope, aren't you? You think that because I came back so quickly, I didn't actually kill them? You're wrong. I killed them all without leaving a single one. After all, I'm just too powerful."

Shui Mu burst into wild laughter. The way Tu Tai clenched his fists made him even more delighted. These former "big shots" were nothing more than this in front of him now.

Jigen and Orochimaru were very patient, waiting for Mizuki to vent his emotions.

“Then, next up is the Ten-Tails, which is the most important thing. However, your current body is not enough to unleash the true power of the Claw Mark, so I will put a wedge in your body.” Jigen stood up.

Overwhelmed with grief, Tsuchida looked completely bewildered, having no idea what a Karma was, while Orochimaru and Mizuki were taken aback.

Mizuki narrowed her eyes, her fingers undoubtedly caressing: "So you really do have your eye on my unparalleled body and want to possess it?"

"...You're overthinking it. I have absolutely no interest in your body. Even if you possess a small fragment of Shibaju's genes, you're still completely incompatible with me."

To put it bluntly, he looks down on Shuimu and treats him purely as an experimental subject to achieve his goals. Once he has the Divine Tree Man, why would he care about Shuimu?
Jigen said, "I won't put the complete Karma on you, as that would waste too much unnecessary time. So I will give you the incomplete Karma, the 'White Karma,' so that you can use my power briefly. That way, you will probably be able to use Claw Mark on the Ten-Tails."

He stretched out his arms towards the top of the hall, and a huge portal opened downwards. The Ten-Tails, its body covered in spikes, crashed down with a loud thud, its heavy body slamming into the ground. But no one cared about such a trivial matter.

"Uh huh huh..."

Upon seeing Jigen, the Ten-Tails immediately bared its teeth, its round eyes turning into flattened round ones as it glared fiercely. Its body twisted, but each of its tails was pierced with numerous stakes, and its body had even more.

"This kind of Yin-Yang Release artifact, which can be mass-produced, can actually have an effect on the Ten-Tails." Orochimaru had learned a new piece of knowledge.

"It's only effective against the incomplete Ten-Tails. If you use this to deal with Kaguya's, even if that one hasn't entered the Divine Tree state and exists purely in beast form, it won't be very effective," Jigen said.

Furthermore, it depends on who created the stakes or black rods; if they are weak, it is difficult to create an opportunity to pin down the tailed beast.

“This is the Ten-Tails that wreaked havoc in the Land of Rice Fields…” Tsuchida hurriedly retreated. Among those present, he was the weakest and bore the heaviest pressure from the Ten-Tails.

Everyone who sees the Ten-Tails in person is deeply shocked, especially by the extreme and pure brutality emanating from it, which seems to come from the intense malice of nature itself. This is a quality that ordinary tailed beasts cannot possess.

"Ten-Tails..." A look of greed appeared in Mizuki's eyes.

Binding the Ten-Tails with claw marks? If one could seal the Ten-Tails into their own body and become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, they would be able to unleash claw marks at will, creating as many as they wanted. No one in the entire ninja world would be able to restrain them.

Unfortunately, Jigen would never allow him to seal the Ten-Tails inside his body.

Cixian placed one hand on Shuimu's body, and the terrifying force pressed down on Shuimu, causing the boy to let out a shrill scream. His body suddenly sank down, as if he could not bear the weight.

The sheer size of Cixian was simply beyond Mizuki's ability to withstand, even if he mastered a divine technique!

Jigen coldly said, "So you really couldn't withstand it? But it doesn't matter. I knew from the beginning that you were not qualified to be my reincarnation vessel, so this is not unexpected. Now, use the power I temporarily gave you to immediately unleash claw marks on the Ten-Tails."

Mizuki gritted his teeth, feeling Jigen's weight for the first time—it was the sum of all the accumulations of a high-ranking Otsutsuki after living for a long time, including power and memories, which made his arrogant heart restrain itself.

Swish!
Mizuki immediately used this immense power to create countless claw marks on the Ten-Tails' body. These claw marks were so numerous that they almost completely covered the Ten-Tails' body.

The Ten-Tails was also tightly bound and constantly squeezed. This intense pain caused the Ten-Tails to struggle desperately and let out a deafening roar.

Mizuki continued until he unleashed three claw marks that bound the Ten-Tails' mouth.

After doing all this, Mizuki felt dizzy and staggered. She could no longer pretend, and a lot of blood gushed from her nostrils.

"That will do. I will seal the white wedge on your body to limit your power, which will reduce your burden."

Cixian seemed quite satisfied and nodded seriously.

Orochimaru was also seeing this scene for the first time and found it quite eye-opening. He laughed and asked, "So, what should we do next with the Ten-Tails?"

"Using the power of the claw marks, a part of the Ten-Tails' body was cut off, and the new individual formed was called 'Claw Mark'."

At Jigen's command, Mizuki did as he was told, squeezing out a piece of the Ten-Tails' flesh from the gap in the claw marks, like squeezing jelly, until it broke through the critical point and was cut off in one piece.

boom!
After the mass of ten-tailed flesh landed, it quickly wriggled and gradually transformed into a humanoid creature with a tail. It also had black spots on its body that were exactly the same as the claw marks, which looked like decorations attached to the body. But everyone knew that these black spots were just another form of claw marks.

This means that each claw mark is actually a walking claw mark, and Mizuki can emerge from this claw mark at any time to launch a surprise attack!

Just by looking at Mizuki's pained and exhausted face, yet with a look of surprise, one can clearly realize this: Mizuki wouldn't be so overjoyed if there were no benefit to be gained.

Jigen opened the portal again, brought Ōnoki over, and threw him in front of Tsurugi.

"Damn it, what do you guys want to do to this old man?"

Unable to move, Onoki looked at the Ten-Tails covered in eerie black patterns, and then at Tsurugi walking towards him. In his bewilderment, he had an extremely ominous premonition. It must be something more terrifying than death!

Under the watchful eyes of the others, Tsurugi stretched out his hands and grabbed Onoki, absorbing all of Onoki's chakra amidst Onoki's painful screams.

Furthermore, its body gradually changed shape, transforming from a human form into a tree, slowly swallowing Onoki into its body. Unaware people might mistake this for some kind of special sealing technique.

“Now all we have to do is wait, and the Tree People will be born from this tree,” Cixian said.

(End of this chapter)