Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 245 Naruto and Sasuke's Great Operation

"It was just something that split off from the Ten-Tails that instantly defeated the Tsuchikage."

Orochimaru seemed to be deep in thought. Even though Onoki was already half-crippled and couldn't exert much power, the way he was swallowed up so cleanly and efficiently still demonstrated how troublesome Tsurugi was.

"How long exactly will it take?" Orochimaru asked.

"It's impossible to determine at the moment. The divine tree beings conceived from absorbing different individuals are all different, and the abilities they possess also differ depending on the gestation time," Cixian replied.

Mizuki wiped the sweat from his brow and said coldly, "Do the Tree People possess divine magic from the moment they are born?"

"Not necessarily, most likely not. The power of the Divine Tree Man mainly comes from the Ten-Tails."

"Hmph, I thought it was something special, but it's such a waste. Without divine magic, it's completely useless. It's just another kind of Ten-Tails clone."

Mizuki immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Although he couldn't completely ignore the Divine Tree Man, since it was something that even Cixian couldn't forget, it was enough to make him underestimate the value of the Divine Tree Man.

Jigen and Orochimaru remained silent; they couldn't reason with someone like Mizuki.

Mizuki immediately looked at the earthen platform, his face showing suspicion: "You're letting a guy from Kumogakure join Kara? Are you planning to transplant divine techniques into this guy too? Hmph, not everyone has the capacity to match mine."

“Even if you possess divine magic, you might not be a match for me. Your claw marks are an extremely valuable ability, not to mention the White Wedge on your body,” Cixian said coldly.

Mizuki was completely relieved and resumed his arrogant demeanor. A slight smile appeared on his lips as he sneered, "Then there's nothing more to say. If he succeeds, he'll be qualified to become my subordinate... But that's a matter for the future. I'm going to Konoha now to give that guy Iruka a big thank you."

Having said that, he completely ignored the reactions of Jigen and Orochimaru, his figure vanished, and he emerged from the claw marks outside the base, moving quickly.

After he had walked away, Orochimaru said, "Is it really okay to just let this guy go like this? He can use the power of his claw marks to create more claw grime, which is important to you, right?"

"It's only important for now. With his current strength, there are few people in Konoha who can match him, unless Kaedeji personally takes action."

Jigen didn't care at all. He thought that Mizuki was an arrogant and conceited guy, and that his constant obstruction would only backfire. Besides, it was just a small fry named Iruka to take revenge on, which was really not a big deal.

"Onoki is just an experiment. What I really value is Jiraiya. He has some great qualities, and if I use them properly, he can be of great help to me."

Jigen had already decided how to use Jiraiya. He wanted to transplant the divine technique that could see through fate into Jiraiya—more precisely, to give Jiraiya's Divine Tree Man the divine technique of fate.

As for Shuimu... its value diminished significantly the moment it was born.

Tu Tai met the gazes of the two men, took a deep breath, and knew that now was the time to decide his fate.

"If you want me to be eaten by that monster like Onoki, I'd rather die!" Tsuchida said in a deep voice.

"Don't worry, you're not worthy."

Jigen said indifferently, "Not everyone is qualified to be the template for nurturing the Divine Tree Man, but I will have Orochimaru transplant the Divine Technique into you. Whether you can succeed like Mizuki depends on yourself. As long as you succeed, you will be an official member of the Kara organization, possessing top-tier power in the ninja world. Whether you seek revenge or do other things, few people can stop you."

The Ten-Tails, the Divine Tree Man, divine techniques... the amount of information in this news is simply too much. Tsuchida needs to digest it carefully and confront his own destiny.

With the destruction of Kumogakure and the collapse of the Land of Lightning, countless people either perished or became tools manipulated by Kaede Tsukasa. For Tsuchida, nothing was more important than living to gain power.

Orochimaru remained silent. With his intelligence, he had already noticed some subtle details—many Tsurugi could exist at the same time, but Jigen only intended to use the less important Onoki to create the first God Tree Man…

Is it really just because they've never created a Tree Spirit before, so they're just trying it out as a experiment?

The Ten-Tails is a raging beast with no ability to communicate with humans, yet Jigen is so familiar with the process of creating the God Tree Man using the Ten-Tails. He either created it on another planet or learned about the process from other Otsutsuki.

"Is it out of caution, or... even you, an Otsutsuki, are filled with concerns about the Divine Tree People?"

Orochimaru chuckled inwardly, finding things increasingly interesting. Over the years, he had amassed far too much unbelievable information, but he could sense that Jigen was offering him less and less value.

It might not be long before it's time to go our separate ways.

……

After running for two days, Mizuki finally entered the Land of Fire.

In fact, given his current movement speed, it wouldn't take him that long at all, but he needed to find a place to recuperate. Creating so many claw marks to bind the Ten-Tails in one go was too much of a burden.

The vast Konoha forest could not conceal his figure at all. Mizuki would occasionally leave a claw mark in the forest, which could be considered as projecting spatial coordinates. The closer he got to Konoha Village, the more cautious Mizuki became.

After all, it would be extremely troublesome if it alerted Kaedeji Tsukasa.

What he didn't know was that from the moment he appeared, all his actions had been observed by Kaedeji Tsukasa. The blood-red moon in the sky was constantly casting illusions, not only as a wireless Wi-Fi device, but also as a different kind of perception technique, extending Kaedeji Tsukasa's will.

"This extremely strong chakra is completely unfamiliar, but judging from its appearance, it is clearly that guy Mizuki."

Kaede Tsukasa spared a portion of his gaze to look over, observing Mizuki's every move, seemingly lost in thought.

Kaede Tsukasa did know a little about Orochimaru's resurrection through Mizuki and his escape with Mizuki, but he didn't care. In the battle at Mount Myōboku, Orochimaru was beaten to death by Nagato, but he was only temporarily dead and would be resurrected sooner or later.

"Moreover, the marks that Mizuki left on the ground and trees are clearly claw marks. I see. Orochimaru, you're something else."

Kaede Tsukasa roughly understood what had happened and was very surprised. Not everyone could successfully integrate with Otsutsuki Shibai's gene fragments and master the corresponding divine arts, let alone someone as ordinary as Mizuki.

But Orochimaru did just that, turning Mizuki from an insignificant nobody into a "bigger nobody" that even Kaede Tsukasa had to pay attention to.

However, Mizuki's ability to master the Claw Mark already places him among the top tier of ninjas in terms of strength. If Sasuke's Amenotejikara is an unreasonable thing, amplifying the concept of mechanism to the extreme—regardless of who the opponent is or what level they are, he can forcibly switch places with them with a mere glare—then every divine technique is a mechanism, and when used, it is often as unreasonable as Amenotejikara.

In comparison, claw marks are a more understandable divine technique, an enhanced version of space-time magic, which can also be applied to the Ten-Tails to create claw marks.

"So, it seems that Jigen has already officially started creating the Divine Tree People... He's not afraid of losing control." Kaedeji shook his head.

The Divine Tree doesn't care about obeying orders. Tsurugi is a split entity that acts on instinct, and its only purpose is to eat the Otsutsuki and complete the Ten-Tails' genes.

However, due to their extremely low intelligence, they are indiscriminate in their eating habits, consuming anyone they catch. After eating, they turn into trees on the spot and, based on the genes of the people they have eaten, give birth to new individuals, which are the Divine Tree People.

Despite being a high-ranking Otsutsuki who controls the Ten-Tails and single-handedly facilitated the birth of the Divine Tree People, the Divine Tree People will never listen to Jigen, much less to Mizuki, their direct creator.

In the worst-case scenario, the Divine Tree Man stands directly against Jigen. Since the Divine Tree Man's goal is to devour the Otsutsuki to complete the Ten-Tails, what could be more suitable to capture and serve as food than Jigen, who is right next to him?
As for Cixian's great strength and such... the Divine Tree Man, as a tool, doesn't care about those things. He just goes for the target without hesitation.

However, this is not necessarily true. In the original timeline, the one who was forcibly resurrected in Jigen died. After the birth of the Divine Tree People, they did not target Kaud, who possessed the White Wedge, but instead planned to hunt down other people who possessed the Wedge.

"Never mind, my side is also gradually coming to an end. It's a foregone conclusion that this body will become the incomplete Ten-Tails Jinchuriki. It's a good opportunity to personally observe the quality of the divine technique."

Kaede Tsukasa monitored Mizuki's every move, and after watching Mizuki create claw marks everywhere, he slowly approached Konoha Village.

They stopped outside the barrier and looked up to observe.

"This is the reconnaissance barrier, but unfortunately it can't stop me."

Shui Mu waved his hand forward, and new claw marks immediately appeared more than ten meters away from him. His figure disappeared and calmly crawled out of the claw marks, thus bypassing the barrier's perception.

He desperately wanted revenge on Iruka, and more importantly, he wanted to show that damned Iruka his power!
Moreover, Shui Mu felt a chill all over her body, and had a vague sense of unease, but she didn't know where this feeling came from.

For Iruka, these past few days haven't been easy. He watched Mizuki defect, and he was the one who exposed Mizuki. Even though he was right, it still left Iruka with some psychological burden.

He had lost interest in following trending topics. Even though everyone was having a heated discussion in the illusion world and in reality, and some people had even created some trending lists in the illusion world, desperately trying to find out the strength rankings of some new generation, Iruka was not very interested.

"Ugh……"

Iruka pushed open the office door. He didn't have much talent as a ninja, but he did have some expertise in teaching. So after graduating, he worked as a teaching assistant at the school and planned to apply to become a full-fledged teacher in a few years.

But the next second he was startled and looked at the person in front of him in disbelief.

"Hmph, you're actually sighing... Iruka, it seems you have a lot on your mind. Don't worry too much, because you're about to die!"

Mizuki's expression was ferocious. The more horrified Iruka was, the more excited he became: "I went to your house first and found that you weren't there, and you hadn't even moved. I guessed that you should be at school, and I didn't expect that to be true."

"There's no need to move. Not to mention you, even if Orochimaru wanted to take revenge on me, it would be absolutely impossible! The village is full of strong people. Unless Otsutsuki attacks personally, no one can commit violence in this village."

Iruka slowly backed away, and just as his body was about to touch the door, Mizuki suddenly waved his hand.

A claw mark immediately appeared on the door.

Swish!
Mizuki's hand emerged from the claw marks and pressed against Iruka's neck.

"Then I'm going to shatter your perceptions. It's possible for someone to commit violence, and it can happen anytime!"

"Shuimu! You've already made a mistake. Don't go any further down this path, not even if you master new techniques!"

"Shut up, what right do you have to talk to me? I only resurrected Orochimaru, and you treated me like that, making me a rogue ninja—but it feels pretty good. If you hadn't pushed me like that, I might not have had the power I have now... Die, Iruka, I will pay my respects to you properly."

Mizuki's expression twisted as he slowly tightened his grip, about to snap Iruka in two.

He hoped to hear a crisp click, but the sound did indeed occur—it was the sound of a door being kicked.

boom!
The office door was kicked open, and a figure rushed in, catching Iruka and landing lightly on the ground.

"What, just a troublesome brat?" Mizuki sneered. "And from the Uchiha clan, no less. Do you want to die with them?"

"You're the one who wants to die, you white-haired idiot! How dare you cause trouble at the Ninja Academy? Are you trying to challenge the Hokage's authority?"

"You're Sasuke, right? Get out of here! Don't get involved in adult matters!" Iruka was shocked and his first instinct was to protect the child.

Sasuke shook his head: "I originally just came to the Ninja Academy to take a look and plan how long it would take to graduate, but I didn't expect to encounter such an interesting thing... Teacher, you don't need to worry, I'm very strong, and I'm not without help..."

Wow!

The glass shattered suddenly, and Naruto broke through the window, throwing out a large number of kunai. This prompted Mizuki to immediately use a space-time technique to teleport himself.

"Disappeared?" Naruto looked around.

“We should be careful with space-time abilities,” Sasuke said cautiously. “I’ve never seen this kind of space-time technique before, and our intelligence is at a disadvantage.”

"Don't be so arrogant. Where would you get information if you don't fight? This isn't like the Mukoro Tsukuyomi, where you can actively choose opponents you know to fight."

Naruto snorted, "Once we defeat the enemy, you'll be next."

(End of this chapter)