Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 257: A breeding ground for the corruption of the Ten-Tails and the Otsutsuki!
After going round and round, I am back to where I started.

Madara had experienced this before, using his aging and decaying body to wield the Rinnegan. It was when he was old and had just switched his Eternal Eye out of the Rinnegan state.

After much agonizing thought, Madara chose to transplant those eyes to the young Nagato, while he himself sought a successor to be resurrected in the future and become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki.

If it weren't for the changing winds in the ninja world, and if it weren't for the successive appearances of the Otsutsuki, which allowed Madara to continuously discover the loopholes in the Eye of the Moon plan and realize that it was a huge pit dug by some mysterious Otsutsuki, he should have continued to advance according to the original plan and patiently waited to be resurrected.

Instead of trying to seize another pair of usable eyes with his reanimated body, and to capture the Ten-Tails in Jigen's hands, so as to become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki in one fell swoop.

The Ten-Tails obtained by stuffing the nine tailed beasts into the Gedo Mazo is problematic. Whether it's the Sage of Six Paths tricking him, the Otsutsuki who gave birth to the Sage of Six Paths, or someone else setting a trap, it doesn't matter anymore. He's not after this Ten-Tails anymore; he'll go straight for the Ten-Tails that Jigen has. Surely that's alright?

"The sacrifice for this body was carefully adjusted by Orochimaru. It is also old, but it is stronger than my original body."

Madara continued to exert his strength and was generally satisfied, especially with the pair of eyes he had just taken. Although they couldn't be said to be comparable to his original Rinnegan, they were still quite good.

"Madara, you actually dared to give Chiyo away without permission..."

Nagato's face was grim, but he wasn't exactly furious.

Since Yahiko's death, Nagato's personality has changed drastically, becoming increasingly extreme. He has no affection for people like Chiyo. However, since Chiyo joined Akatsuki, she is a member of the organization. Without any wrongdoing or subjective fault, she was controlled by Madara's genjutsu and became a sacrifice to resurrect him...

Madara revived without giving Nagato any prior notice! Moreover, by controlling Chiyo at close range to perform the technique, he has likely already obtained a great deal of information about the Reincarnation Jutsu.

In the instant Nagato was distracted, the Divine Tree Man suddenly entered the portal and appeared in front of Nagato the next second. It withstood the Frog Kujaku and one of its hands transformed into a giant claw, slamming towards Nagato's chest.

Even though Nagato reacted quickly and twisted his body, the terrifying blow still tore off several of his ribs. He was just a hair's breadth away from having his internal organs pulled out by the Divine Tree Man.

If it weren't for Sage Mode's exaggerated sensory abilities and powerful physical attributes, Nagato would have been killed by the Divine Tree Man long ago.

"This is truly devastating, Nagato. Just in case, let's try this move first..."

A thought struck Madara, and his eyes flashed with ocular power. His body began to split, creating another version of himself with comparable strength.

"There is no distinction between the original body and the original body. They are all self with considerable will. As long as one of them is alive, they are not considered dead... No matter how you look at it, it is the same as Wu's splitting technique."

Apart from the fact that splitting doesn't lead to a decrease in strength, they are practically identical. Madara pondered the various pieces of information he had gleaned from those eyes, then took action.

The two men with sinister smiles launched a coordinated attack on the intact Tree Spirit, their main objective being to seize another pair of Rinnegan!

His eyes are one of many split eyes, and their abilities may not be complete. If he could obtain more Rinnegan and complete the fusion, he might be able to gain further enhancements.

Even if it's not possible, it's good to seize more Rinnegan for backup. Using the Rinnegan to activate forbidden techniques like Izanagi produces extraordinary effects.

boom!
The two spotted figures attacked from both sides, kicking the Tree Man into the ground with one blow. At the same time, they launched an even more ferocious physical attack. Despite his old age, the Tree Man was not much stronger. His stamina had declined significantly, and he was simply unable to withstand a high-intensity battle for too long. He was clearly panting heavily at this moment.

However, this level of attack was insufficient to harm the Tree Spirit.

"This thing's physical strength and intelligence have decreased, and its self-healing ability has also decreased, but it's still so difficult to deal with." Ban frowned slightly, feeling troubled.

This is the difficulty for people like them when facing beings at the Six Paths level. Physical techniques can cause direct damage, but their bodies are simply incomparable to those at the Six Paths level.

Even at his peak, Hashirama Senju, hailed as the absolute number one person below the Sage of Six Paths, was no match for a Six Paths level being in terms of taijutsu. Even his self-healing ability was nothing compared to that of the Divine Tree Man.

Madara is currently facing this dilemma: he lacks a powerful means to kill higher life forms with a single blow, he has not mastered the Truth-Seeking Balls, he cannot use stronger Yin-Yang Release techniques, and unlike Nagato, he has mastered Sage Mode.

Immediately, Madara planned to use Susanoo to forcibly split the God Tree Man in two, which was already his strongest "taijutsu" attack.

But suddenly a shockwave erupted from the Tree Man, and in that instant, a portal appeared beneath him, engulfing him and causing him to disappear.

"Where could it appear..." Madara used his Rinnegan to look around, searching for any subtle fluctuations in the spatial dimension. Several seconds passed, but he found nothing.

Nagato's Sage Mode time was up. The eyeshadow at the corner of his eyes slowly faded, and he said with a sigh, "I can breathe a sigh of relief. He went to Iwagakure. It seems that Kaedeji's main opponent is the one he has to deal with."

"...Hmph, I've been underestimated."

Madara snorted coldly, and he and another version of himself each controlled a Susanoo. Their two giant hands came together and grabbed the blind tree spirit, the only remaining one they could use to gather information.

"Tell me your identity, Onoki, or something else?"

"The Divine Tree Man...ate...the Otsutsuki..." The Divine Tree Man's intelligence was almost gone, not much better than a child who had just learned to speak, and he stammered out words.

"So I didn't really become an idiot after all. But it feels a bit strange to use the original Susanoo with the new Rinnegan..."

The Rinnegan of the Divine Tree Man does not have a Sharingan form, so there is no Sharingan eye technique. Susanoo, on the other hand, is a technique that can be obtained forever once it is activated. As long as one is strong enough, one can activate it even without eyes.

The freckles look a little out of place, but it's not a big deal. You'll get used to it. Having something is always more important than fitting it.

Nagato sat down on the ground with great difficulty, utterly exhausted and unwilling to move: "An artificial creature born from the Ten-Tails, called the Divine Tree Man? It seems to have been created using Onoki's genes, and it has even mastered the Dust Release bloodline elimination technique."

"It's meaningless. Dust Release is useless to ninjas like you and me." Madara snorted coldly, his Rinnegan able to absorb Dust Release directly.

"Now we just have to wait for Kaedeji to decide the outcome. Our victory was a fluke. It was thanks to Kaedeji that the Divine Tree Man split even more wildly, but the pressure on him has increased dramatically." "Kaedeji is best at protracted warfare. If he can't win, he can run away and wait until the Divine Tree Man's strength is exhausted before going all out. As long as he can hold on a little longer, he won't lose."

Madara shook his head repeatedly. Kill Kaedeji? Even the Divine Tree Man wouldn't be able to kill him. Don't be fooled by the Divine Tree Man's terrifying abilities; he can replicate many versions of himself with comparable strength in a very short time, seemingly capable of instantly killing Kaedeji.

But Kaede Tsukasa is exactly the type that is least likely to be defeated instantly.

"Take it. This Tree Spirit can become your Heavenly Dao Puppet."

Madara leaped in front of Nagato, his long white hair swaying in the wind. He glanced at Nagato's wounds, which had begun to stop bleeding, and knew that this seemingly horribly injured guy wouldn't die anytime soon. The Uzumaki bloodline was at work: "I obtained the eyes of the Divine Tree Man, so you can obtain the body of the Divine Tree Man. Transform him into your puppet, which can strengthen our side's power, and the Six Paths of Pain can be born."

Nagato gasped, "It's a pity there's only one Divine Tree Man. If we could get five more, we'd have a complete set of the Six Paths of Pain."

"It's not too late to get to Iwagakure now. With our current abilities, there shouldn't be any problem using the Rinnegan to perform a space-time eye technique."

Madara said this, but his body betrayed him, showing no intention of taking any action whatsoever—he had just been resurrected, was he really going to send himself to Kaede Tsukasa? As for Nagato, needless to say, with his terrible injuries, how could he possibly go to the even more brutal second round?

Nagato sneered, but ultimately didn't mention Chiyo: "Give me a copy of the information on the Reincarnation Technique."

"Of course, I would have given it to you even if you hadn't asked. This technique has its limits. Once you and I become beings comparable to the Sage of Six Paths, this technique will completely lose its value. The Yin-Yang Release technique at the Six Paths level can, theoretically, not only revive the dead at will, but also instantly heal the wounds of the dying."

As he spoke, Madara slowly merged his two selves into one: "Then, let's wait and see how Kaede Tsukasa decides the outcome. I'm very curious about how that kid plans to deal with these Tree Spirits... Sometimes, low-intelligence beasts are more dangerous than rational humans, especially since these beasts can keep multiplying themselves."

He and Nagato still felt it was a pity. This was indeed a good opportunity to obtain six top-level puppets in one go and create the complete Six Paths of Pain. At any other time, where would they have the opportunity to use such powerful people to create puppets?
Did the Divine Tree beings become less intelligent after splitting? The Six Paths of Pain don't need much intelligence; they rely entirely on Nagato. Physical strength is the real issue. Nagato might have to sacrifice his own life force to maintain the Pain's fighting power in order to control the six Divine Tree beings. However, if he can gain greater power, Nagato probably wouldn't refuse such an approach.

"I need to rest here for a while. I sensed that Konan has been captured by Black Zetsu and taken back to Konoha. I have to go to Konoha no matter what." Nagato took the time to heal his injuries.

"Black Zetsu is still alive? That guy Kaedejima, while his main body is dealing with the siege of so many Tree Spirits, his extracted will avatar is active. He's really cunning."

However, Madara didn't take this to heart. He couldn't be bothered to care why Kaedeji was so fond of Konan. He captured and released her repeatedly, it was none of his business.

For a moment, Madara and Nagato remained silent. They looked up at the small moon in the sky, knowing that what had happened here could not escape Kaedeji's perception.

Many times, Madara and Nagato wanted to destroy the little moon floating in the sky, but in the end they did not do so, as they did not intend to break ties with Kaede Tsukasa for the time being.

……

Iwagakure Village.

"I didn't expect Madara and Nagato to be the first to decide the outcome."

Kaede looked at the even larger number of Tree Spirits before him, each radiating an extremely oppressive power. Normally, Kaede would have no way to survive and would only be beaten to death by a horde of Tree Spirits.

But Kaede Tsukasa seemed very relaxed; he couldn't wait to see more Tree People split off.

Madara and Nagato were not killed, which piqued Kaede Tsukasa's interest a little. The God Tree Man has a very basic ability, or rather, the Otsutsuki, as well as the ninjas carrying the Karma seal, all possess the most basic ability: to change their body shape.

The most common method is to transform both hands into giant claws, fleshy scythes, or other forms. A single strike can be devastating, even if it misses, as long as it hits, it can cripple even a Kage-level opponent. Even Hashirama Senju's self-healing ability couldn't withstand the injuries caused by this kind of attack.

In the original timeline, even the strongest Kusanagi sword was cut in half by the God Tree Man, which was formed from the Ten-Tails' consciousness, demonstrating the God Tree Man's formidable attack power.

Even though the Insect God Tree Man isn't particularly skilled in taijutsu, he's still on a level that ninjas can't match.

"But never mind, I didn't have any expectations for them anyway. It's a bit of a shame that only one Treeman came back, but it's enough. So, the current number is... seventeen, which is almost at the critical point."

Kaedeji opened his arms to the group of creatures who were whimpering and had become almost indistinguishable from wild beasts.

A dozen or so figures attacked in a dense formation, blocking all of Kaede Tsukasa's movement paths. Even if he used his space-time eye technique, it was very likely that he wouldn't have enough time!

No matter how fast he could use his space-time pupil technique, he couldn't keep up with the speed of these divine tree people.

Pfft!

In an instant, Kaede Tsukasa was shredded by these attacks, his blood and flesh splattering everywhere. The people of the Divine Tree stood there, stunned for a moment, muttering words they themselves did not understand, before scattering in all directions, intending to follow their instincts and search for Deidara's whereabouts.

Just then, all the flesh and blood disappeared, and Kaede Tsukasa's figure reappeared, his ordinary three-tomoe Sharingan turned grayish-white.

As it turns out, these beasts never learned their lesson. What went wrong with Madara, they managed to do right away with Kaede Tsukasa.

Great sun!
Kaedeji used his eye technique to create numerous black holes. The powerful gravitational force swallowed all the Tree Spirits whole and transferred them to…

Moon!

The real moon, created by the Sage of Six Paths and Hamura, which sealed Kaguya!

"I'll have to trouble you all from now on. Become the breeding ground for my future infiltration of the Ten-Tails and the Otsutsuki," Kaede Tsukasa said.

(End of this chapter)