Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 49 also includes freckles.

The Land of Iron, a permanently neutral nation, is a peninsula country located in the northern part of the continent, bordering the sea.

To the west lies the Land of Earth across the sea, and to the southwest lies the Land of Waterfalls; to the east lies the Land of Lightning across the sea, and to the southeast lies the Land of Rice Fields. In the original timeline, Orochimaru was supposed to establish the Hidden Sound Village in this country.

In this era where ninjas were prevalent, this samurai nation still upheld its ancient traditions and rarely participated in the conflicts of the ninja world.

But this does not mean that the country is truly isolated from the world. The man who is capable of influencing the history of the ninja world is currently living in seclusion in the mountain cemetery in the northern region of the Land of Iron.

Uchiha Madara.

In the 40th year of Konoha's history, this man who once dominated the ninja world is now nearly seventy years old and shows signs of aging.

But he was still in relatively good spirits, sitting alone amidst a cluster of dilapidated tombstones that had been abandoned for many years, leaning on his sickle.

Don't get me wrong, no one's relatives or friends are buried here. He just came up here out of boredom to get some fresh air and enjoy the remaining time of his body.

Yes, at this point, Madara had already formulated his plans for the future, and all that remained was to find a suitable successor to carry on his will.

Unfortunately, he has not been able to find one. None of the Uchiha clansmen who appeared on the battlefield could catch his eye.

Suddenly, Ban, who looked drowsy, twitched his eyelids, slowly raised his head, and looked at the ground in front of him.

"Lord Madara, I've discovered something interesting."

"Shut up, White Zetsu. What you call interesting is completely different from what a normal human understands as interesting. But that's not your fault. After all, you're just a low-quality copy of Hashirama. It's normal for you to have some problems with your brain..."

Hashirama's mind was quite problematic, and the White Zetsu's problem was even greater; they simply didn't have any brains at all, which can be considered a unique form of inheritance.

White Zetsu chuckled and said, "The White Zetsu of the Land of Rain have discovered the intruders. Their secret techniques are quite interesting."

"Who?" Ban asked in a low voice.

"Kaze no Tsukasa of Konoha can control many corpses to serve him, and the corpses can even use the ninjutsu they used in life! They're looking for something, maybe Nagato." White Zetsu was always eager for more drama.

Madara was used to White Zetsu's brainlessness and wasn't angry; he just showed an indifferent expression.

"Controlling corpses? What kind of third-rate ninjutsu is this? I've never heard of it before. Since it's a technique for manipulating corpses, the person who uses it is probably not someone worth mentioning, otherwise there would be no need to use corpses to assist them."

Madara thought of the Impure World Reincarnation technique, which looked somewhat similar to Tobirama's Impure World Reincarnation; both were highly distinctive forbidden techniques.

However, compared to others, Tobirama was more annoying to him.

"Lord Madara, aren't you worried? You look like you could die at any moment. What if that Kaede Tsukasa picks up your body? That would be a huge problem. The people of Konoha would probably be ecstatic."

White Zetsu exaggeratedly said, "What would it be like if Kaedeji used your body and used many of your powerful ninjutsu? It would be terrifying."

“If you say another stupid thing, I’ll kill you. Anyway, I can make something like you anytime.”

Ban finally showed some interest, but only a little.

All the resurrection techniques in the ninja world, except for his Rinnegan eye technique: Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique, are not worth mentioning.

Whether it's the Impure World Reincarnation or some other technique for manipulating corpses, it's all just using the dead, which is completely different from resurrecting them.

"Tobirama's Impure World Reincarnation technique is not worth mentioning. It has too many flaws. The impure ninjas summoned back to the mortal world are ridiculously weak and cannot even exert one-tenth of their strength before birth."

Madara thought that Kaedeji's technique was probably the same; someone who manipulates corpses is someone who has no real ability and has to rely on external forces.

"No, at least it can unleash most of its strength before it was born. It depends on how fresh the corpse is." "Hmph, that's still not very valuable. Saying it's most of its strength is probably just a euphemism. The stronger the corpse was before it was born, the lower the proportion of strength it can unleash after obtaining the corpse."

A red light flashed in Madara's single eye, and the three tomoe slowly rotated: "Then, White Zetsu, that guy is in your hands. You absolutely cannot let the puppets he controls get close to Nagato. You must create a good environment for Nagato to grow up in."

Jiraiya was a decent ninja, a decent passerby on Nagato's natural growth path, and Madara wouldn't interfere too much in that regard.

White Zetsu chuckled, his figure slowly merging into the underground, quickly heading south into the Land of Rain to gather the White Zetsu scattered throughout the Land of Rain, intending to launch an ambush against Kaede Tsukasa.

"No, or should it be called annihilation? It's too complicated. Anyway, just kill them all."

White Zetsu has located Kaede Tsukasa's position.

……

Kaede Tsukasa found an abandoned house, stood under the eaves, and quietly listened to the thunderous sound of the heavy rain, enjoying the rare tranquility.

Behind him, three Root ninjas were taking the time to rest and recover, while also keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings.

“Relax. In this environment, unless the enemy sneaks right up to you, it will be difficult for you non-sensory ninjas to detect anything,” Kaedeji said.

“But you are a sensory ninja, so we need to ensure that we can act immediately when you give the order.” Komatsu Fujii remained vigilant, cautiously glancing around.

Looking out, the world seemed to have turned into a swamp, with dense raindrops blocking the view and covering up all the noise.

To be honest, when Kaedeji heard Komatsu Fujii say that he was a sensory ninja, he felt a little uneasy for a moment.

Any ninja capable of detecting the enemy's location is considered a sensory ninja. Ninjas like the Inuzuka clan, with their keen sense of smell and companion dogs, are all sensory ninjas.

Needless to say, the Hyuga clan is another example.

"The Hyuga clan's ability to sense things in this environment is truly a unique advantage; the Byakugan has farsightedness." Kaede Tsukasa genuinely thought these eyes were incredibly useful.

It's no wonder that every ninja village covets the Byakugan but isn't as enthusiastic about the Sharingan.

However, there are occasional examples of Sharingan upgrading to Mangekyou Sharingan, and there is currently one example of Eternal Mangekyou upgrading to Rinnegan; but examples of Byakugan upgrading to Tenseigan are extremely rare, at least in the ninja world.

The four of them remained silent and waited patiently.

Until Kaedeji spoke again.

"I've roughly determined Jiraiya-sama's location."

Three Root ninjas stood up, preparing to follow Kaedeji Tsukasa.

"perhaps?"

“Well, the reason it’s not certain isn’t because my servants couldn’t do it, but because they were stopped by a few strange things.” Kaedeji Tsukasa’s face showed an expression of great interest.

As expected, the key to this search mission is not finding Jiraiya, but how to get close to him—getting close to Jiraiya is equivalent to getting close to Nagato, who is still relatively weak.

The fact that White Zetsu has been deployed means that Madara Uchiha has turned his attention here. No, it should be said that Madara Uchiha has been closely monitoring Nagato.

"Are they afraid that I, who amuses corpses, will get close to Nagato... afraid that I will take the opportunity to kill Nagato and take his body?"

(End of this chapter)