"Wuuuu…"
Kifu's footsteps faltered. His mind, now slipping into chaos, was no longer able to let his remaining self-awareness control his body. Only the instinct to feed remained.
The chakra virus had gradually spread from the wound across his body, step by step transforming him into a zombie.
The moment he saw Ao, he let out a howl and lunged.
Ao furrowed his brow, sidestepped, and studied him carefully, growing more puzzled the longer he looked.
"Is that Kifu? No… it doesn't seem like him. His body carries massive amounts of decayed flesh, and it's visibly decomposing… it's as if some evil spirit has possessed him."
The world contained countless jutsu, and there were far too many Ao had never seen.
"Moreover, this guy seems to be trying to attack me with taijutsu. His movements are restricted by his injuries and somewhat deformed, but overall, his physical combat ability exceeds that of a regular genin."
In just a few seconds, Ao made a rapid analysis and drew a kunai with his free hand, planning to eliminate Kazamatsuri Takuno first.
Whoosh!
The zombie abruptly changed direction, stepping in front of Kazamatsuri Takuno and using his flesh to block all the kunai.
"Initial judgment: this appears to be a jutsu used by a Konoha ninja, yet his body blocks ninja tools? Could he possess some kind of regenerative ability?" Ao's curiosity deepened.
Kazamatsuri Takuno was equally confused, unsure of what the figure before him was, though he seemed to be an ally.
"I'll heal you…" Takuno reached out, but the other ignored the kunai piercing him, let out a roar, and charged at Ao.
Ao was shocked, suspecting the creature felt no pain. He retreated again, launching attacks to probe its capabilities.
After multiple long-range assaults, Ao confirmed it: this thing truly had no sense of pain, as if it were a flesh puppet without self-awareness.
"There's no chakra threads controlling it remotely, and no visible curse mark… what on earth is this thing?"
Ao's interest was fully piqued. The more he retreated, the more the zombie tried to close in for melee combat, and the more Ao maintained distance to observe. By nature, he would never take risks without absolute certainty.
Moreover, his instincts told him that understanding what this creature was could yield rewards as great—or greater—than killing Kazamatsuri Takuno.
Takuno realized this too. Gritting his teeth, he squeezed his body one last time to extract chakra, healing his injuries.
Ao continued his probing attacks—severing limbs, destroying internal organs—and eventually got close enough to decapitate the creature with a kunai, holding its head in his hand.
"This… isn't dead? Even in this state, it still wants to bite me? This terrifying combat will… what is it!?" Ao was utterly stunned. Holding the head by its forehead, he watched its jaw move as if alive, utterly shocked.
He had never heard of such a monster—one that, even as only a head remained, still persisted in completing its mission, like a legendary demon.
"Is this Konoha's doing? Did your village cultivate this monster?" Ao asked casually, receiving no reply. When he looked back, Kazamatsuri Takuno had already fled.
Ao paid no mind. He had discovered a more valuable target. Tearing part of his clothing, he wrapped the head carefully, planning to take it back for study.
"These eyes… they really resemble the Byakugan. Could there be a connection? Could it be a forbidden technique of the Hyuga clan? Or perhaps a Hyuga ninja was cursed by someone else and became like this?"
Ao remained fixated on the Byakugan. If he could obtain just one, he would gain a huge strategic advantage—and earn the favor of the Third Mizukage, boosting his own status.
He recalled the legends about various demons circulating throughout the ninja world. Clutching the head, he quickly fled, paying no mind even to the Kirigakure ninja who had been chasing Fubuki Tonbo. After such a long time without returning, that ninja had either been killed in retaliation or encountered Konoha's reinforcement troops—worthless to save.
"I've never heard of Konoha ninja mastering this kind of forbidden jutsu; otherwise, they would have used it in war already. This only proves it can't be mass-produced. Once I unravel its secret…"
Ao's thoughts burned with excitement as he considered the ability to fear neither pain nor death.
"If only these eyes were a Byakugan…" he mused, vanishing swiftly into the dense forest.
…
"The distance is increasing, beyond the range I can roughly sense. Looks like it got away."
Kaede Tsukasa sat cross-legged on a branch, slowly opening his eyes with a click of his tongue, feeling a tinge of regret.
Ao was cautious. Even a little recklessness—just a bite or a scratch from that zombie—would have changed the situation entirely.
Though he didn't know how long it would take to corrupt a jōnin without being able to accelerate the virus through close-range chakra consumption, he knew that once Ao got infected, he would live in Kaede Tsukasa's shadow.
The farther the distance, the more chakra Kaede would need to sense remotely and accelerate the corruption. That wasn't something he could do now, nor was it necessary.
Most importantly, Kaede didn't have enough chakra to precisely control the virus inside the zombie, letting it use the jutsu it had mastered in life.
In theory, however, if Kaede were strong enough, with enough chakra and sufficient mastery of corpse techniques, he could fully unleash the zombie's pre-death abilities—200 percent of its former strength. After becoming a zombie, without pain or fear, it could operate at overcapacity, trading injuries for injuries, until the body was destroyed or the head crushed.
Carrying two unconscious comrades, Kaede struggled toward the village.
This was no act—this battle had been extremely taxing on his body.
It wasn't until a Konoha patrol ninja intercepted him that he got relief.
"You're in this state and still managed to bring back two comrades? Incredible. We'll escort you back to the village to rest. It's lucky to have someone like you among us," said the young female ninja, her face glowing with the innocent enthusiasm of a recent graduate. Her adult ninja dog approached, sniffed, and barked.
"Yes, luck was on my side—I repelled the enemy. But this is all I could manage; sadly, one comrade was lost," Kaede Tsukasa sighed. "I think I once saw your photo on the outer wall of the ninja academy—you're Inuzuka Tsume, right? One of the outstanding graduates from a couple of years ago?"
Inuzuka Tsume, mother of Inuzuka Hana and Inuzuka Kiba, would one day become a sub-leader of Konoha's patrol squad.
Unlike other members of the Inuzuka clan, Tsume had chosen an adult veteran ninja dog as her partner—a large, one-eyed dog named Kuromaru, possessing formidable strength.
At the very least, Kaede felt he couldn't defeat this one-eyed dog.
Soon, he encountered the severely injured Kazamatsuri Takuno and Fubuki Tonbo at the village entrance.
"So you were saved by Minato Namikaze, Akinokami Chōza, and their patrol squad? That's excellent—it proves that everyone's perseverance paid off. We survived what should have been certain death."
Kaede Tsukasa exhaled in relief in front of the gathered ninja.
As for trying to network with the young Minato Namikaze… that was impossible. Minato didn't even notice Kaede Tsukasa.
Minato Namikaze, the rising super genius, was already famous among the higher-ups. Though nicknamed the "Little Sun," he couldn't possibly remember the names of every mediocre genin in the village.
Konoha alone had tens of thousands of resident ninja, and more were scattered across the Land of Fire.
Being Konoha, the highest military authority in the Land of Fire, meant it could issue conscription orders to nobles and lords, further increasing the number of ninja under direct control.
Not five or six thousand, but at least thirty thousand—trained over more than twenty years of peace after the First Great Ninja War.
Of course, after several years of the Second Great Ninja War, overall forces had sharply decreased; losing over ten thousand was normal.
With so many ninja, even Minato's prodigious memory and "Little Sun" charisma couldn't remember everyone. At twelve years old, Minato was already tasked with patrols, constantly meeting new ninja, making it impossible to remember them all.