# Chapter 10: The First B-Rank Mission
"Lord Morino, my autopsy work for today is complete. The inspection reports have been categorized and sealed. If there's nothing else, I'll head to the Memorial Stone to find a place to bury the corpse."
Tsukasa Kaede grabbed his umbrella and left.
Fine rain fell from the night sky as Tsukasa Kaede walked through the Memorial Stone Forest with his lantern, stopping at a vacant spot on its outermost edge.
He raised his engraving knife and carved an unfamiliar name onto the tombstone, casually adding the lie: "Killed an Iwagakure chunin."
The sound of the blade scraping the stone tablet was like fingernails dragging across a coffin lid.
Today, the fatal wound on the skull of this corpse, which he had personally sewn up, clearly came from a Konoha kunai.
This was one of the routine tasks performed by the Corpse Disposal Unit: the Intelligence Interrogation Department would issue orders, and subordinate departments such as the Corpse Disposal Unit, the Intelligence Integration Department, and the Prison Management Department would act to bury mutilated corpses that were difficult to identify.
For every name added to the casualty list, the Fire Daimyo would allocate more bereavement payments. This extra funding would ultimately be used to finance human experimentation projects.
In the later stages of the war, with immense economic pressure, Konoha could not rely solely on its own economy to sustain the war. The Hidden Leaf Village was essentially a super-large military district of the Land of Fire. To fight a long-term war, it required numerous nobles and feudal lords from across the entire Land of Fire, leading all the towns to provide support to Konoha.
Under such circumstances, it was incredibly difficult to pry additional research funds from the Land of Fire's treasury, especially for projects without direct war benefits, which required special measures.
This was the village's will, and it had to be carried out.
The rotten soil of the graveyard was swollen with rainwater. Tsukasa Kaede, having finished his work, dragged a Kumogakure genin's corpse into his personal office.
In this small organization of only five people, having fewer people had its advantages. Tsukasa Kaede always had ample space for his own development, and his colleagues wouldn't say much. They all dealt with corpses and performed many unsavory tasks that ran counter to the glorious and righteous Will of Fire, thus having a higher tolerance for certain colleagues' peculiar hobbies.
"October 25th, Tsukasa Kaede practiced the Soul Death Technique again. No contact with the Priestess has been discovered so far."
Morino Idate looked up, silently recorded it, and then buried his head back into the corpse he was working on. Although he disliked this work, as a ninja, he had no right to choose, only the right to accept and execute missions.
...
Deep blue chakra permeated from Tsukasa Kaede's fingertips into the corpse's chakra pathway system. The deceased's eyeballs bulged in the darkness, and its rotting throat let out a gurgling growl.
"This month's thirty-seventh controlled experiment: a genin dead for more than forty-eight hours could only sustain high-intensity physical activity for fifteen minutes before suffering a lumbar spine fracture. An Iwagakure chunin dead for less than forty-eight hours could use most of the ninjutsu they knew in life, though there were instances where finger bones would explode off when performing hand signs..."
What interested Tsukasa Kaede the most was the Sunagakure jonin corpse — a zombified puppeteer, whose fingers could even produce chakra threads.
"Based on my experience accumulated in the Corpse Transport Team and Corpse Disposal Unit, the optimal conversion window is ten minutes before brain death. Such a zombie almost perfectly replicates its strength from before death, and for a certain period, can unleash even greater strength than when alive. However, this requires extracting chakra regardless of the cost, meaning the rate of body damage will be astonishing. Essentially, one battle renders it irreparable."
This wasn't a complete waste. Before being scrapped, it could perform a Corrosive Explosion, creating additional lethal damage, thus serving as a form of waste utilization.
Tsukasa Kaede sketched curve graphs in his experiment log. Web-like, eerie patterns appeared on the Sunagakure zombie's lung lobe.
He casually cut open the zombie's throat. The moment black blood gushed out, the rotting vocal cords vibrated violently and then completely tore, no longer able to emit its instinctive growl. This corpse had been a jonin-level puppeteer in life, and now retained forty percent of its strength.
Tsukasa Kaede's only regret was that the first jonin he controlled happened to be a puppeteer, and he didn't have enough puppets to supply this zombie.
Perhaps some cheap chunin and genin zombies could be used as puppets for this jonin zombie? Zombies using zombies in combat... perhaps it could also be considered a ninjutsu he developed, Tsukasa Kaede mused.
The heavy door burst open, and a distinct scent of blood interrupted his thoughts.
Two Root ninja barged into the Corpse Disposal Unit. On a stretcher lay a young ninja, purplish-black all over, convulsing. Black blood seeped from his seven orifices, collecting into a viscous puddle on the metal table.
Tsukasa Kaede glanced at him; he recognized the person.
Feizhu Qingting.
"He can't be saved."
Morino Idate simply examined him, then shook his head. "We've already ended the war with the Hidden Rain Village, so this must be the Hidden Sand Village's toxin, right? All his internal organs have been corroded. Such a person should have been disposed of earlier. Why was he sent to me while still alive?"
One of the Root ninja tore off his blood-stained gloves and threw them to the ground, preventing any possibility of contamination. "The medical ninja at the hospital tried to save him for two days, but it was no use. To conserve medical resources, treatment has effectively been abandoned. Lady Tsunade is out of the village on a mission with Kato Dan, unable to analyze the toxin. So, Ryoma ordered us to bring him here."
"I certainly can't save him here."
"We're not asking you to save him. You need to dissect his body while he's still alive, observe the changes in his various organs, and write a detailed analysis report on this toxin, as detailed as possible! These reports will ultimately be presented to Lady Tsunade as reference material for her to decipher the Hidden Sand Village's toxin."
The other Root ninja spoke coldly, his mask concealing any emotional fluctuations in his eyes, which were filled with ruthlessness. "This is a B-Rank Mission. If successful, it will be added to your records. But if you leak this Mission, you will become the Mission we must complete."
Morino Idate frowned but nodded nonetheless. "I understand that perfectly. No one who enters the Corpse Disposal Unit is a fool, nor are there any loose-lipped fools. Every person here knows their fate..."
Moreover, if dissecting and analyzing a fellow village ninja while they were still alive were to be exposed, it would undoubtedly cause a massive uproar and severely damage the morale of the front-line ninja.
Morino Idate looked at the two Root ninja before him, then down at the young ninja struggling in pain, and finally severed his few remaining ties of empathy, giving the order to begin the "diagnosis."
(end of chapter)