chapter 106 part 1
Chapter 106: Immortals Don't Deceive Immortals
While both are life-for-a-life Resurrection Jutsu, the Self-Sacrifice Reanimation is indeed inferior to the Rinne Rebirth, as it cannot restore youth. However, Tsukasa Kaede can use Zombies to offset the cost of the Jutsu.
For him, the value of the Self-Sacrifice Reanimation even surpassed that of the Rinne Rebirth.
"If it's just to resurrect my current self, it doesn't require too many Zombies as Sacrifices. But if I add Hashirama Clones and the Sharingan to myself, the number of Zombies required will be an extremely large number."
Tsukasa Kaede quickly assessed this. It meant he would need to set up a large ritual to devour the Life Force of all the Zombies in one go, only stopping the ritual after his complete Resurrection.
The little bit of Life Force he had just gained had now completely drained away—after all, an Edo Tensei Corpse cannot retain Life Force for long; this is something only Living Humans can do.
So, he needed to find a place where many Zombies could gather, and ensure his ritual would not be disturbed.
In the next two days, the Konoha patrol teams routinely patrolling within the Land of Fire noticed that the Zombies seemed to become more active.
"Hey, did I see wrong? Another Zombie just ran past, didn't it?"
"No, you didn't. My nose caught the scent too. Many of the moving Corpses carried the mixed scent of earth and decay, clearly having been dead for a long time, and suddenly awakened from the ground..."
"Hmm, according to reports from other teams, this phenomenon seems to be happening more and more frequently. I wonder what Lord Tsukasa Kaede is up to."
None of these patrol team members reported the matter to the Village. No one would dare. It was obvious Lord Tsukasa Kaede was performing a Jutsu. Regardless of his purpose—whether to assemble troops for a military operation, research Corpse Release Ninjutsu, or even just messing around because he was bored—it wasn't for them to comment on.
Report? Report it to whom? Is Lord Tsukasa Kaede, the Leaf Devourer, going to gather a Corpse Horde to attack the Hidden Leaf Village? That joke is a bit too cold.
Inuzuka Tsume rubbed her nose, remembered something, and excitedly lowered her voice: "Hey, have you guys heard? There's a woman at Tsukasa Kaede's house!"
"A woman? That's normal, isn't it? He's at the age to get married now, right...? Wait, wait, are you saying... that woman is a Corpse? *Hiss*, Lord Tsukasa Kaede's preferences are certainly unique."
"Idiot! That's not what I meant! If you want to die, don't drag me with you! Is that a conjecture you can say out loud? That woman is rumored to be a disciple Lord Jiraiya recruited outside!"
"A disciple?! Isn't Lord Jiraiya's disciple Minato? Even the other two members of Jiraiya's team don't have the qualification to be called Lord Jiraiya's disciples, do they?!"
"But that's indeed the truth. Lord Jiraiya recruited a disciple from outside, just like Lord Tsukasa Kaede brought back Hidan."
The group of people patrolled and desperately gossiped, full of enthusiasm.
*Whoosh!* A passing Zombie paused and looked their way. This group immediately became quiet, keeping their eyes down. Once the Zombie had moved far away, they once again plunged into lively discussion.
The patrol teams' workload was decreasing, and the frequency of invasions from other Villages was also declining. This allowed them to have a bit more leisure time.
These Zombies were those they saw, and those they didn't see. In more distant places, people who had died long ago—as long as their Corpses hadn't immediately rotted away, and there was even a shred of utility value—were all awakened by Tsukasa Kaede.
Just as Tsukasa Kaede was focused on collecting Zombies.
Orochimaru returned silently, his condition dire.
"Heheheh, Tsukasa Kaede, it's truly great to see you safe and sound. Your War Spoils are also doing quite well. The moment I entered the Village, I heard people talking about Konan. Jiraiya will probably be frantically searching for Konan; he must want to know what exactly happened in the Land of Rain."
Orochimaru's face was pale. Even though he had changed into clean and tidy clothes, it was hard to conceal the bloody smell on him—this time, all his injuries came from himself. It looked like he had at least withstood one Shinra Tensei.
Tsukasa Kaede sat in a chair, idly flipping through the experiment data in his hand, his mind already elsewhere. "Konan is very smart. She knows how to use the Village's power to put pressure on me, but it's useless."
"Tsukasa Kaede, this makes me very confused... Kaedence you're interested in this woman, you could completely control her and place her in a Base elsewhere."
"There's no need. I have a way to make Konan unable to escape my control. But you don't. That's why you would need to do that."
"Heh, you're certainly confident. What if Konan tells the Village the truth that you are already dead..." Orochimaru's gaze was somewhat dangerous, and he deliberately stood a little further away.
Tsukasa Kaede put down the file in his hand and stood up. "She won't say anything. My way of making her keep quiet is one thing, and her knowing what to say and how to act is another. But let's talk about you first. It looks like you've returned defeated. Did you suffer a great loss at Nagato's hands?"
"More or less. Nagato's power is increasing at a visible rate. The Dōjutsu Power of those Rinnegan seems to have no upper limit; the strength of his Eye Power is entirely dependent on Nagato's capacity to endure..."
This was what vexed Orochimaru the most. It was as if Nagato had no power bottlenecks whatsoever. Driven by hatred and anger, the power of the Rinnegan could always be unearthed more quickly. The current Nagato was considered a strong Kage Level Ninja; starting with a barrage of Hand Seal-less Jutsu was simply unsolvable.
Orochimaru sneered. "Tsukasa Kaede, how about a trade? If you tell me how you escaped the Impure World Reincarnation, I'll tell you Nagato's latest Dojutsu. You kidnapped his Comrade, which made him furious and bent on revenge against me."
Just a little bit, only a little bit, and Orochimaru could have extracted the Rinnegan, but he also almost died at Nagato's hands. Nagato didn't hesitate to use his Rinnegan to lure him into attacking! Even though Orochimaru had the advantage in combat experience and decision-making, Nagato had mastered a Soul Absorption Dojutsu, and could activate it instantly! This was too absurd. A genius Ninja would struggle to learn a Reaper Death Seal, yet Nagato could casually use it, and it was even a Hand Seal-less Instant Jutsu.
If he hadn't sensed something was wrong and quickly used a Shadow Clone Jutsu to take Nagato's Soul Absorption Jutsu, he would have already been dead.
Even after fighting through the entire Second Great Ninja War, Orochimaru had never been so close to death.
"There's no need. I'm not interested in the Rinnegan. I have my own things to do."
Tsukasa Kaede stood up. "I'll take the Corpses you haven't used yet. And the enemy Ninja from hostile Villages you secretly captured without the Village's knowledge, I'll turn them into Zombies and take them too."
"Hmph, first you released the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu, then you started collecting Zombies... Are you planning to resurrect yourself using the Self-Sacrifice Reanimation Jutsu? I never thought Impure World Reincarnation and Self-Sacrifice Reanimation could be combined in such a way. Tsukasa Kaede, you truly are a genius."