**Chapter 65: Dan Kato is About to Die**
"Lord Danzo, Tsukasa Kaede and his group have already departed for the Land of Hot Water."
"Hmph, that hateful Hiruzen. He probably discovered the connection between Orochimaru and me, deliberately dispatching Tsukasa Kaede to a secondary battlefield." Danzo snorted coldly, gnashing his teeth in anger.
There was nothing he could do; the Hokage held absolute authority. Danzo couldn't openly alter the Hokage's orders.
"It is imperative to ensure Tsukasa Kaede stays alive. As for how the war situation in the Land of Hot Water evolves, disregard it." Danzo signed a document, sealed it, and handed it to a Root ninja.
This ninja took the document, immediately set off, and gathered his squad to head to the Northern Front.
Danzo sat down quietly. His body, already showing obvious signs of aging, meant his physical strength and stamina were no longer what they used to be, and the amount of Chakra within him also decreased year by year. All these felt like ropes, suffocating him.
His heart was filled with unresigned ambition, desperately wanting to make a change.
"After the war ends, I must persuade Hiruzen to begin experiments on transplanting Hashirama Cells. It would be best if I could rally a large number of Senju Clan members to participate!"
Only with enough samples could Danzo obtain reliable data and ultimately transplant Hashirama Cells onto himself.
By then, coupled with the Sharingan, the power of both Senju and Uchiha concentrated within him alone, and with Tsukasa Kaede replenishing his Life Force to maintain his state, Danzo wouldn't even dare to imagine how powerful he would become.
Human Experimentation, truly a wonderful phrase.
"The Iwagakure wouldn't take such strategic action for no reason; there must be a conspiracy. Tsukasa Kaede, don't you dare die on the battlefield, otherwise this old man will have no choice but to find other ways to obtain your Jutsu."
...
The guard unit at the Hidden Leaf Gate once again witnessed the scene of Tsukasa Kaede leading a team departing, but this time, nobody was talking about Tsukasa Kaede.
This was because various well-known Konoha Shinobi were constantly leading teams out. Many shinobi who had retreated from the Sunagakure battlefield, after several months of recuperation, successively began to rush to the Iwagakure battlefield.
And there were also constantly heavily injured shinobi, as well as shinobi corpses, being sent back to the Hidden Leaf Village. These guards had long become desensitized.
"The atmosphere feels much heavier than in previous months. The madness of Iwagakure is weighing heavily on everyone's minds."
Tsukasa Kaede keenly noticed the change in people's spirits; from the jubilant mood after repelling the Hidden Sand Village, to the subsequent mix of shock and anger, and now... numbness? But this was actually still relatively good. After a few years, when the Third Great Ninja War breaks out, the shinobi of Konoha would truly witness what true savagery was. The Five Great Shinobi Villages and a host of Small Ninja Villages would all enter the fray, turning it into a complete mess.
The group moved swiftly through the Forest of Konoha. Tsukasa Kaede looked up and glanced at Might Dai, who was charging at the very front, but didn't say much either. Among the people present, apart from Tsukasa Kaede, Might Dai's physical prowess was the most astonishing.
"We need to scout the situation on the Front Line. We can't just blindly rush into the Land of Hot Water."
Tsukasa Kaede quietly formed Hand Kaedegns, which caught the attention of Iroha and Shibi. These two already possessed Byakugan and Insect Control, among other Sensory Abilities, giving them sharp senses.
But after waiting a few seconds, Tsukasa Kaede released his hands, and nothing happened.
Iroha and Shibi quietly exchanged glances, feeling a bit confused.
"Lord Tsukasa Kaede, did you discover anything special? In this direction, could it be that enemies from the Hidden Cloud Village have infiltrated?"
As he spoke, Iroha activated his Byakugan, his vision rapidly extending into the distance. Then his expression froze, because he saw that within a radius of dozens of kilometers around them, zombies occasionally appeared, moving along with them.
But often after moving a certain distance, they would immediately stop, and then new zombies would appear, doing the same thing—as if each corpse had its own "operational territory."
"Is this also Lord Tsukasa Kaede's Jutsu? When did he Summon so many zombies? Or rather, even before the Mission began, had Lord Tsukasa Kaede already deployed zombies in the Forest of Konoha?" Iroha was truly surprised. Without anyone noticing, Tsukasa Kaede had already accomplished so much. If they truly encountered enemies, these zombies would be the first to detect and engage, effectively creating a very considerable mobile safe zone for their team! The key point was that at such a great distance, Tsukasa Kaede could actually precisely control such a large number and perform this level of organizational coordination; this was truly terrifying.
"All of this seems to be within the Captain's calculations."
Shibi was the calmest; some insects crawled from his face, clearly indicating he had also discovered zombies frequently active around the team.
Tsukasa Kaede, without turning his head, said, "No need to be nervous, it has nothing to do with the Hidden Cloud Village. I just dispatched some servants to explore the situation in the Land of Hot Water so that after we enter, we won't be completely ignorant of the situation. We should strive to grasp the battle situation before we rendezvous with Lord Dan Kato."
From here, to explore the battle situation in the Land of Hot Water? That's at least another two hundred kilometers away! The group was greatly astonished.
The group wasn't particularly surprised that Tsukasa Kaede could use zombies to gather intelligence.
The zombies scattered around them were already surprising enough. But Tsukasa Kaede's jutsu wasn't for the zombies immediately around them; instead, from this distance, he was scouting the situation in the Land of Hot Water hundreds of kilometers away?
Across hundreds of kilometers, controlling zombies to infiltrate the Land of Hot Water? That's simply too much!
"Although I don't know what you've discovered, it seems I don't need to worry about anything. I just need to follow orders. This feeling is great!" A smile spread across Akimichi Fujiki's face.
Tsukasa Kaede didn't explain in detail to his subordinates. Across hundreds of kilometers, controlling zombies for infiltration operations? It wasn't that it couldn't be done, but there was no need to. This would consume too much Chakra, and Tsukasa Kaede didn't want to have to replenish his Life Force multiple times before battle.
He clearly had better tools; there was no reason to dispatch zombies over long distances to do such a thing.
A hundred kilometers away from the squad, beneath a giant tree and beyond the detection range of Byakugan and insects.
A zombie formed Hand Kaedegns with both hands, then slapped the ground.
Not long after, a Pitcher Plant grew out.
"Seriously, so it was just a corpse after all, not even the main body is willing to show up. Black Zetsu, can't you tell him to at least create a Shadow Clone to talk to us? And every time I see a corpse, I'm reminded of Araki of the Sand devouring my clones."
As soon as it appeared, White Zetsu grumbled at the zombie.
Black Zetsu said coldly, "Haven't you also eaten many shinobi corpses? There's nothing to complain about; hurry up and get to work. Furthermore, as far as I know, Lord Tsukasa Kaede doesn't seem to know the Shadow Clone Jutsu, and has no need to learn it."
"Hey, who are you kidding? He doesn't know it, but surely the many zombies he controls don't either? A jutsu user learning Ninjutsu from corpses wouldn't take much time, would it?"
White Zetsu mumbled, then reported the war situation in the Land of Hot Water.
"Barring any surprises, that Dan Kato is about to die, you know. The Four-Tails Jinchuriki used Lava Release to detonate the Land of Hot Water's Underground Volcano!"
(end of chapter)