chapter 74 part 3
...
As Tsukasa Kaede walked the distance out of Konoha Hospital, he kept encountering various faces. Some people he recognized, occasionally nodding in greeting.
"Is that Lord Tsukasa Kaede?"
"That Tsukasa Kaede who uses the Corpse Release Secret Technique? I heard he's also an amazing genius, assisting Lord Kato Dan in defeating the Four-Tails Jinchuriki!"
"Truly impressive. I originally thought Minato Namikaze was the strongest genius, but I never expected Lord Tsukasa Kaede to rise so quickly!"
"This further demonstrates the Village's prosperity and strength. If we defeat Iwagakure next, we'll usher in a long period of Peace, won't we?"
Many Ninja craned their necks to watch Tsukasa Kaede descend, their eyes filled with longing.
Out of tens of thousands of Ninja nationwide, only about a hundred stood out, and Tsukasa Kaede was already one of them. In the future, he would continue to grow stronger.
"But, has Lord Tsukasa Kaede become thinner again? What's going on?"
"He must be overworked. Lord Tsukasa Kaede is truly an admirable Ninja."
Tsukasa Kaede said nothing, simply walked away.
His condition was indeed quite poor, but it didn't matter. Tsukasa Kaede didn't care anyway; he could recover anytime he wished.
Actually, it didn't even matter if he didn't deliberately increase his body's Life Force reserves anymore, because this body's usage period had officially entered its countdown.
Tsukasa Kaede felt that perhaps he could find an opportunity to learn the Spirit Transformation Secret Technique from Kato Dan, which would allow him to further improve his Spirit.
"Danzo and Orochimaru must have made contact. A lot of my Intel has probably fallen into Orochimaru's hands... He needs me, and I need him too."
Tsukasa Kaede sighed with emotion. It wouldn't be long before he could meet Orochimaru. Honestly, he was very much looking forward to it.
Suddenly.
Tsukasa Kaede's expression subtly shifted, and he looked in surprise towards the southeast.
"That direction is... the Front Line? If I'm not mistaken, a lot of Zombies suddenly appeared?"
Tsukasa Kaede became highly interested. This was not normal.
He had always been extremely cautious in controlling the Zombies under his command. He would rather watch some low-tier Zombies, stored for a long time, "starve" to death than allow them to bite people indiscriminately and cause a "Zombie Horde."
The reason was simple: Tsukasa Kaede wasn't yet strong enough to confront the entire Ninja World head-on, not even a single nation. He could barely be considered a Kage Level powerhouse.
If a Zombie Horde were truly unleashed, the nations would surely launch an Annihilation Campaign. Tsukasa Kaede would have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, forced to constantly flee, which would not be conducive to Tsukasa Kaede's development.
At the very least, Tsukasa Kaede would absolutely not reveal the true terror of Corpse Release until he had changed bodies and resolved his physical limitations.
"If it were a few isolated cases of Zombies appearing on the Front Line, even one after another, I could understand. But now, a whole batch has appeared at once. This isn't normal. So... someone tried to satisfy their curiosity and ended up messing things up."
Tsukasa Kaede laughed, tears streaming down his face. He had originally thought that Root would be the first to have issues. After all, Danzo didn't have top-tier researchers on hand, and it would be normal for them to mess up if they secretly tried to research his Corpse Release.
But instead, someone on the Front Line messed things up first? "Orochimaru, it's probably you. Only someone closely connected to Danzo could cause trouble during the most intense part of a war."
Tsukasa Kaede thought for a moment, deciding he needed to do something. He immediately returned to his residence and carefully estimated the number of Zombies he had on hand. All told, there were just over a hundred.
There was nothing for it; the Land of Hot Water Campaign had caused him considerable losses. Around thirty Comrades died during the rescue, and fewer than forty died while attacking Roshi.
To conceal the fact that he could control all Zombies to perform the Living Corpse Reincarnation Jutsu, Tsukasa Kaede had to drain the Life Force from well over a hundred Zombies, accumulating it all on himself. He then personally performed the Jutsu to barely revive Kato Dan.
After performing the Jutsu, Tsukasa Kaede himself reverted to his previous emaciated state. This was also thanks to Kato Dan not being strong physically, meaning he leaned more towards the Yin Release side and had no particular traits on the Yang Release side.
If it were Hashirama Senju... without at least a hundred thousand Zombie Ninja as Sacrifices, he probably wouldn't even hear a peep.
"White Zetsu, I have something for you."
Tsukasa Kaede called out a White Zetsu Clone that was stationed in the Hidden Leaf Village: "Gather Corpses for me, about a hundred. I need them immediately. Remember not to dig under the Memorial Stone, and don't touch the ancestral graves of any Ninja Clan. The Corpses should preferably be fresh."
"Understood, Lord Tsukasa Kaede. There are many unknown Corpses buried underground. I can bring them all over with a little time."
The White Zetsu, with its characteristic eerie smile, reintegrated into the ground, sending messages to nearby White Zetsu to quickly gather Corpses.
"A hundred..."
Tsukasa Kaede pondered, recalling that Manda also seemed to like this number, constantly demanding Orochimaru prepare a hundred Living Humans as Sacrifices.
"Ryuchi Cave, huh? With Orochimaru's talent, he still couldn't learn Sage Art from Ryuchi Cave. I wonder when I'll get the chance to learn Sage Art. If I were to use Sage Art to perform Corpse Release, I wonder what kind of power it would unleash."
Tsukasa Kaede patiently awaited the return of the White Zetsu.
After gathering enough Zombies, he would fly to the Front Line to see what kind of trouble Orochimaru had stirred up.
(end of chapter)