Chapter 307:
A coastal village on the border of the Land of Water.
"There's a cruise ship here, Shuyu." After drifting across the sea for half a day and finally reaching the shore, Sarada pointed at the large cruise ship docked at the humble pier. "It's just a tiny village, yet there's a massive cruise ship here. That's really odd."
"Sarada, don't you feel like something's off?"
Just after stepping onto the pier of the border village, Shuyu frowned suddenly and said.
"Something off? Not really."
"It's too quiet. Not just the absence of people—there aren't even any animal sounds…"
Shuyu said.
"Now that you mention it… yeah, you're right."
Sarada nodded and looked around.
"Let's go check inside the village first."
As they moved deeper into the village, the stench of blood grew stronger, and traces of blood became more and more common.
"What… happened here...?"
It was the first time Sarada had ever seen such a horrifying scene, and she immediately felt nauseated.
"Why haven't we seen any bodies?" Shuyu frowned, speaking solemnly to Sarada. "Be careful, Sarada… I hope this isn't what I think it is…"
Shuyu pushed open one empty door after another—some homes were completely devoid of life, while others were filled with chaotic piles of corpses.
No distinction between men and women, young or old—judging by the number of corpses, nearly the entire village had died here.
"This is horrifying…"
Sarada stood behind him, covering her mouth. Shuyu stepped forward to carefully examine the corpses.
"These wounds… look like they were caused by wild animals. But for everyone in the village to die this way... this situation… no doubt about it—it's zombies..."
After checking the wounds on several corpses, Shuyu made the grim judgment with a heavy expression.
As an official member of S.H.I.E.L.D., Uchiha Itachi would have inevitably come into contact with information about zombies and bioweapon incidents while collecting intel for the village of Konoha.
Zombies were an accidental byproduct of the Umbrella Organization's Bio-Ghost Project. Stronger than ordinary people, weaker than shinobi—but the most troublesome thing about them was their terrifying ability to infect others.
Whether civilian or shinobi, a single bite would turn the victim into another zombie.
"Shuyu… what do we do now...?"
Sarada's voice trailed off as she asked from behind him.
"Sarada—use Fire Release and incinerate all these corpses…"
Shuyu suddenly leapt backward mid-sentence as the corpses lying on the ground began to twitch and rise to their feet.
More and more corpses poured out from the rooms of the previously open houses—easily over a thousand or two thousand of them.
"Susanoo!" Shuyu instantly summoned a crimson giant that shielded both him and Sarada. The two were quickly surrounded by zombies, with more joining by the second. "Sarada! Use Wood Release—trap them!"
"But… there are kids in there too…"
Sarada looked at a zombie girl who was about her age, separated from her only by Susanoo. The girl's mouth was wide open in a roar, and Sarada hesitated, unable to bear it.
Sarada had never fought in a real battle before. Taking a life still weighed heavily on her conscience.
"Once someone becomes a zombie, they're no longer a child. In fact… they're not even human anymore! So don't hesitate, Sarada!"
"…Okay. I understand, Shuyu." Sarada stabbed a branch into the ground and formed hand seals. "Wood Release: Cutting Sprout Jutsu!"
From the earth, sharp wooden spikes erupted from below, impaling the zombies as they drove upward in a wide radius around Sarada.
Seizing the moment, Shuyu grabbed Sarada—whose chakra had been heavily drained—and leapt up onto a nearby rooftop.
Even after being impaled by the sharp wood, the zombies didn't die. They tilted their heads upward, snarling at Sarada and Shuyu on the roof.
Zombies that had avoided being impaled began to swarm around the building, trying to climb up by piling on top of each other.
"Thanks, Shuyu…" Sarada said weakly, her face pale. "That wide-range Wood Release drained a lot of my chakra."
"These zombies were all hiding in the houses while the sun was up… and only came out once it started to set..." Shuyu glanced at her. "Looks like we'll have to wait until sunrise before we can leave this place."
"Yeah."
Sarada nodded.
That night, Shuyu and Sarada held off the horde with ninjutsu, stopping the zombies from reaching the rooftop using human-pyramid tactics. Eventually, they made it through the night unharmed.
With the sunrise, the zombies began to wail in pain, frantically retreating into the buildings. Those impaled and immobilized by the wooden spikes shrieked and writhed for a while before their cries weakened and their movements stopped completely, as if they had truly died at last.
"Sarada, we're safe… for now."
"Why were zombies even here in the first place…"
Even now, Sarada looked shaken.
"The Land of Water is surrounded by sea—it's the perfect isolated test site for Orochimaru to conduct zombie experiments," Shuyu said. "Anyway, let's burn the rest of the ones hiding inside with Fire Release."
"Okay."
They piled up the corpses until they formed a mound the size of a house.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Shuyu and Sarada cast Fire Release together.
The corpses crackled loudly in the flames, releasing a wave of noxious stench.
"I wonder how Boruto's doing now…" Sarada murmured as she stared at the burning corpse hill. "Shuyu, could it be that Boruto's already…"
"No. He's fine." Shuyu turned and began walking toward the village entrance. "Let's go, Sarada. First, we head to the Land of Water's capital and find out what's really going on with their daimyō."
The Capital of the Land of Water.
The Daimyō's Residence.
This was both the working and living space of the daimyō.
"No way! Right after the daimyō declared war on the Lands of Fire, Wind, Lightning, and Earth, he suddenly fell ill! We can't even get in to see him!"
"If his health is failing, why hasn't he been examined by medical shinobi?"
"And if he's in no condition to lead, then should this war really continue?"
The officials of the Land of Water gathered in heated discussion, their words veiled with dissatisfaction toward the Seventh Mizukage, Evilmoku.
The moment Evilmoku appeared before them, all voices immediately ceased.
"Due to the daimyō's poor health—and given the country's current wartime emergency—I will be temporarily taking charge of this nation."
Evilmoku addressed the Land of Water's officials, dark energy swirling around him.