chapter 91 part 2
"Is that so? But you're mistaken. If I only knew how to manipulate corpses and not repair them, what kind of Corpse Release ninja would I be?"
Tsukasa Kaede shook his head, took a summoning scroll from his waist, and quickly unrolled it. He summoned an ordinary zombie, and under everyone's watchful eyes, had the zombie perform a jutsu. Using Living Corpse Reincarnation Jutsu, at the cost of turning itself into a mummified corpse, it completely repaired all the torn-open wounds on Terai's body.
Bang! The zombie, now a mummified corpse, collapsed completely, falling to the ground in a skin-and-bones state, shattering into many pieces instantly, frighteningly brittle.
"This... what kind of jutsu is this?!"
"Extracting energy from one corpse to replenish other injured corpses? Is this some Medical Ninjutsu within Corpse Release? It's too bizarre!"
"How can such a jutsu exist in this world? Completely squeezing out the last bit of value from a corpse, using weaker corpses to maintain the powerful corpses at extremely high combat power... this kind of thing..."
A stir of commotion ran through the Kumogakure ninja. Most of them were witnessing Corpse Release Secret Technique for the first time. Even with prior psychological preparation, seeing a group of corpses obeying orders strictly was already shocking. To then witness Tsukasa Kaede perform a forbidden jutsu, their deeply held beliefs were severely impacted.
How could such a bizarre ninjutsu exist in the Shinobi World? It looked like many forbidden arts could be used in conjunction with it! If someone among them were to die, wouldn't they become one of these corpses...?
At the thought of this possibility, many Kumogakure ninja's faces turned pale, and they subconsciously swallowed.
Tsukasa Kaede did not immediately close the summoning scroll in his hand. Instead, he flicked it towards the Kumogakure forces, and numerous zombies immediately crawled out from within, the entire process smooth and continuous.
"The enemy's total numbers are approximately 210! The east has the most enemies, and the southwest the fewest!" a Kumogakure sensor ninja shouted. "But the enemy has multiple scrolls at their waist; we can't determine how many reserve forces they have!"
Yes, facing Tsukasa Kaede alone, he subconsciously uttered the word "forces," and even "reserve forces"—he would feel it was normal when dealing with a regular army, but when confronting an unprecedented type like Tsukasa Kaede, he completely didn't know what to do.
"We can't drag this out any longer, strike!"
A roared anxiously, and he and Troy, like two sharp swords, fiercely plunged into the ranks of zombies.
Numerous Kumogakure ninja let out low growls, suppressing their inner unease. They formed a circular formation and attacked in all directions; no matter what, they had a numerical advantage.
The prerequisite was to quickly defeat Tsukasa Kaede and rout the corpse horde; otherwise, if the main forces of the Hidden Leaf Village were drawn in, they truly wouldn't be able to leave.
A took the lead. This time, he didn't specifically target Tsukasa Kaede, realizing that if they didn't kill all these zombies, they wouldn't even be able to get close to Tsukasa Kaede. Tsukasa Kaede would constantly use Space-Time Ninjutsu to shift his position, keeping himself in an absolutely safe place!
"This bastard, pulling out a team of 200 people in one go! The consumption must be enormous, and it's absolutely impossible for him to unleash the full strength each corpse possessed in life! He actually dares to stand alone and block us, even claiming to have surrounded us... Let's end this quickly, kill this arrogant fool!"
A's entire body crackled with lightning and thunder, like a god of thunder. A layer of Lightning Release Chakra appeared on his body surface, enough for him to forcefully withstand most ninjutsu attacks with his physical form.
Several zombies unleashed Fire Release and Wind Release. Aside from affecting and injuring a few Kumogakure ninja, it caused no substantial damage to A.
"Truly impressive. An offense and defense in one Lightning Release Chakra Mode. This type of guy has always been my number one hypothetical enemy."
Tsukasa Kaede stood in the middle of the corpse horde, watching the medium-scale battle with great interest. He constantly maintained hand signs, doing his best to let the corpse horde unleash even greater power.
This was indeed a heavy burden for him, demanding extremely high computational power from his brain. Fortunately, Tsukasa Kaede was relatively skilled in calculation. Whether it was initiating Corpse Release or learning forbidden jutsu like Living Corpse Reincarnation and Izanagi, without a good brain, one couldn't even dream of controlling numerous zombies or accelerating their learning speed!
Without powerful brainpower, one couldn't manage Corpse Release. That is to say, straightforward types like Naruto, even without considering their disposition and personal inclinations, purely from a mental perspective, would not be suitable disciples for Tsukasa Kaede.
On the contrary, those who 'speak with their brains,' like the Nara Clan, would be suitable to cultivate Corpse Release Secret Technique under him.
"However, today is different from the past. I have already mastered the power to deal with this type of ninja."
Without high-explosive damage technique formulas like Rasengan or Chidori, relying entirely on bombardment from ordinary mid-to-low tier elemental release jutsu like Great Fireball Technique and Water Severing Wave, even if exhausted to death, they couldn't harm a single hair on A's leg.
This was one of Tsukasa Kaede's original intentions when choosing the Reaper Death Seal. Unless A's Lightning Release Chakra Mode could also arm his soul, as long as he touched him once, it wouldn't necessarily be death, but at the very least, he would be severely crippled!
"His speed is very fast. I need to properly look for an opportunity. Finding the right moment to perform Reaper Death Seal is already very difficult, let alone getting close enough to touch him... He'll definitely find a way to dodge."
Tsukasa Kaede watched A, who was emitting sparks of electricity in the darkness and blasting mangled limbs wherever he passed, as he quickly formulated and overturned one tactic after another.
Although Tsukasa Kaede's attention was highly focused, he maintained a certain relaxed feeling mentally. To put it bluntly, even if all these zombies died out, he would at most find it a bit troublesome, having to arrange for the White Zetsu to spend more time collecting usable corpses.
But what about the Kumogakure ninja? One less meant one forever lost. Even with A and Troy, two powerful ninja who had extremely high killing efficiency and had once knocked over numerous zombies, they couldn't make Tsukasa Kaede waver in the slightest.
Rumble! Bursts of rumbling sounds erupted successively. In the great battle involving hundreds of people, various ninjutsu flew everywhere, and in a very short time, the numerous towering trees in Konoha Forest were blasted to smithereens.
One by one, the giant trees crashed down, their numerous branches bursting open, merely adding the most insignificant embellishment to this fierce battle under the cover of night.
Overall, the corpse horde was suppressed, clearly at a disadvantage.
Both in terms of quality and quantity, they were actually quite inferior to the overall strength of the Hidden Cloud Village's forces.
"If we keep fighting, my side will be forcibly wiped out." Tsukasa Kaede found it very interesting. He moved unpredictably on the battlefield, strolling casually, constantly using Spatial Rift Jutsu to shift his position, so that no Kumogakure ninja could lock onto his location for long.
"Damn it, he's too cunning! He only uses corpses to deplete our forces! Even if we don't count our own casualties, in the end, we're just killing a bunch of people who were already dead!"