chapter 98 part 4
Tsukasa Kaede waited patiently. "So, what are you going to do, Five-Tails, when faced with me, who cannot be killed?"
"Damn human, I remember you!" The Five-Tails finally spoke.
Tsukasa Kaede said coldly, "Remembering me is useless. Killing me is what's useful, but you can't do it. How about this: if you beg me and offer me your chakra, I'll mercifully let you go."
The Five-Tails suppressed its indignation. As Tsukasa Kaede said, its time was running out. Once it returned inside Han's body, Han himself would be utterly incapable of resisting Tsukasa Kaede, and his end would be miserable.
Then there was only one choice... escape! The Five-Tails turned and began running at high speed. It was precisely this simplest of actions that made Tsukasa Kaede frown.
In that direction, he hadn't deployed enough Zombies, so his usage of Spatial Rift Jutsu was very limited, making it difficult to track the Five-Tails.
The Five-Tails' running speed was incredibly exaggerated. Its deer-like form, combined with its mastery of taijutsu, the strongest among the nine Tailed Beasts, made it impossible for Tsukasa Kaede to keep up when it moved at full power and frequently changed direction.
After several attempts to track it, Tsukasa Kaede could only stand on a branch at the Land of Fire's border, watching the Five-Tails escape into the distance.
"This fellow actually ran back to the Land of Earth. That's rare. I thought it would take the opportunity to gain its freedom. Hmph, in the end, even Tailed Beasts get scared."
Tsukasa Kaede took out a scroll, admiring the seemingly unremarkable character for "Corpse" on it. Roshi's corpse was sealed within.
Head and body separation was no problem; it was merely a trivial wound. Stitch it up, and it could still be used.
Unfortunately, the Four-Tails was completely dead. Even if it were resurrected on the spot, Tsukasa Kaede didn't have the ability to capture it.
As for Roshi, now without the Four-Tails, at most he could use a bit of the Four-Tails' chakra stored by Tsukasa Kaede, and at best he could manifest a Tailed Beast Cloak. However, even so, Roshi would certainly become the strongest Zombie in Tsukasa Kaede's possession.
A Jinchuriki was a Jinchuriki after all, not comparable to an Elite Jonin like Araki of the Sand.
"Finally, I've secured another Kage-level combat power. Madara's limited-time trial card can't be used a second time for now."
Tsukasa Kaede cast a deep glance into the distance, formed hand signs, and returned.
The moment Jiraiya's squad and Tsukasa Kaede's squad returned to Hidden Leaf Village unharmed, the entire village was in an uproar.
The fierce explosion of the Tailed Beast Bomb was felt throughout the Land of Fire and even neighboring countries. Anyone with a bit of awareness could understand what had happened. Just looking at the terrifying explosion from the uninhabited zone, that brief moment of obscuring the sky and even eclipsing the sun, made it unimaginable what kind of pressure comrades on the front line must have faced.
The moment it was known that Hidan had killed the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, the entire village erupted like boiling water in a pot.
Everywhere, people were asking one question—Who is Hidan?
"Have you heard? The Four-Tails Jinchuriki was killed, and the Four-Tails died too!"
"Not only that, I heard that Lord Tsukasa Kaede expelled the Five-Tails by himself. Some towns near the border felt intense vibrations and saw a giant white deer galloping in the distance."
"Amazing, truly amazing! Lord Hidan is also Lord Tsukasa Kaede's disciple. They're both incredible!"
"What, Hidan has that kind of background? No wonder he's so strong. He has a powerful master, so everything makes sense... No way! I heard he's only 12 years old! Do you know what 12 years old means?"
"It means he's already 12, and can officially graduate from the Ninja Academy."
"Get lost! What does that have to do with the school? Lord Tsukasa Kaede meticulously trained him. Can the school teach a student how to kill a Jinchuriki at 12? This fully demonstrates Lord Tsukasa Kaede's capabilities!"
"But I heard that Lord Tsukasa Kaede only trained Hidan for a few months after bringing him to the village..."
"That's the time *after* coming to the village. What about before coming to the village? It's perfectly normal if he was trained for many years then!"
No one believed Hidan could reach such an exaggerated level after only a few months of cultivation. Many were curious about how Hidan killed the Jinchuriki, but ultimately, nothing was revealed.
Jiraiya and the others would never voluntarily leak Hidan's intel. Moreover, Hidan's combat style had extremely high demands for intelligence secrecy. If enemies strictly defended and didn't give Hidan a chance to obtain blood, then the difficulty for Hidan to activate Jashin Ritual: Death Controlling Possessed Blood would increase exponentially.
Nevertheless, Hidan certainly became famous, regarded by everyone in Hidden Leaf Village as the leading figure of the new generation.
Even Minato Namikaze temporarily fell out of favor. Everyone's attention shifted to Hidan—the masses wouldn't care that Minato and Hidan were different types. They would simply use the formula that the younger Hidan killed a Jinchuriki, therefore Hidan was stronger than Minato, to make a simple judgment.
Some mature and steady ninja vaguely guessed that Hidan's abilities and methods might be very special; otherwise, killing a Jinchuriki at 12 years old was simply too incredible. Was it genjutsu? They hadn't heard of Tsukasa Kaede being skilled in genjutsu, let alone teaching Hidan.
Then it must be... the Corpse Release Secret Technique? Had the upper limit of this secret technique become so powerful that it allowed a 12-year-old boy to solo a Tailed Beast?
"Corpse Release... if I could become a disciple of Lord Tsukasa Kaede, I would surely become very powerful too."
"Don't even think about it. Lord Tsukasa Kaede's next student will be taken on who knows when, and he would definitely require extraordinary talent and a compatible combat style, otherwise he wouldn't rashly take on disciples."
The impact of eliminating the Four-Tails Jinchuriki was simply too immense; it was the kind of event that would cause a major upheaval in any Great Ninja Village.
When the Third Hokage learned of this, he revealed an expression of disbelief. If the ones reporting to him weren't Jiraiya and Toka Senju, who were absolutely trustworthy, he would have instinctively dismissed it as false intel.
"As Hokage, I shouldn't pry into a comrade's secrets, but let me guess: Hidan dealt with the Four-Tails Jinchuriki using a Corpse Release Secret Technique, right?" The Third Hokage's smoking frequency immediately increased.
Jiraiya and Toka Senju exchanged glances. They weren't entirely sure either, as they had never heard of Tsukasa Kaede using the Jashin Ritual: Death Controlling Possessed Blood. However, thinking of Hidan not dying even after cutting off his own head and using self-mutilation to kill enemies... it should count as Corpse Release, right? Anything related to corpses, immortality, and such things should fall under the purview of Corpse Release.
"We've actually discussed it, and there are many things we don't quite understand, but it should indeed be Corpse Release. It's a mysterious Jutsu Formula called 'Jashin Ritual: Death Controlling Possessed Blood'," Jiraiya stated.
"Is that so? Corpse Release: Jashin Ritual: Death Controlling Possessed Blood? Another completely unfamiliar jutsu. It's a new jutsu developed by Tsukasa Kaede, perhaps custom-made for Hidan."
The Third Hokage pondered. He had considered whether Hidan developed the jutsu himself, but quickly dismissed that possibility.
Hidan was 12, not 22. For a boy like that to develop a jutsu capable of killing a Jinchuriki? It was preposterous.