Chapter 45: Nine-Tails Jinchuriki
Five months, it truly wasn't a short time; it felt like an eternity.
Tsukasa Kaede once again stood under the sunlight, spreading his arms to feel the warmth, as if having escaped the chilling cold piled up by countless corpses.
"This feeling is truly strange, as if the entire world has changed. How should I describe it? The scent of freedom?"
Tsukasa Kaede took a deep breath.
For five months, he had frantically seized every second, desperately cultivating without regard for anything else, paving his path forward with countless corpses. The energy expended during this process was simply immeasurable.
It was also because he had endured years of illness, accustomed to treading the line between life and death, and his mental fortitude had long been tempered to be as solid as a rock. Only then could he truly endure, persevering through a period where there was only cultivation, with no knowing when dawn would break.
But in the end, he did see the light, able to bask in its glow.
"It feels like a very long time has passed."
Tsukasa Kaede's expression returned to calm. The prolonged period of darkness had left his skin pale, but his physique had somewhat recovered; at least he wasn't as gaunt as before.
"Lord Tsukasa Kaede, are you going out?"
The three assistants from the Corpse Disposal Unit looked up, their faces filled with astonishment and disbelief.
Kaedence their reassignment there, they had never seen Tsukasa Kaede leave. Even after the original ruins had been restored to their former state, Tsukasa Kaede had simply remained in the innermost laboratory, accompanied by numerous corpses.
It was a place the three assistants dared not approach, where the howling of corpses could always be heard.
"Hmm, I'm going out for a stroll. Otherwise, I feel like I'll turn into a quiet corpse myself... You all work hard, and call me if there's any special situation."
Tsukasa Kaede left those words, picked up his trench coat, and walked towards the Village.
He knew that these three assistants weren't entirely clean; they undoubtedly reported to certain individuals. But it didn't matter; Tsukasa Kaede simply didn't care about this level of intelligence leakage.
Embezzling corpses—Shimura Danzō knew, and Tsunade probably knew as well. But no one said anything; they were all waiting to see what level Tsukasa Kaede would demonstrate after his cultivation. Tsukasa Kaede was the first ninja who absolutely needed to consume a large number of corpses to enhance his strength. This was the only such case since Konoha was founded: using enemy corpses for this kind of covert, special cultivation was within the bounds of tolerance.
Tsukasa Kaede couldn't help but thank the Village's prevailing atmosphere of this era once again. If it were during the Naruto and Sasuke era, daring to operate this way would have gotten him furiously condemned by the entire Village, and his very existence would be a disturbing mistake.
Along the way, Tsukasa Kaede occasionally stopped, observing various things as if it were his first time in this bustling Village. Sometimes, he would pull out some Ryo to buy items from different shops.
If one ignored his forehead protector, which he used as a belt, he looked exactly like a tourist.
Indeed, although Hidden Leaf Village was the Land of Fire's super-large military district, combining the functions of the Ministry of Defense, National Security, and Public Security, the mere fact that it had the power to generate its own military funds destined Hidden Leaf Village to become a civilian-military mixed zone.
Although the war was still ongoing, Hidden Stone Village lacked the ability to completely defeat Hidden Leaf Village. Hidden Leaf Village, with its powerful regenerative capacity, was rapidly recovering. With each passing day, Konoha's advantage over Iwagakure grew.
By now, commerce had gradually begun to flourish. Although villagers occasionally showed somber expressions, they were generally able to enjoy relative peace and engage in various forms of consumption.
"Hey, did you hear? We destroyed two more enemy strongholds and killed over sixty ninja!"
"Really? That's excellent progress! If we get dozens more victories like this, Iwagakure definitely won't be able to hold out!"
"Damn Iwagakure, why are they really as stubborn and unyielding as rocks? Why are they still fighting? They should just surrender to us already!"
"Even Hidden Sand Village signed a surrender agreement, handing over 31% of their annual mission load to Hidden Leaf Village, and the reparations are supposedly already paid! Why is Iwagakure still stubbornly resisting?"
While strolling, Tsukasa Kaede listened to the villagers' discussions and realized that many were feeling defeated, even exasperated.
"As official residents of the world's strongest ninja village, facing a powerful enemy with sufficient strength and scale that refuses all compromise, it's inevitable to feel pain and discomfort when slightly relaxed emotions become tense again..."
Tsukasa Kaede secretly nodded, roughly grasping the current public sentiment. Of course, he didn't actually care about the thoughts of ordinary villagers; he was simply using the opportunity to understand the current Konoha.
He was well aware that a decisive battle would definitely break out this year, either when Konoha had accumulated enough advantages, or when Hidden Stone Village realized that if they didn't risk a decisive battle soon, they would completely lose their chance.
Let's not forget, Kumogakure and Kirigakure had been playing the trick of squad infiltration operations all along, not only harassing Hidden Leaf Village but also causing trouble for Hidden Stone Village, looking for opportunities and not missing any chance to bleed their rival villages.
Killing one more enemy ninja meant weakening their strength and potential. Besides, those two ninja villages had nothing better to do.
Furthermore, Iwagakure and Kumogakure were also sworn enemies; the animosity between them was even greater than the hatred between Konoha and Hidden Sand.
As Tsukasa Kaede pondered, he tried to integrate into the current atmosphere. The natural chill emanating from him, that "keep out" aura, was gradually melting away.
For several days in a row, Tsukasa Kaede wandered around. He had no work, no missions to execute, visited no one, and was visited by no one. He treated himself as an ordinary villager, enjoying this rare leisure and relaxation.
"Hmm?"
Until this day, Tsukasa Kaede walked out of a BBQ restaurant, abruptly stopped, and frowned slightly, looking at the two women who were coming in.
One old, one young, both with red hair. From an ordinary person's perspective, they seemed very unremarkable.
A perfectly normal grandmother and granddaughter pair. As for their hair? There was nothing particularly noteworthy about it, as everyone's hair was naturally varied and colorful.
Yet Tsukasa Kaede's hairs stood on end; instinctively, his entire body tensed up.
He had already recognized them: these two were... Mito Uzumaki and Kushina Uzumaki! Tsukasa Kaede hadn't expected that after so many days of wandering the streets, feeling a sense of relaxation he hadn't experienced in over a decade, he would encounter these two special figures.
Meeting Tsukasa Kaede's gaze, Kushina Uzumaki showed no reaction. She was just a 14-year-old girl, lacking not only killing experience but even proper combat experience. Kaedence entering Hidden Leaf Village, she had never left.
Kushina enjoyed the highest level of protection in Hidden Leaf Village, but at the same time, her personal freedom was restricted.
But Mito Uzumaki was a different story; she was truly formidable.
This kind 76-year-old lady, wife of the First Hokage, and current Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, showed no change in expression. Yet, the moment her casual glance intersected with Tsukasa Kaede's, Tsukasa Kaede felt a mountain-like oppressive force.
(end of chapter)