Chapter 49: And Madara, Of Course
The Land of Iron, a permanently neutral nation, is located in the northern part of the continent, a coastal peninsula country.
To its west, it faces the Land of Earth across the sea, and to its southwest lies the Land of Waterfalls; to its east, it faces the Land of Lightning across the sea, and to its southeast lies the Land of Rice Fields. On the original timeline, Orochimaru would establish the Sound Village in this country.
In this era where Ninja are prevalent, this Land of Samurai still upholds ancient traditions and rarely participates in the Ninja World's conflicts.
However, this doesn't mean that this country is truly isolated from the world. The man capable of influencing Ninja World history is currently living in seclusion in the Mountain Graveyard in the northern region of the Land of Iron.
Madara.
In the current year of Konoha 40, this man, who once shook the Ninja World, is nearing seventy years of age, showing clear signs of old age.
His spirit, however, was still quite good. He sat alone, leaning on his scythe, amidst a cluster of dilapidated tombstones that had been abandoned for many years.
Don't misunderstand, his relatives and friends weren't buried here. He was simply bored and came out for some fresh air, enjoying what little time this body had left.
Yes, Madara at this time had already finalized his subsequent plans, only needing to find a suitable successor to inherit his will.
Unfortunately, he hadn't found one yet. Not a single Uchiha Clansman who appeared on the battlefield had caught his eye.
Suddenly, Madara, who appeared to be dozing, twitched his eyelids and slowly looked up at the ground in front of him.
"Madara-sama, I've found something interesting."
"Shut up, White Zetsu. Your idea of 'interesting' is completely different from what normal humans understand as interesting. But I don't blame you, after all, you're just a shoddy copy of Hashirama. It's perfectly normal for your brain to have issues..."
Hashirama's brain had issues, and White Zetsu's issues were even greater; he simply had no brain at all, which could be considered an alternate form of inheritance.
White Zetsu chuckled, "The White Zetsu in the Land of Rain found an intruder. Their Secret Technique is very interesting."
"Who?" Madara asked in a low voice.
"Tsukasa Kaede from Konoha. He can control many corpses to fight for him, and the corpses can even use their Ninjutsu from when they were alive! They're looking for something, perhaps Nagato," White Zetsu said, enjoying the drama.
Madara was used to White Zetsu's thoughtlessness and wasn't angry, merely showing an indifferent expression.
"Corpse Manipulation, what kind of third-rate Ninjutsu is that? I've never heard of it. Kaedence it's a technique for controlling corpses, the person using it probably isn't very capable; otherwise, there would be no need for corpses to assist him."
Madara recalled the Impure World Reincarnation. It seemed somewhat similar to Tobirama's Impure World Reincarnation, both being highly distinctive Forbidden Jutsu.
However, comparatively, Tobirama annoyed him more.
"Madara-sama, aren't you worried? You look like you could die any moment. If your corpse gets picked up by that Tsukasa Kaede, the fun would truly begin. The people of Konoha would probably be overjoyed."
White Zetsu exaggerated, "What kind of scene would it be if Tsukasa Kaede used your body and many of your powerful Ninjutsu? It's really terrifying."
"Say another foolish word and I'll kill you. I can create more of your kind anytime anyway."
Madara finally showed some interest, but only a little.
All Resurrection Jutsu in the Ninja World, apart from his Rinnegan Dojutsu, Outer Path: Rinne Rebirth Jutsu, were not worth mentioning.
Whether it was Impure World Reincarnation or this Corpse Manipulation, he figured they were merely methods of utilizing the dead, which was a completely different matter from truly resurrecting the dead.
"Tobirama's Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu is not worth mentioning; it has too many flaws. The reanimated Ninja summoned to the Living World are ridiculously weak, unable to display even a tenth of their strength from when they were alive."
Madara believed that Tsukasa Kaede's Jutsu was probably the same. People who toy with corpses inherently lacked ability, which was why they had to rely on external forces.
"No, at the very least, they can display most of their strength from when they were alive. It depends on how fresh the corpse is."
"Hmph, so it's still worthless. Even if it's 'most,' I'm afraid the stronger the corpse was when alive, the lower the proportion of strength he can unleash after acquiring it."
In Madara's single eye, a red light flashed, and three Tomoe slowly rotated: "Then, White Zetsu, that guy is up to you. Absolutely do not let the puppets he controls approach Nagato. We must create a good environment for Nagato's growth."
Jiraiya, he's a decent Ninja. A good passing character on Nagato's natural growth path. Madara wouldn't interfere too much in this aspect.
White Zetsu chuckled, his body slowly merging into the ground, quickly moving south into the Land of Rain, gathering the White Zetsu scattered throughout the Land of Rain, intending to launch an interception against Tsukasa Kaede.
"No, or should I call it annihilation? It's so complicated, anyway, just kill them all."
White Zetsu locked onto Tsukasa Kaede's location.
...
Tsukasa Kaede found an abandoned house and stood under its eaves, quietly listening to the thunderous sound of the heavy rain, enjoying the rare tranquility.
Behind him, three Root Ninja were quickly resting and recovering their condition, while also staying alert to their surroundings.
"Relax, in this environment, unless the enemy stealthily gets right in front of you, it's difficult for you, who aren't Sensor Ninja, to detect anything," Tsukasa Kaede said.
"But you are a Sensor Ninja. We need to ensure that when you give an order, we can act immediately," Komatsufuji still didn't relax, cautiously looking around.
Looking out, the world seemed to have turned into a watery expanse, the dense raindrops obstructing vision and covering all other noise.
To be honest, when Tsukasa Kaede heard Komatsufuji say he was a Sensor Ninja, there was a momentary feeling of incredulity.
Any Ninja capable of detecting enemy positions was considered a Sensor Ninja. Inuzuka Clan Members, with their keen sense of smell and their dog partners, were all Sensor Ninja.
The Hyuga Clan, needless to say.
"The Hyuga Clan's Sensory Perception in this environment truly has a natural advantage. The Byakugan has long-range vision," Tsukasa Kaede sincerely felt that those eyes were truly useful.
No wonder every Ninja Village coveted the Byakugan so much, while not being as enthusiastic about the Sharingan.
However, while examples of the Sharingan upgrading to the Mangekyo Sharingan occasionally occurred, and there was currently an example of an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan upgrading to a Rinnegan; examples of the Byakugan upgrading to a Tenseigan were extremely rare, at least none known in the Ninja World.
The four of them remained silent, waiting patiently.
Until Tsukasa Kaede spoke again.
"I've roughly determined Jiraiya-sama's location."
The three Root Ninja stood up, preparing to move out with Tsukasa Kaede.
"Roughly?"
"Yes, the reason it's not 'definite' isn't that my Minions can't do it, but that they've been held back by some strange things." Tsukasa Kaede's face showed an intrigued expression.
Sure enough, this task of finding someone wasn't about locating Jiraiya, but about how to approach Jiraiya—approaching Jiraiya meant approaching the still-weak Nagato.
The deployment of White Zetsu meant that Madara had already set his sights here. No, it should be said that Madara had always been closely monitoring Nagato.
"He's afraid that I, a corpse manipulator, would approach Nagato... Afraid I might take the opportunity to kill Nagato and take his corpse?"
(end of chapter)