chapter 124 part 2
"...This Village is very prosperous. I never expected the Village that the First Hokage first founded to reach this scale today." Kakuzu looked disheveled, but his imposing aura remained undiminished. He habitually assumed the posture of a veteran, subtly elevating his own position with his quiet observations.
Hidan was completely unmoved by this. "Put away your boring seniority! This Village only recognizes strength! And who *doesn't* know Immortality Jutsu anymore? That Earth Grudge Fear stuff is just so-so!"
Kakuzu snorted coldly. If anyone else had said that, he would have killed them long ago, but it was Hidan speaking... Very well, he couldn't be killed, and he might not even win in a fight. That huge pile of Zombies was truly disgusting; some of them even damn well charged forward to self-detonate. It was simply outrageous.
After having three hearts blown away, he had no choice but to reluctantly agree. After replenishing himself by digging out several Zombie hearts, he followed Hidan to meet Tsukasa Kaede.
The two of them walked on the Konoha streets without any disguise whatsoever, mingling with numerous pedestrians.
People continuously looked at Hidan, whispering, while only occasionally did someone glance at Kakuzu, guessing the stranger's identity.
"It's Hidan-sama. Judging by their appearance, they probably just returned from Cultivation."
"Definitely. Looking so disheveled, they must have undergone the hardest Cultivation... But then again, who's that guy following Hidan-sama? He has strange stitched marks from threads on his body; he must be a powerful Ninja who's mastered a special Secret Technique too."
"Hidan is very proud. Incapable guys certainly don't have the qualification to walk beside him."
"Kaedegh, the atmosphere in the Village is becoming stranger and stranger. No matter what you say, Tsukasa Kaede-sama is the Village's hero. Do certain guys have the right to accuse him like that?"
"Hey, I wonder if Hidan-sama knows how to use Living Corpse Reincarnation Jutsu..."
Kakuzu silently listened to the villagers' words, roughly understanding what was happening in the Village, and almost burst out laughing.
"So they're arguing about this. Living Corpse Reincarnation Jutsu... I almost got my hands on this Secret Technique, but unfortunately, others from different organizations beat me to it."
Kakuzu found this argument extremely boring. He was also puzzled as to why Tsukasa Kaede would allow these nobodies to babble on. *Just kill anyone who complains, is that so hard?* Tsukasa Kaede certainly had the strength; not only that, but theoretically, he should be quite keen on killing people – the more people he killed, the more Zombies he would have at his disposal!
Hidan grunted twice. "This must be the purpose of calling you here, right?"
"I see, such an interesting thing is actually happening." Kakuzu understood. "But hiring me is very expensive."
Political struggles, even Coup d'état, were not unfamiliar to him. At worst, he would just defect; he was all too familiar with it.
Back when he was still a Hidden Waterfall Village Ninja, he was ordered to assassinate the First Hokage. He dared to accept such an outrageous Mission, and more importantly, he actually went and did it.
Although he didn't succeed in the end, it didn't matter. Kakuzu wasn't discouraged. If he couldn't complete the Mission, couldn't he deal with the one who issued it? Kill the person, and wouldn't the Mission automatically be canceled? Then it wouldn't count as his failure! Now, he was merely repeating his actions from back then, just causing trouble in the Hidden Leaf Village... He was already pondering how much money he should ask Tsukasa Kaede for later. If the money was too little, he wouldn't do it; this involved his dignity.
But before they even met Tsukasa Kaede, restlessness began to stir in the crowd, immediately followed by bursts of clamor.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
"It's Kato Dan-sama! He publicly reprimanded the statements of many Comrades and said... he was actually Resurrected by Tsukasa Kaede-sama! He wants to prove that Tsukasa Kaede-sama has actually Resurrected a Comrade before!"
"What?! This kind of thing exists?!"
"It was at the end of the Second Great Ninja War, the Land of Hot Water War... That makes sense! It was said that Kato Dan-sama, with Tsukasa Kaede-sama's assistance, severely wounded the Four-Tails Jinchuriki! At the time, I found it strange; surely these two people's strength wasn't enough to deal with an enemy of that level, right?"
Now it made sense. If Kato Dan died once and was then Resurrected by Tsukasa Kaede, using the eerie unpredictability of the Spirit Transformation Secret Technique, relying on two lives to fight the Four-Tails Jinchuriki...
It made sense, perfect sense! Battles between Ninja were often intel wars. If one could use one life to probe an enemy's strength, then deliver a desperate blow, then instantly Resurrect on the spot to calmly finish off the wounded powerful enemy... it was perfectly logical! This kind of strategy was simply unstoppable. After all, Kato Dan wasn't a weakling; he just needed a chance! At this moment, many people's hearts burned with passion. If they could truly carry an extra life with them into battle, the advantage would be immense.
And to be able to create this terrifying... let's tentatively call it a "tactic," Tsukasa Kaede's popularity soared again.
Because Kato Dan was the first known beneficiary and Resurrected individual of the Living Corpse Reincarnation Jutsu, and he became famous in the Shinobi World by defeating an enemy of the Four-Tails Jinchuriki's caliber.
Thus, the credibility of Tsukasa Kaede's Living Corpse Reincarnation Jutsu further increased.
This also pushed Kato Dan into the limelight. Everyone was indeed greatly surprised; even the Village's Higher-ups hadn't known such a secret existed, and they certainly hadn't expected Kato Dan himself to come forward, using his own experience to speak out for Tsukasa Kaede.
This kind of behavior, well, it was quite... naive.
This would only make those mediocre people even more covet Tsukasa Kaede's power, hoping he would come forward to Resurrect them or their deceased relatives and friends.
Public opinion in the Hidden Leaf Village became even more chaotic and intense, with arguing voices everywhere, to the extent that the Village had to step forward and forcibly quell it.
When Intel about Kakuzu and Hidan returning to the Village appeared in the hands of the Village's Higher-ups, they were utterly distraught, only casually issuing the order to find out Kakuzu's identity.
It couldn't be helped; they hadn't expected it to turn out like this.
"Go get Kato Dan and Tsunade! Why wasn't such an important matter reported earlier?!"
"Kato Dan actually died and was Resurrected once! This kind of thing is truly... Do they still deserve to call themselves Ninja of the Village?!"
The two Advisors found that things had gone out of control and were somewhat messed up. They were very angry.
Their original intention was actually very simple: just to put pressure on Tsukasa Kaede, at most to suppress him a bit and administer a minor punishment, nothing else. But now, well, it had turned into such a mess!
Don't just look at it as if Tsukasa Kaede was truly being condemned by thousands. If you thought about it carefully, you'd understand that Kato Dan actively coming forward had instead further raised the credibility of Tsukasa Kaede's name, indirectly increasing his prestige! How could this be allowed? If it were Minato Namikaze who had such prestige, they would only be happy to see it happen. But Tsukasa Kaede? No, absolutely not. The Hidden Leaf Village wouldn't allow such a non-Hokage lineage Ninja! But to act now, it was already too late.
Soon after, Kato Dan arrived, and Tsunade also burst in rudely, staring with an unfriendly expression at the two Advisors.
"Well then, it seems you've messed things up. Do you want to force Tsukasa Kaede to Defect?"
"Shut up! Is that your attitude when speaking?"
"What attitude? You self-important bastards, what attitude is needed to deal with you?"