Precious Intelligence Will Be Protected by Me, Kaedeji!

Kaedeji crouched halfway to the ground, his eyes sweeping over the changes in his surroundings. It was his first time using this technique in actual combat. He had to perform it together with a zombie, linking Chakra and the virus, then following his perception of the zombie. It could be considered a success.

"Although I can theoretically reduce the difficulty and cost of this technique to an extremely low level, no matter how low it gets, it's still a kind of alternative Space-Time movement technique. With the Chakra I have left, I'd better not use it more than twice."

Kaedeji rapidly assessed the situation and sighed inwardly. It was still a matter of having too little Chakra.

Fortunately, the main expenditure of the Corpse Release Technique went toward accelerating the transformation of zombies. If he truly wanted to conserve Chakra, he could simply let the zombies fight on instinct while he hid somewhere far away and watched the show—although that would be far from bringing out the zombie ninjas' full strength, it was still a good way to save Chakra.

But the Corpse Body Replacement Technique was different. Instantaneous transfer was no illusion; the consumption was completely real.

"The farther the distance, the greater the consumption. The straight-line distance for switching positions should preferably not exceed fifty meters. Any farther, and it'll affect my body."

Kaedeji could not spend all his Chakra on this technique. He still needed to use other ninjutsu from Corpse Release, further limiting what the Corpse Body Replacement Technique could do.

Still, it was truly useful for saving his life at critical moments.

"Flying Thunder God?!"

"Is that the Flying Thunder God Technique?"

The ninjas on both sides looked over at once. They stared in disbelief at Kaedeji, who had seemingly coolly maintained his half-crouched posture and was now rising to his feet, falling into a brief silence.

Sandstorm Araki was horrified, but he quickly steadied himself. "No, that's impossible. Space-Time Ninjutsu is extremely difficult to learn. In the same era, Konoha cannot possibly produce two young people who have mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique."

"Is that so? You'd better think carefully before drawing conclusions. What if the thing you don't want to see is precisely the truth?" Kaedeji stood up, a handful of Shuriken in his hand as he prepared to strike.

The other Sunagakure Ninja also hesitated briefly because of this scene, allowing Konoha to seize the opportunity and kill one Genin and one Chunin.

Sandstorm Araki did not care about the deaths of his subordinates at all. He said coldly, "Every ninja village has been studying Minato Namikaze and his Flying Thunder God Technique, trying to completely eliminate that Konoha genius, yet they have never found a good way to do it. Minato Namikaze's talent for ninjutsu and combat is visibly extraordinary. But you? I don't believe you can master both the Dead Soul Technique and the Flying Thunder God Technique!"

His reasoning was very simple—if Kaedeji possessed that kind of talent, how could he only begin to emerge at the age of sixteen?

Minato Namikaze had drawn the world's attention at thirteen. With the Flying Thunder God Technique alone, he had utterly dominated Iwagakure. The Iwa Ninja had tried every possible method to kill him, yet they still could not find a good solution.

What was Kaedeji compared to that?

In this world of madness and war that was the ninja world, talented people were discovered early. Let alone someone born in a Great Ninja Village like Konoha, where he could enjoy a relatively complete training system and talent-selection mechanism!

If not for Kaedeji's Dead Soul Technique being far too distinctive and perfectly aligning with Sunagakure's Human Puppet path, Sunagakure would not have paid Kaedeji much attention at all.

The Human Puppet path was the only method Sunagakure had found to narrow the gap with Konoha. After all, Sunagakure had no Kekkei Genkai clans capable of shaking the ninja world. The occasional Magnet Release or Scorch Release ninja only possessed Kekkei Genkai pieced together through acquired fusion of Chakra natures, unable to be passed down reliably through bloodlines.

"Ah, since you've already made up your mind, there's nothing more to say."

Kaedeji suddenly flung the Shuriken in his hand. Honestly, his throwing technique was barely at the normal level of a Genin. His muscle mass, explosive power, and neural control all fell short; fighting by throwing ninja tools could at most serve as a minor distraction.

Sandstorm Araki sneered, further confirming his judgment.

"So what if it really is the Flying Thunder God Technique? I heard that Minato Namikaze can precisely pierce an enemy's skull with a kunai the instant he switches positions. His enemies cannot even defend in advance! And you? Your terrible Taijutsu and neural reflexes are nowhere near enough to do that."

Only with the Flying Thunder God, perfect reactions, adequate Taijutsu, terrifying intuition, and instinct could one truly maximize one's combat strength. Even Minato Namikaze was not yet capable of that; he had merely displayed the potential to match it and was still far from his peak.

And Kaedeji? He had indeed changed his position, but he lacked the ability to launch a surprise attack in the instant he switched places.

"However, he can switch positions just by forming hand seals together with that corpse... The Flying Thunder God Technique requires specially made kunai thrown down as spatial coordinates. Then what about this brat? No, his technique is more like mutually summoning replacement bodies..."

An Elite Jonin's ability to analyze intelligence was among the best in the ninja world. Sandstorm Araki's mind raced. The more he thought about it, the more absurd it seemed. How could such an absurd technique exist? And this brat was not even that old. He had perfected the Dead Soul Technique and could even develop supporting ninjutsu for it?

Supporting Space-Time ninjutsu, at that? Did the Dead Soul Technique really have such heaven-defying potential? He had never heard of anything like it!

Impossible, absolutely impossible. It defied common sense. There had to be something he had overlooked.

"Perhaps it's an incomplete Flying Thunder God Technique? Or some unknown simplified Space-Time Ninjutsu, though that seems unlikely. My initial assessment is that his movement range is very short... I have too little intelligence. I need to probe out more information."

Boom!

A violent gale erupted from Sandstorm Araki's hand, sweeping up countless grains of sand and knocking away a large number of Shuriken as it rushed toward Kaedeji.

Sandstorm Araki had a powerful premonition that if he did not take Kaedeji down during this opportunity, it would only become more difficult later.

The price of focusing on attacking Kaedeji was that Terai, an Elite Jonin, seized the opening.

"Don't think you're the only one who can use Wind Release. Failing to stop me from getting close in time was your mistake." Terai suddenly swung his kunai.

Wind Release: Wind Cutter!

Large amounts of Wind-nature transformation surged out through the kunai, turning into blades of wind that tore through the sandstorm and sealed off Sandstorm Araki's route of movement.

In an instant, the battlefield changed dramatically. The fewer Konoha Ninja appeared to have gained the upper hand, already inflicting casualties on their enemies.

But everyone knew it was only temporary. Fighting on enemy soil without a numerical advantage, they would certainly lose if the battle continued.

Kaedeji summoned a zombie and commanded it to block the wind and sand before him. Then he viciously kicked the zombie, using the recoil to sharply change direction. His body dropped onto the sand, carving a trench as he joined up with the severely injured Yakushi Nonō.

"Director, are you all right? But I don't have any Chakra left to treat your injuries. You'll have to rely on yourself." Kaedeji panted rapidly, looking at the Miko whose face was filled with shock. "Please give the intelligence to me. I will fight to the death to bring it back to Konoha."