The Fallen Near-Genius?

Sometimes, in battle, it was better to avoid grand narratives as much as possible. All that was needed was to pile up large amounts of detail and gradually twist the situation in one's own favor.

That was exactly the case now. Two Root ninjas had sacrificed themselves. Even if each of them had only bought anywhere from a few dozen seconds to a few minutes, even if they had merely caused the pursuing enemy slight obstruction and delay, it had been immensely useful.

When Sandstorm Araki killed Tora and watched Tora ignite the Explosive Tags on his body and blow himself up with a roar, the sudden act sent his blood pressure soaring.

"The two dead bastards should have been Konoha Anbu. I remember Konoha's Anbu never used to fight like this. Why are they grabbing a handful of Explosive Tags and blowing themselves up at the drop of a hat now?"

Sandstorm Araki was furious. That explosion alone had cost them several more seconds!

Two ordinary Anbu jonin—what use would their intact corpses have been? At most, they would have become research materials for Sunagakure's Human Puppet studies. Nothing else of value could have been extracted from them!

Yet they had blown themselves up while they still had a breath left... Sandstorm Araki suspected that they not only did not want Sunagakure to obtain their corpses, but also did not want Kaedeji to obtain them.

When Sandstorm Araki caught up with Konoha's people again and easily completed the encirclement and kill, he immediately realized something was wrong.

"Be careful. Make sure these bastards don't have Explosive Tags placed inside their bodies."

A Puppet Master flung out Chakra threads and remotely manipulated the corpses. When they saw the stitched wounds around the corpses' necks, they realized they had been deceived.

"Changing corpses to resemble specific people before their deaths, then controlling them... that was the original effect of Konoha's Dead Soul Technique."

"So we got played again?"

"I think so. We don't know how many batches of corpses like these Kaedeji has modified. If there's a second or third batch, then we'll have no chance. We're less than three kilometers from the Land of Fire. It's already too late."

Sandstorm Araki frowned. Neither objective—recovering the intelligence or capturing Kaedeji—had been completed.

At that moment, several corpses began to emit a series of sizzling noises. Under the Sunagakure ninjas' "just as expected" gazes, they exploded with a roar.

Large amounts of flesh and blood fell like a fine rain, making dense, faint pattering sounds as they landed on the Sunagakure ninjas.

Some Sunagakure ninjas showed looks of disgust and irritably brushed the chunks of flesh off themselves.

Sandstorm Araki was more cautious. He noticed that several pieces of flesh had fallen onto his wounds, and immediately frowned. He flicked them away with his fingers and ordered, "No one is to touch these remains. The enemy may have poisoned them in advance. Everyone, continue the pursuit. We must never give up until the very last moment. That is what Sunagakure ninjas should do!"

The group resumed tracking, only to have their attention diverted by another batch of altered zombies. There was no longer any way they could stop Konoha's people, and in the end, they could only watch as Terai led the group into Konoha Forest.

If they continued pursuing, they would be more likely to come under siege from Konoha ninjas and lose even more manpower.

Kaedeji seemed to hear the howl of windblown sand, yet could not be bothered to look back. He patiently waited for Yakushi Nonō to heal the injury on his hand.

"Losing two fingers will affect your hand seals." Yakushi Nonō wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her already scant Chakra had completely run dry, and her expression was complicated.

For a young ninja who had only just made a name for himself, being unable to form hand seals normally was undoubtedly a heavy blow. It meant his ceiling had been locked in place, cutting him off from many ninjutsu.

As for forming seals with one's feet or eyeballs... well, that was an ability only Kage-level strong people could develop. It was also far too niche. No one believed Kaedeji could do such a thing, so no one even considered it.

Terai and Morino Ise were both watching Kaedeji's expression.

Kaedeji's expression remained unchanged. "Trading two fingers for your life, Director, and the valuable intelligence you obtained was more than worth it. If I could choose again, I would rather lose every finger and provide even greater help to the village."

Those words were practically flawless. Especially given that he had truly lost fingers and his potential had plummeted, he was neither despondent nor emotionally unstable. Instead, he calmly spoke words that moved people.

At least, Yakushi Nonō believed him. She had come from Root, yet possessed abundant emotions. She was an anomaly.

Terai's voice softened somewhat as well. "When we submit the mission, I will truthfully report your performance to the village. Your contribution was the greatest reason we were able to complete the mission successfully."

"No, it was all Lord Terai and everyone else—"

"Whether you're humble or arrogant makes no difference to me. I'm merely doing what I need to do. I'm not discussing this with you." Terai cut Kaedeji off.

Kaedeji nodded and raised his hand to cut open the zombie's belly beside him, retrieving the intelligence—after all, the zombie's body had suffered severe damage during the long-distance sprint. Other than carrying corpses and finding opportunities to blow up enemies, it no longer had any other use.

That was the good thing about zombies. They could work beyond their limits, briefly displaying physical capabilities comparable to—or even exceeding—their level while alive, until they were scrapped.

Terai took the intelligence, immediately formed hand seals, and departed using the Body Flicker Technique.

Morino Ise looked at Kaedeji. "If we all survive this war, you might have the opportunity to become the head of the Corpse Disposal Unit."

"No, I'm only a chunin..."

"In most respects, there is no difference between a chunin and a Special Jonin. You know that." Morino Ise shook his head. "Besides, I've earned quite a few war merits as well, and I'll continue earning more in the future. After we return to the village, they can't possibly keep me in my current post."

Although the Corpse Disposal Unit was merely a third-rate department that could only handle worthless corpses, unable to get its hands on even a single bloodline-limit corpse—

If Kaedeji were to lead the department, then with his unique Dead Soul Technique, he could instead maximize the Corpse Disposal Unit's value.

Everyone understood that Kaedeji had contributed enormously to the successful completion of this A-rank mission. The village would certainly commend him.

The team disbanded.

Yakushi Nonō did not leave immediately. She kept studying the young man before her, so thin he looked like a gust of wind could knock him over.

To be honest, she had never really paid attention to Kaedeji before. Half a year after she took over the work involving War Orphans, Kaedeji had left the orphanage to carry out village missions. During those six months, the total number of words they had exchanged did not even exceed ten sentences.

Kaedeji had always proactively avoided others, giving off an impression of extreme isolation and poor social skills. His sickly appearance also made him seem unapproachable.

"But I have to remind you: your technique ultimately plays with corpses. You can never become a war hero cheered by everyone."

Yakushi Nonō could not bear it somewhat and felt it was too cruel. "It seems you also developed a Space-Time Ninjutsu through the Dead Soul Technique that allows you to switch positions... That's remarkable. You've already set foot on a path of your own and are constantly building your own ninjutsu system..."

Her words abruptly stopped. Looking at Kaedeji's hand missing two fingers, she could not say another word—before he lost those fingers, perhaps Kaedeji truly had the opportunity to go further and continuously expand the Dead Soul Technique system with all kinds of ninjutsu. But now, it would be difficult.

Even his hand seals were restricted. Some seals might never be possible for him to form again. How could he develop new supporting ninjutsu?