Infinite Chakra!

Impure World Reincarnation was powerful, but as things stood, even if Kaedeji obtained and mastered the jutsu, he would have no way to use it.

He did not have enough Chakra.

Even if he forcibly summoned Reanimated Ninja, how would he control them? Orochimaru had further refined the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu and developed Means of strengthening control with talismans. What method could Kaedeji use to control Reanimated Ninja?

More importantly, the difficulty of learning this jutsu was astonishing. Only Orochimaru and Kabuto had mastered it.

But One's Own Life Reincarnation was different. It was a forbidden jutsu Chiyo had developed after pouring her heart and soul into it, capable of granting life to puppets!

In The Original Timeline, Chiyo had used this jutsu to transfer her life force into Gaara's body, exchanging her own life for Gaara's.

Chiyo's original purpose in developing this jutsu had been to sacrifice herself and revive the two puppets, Father and Mother, so that Sasori could have his parents again.

Therefore, Kaedeji was not exactly lying when he called One's Own Life Reincarnation a complementary ninjutsu for Human Puppets.

Kaedeji wanted this jutsu not because he wished to give life to puppets. As for giving life to zombies? Well, perhaps that was a creative use, but it was definitely not his true purpose.

He wanted zombies to use One's Own Life Reincarnation on him!

Zombies could use Chakra and the ninjutsu they had known in life, so transferring the remaining life force in their flesh-and-blood bodies to Kaedeji was feasible as well.

With an endless supply of life force to replenish him, Kaedeji could quickly make up for his greatest shortcomings—his poor Physical Quality and meager Chakra reserves!

He could carry a large number of zombies around as expendable materials. Once his Chakra was depleted, he could immediately summon zombies to replenish his life force, then use that temporarily acquired life force to create more Chakra!

As long as he did not run out of zombies, Kaedeji's Chakra would be inexhaustible!

As for how many zombies there could be... wasn't this something he could have as many of as he wanted? How many wars happened every year? How many people died in each war? How many Ordinary Ninja without Kekkei Genkai had their corpses hastily cremated or simply buried?

He would never run out. Never.

If Kaedeji had an immense supply of life force to replenish himself, where in the ninja world could he not go? Wouldn't that give him even more opportunities to acquire more—and higher-quality—zombies?

That would form a perfect virtuous cycle. Kaedeji would break through his current predicament in one stroke. Jumping straight into the Kage-level ranks might be an exaggeration, but at the very least, becoming a Jonin and escaping unscathed from an Elite Jonin would be entirely possible.

With this unique Corpse Manipulation system, he would become an extraordinarily troublesome, bizarre, and powerful ninja in one stroke.

"Everything hinges on obtaining One's Own Life Reincarnation. That is the key to breaking this deadlock."

Kaedeji glanced at the dense forest in the distance. Perhaps Sasori of the Red Sands was hiding behind one of the trees there?

No, probably not. Sasori of the Red Sands would most likely put on a puppet shell and send over a sand clone. There was no way his true body would approach.

"Once Sasori of the Red Sands learns what this jutsu does, he will probably figure out what I want to do..."

Come to think of it, corpses becoming zombies, zombies becoming living people again and returning to the peak of their strength, then Sasori of the Red Sands taking them away and turning them into Human Puppets...

Hmm, that really was a decent industrial chain. Those ninjas who had been dead for some time could also be put to use. Sasori of the Red Sands would no longer need to focus solely on killing the living. He would surely be pleased to see that.

Talking ideals with an artist worked better than talking only about profit.

The war advanced according to Konoha's expected rhythm.

One unit after another defeated their opponents before moving on to support other units. With each major battle, Konoha's advantage continued to expand.

The advantages accumulated through countless small victories over the past several years of fighting had finally borne fruit at this moment—fruit nourished by the countless corpses of ninjas from both nations.

The Sunagakure army finally collapsed. Tsunade had neutralized Chiyo's poison, while Bunzaemon, the First Hokage puppet master, had been killed when Hatake Sakumo closed in on him.

Sunagakure Ninja fleeing in every direction filled the mountains and plains. With the bearing of victors, the Konoha Ninja proclaimed yet another major victory.

"What a pity. The old man won't allow us to attack the Land of Wind. Victories like this are, in essence, nothing more than driving out the invaders. Our losses are not actually any lower than Sunagakure's."

Standing high above, Tsunade looked down at the Konoha Ninja pursuing the Sunagakure Ninja. Watching the sight of enemies scattered across the mountains and plains like sheep being herded, she felt somewhat irritable.

Dan Katō stood Beside Him and said gently, "If we invade the Land of Wind, it would mean expanding the war between our two nations. The enemy would gather even more forces and resist to the death, causing us even greater losses... Still, even with equal losses, Sunagakure would be the side suffering more."

"If we really want them to suffer, we should hit them where it hurts. They can come whenever they want and leave whenever they want?" Tsunade shook her head. Just thinking about it made her feel stifled.

At the start of the war, Konoha, Iwa, and Sunagakure had primarily fought in the Land of Rain. Only afterward had they each split off part of their forces to directly invade the other side's territory.

After Hanzō announced his withdrawal from the war and Amegakure stopped participating in the Second Great Ninja War, the three nations began concentrating all their forces on wars of invasion and resistance, intensifying the brutality of the conflict.

Sunagakure had been the most aggressive in attacking Konoha. Now that they had been Defeated, Konoha had no intention whatsoever of invading in return. The forceful Tsunade found this extremely distasteful.

Or rather, she had already grown tired of this war. Her beloved younger brother had died.

Fortunately, she still had her lover.

Looking at her lover, Tsunade finally felt a little comfort and asked, "How is that kid named Kaedeji?"

"Quite good. Both his secret-jutsu system and temperament are fairly reliable. From what I observed, the Space-Time Ninjutsu he developed is also very interesting and has considerable practical combat value." Dan Katō did not stint on his praise. He had always been tolerant and fond of his companions.

After thinking for a moment, Dan Katō added, "It's just that his body is too weak. Coupled With the fact that he lost two fingers during the mission to retrieve Yakushi Nonō, both of those things have diminished his potential."

"His body is easy enough to deal with. So long as he does not have a Kekkei Genkai disease, the village has several jutsu that can help improve his physical strength. But his fingers..."

Tsunade frowned. There was nothing that could be done about that.

Installing prosthetic fingers? Konoha did not possess that kind of technology.

With two fingers missing, he could not smoothly form certain hand seals. The Only piece of good news was that he could control corpses to cast jutsu in his place.

"Sunagakure can no longer pose a threat to us. Have him return to the village and recover for a while. I'm also very interested in his situation," Tsunade said.