Five Months

Throughout Konoha, conflicts were everywhere, but if one had to name the two departments that were most incompatible, they would undoubtedly be Root and the Konoha Military Police Force.

Departments with real power possessed armed forces directly under their own command and had many elite shinobi. They were extremely capable fighters.

They had authority, money, strength, relative independence, and the freedom to act as they saw fit. In theory, unless the Hokage personally stepped in, once such departments made a decision, they would give no one face.

Even a stray dog passing through the street would have to take two hard slaps before it could get away safely.

But there was one exception: when these two departments directly clashed.

"Can I take this to mean it's Shimura Danzō's intention? First the Medical Corps, then the Intelligence Interrogation Department—Root's reach is really long... Aburame Ryoma was elevated by you people to deputy captain of the Medical Corps. So next, are you planning to take the leadership of the Intelligence Interrogation Department from Ino-Shika-Cho?"

Uchiha Yashiro gritted his teeth. Under the watchful eyes of the gathered shinobi, he found himself in an awkward position. His temper flared, and he simply hardened his heart and confronted them head-on.

Whether or not they took Kaedeji away was not important at all. Experiments with ninjutsu creating a commotion was common enough—though this commotion had been far too great and was clearly abnormal.

But since Root had shown up, Shimura Danzō might have had a hand in this. That meant the Military Police Force could not end matters so easily.

Uchiha Yashiro's heart pounded. The Uchiha Clan's main force was stationed on the battlefield against Iwagakure, and very few forces remained in the village. Against a nearly full-strength Root...

Yet he had no choice but to press on. He had to openly display a tough stance. If he retreated without saying a word, he would have no way to explain himself when those clansmen returned. He might even be accused of weakness by the unhinged radicals among them, branded a disgrace to the Uchiha Clan.

"Uchiha Yashiro, you'd best think carefully before opening your mouth. Every word you say represents the Uchiha Clan's stance." The Root shinobi's voice was as cold as ever.

Uchiha Yashiro looked at the many shinobi watching around him. The amusement and silence on their faces displeased him greatly. Then he turned to Kaedeji.

"Squad Captain, the Corpse Disposal Unit is indeed conducting secret technique experiments. Lady Tsunade knows something about this as well. Since it involves my personal secret technique, I have no way to report the details to you more thoroughly..." Kaedeji said helplessly.

"Hmph, you're Kaedeji—the one on the Sunagakure front lines who could control corpses..." Uchiha Yashiro frowned, but he did not immediately insult him. He took pride in his Uchiha Clan heritage, but he was not foolish enough to attack a fellow village shinobi with no grudge against him in front of so many people.

At this point in time, although the conflict between the Uchiha Clan and Shimura Danzō was sharp, they still distinguished Root, led by Shimura Danzō, from the village itself. They had not developed any conflict with the village.

So, many things would not be taken too far.

"I don't know what Tsunade and Shimura Danzō are plotting, but since you've gotten caught between those two, you'd best keep clear boundaries. Don't let Root use you."

Uchiha Yashiro warned Kaedeji, "Your secret technique is probably excellent, but it also puts you in a dangerous position."

After they remained deadlocked for a while longer, Uchiha Yashiro finally withdrew with obvious reluctance, bringing tonight's dispute to an end.

The others scrutinized this small Corpse Disposal Unit. In the past, they had not paid any attention to such a fringe department, but from this moment onward, they remembered it.

They also remembered the person in charge of the Corpse Disposal Unit, Kaedeji—a man skilled in controlling corpses and allowing them to use the ninjutsu they had possessed while alive.

Whenever someone asked a question, Kaedeji answered politely.

"Really, some people's looks have changed. They're probably worried about their ancestral graves."

In the end, Kaedeji watched these people leave one after another and spread his hands.

He was not so desperate for corpses that he would dig up the ancestral graves of clans from his own village. At most, he would dig up those of enemies.

What these people were really worried about was that Danzo had gained control over Kaedeji, or had simply seized Kaedeji's secret technique, and would go on to do such things.

The Shinobi of Darkness had far too terrible a reputation. Anyone would worry about that.

If Kaedeji had not proactively brought up Tsunade and revealed that he belonged to the Medical Corps and was Tsunade's subordinate, giving Uchiha Yashiro a way out, he might not have retreated so easily.

After everyone had left, Kaedeji sat quietly until dawn, waiting for the next batch of corpses to be delivered.

This batch contained a full fifty-three corpses.

The escorts did not speak, and Kaedeji did not ask. He directed them through the damaged outer wall of the Corpse Disposal Unit and had the corpses transported into the laboratory deeper within.

"It's time to begin. My Jutsu is simply too sensitive. The training time I originally estimated needs to be compressed even further... At least I need to make some progress before Danzo uses Various Means to issue me orders."

Kaedeji no longer begrudged his Chakra. In one go, he transformed all the corpses into zombies. Naturally, this inevitably reduced the transformation speed of each corpse, but the sheer numbers made up for it. Overall, it still steadily increased Kaedeji's training speed.

A day later, another forty corpses were delivered, but there were still no bloodline corpses.

Every bloodline shinobi corpse was extremely valuable. Killing one was already difficult enough, let alone recovering the body.

Iwagakure's most famous Kekkei Genkai were none other than the Explosion Release of the Explosion Unit and Rōshi's Lava Release.

Steel Release shinobi occasionally appeared, but their numbers were too small. It was even less likely that one would fall into Kaedeji's hands, so there was no need to consider them.

"After all that, I still only have this one Explosion Release Zombie... But never mind. Zombies stuffed full of Explosive Tags can completely replace the effects of Explosion Release."

After fighting for so many years, Orochimaru and Danzo definitely had more than one Explosion Release corpse in their possession. These were precious research materials. Being given even one was already exceedingly rare.

Time flew by, and five months passed in succession.

During this period, the insignificant commotion Kaedeji had caused had long since died down. As Kaedeji faded from people's sight, many who had once treated his affairs as gossip gradually forgot this shinobi who had once been quite famous.

All kinds of new information related to the war constantly arrived from the front lines.

The Second Great Ninja War, which Konoha's residents had expected to end soon, not only failed to stop, but grew increasingly brutal as casualties on the front lines intensified.

Iwagakure's offensive strength continued to rise, and it mobilized more and more troops. It looked as though they intended to fight Konoha until the last man.

This was beyond the expectations of the vast majority.

Normally, only Iwagakure and Konoha remained locked in a one-on-one confrontation across the entire shinobi world. The other villages had already stopped fighting large-scale wars. The Second Great Ninja War should have ended no matter what.

But the ferocious posture Iwagakure displayed gave people the eerie sense that the real war had only just begun. What the hell was this?

At the same time, Kaedeji finally walked out of the Corpse Disposal Unit under his jurisdiction.