chapter 82 part 2
To be honest, he had once viewed Tsukasa Kaede in a new light because of the Living Corpse Reincarnation Jutsu and the Spatial Rift Jutsu. These two Jutsu alone were enough for Tsukasa Kaede to establish himself in the Ninja World, allowing him to escape even if he couldn't defeat his enemies.
But that was all. To Madara, Tsukasa Kaede was just a young man who had unexpectedly stumbled into his plans, someone with a bit of use. It was good to have Tsukasa Kaede, but his absence wouldn't make much difference.
Now, Madara's evaluation of Tsukasa Kaede was higher.
"It seems he's using this method to compensate for his deficiencies in combat ability. He's a truly clear-headed fellow."
Madara secretly nodded. He had actually been directly and indirectly gathering all sorts of Intel on Tsukasa Kaede, analyzing Tsukasa Kaede's Secret Techniques, psychology, combat style, and overall strength. It was easy to see that Tsukasa Kaede's biggest problem was a lack of powerful Jutsu Formulas capable of breaking through a deadlock with a single strike.
If facing a 'turtle-shell' enemy, Tsukasa Kaede actually had no good way to break the stalemate other than attrition and retreat. He couldn't just keep throwing a few Explosive Tags around; the effect would be extremely limited.
But now it was different. If he could truly activate the Reaper Death Seal using the Corpse Release Secret Technique, even if its destructive power was severely weakened, it would still be enough to cover Tsukasa Kaede's biggest weakness!
If everything went smoothly, Tsukasa Kaede would truly become a Ninja with extremely strong direct combat capabilities from then on.
"He abandoned the costly Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags and the dull, rigid Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique, choosing the Reaper Death Seal instead. This kid's mind is sharp; he knows what's most beneficial to him. I'm afraid he had already figured out how to modify this Forbidden Jutsu even before selecting it."
Madara made no secret of his appreciation, and Tsukasa Kaede's standing in his mind rose by a small margin.
This was already a very rare occurrence. Given Madara's arrogance, ever since Hashirama Senju, he had looked down upon the Ninja World. Who could he respect? Until now, only Nagato had managed to capture his attention.
In the future, there would be Tsukasa Kaede.
However...
"I've roughly guessed how he tricked the Reaper. To think he'd use the Jutsu I taught him in such a way." Madara chuckled deeply.
...
Tsukasa Kaede closely watched the Reaper's every move. Sure enough, even though the Reaper clearly knew he was the true orchestrator of the Reaper Death Seal Jutsu, the Jutsu Formula's link remained bound to the Zombie.
It wanted to directly extract Tsukasa Kaede's Main Body's Soul, but it couldn't bypass the Jutsu-performing Zombie. Now that Tsukasa Kaede had leaped back, the Reaper could only stare helplessly.
The Reaper began muttering again, speaking in its strange language.
"You want me to offer my Soul? What kind of joke is that? Why should I do such a thing? Even if you're the Reaper, you can't just take my Soul for nothing."
Tsukasa Kaede shook his head repeatedly, refusing without hesitation, and pointed at the Jutsu-performing Zombie: "The Soul you want to harvest is right there."
"..."
The Reaper sensed the Zombie's Spirit Body condition, and its expression visibly stiffened.
A Zombie itself, of course, had no Soul; its Soul had long gone to the Pure Land. The Reaper couldn't directly retrieve Souls from the Pure Land; that was beyond its purview.
And a Zombie without a Soul originally couldn't successfully perform a Jutsu — the Reaper Death Seal Jutsu was precisely a technique that used one's own Soul and Chakra to Summon the Reaper! The Reaper's arrival meant that the Jutsu-performing Zombie actually contained a Soul capable of attracting the Reaper — even if this so-called "Soul," temporarily injected into the Zombie's body, was full of deceit.
That's right, Tsukasa Kaede's initial touch of the Zombie was essentially doing one thing:
Injecting his own Consciousness into the Zombie's body, using this Consciousness to replace a complete Soul, and combining it with the Zombie's body to activate the Reaper Death Seal!
The last time Tsukasa Kaede separated his Consciousness was when he created Black Zetsu, right in front of Madara.
"This Secret Technique Madara taught me is truly useful. He probably never imagined it could be used this way. Even if he knew, it wouldn't matter, unless he could perfectly control Zombies to perform Jutsu like I can."
If someone could truly achieve the perfect control that Tsukasa Kaede displayed with his Corpse Release, they would also be able to use the "Spatial Rift Jutsu." But if that were the case, then Tsukasa Kaede wouldn't be the only one in the entire Ninja World to have developed a Space-Time Ninjutsu like Spatial Rift Jutsu over the past thousand years.
Therefore, looking across the entire Ninja World, only Tsukasa Kaede could activate the Reaper Death Seal in this manner!
This was one of the two methods Tsukasa Kaede had conceived for activating the Reaper Death Seal Jutsu, and it was also a method that could only be used by Tsukasa Kaede alone!
If there was a flaw, it was that it couldn't be used too frequently. After all, each separation of Consciousness would place a certain burden on his Soul and Consciousness, a recoverable injury.
If he were to use Corpse Release: Reaper Death Seal multiple times in a single battle, Tsukasa Kaede would have to frequently separate his Consciousness, and he might end up collapsing on the spot — just like Roshi's fate in the Land of Hot Water battle.
This was normal. The Reaper Death Seal was, after all, a Forbidden Jutsu that required a huge cost to use. For Tsukasa Kaede to reduce that cost to such an extent using Corpse Release, paying with a bit of his Consciousness instead of his Soul, was completely acceptable.
Tsukasa Kaede also couldn't allow himself to fall into a near-unconscious state. He didn't develop Space-Time Ninjutsu solely for combat; it was also to ensure a smooth escape when victory was hopeless.
"Speaking of which, the Corpse Shift: Void World Jutsu and the Corpse Release: Reaper Death Seal Jutsu are very compatible. As long as there are multiple Zombies present, he can move instantaneously. If necessary, he can use the second stage of the Spatial Rift Jutsu to further enhance the suddenness of an attack, ensuring the Reaper Death Seal successfully affects the target."
Tsukasa Kaede felt that, only now, his combat system was truly complete in its initial form.