chapter 117 part 2
"Damn it, run!"
"Lord Ebizō, you—"
Ebizō stood alone, facing the dense array of explosive tags fluttering around him. The space above and around him for tens of meters was completely blocked, making it impossible to dodge the tags or escape the blast radius, no matter his extraordinary speed.
The explosive tags were so dense, so tightly packed, that Ebizō's breath hitched, and he felt an overwhelming sense of suffocation.
"So that's how it is... I was the target."
Ebizō subconsciously hooked his finger, positioning the puppet he controlled in front of him, which, in theory, could block part of the explosion.
But years of combat experience told him that, surrounded by such a massive number of explosive tags, with the nearby zombies themselves plastered with a large quantity of tags, it would be difficult for him to survive.
Although puppets weren't afraid of injury, they weren't absolutely indestructible defenses either; they could be damaged by intense attacks.
The next second.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
A terrifying explosion erupted. The dazzling light from it temporarily blinded many, and the deafening sound was like the Shinigami's sonata, playing a death dirge for these Sunagakure ninja.
The ground vanished in the explosion, and the air vibrated violently, spreading outwards. The mere shockwave sent nearby figures flying, screaming and crashing backward.
Massive sand and dust obscured their vision. When it slowly dispersed, the countless explosive tags flying in the air were gone, and the zombies who summoned them were also gone. Of course, only a few people and puppets remained.
A mere few.
The Sunagakure ninja, who were caught in fierce combat, instinctively looked over, their faces filled with horror. But this instinctive fear caused some of them to be attacked by the zombies, falling with agonizing screams, and then joining the ranks of those attacking the living humans.
Living humans would hesitate and fear; zombies would not. From beginning to end, they steadfastly carried out Tsukasa Kaede's commands, not letting go of any living human in their sight.
"Ebizō!!"
The Third Kazekage was furious and heartbroken, flapping his iron sand wings to quickly fly down. His wings then disintegrated, forming a black shield for protection.
But it was too late. Most of Ebizō's body was gone; only his head remained mostly intact, though riddled with large and small puppet fragments.
"Run..."
When Chiyo arrived, she only heard this one sentence—Ebizō's last words.
Chiyo almost went mad, letting out a painful, shrill scream, her eyes red, tears uncontrollably gushing out.
To put it bluntly, even if the Third Kazekage had died, she wouldn't be this sad... A Kage could be replaced. Pakura, Karura, and Rasa (who might or might not be dead) could step up even if their strength was slightly lower, but she only had one younger brother! Chiyo's voice was so mournful, piercing through the battlefield, adding an even deeper tragedy to this brutal and utterly meaningless battle.
"Hand his remains over to me. Although he's been blown to pieces like this, with Living Corpse Reincarnation Jutsu, if I piece together some limbs and organs, he can still be used."
Tsukasa Kaede's voice came through. He stood unharmed, his calm tone as if commenting on a wonderful parting play: "You've lost your son and daughter-in-law, lost your grandson, and now you've lost your brother. Why don't you just kill yourself...? Puppeteers aren't that useful, but I will still make good use of you all."
To be fair, the last type of strong corpse he wanted right now was a puppeteer. They were genuinely useless. Was he supposed to control a puppeteer's corpse to make more puppets? What would be the point of him controlling that corpse then? But then again, it was still the corpse of a Kage-level powerhouse. At worst, it could be used as a decent elite jōnin, simply by having it sit at the same table as zombies like Terai.
The Third Kazekage stared grimly at Tsukasa Kaede, his gaze fixed on Tsukasa Kaede's chest, where tiny particles of iron sand rustled under his control. However, there were only a few particles, so their offensive effect was comically small, causing less damage to Tsukasa Kaede than his self-healing speed could mend.
"The one sealed was indeed using Wood Release..." The Third Kazekage's rage and unease reached their peak.
Tsukasa Kaede ignored the Kazekage; he was too lazy to bother. The one sealed was indeed a clone. As for why it could also use Wood Release... don't forget, Tsukasa Kaede had several unfortunate individuals who participated in the Hashirama cells transplantation experiment but ultimately failed.
It was very easy to pocket a few corpses. With a little modification, they could become dead soul clones, capable of using Wood Release to fool observers.
"However, your Magnet Release Iron Sand is indeed a good ability. Even though I replaced myself at the fastest speed, I still inevitably got a little bit on me... I was almost pierced through by your giant needle, though even being pierced through by you wouldn't affect me much."
Tsukasa Kaede extended two fingers, pinched the few particles of iron sand, and flicked them towards the Third Kazekage.
To put it bluntly, with his current self-healing ability, unless he was instantly decapitated without even a chance to dodge, it was very difficult for him to die.
He had a Hashirama Clone inside him, and outside, a pile of zombies ready to transfer life force. If the situation was urgent and there wasn't time for him to slowly regenerate missing internal organs, he could just dig out organs from a zombie on the spot and replace them in himself.
After the battle, he would then remove the temporary organs and cultivate new ones.
Moreover, Tsukasa Kaede also had the Sharingan in hand, ready to use Izanagi to save his life at any time, completely unconcerned with death.
At least, he would absolutely not be killed by someone like the Third Kazekage.
"...Retreat, Chiyo."
The Third Kazekage glanced at Chiyo, who was collecting Ebizō's remains, and spoke these words with hatred. He looked around at the completely disorganized troops. There was no tactic or formation to speak of; everyone was panicking, wondering if the person next to them, or if they themselves, would turn into a zombie in the next second.
No matter how resolute a force, in this utterly unpredictable mutual slaughter, they could see no hope. They would ultimately perish little by little in an endless abyss of despair.
The key was that their deaths were meaningless! What was the use of fighting desperately to the death, killing so-called "enemies"? Essentially, it was just killing the corpses of their comrades, completely failing to effectively damage the active forces of the opposing village! Not to mention, if they died, they would also become part of the enemy, turning around to kill their own comrades... This was an endless cycle, with no end in sight.
After confirming that Tsukasa Kaede was completely unharmed, while Ebizō on their side had died in battle, morale completely collapsed. More and more Sunagakure ninja began to flee frantically in all directions, tears and snot streaming down their faces, uttering cries whose meaning even they themselves didn't know.