chapter 88 part 2
"Oh? A few? Now I'm curious. Could it be the Third Raikage? I hear his speed is astonishing. Besides him, who else? I imagine it would be difficult even to catch you."
"Heh, you'll know in due time."
Tsukasa Kaede didn't respond further. Midway, Tsukasa Kaede even brought out more than ten zombies and performed Living Corpse Reincarnation Jutsu to replenish his life force, which made Orochimaru's eyes widen.
This was Orochimaru's first time witnessing the life force transfer scene firsthand. The surging life force made his mouth water.
Corpse Release and Living Corpse Reincarnation Jutsu were truly a beautiful combination.
"Once we enter the Land of Lightning, what do you plan to do, wait patiently? We don't know how often the Eight-Tails jinchuriki rampages," Tsukasa Kaede said casually.
Orochimaru chuckled, "Normally, a situation arises every two or three months on average. However, if Tsukasa-kun is in a hurry, we can actively search for the Eight-Tails' location and then use force to compel it into tailed beast transformation. That would save time, but it's somewhat risky. Which would you choose?"
"Find its location, then make our move. Our time is precious; there are still many unresolved problems with the experiment," Tsukasa Kaede stated.
Orochimaru licked his lips, instinctively feeling that something was off—shouldn't a 'long-lived being' have endless patience? Waiting a few centuries for a goal would be perfectly normal, wouldn't it?
Or perhaps Tsukasa Kaede wanted to obtain something from human experimentation, but what could it be? Hashirama's cells? The corpses left behind by people who were injected with Hashirama's cells and likely died violent deaths? It was hard to guess.
Orochimaru could only think of this. He would never have imagined that Tsukasa Kaede wanted to cultivate a satisfactory body for a future transfer.
"Alright then, Tsukasa-kun's will must be carried out. After all, I have a request of you. According to the intel I have, there are about seven suspected hiding places for the Eight-Tails jinchuriki."
Orochimaru reached into his mouth and pulled out a damp scroll, displaying the intelligence to Tsukasa Kaede.
"You seem to have good spies."
"More accurately, they are Danzo's spies. Danzo has always cultivated cheap spies, sending them to various countries to carry out missions. He doesn't care if they die, and obtaining intelligence is a pleasant surprise. He always acts this way, completely disregardful of his subordinates' lives," Orochimaru explained.
"Are you sure the Eight-Tails jinchuriki isn't inside the Hidden Cloud Village?"
"No, the Hidden Cloud Village wouldn't place such a monster, capable of rampaging at any time, in a densely populated village."
"Then the Eight-Tails is here." Tsukasa Kaede pointed to a mark on the map.
"Cloud Gorge? It's not far from us. It seems Tsukasa-kun paid attention to the Eight-Tails even earlier than I did. Have you already secretly deployed many corpses in the Land of Lightning without the village's knowledge?"
"You could say that."
Tsukasa Kaede didn't bother to explain to Orochimaru.
Cloud Gorge was essentially the Eight-Tails' traditional home and daily residence.
Kaedence the Sage of Kaedex Paths split the Nine Tailed Beasts, the Eight-Tails had resided in Cloud Gorge for many years.
It wasn't until after the Valley of the End battle, when Hashirama Senju made a powerful move, capturing all the tailed beasts and reallocating them to various countries, that he assigned the Eight-Tails to the Hidden Cloud Village.
The Hidden Cloud Village, relying on the Kaedex Paths tool, the Amber Purifying Pot, barely suppressed the Eight-Tails for decades. Later, with the Iron Armor Seal, Burubi was born as the first Eight-Tails jinchuriki.
Both Burubi and the later Killer B had a fondness for Cloud Gorge.
No one knew where this Iron Armor Seal came from. Perhaps after the Land of Whirlpools was destroyed in the early stages of the Second Great Ninja War, the Hidden Cloud Village developed it further using some sealing jutsu stolen from the Uzumaki Clan.
However, that was no longer important. Tsukasa Kaede had no interest in avenging the Uzumaki Clan. This time, he absolutely had to obtain the Eight-Tails chakra; this was the best opportunity.
Missing this chance would mean waiting until the Third Great Ninja War to steal octopus tentacles from the grown-up Killer B.
Before long, the two arrived at the edge of Cloud Gorge, where many Anbu ninja from the Hidden Cloud Village were indeed hidden.
"Only one entrance? It's truly heavily guarded. Five kilometers northeast of Cloud Gorge, a unit of two hundred troops is stationed. Aren't they afraid of being wiped out by a rampaging Eight-Tails' tailed beast bomb? These people are probably meant to be sacrificed, to delay the Eight-Tails as much as possible and buy time for the main force... There are seventeen Hidden Cloud Village ninja inside Cloud Gorge, all seemingly elites and not easy to deal with."
Orochimaru summoned a large number of poisonous snakes, which slithered silently in all directions, using their reptilian sense of smell to scout the enemy's numbers, then gradually returned to him.
In this regard, it was more concealed than Tsukasa Kaede sending corpses running around, making Tsukasa Kaede even more eager to obtain the corpse of a Byakugan user.
Tsukasa Kaede formed a single hand sign and slowly said, "Seventeen elites, but not necessarily all combat-oriented elites. The Hidden Cloud Village likely sent their most skilled sealing jutsu formula ninja here. If we strike quickly, we can take out these people, seize the Eight-Tails chakra, and retreat before the two hundred troops outside detect the commotion and arrive."
He was here to steal chakra, not to capture or kill the Eight-Tails.
Summoning Jutsu!
*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!* A series of coffins erupted from the ground.
Tsukasa Kaede summoned his most powerful group of zombies, determined to clear out these enemies as quickly as possible.
"Araki of the Sand, and Terai, and a few Root ninja... It seems Danzo suffered a huge loss, not only reprimanded by the Third Hokage but also secretly losing so many men. Root has been severely damaged."
Orochimaru was also startled, staring at Terai for several seconds.
Even he, facing a powerhouse like Terai head-on, would need some effort. If Terai was determined to escape, Orochimaru wouldn't be able to guarantee killing him.
The gap between elite jonin and Kage-level powerhouses primarily lay in bloodline, chakra reserves, and large-scale, powerful jutsu formulas. For example, Orochimaru could use Triple Rashomon, but Terai couldn't; he could only thrust with his blade.
In terms of 'soft power' such as combat experience, on-the-spot intelligence analysis, and emergency decision-making, the gap wasn't that significant, often non-existent.
"Indeed, a slight gain. Who told Danzo to be so stubborn, secretly investigating me and standing against me? He could have been fine doing nothing, but he insisted on causing a string of troubles."
"Then I'm even more curious, Tsukasa-kun, could you tell me how Mito Uzumaki died? Not many people in this world could kill her. Could it be that it was actually you...?"
"...Your imagination is too rich. That's not a good habit."
"Researchers need imagination the most. I need to fully stimulate my imaginative brain to obtain the research results Tsukasa-kun desires."