Chapter 332: What If the Reanimation Jutsu Also Obeys the Law of Conservation of Energy?
Rasa, the Kazekage, was not a character who appeared very often in the original story. Like the other Kage later brought back through Edo Tensei, he carried the same responsibilities as any village leader, but he also carried burdens unique to himself.
For example, he had to reconcile with his son, Gaara.
But setting Gaara aside, a character who had enormous popularity in the early part of the story, Rasa gave people the impression of being weak, almost like a useless man who was ambushed and killed by Orochimaru. In reality, though, Rasa's strength was anything but ordinary.
After all, he was also a powerful shinobi who had personally suppressed Shukaku.
"Fortunately, there's no need to clash with him head on." Kenichi had already led his group away. At this moment, the Hidden Sand Village was like a wounded beast, furious and unstable, ready to bite its enemies without restraint even while bleeding.
And a wounded beast at that stage was the most dangerous kind.
That was why seasoned hunters often chose to hide, shadow the injured beast, wait for it to die, and only then approach the corpse. It was a far safer method.
"Was that your weapon, Senior Amamiya? It was incredible! Such stunning art, hmm!" Deidara hurried after him, speaking excitedly as they moved.
Hearing that, Kenichi first glanced at Hikari. The child's face carried surprise and shock, but nothing more extreme than that. That made him quietly breathe a sigh of relief. What he feared most was Hikari having some sort of breakdown after witnessing an attack like that.
But thinking about it carefully, Hikari would at most be surprised by such a long range method of attack. She would not be frightened by the war itself. After all, she had been born in the Warring States era.
"Future wars may undergo earthshaking changes," Kenichi said with a smile. "For example, I could stand in Konoha and still strike the Hidden Cloud Village directly."
Talking with Deidara was surprisingly enjoyable. The boy's enthusiasm for explosions was intense, almost pure in its own way.
And more importantly, Deidara admired him greatly. He was an excellent follower. Kenichi felt that no matter what he asked, Deidara would gladly do it.
"If a war like that really existed, then it would truly be terrifying," Sasori said, his voice carrying mixed emotions. "Wouldn't all the shinobi without enough strength just become cannon fodder?"
Kenichi glanced at Sasori. Sasori's expression had been poor for a while now. Kenichi guessed it was because Sasori had just witnessed his former village being attacked. The current Sasori had not yet turned himself into that puppet. He still retained far more human emotion.
That reminded Kenichi of his junior sister, Anko. Speaking of which, since arriving in the Land of Snow, he had not seen Anko at all. Yet the experimental base had not been attacked either. Where had that unlucky girl gone?
"Not necessarily," Kenichi replied. "Whether it's governance or providing shelter, a place still needs people. Shinobi with insufficient strength can still deal with the enemies they can handle and help maintain control."
In his previous life, with the continuous advancement of high technology weapons, some people had once proposed that armies would eventually become obsolete. But even the strongest military power on the planet at that time, The United States of America, still maintained a large ground force.
To control and hold territory, random bombardment alone was never enough. In the end, an area still needed to be occupied and suppressed by people. Human beings were ultimately ruled by their own kind, not by missiles and bombs.
"But a weapon like that should be very hard to make, right?" Sasori said, glancing at Kenichi. Then, as if remembering who he was speaking to, even Sasori lost confidence in that assumption.
After all, Kenichi was a genius who had already changed the nature of modern warfare.
"Who knows?" Kenichi casually stepped onto a sand dune, leaving behind a footprint, but almost immediately it was erased by blowing sand.
Even though he knew about missiles and nuclear weapons from his previous life, those things could not be created just from imagination. They required an enormous amount of knowledge and a mature industrial base, unless his cheat suddenly decided to reward him with a complete nuclear bomb.
But after previously rewarding him with a full set of nuclear physics books, Kenichi had already understood how the cheat worked. It gave knowledge. It gave fishing rods, not fish. In a way, it seemed to understand that teaching a man to fish was better than handing him food outright.
"Something's wrong," Sasori suddenly said, stopping in place and looking behind them.
Kenichi also turned.
Thunder markings appeared at the corners of his eyes as he stared into the distance thoughtfully, then sighed.
Trouble had found them after all.
But logically, shouldn't Rasa be busy dealing with the aftermath inside the village right now? If it wasn't Rasa coming after them, then who was it?
Even while thinking that, Kenichi quickly put on his mask and told Hikari and Deidara to hide farther back. Their current strength would only make them a burden against strong opponents. Hikari did possess the Mangekyo Sharingan, but Kenichi still had no intention of letting her join a battle like this yet.
Fortunately, Hikari was extremely sensible. She did not say things like, "If you don't go, I won't go either," or "I want to stay and help Brother Amamiya." She and Deidara quickly moved back and vanished from sight.
A moment later, a team of shinobi appeared before Kenichi and Sasori.
Sasori's gaze instantly turned dangerous when he saw them.
Kenichi, meanwhile, felt his mouth twitch.
Granny Chiyo?
Why had this old woman come out personally?
Originally, Kenichi had planned to wait until the Hidden Sand Village calmed down before finding a way to lure Granny Chiyo away from the village and obtain the powerful forbidden jutsu [One's Own Life Reincarnation] from her.
But instead, she had come out on her own almost immediately, completely throwing off his timing.
And with Sasori standing beside him, the situation became even more troublesome. The relationship between Sasori and Granny Chiyo was far too complicated. Fortunately, Sasori had worn a black mask for this mission, otherwise he would have been recognized at once.
"Heavenly Demon?" Granny Chiyo stood with her hands behind her back and looked at Kenichi with a low voice.
At the same time, Kenichi sensed something unusual in the air. Beside him, Sasori immediately released Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. The violent gust swept up sand and dust and surged toward Granny Chiyo, but an Earth Release wall rose to block it.
"Quick move. Poisoning us the moment you arrive?" Kenichi said with a smile, clapping his hands lightly. "Granny Chiyo, you really are still as formidable as ever."
Just moments ago, he had already sensed that something in the air was wrong. And considering Granny Chiyo's identity, what she would use was not hard to guess.
Granny Chiyo stared at the two of them with a grim expression.
These two were too cautious. They had realized she had already dispersed poison the moment they arrived. Yet even so, she could not stop herself from giving Sasori an extra look. He wore a black mask, and there was nail polish on his fingers.
But that was not the main point.
For some reason, she had the faint feeling that this masked ninja seemed familiar.
"Heavenly Demon! You will pay for attacking the Hidden Sand Village!" one of the Sand shinobi shouted hatefully.
Kenichi glanced over and vaguely recognized him.
If he remembered correctly, this one was Baki, a jonin of the Hidden Sand Village. Kenichi remembered him because he had some screen time in the original story, and because he had also been the one who later brought Gaara and the others to Konoha as part of the Konoha Crush plan.
But right now Baki was merely standing among a group of ordinary Sand shinobi like one more nameless extra.
Kenichi scoffed inwardly.
Baki clearly had some ideas of his own. If his guess was right, the man was hiding in the formation to look for an opportunity to strike from the shadows.
"I only accepted a mission from a client," Kenichi said with a shrug, though his mind was already racing as he considered what to do next.
Granny Chiyo's appearance had truly disrupted his original plan.
If she had remained inside the village, it would have been much easier for him to lure her out later. But now that she had brought so many Sand shinobi with her, using Sasori's identity to obtain [One's Own Life Reincarnation] would become extremely difficult.
And worse, he had not even had the chance to explain any of this to Sasori.
Strictly speaking, Sasori probably would not care much about the issue itself. But when dealing with people, some caution was still necessary. Otherwise, pointless misunderstandings could arise, and that would not be worth it. Besides, to Kenichi, Sasori was still a friend.
"Who issued the mission?" Granny Chiyo asked coldly. "Tell me, and I can at least give you an easy death."
Kenichi pouted. "I'd been hoping you might let me leave alive."
No matter how he looked at it, that was not exactly an attractive negotiating condition.
It was like a boss drawing a huge future for employees, only for the year end bonus to turn out to be a signed photo. Completely unmotivating.
"Hmph!"
Granny Chiyo lost her patience and directly launched two puppets at Kenichi, while the Sand shinobi moved in as well.
Kenichi scratched his head.
He had already tested his weapon's power. He had completed Iwagakure's mission. There was really no need to keep fighting here like this.
More importantly, Iwagakure had definitely not paid enough to cover a prolonged battle.
In that case, the simplest solution was to end this quickly. Trap them with a jutsu, then withdraw.
The thought flashed through his mind, and then his eyes lit up.
He suddenly had a new idea.
Without another word, he grabbed Sasori and ran.
Granny Chiyo and the others immediately gave chase.
"What is Heavenly Demon trying to do?" Granny Chiyo muttered anxiously.
Why was he running toward the village again?
But Heavenly Demon's speed was extremely fast. They could not catch up for the moment.
Still, the distance was gradually closing. Kenichi was hauling Sasori with him, and Sasori also kept throwing out wind jutsu from time to time to interfere with the pursuers.
"Good enough. This is the place."
Kenichi had reached what he wanted.
The cemetery.
Even then, as he slowed, another thought struck him. He remembered the earlier conversation he had had with Amado.
The law of conservation of energy.
If the Ninja World also obeyed a version of that law, then powerful resurrection techniques revived the dead by exchanging the caster's soul and chakra for the target's soul and life.
Then what if he incorporated a similar principle into the Reanimation Jutsu?
He did not need to sacrifice his own soul in exchange for another. But the concept of "soul" was broad. What if he captured an ordinary person and used that person's soul as an exchange medium?
Would it achieve a similar result?
But almost immediately, Kenichi shook his head.
No.
If he let himself keep thinking, he would never leave this place.
This was reality, not an anime where one could replay half a lifetime's worth of memories in the middle of combat.
So he formed hand seals at once and slammed his palms into the sand.
This time, however, he made a small change. While activating the technique, he also attempted to use Yin Release chakra to seize the life force of some of the animals and insects beneath the sand.
The dunes trembled.
Then countless skeletal hands burst upward from the desert.
One after another, the dead clawed their way up through the sand. They were not complete corpses, but broken remains, half rotted bones dragging themselves back from the Pure Land.
Under the horrified and furious gazes of Granny Chiyo and the Sand shinobi, the dead returned to the Hidden Sand Village.
"You... you beast!" Granny Chiyo shouted in fury.
Kenichi scratched his head awkwardly.
Disturbing the dead really was a little improper.
"Then I'll leave the rest to you," he said.
And with that, he left with Sasori.
Granny Chiyo wanted to pursue them, but she had no choice now. She could only turn and deal with the surging dead instead.
.....
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