Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Unorthodox Jutsu
War is a systematic operation, painfully meticulous and unforgiving of even the slightest stroke of luck. That meant every detail needed to be thoroughly understood.
For Arata, whose physical strength was nothing exceptional, prolonged time on the battlefield took a tremendous toll on both his stamina and focus. It was a heavy burden.
'I can't delay any longer. The life-saving jutsu I've simulated in my mind countless times, I have to master it now.
Too much of my intel has already leaked. Many of the Sand shinobi have likely caught wind of my abilities. If I engage in battle again, I'll have no advantage in terms of intelligence.'
Arata sat among a pile of corpses. Some of the blood still hadn't coagulated, sketching out the fading warmth of life across the ground.
A few of the corpse-handlers glanced at him with awe and reverence.
"Arata-sama… is he selecting a suitable body?"
"Must be. After surviving such a deadly battle, I bet the corpses he stored up have been mostly used. He's in desperate need of replacements."
"I remember Arata-sama once participated in the war against Amegakure, doing the same kind of work we're doing now… I guess you could say he's returned to his roots?
Heh, turning enemy corpses into weapons to fight more enemies, that's pretty damn poetic."
"Idiot, stop speculating. Talking about this kind of thing is basically analyzing and exposing Arata-sama's intel. That's highly disrespectful!"
These corpse-handlers belonged to the logistics division of the front-line forces. The personnel rotated regularly.
A few of them had interacted with Arata before and still found it surreal, Yoshida Arata had basically become a shinobi specialized in dealing with the dead.
Arata heard the whispering. He turned to glance at his adorable coworkers. A gentle smile appeared on his thin face, though to others, it looked downright terrifying.
It triggered a wave of shrieks. Some even feared they'd be the next corpses Arata controlled.
'At this rate, I'm bound to become the protagonist of some widespread horror tale… but I suppose that's no big deal.'
Arata knew he could never become someone like Minato Namikaze, the warm, radiant sun.
No, more accurately, he was inherently disconnected from the warm and sunny aura of the Asura lineage, like Naruto.
Instead, he shared more affinity with the colder, darker temperament of the Indra lineage.
"Well then, since I'm off-duty, I need to test this new jutsu I've been working on, the Corpse Substitution, which fuses the principles of the Summoning Technique and Substitution Jutsu."
Substitution Jutsu was one of the most basic D-rank techniques, something even academy students could master.
Of course, the pinnacle of this kind of technique was Madara's Limbo, a shadow-based substitution so absurd it was practically a space-time jutsu in itself.
Naturally, Arata could use the standard version. But instead of a wooden log, he intended to use one of his own zombies, applying the logic behind summoning contracts.
Developing this technique would take a little time.
Ideally, by leveraging the connection between him and his zombies, he could instantly swap places with one, both of them retaining full combat ability, allowing him to launch an ambush the moment the substitution occurred.
"To me, zombies are simply a form of ninja tool, moving dead matter that can be sealed into scrolls.
If I treat a zombie like a wooden log for the purpose of a substitution-summon combo, theoretically it should work…"
The only hurdle was that wooden logs were inert, whereas zombies moved. They had chakra circulating through them at all times, which made them unstable substitution targets, greatly increasing the difficulty of the swap.
"If anyone else tried this, it'd be impossible. But for me, someone who's mastered Zombie Release and has spent years stretching a single thread of chakra into two, sensing the chakra flow in a zombie is like moving my own limbs. The only question is how much energy it takes."
Arata was deeply invested in this technique.
If he succeeded, it would mean he had mastered another form of space-time jutsu, aside from Summoning, and in a way, it'd be a downgraded version of Amenotejikara.
Amenotejikara allowed for direct spatial swaps, wherever you could see, you could teleport to instantly. In close combat, it was even more broken than the Flying Thunder God.
"If I can continue improving this Corpse Substitution and obtain a native body with enough chakra to sustain it… I might become a space-time jutsu specialist in my own right.
I could store zombies inside coffins, bury them across the ninja world as if they were Flying Thunder God markers…"
Arata's mind raced, constantly bursting with inspiration. He squeezed every drop of chakra from his body, making sure each portion was perfectly optimized for developing new jutsu.
He was more convinced than ever of Zombie Release's limitless potential. Its current limitations were merely circumstantial, it just hadn't had the chance to shine yet.
Five days passed in a flash. During that time, no large-scale battles broke out between Konoha and Sunagakure.
Aside from occasional skirmishes between patrol squads, things were eerily quiet on both sides. It was as if they were waiting.
Konoha was waiting for Tsunade. But what was Suna waiting for?
Arata didn't think they were after him specifically. More likely, they were brewing something dangerous.
On the sixth day, Arata received a mission that required him to leave the camp.
"Huh… an A-rank classified mission issued by Aburame Tatsuma? He's here on the front lines too?"
As he stepped out of the base, a thoughtful look crossed his face.
Since being promoted to Chunin, the biggest change was that he now took on team-based missions, riskier ones, especially on such a volatile battlefield.
Back when he was still a genin, he mostly stuck with large squads, helping treat wounded soldiers brought back from the front lines.
'My medical ninjutsu is half-baked at best. Tatsuma knows that. If he still selected me, then either he wants to observe me… or the mission involves something directly related to me.'
Could it be about Yakushi Nono?
Arata was all too familiar with the shady methods of Root. He immediately turned to scrutinize his teammates.
There were five members in total. The captain was a Jonin named Terai.
The moment he heard the name, Arata knew who he was, one of the Root agents who'd attempted to assassinate the Third Hokage in the original timeline.
Aside from him and Isuke, the other two members had that typical Root demeanor: cold, detached, and unapproachable. No doubt, they were Root shinobi too.
"This mission is going to be troublesome. If it weren't, Root wouldn't be involved."
Arata shook his head, not bothering to hide his inner thoughts.
"The mission is to rendezvous with an allied shinobi, yet there's no intel on what the target looks like? Is the captain planning to brief us mid-mission?"
Terai's face was emotionless, his voice flat.
"You're sharp. No wonder Lord Tatsuma handpicked you. Our goal is to ensure our comrade carrying critical intel returns safely."
Arata was already sure of one thing, if the mission went south and the team was caught in a dire situation, Terai would not hesitate to sacrifice every single member, including himself, just to ensure the intel was delivered.
That's just how Root operated.