**Chapter 9: Ah, the Bodies of the Senju**
Despite everyone clamoring about the Will of Fire, it's precisely because the Will of Fire isn't thoroughly implemented that the faction led by the Third Hokage constantly brings it up.
Furthermore, the Corpse Disposal Unit is an extremely sensitive location, one where the Will of Fire is most critically needed. If even a single person were to waver in their resolve and betray them, the resulting damage would be incalculable.
The next day, Tsukasa Kaede arrived at the eastern hollow of Training Ground 44 in the Hidden Leaf Village.
This place resembled a large graveyard, perpetually shrouded in the scent of incense ashes, surrounded by countless blank Memorial Stones, with withered flowers scattered everywhere on the ground.
Tsukasa Kaede pushed open the heavy door of the Corpse Disposal Unit, startling a few crows who haphazardly kicked up dust from under the eaves.
How to put it? Tsukasa Kaede's first impression of this place was utterly terrible.
Logically speaking, a department specifically tasked with handling Corpses should adhere to high standards of hygiene and could almost be considered a large hospital.
Instead, it felt more like Root's crematorium.
"As expected, all the dissected bodies belong to Ninja from other Villages…. At the very least, they wouldn't let a small fry like me into a facility where they dissect Ninja from our own Village."
Tsukasa Kaede submitted his transfer papers and followed a staff member to meet the person in charge here, all while observing this recently established department.
The Village hadn't even figured out how to systematically train Medical Ninja, much less allocate enough skilled Medical Ninja to participate in a project researching enemy Corpses.
"It's been a while since we've had a new recruit, especially one dispatched by someone like Lord Ryoma."
With a squelch, an elderly-looking middle-aged Ninja used a scalpel to slice open the chest of a Sand Shinobi, watching the dark red Blood drip into an enamel dish, listening to the dripping sound, as if it were a chilling whisper.
Tsukasa Kaede slightly bowed his head: "You must be Lord Morino Idate, right? From now on, I'll be your subordinate. Our department doesn't seem to have abundant manpower."
"Including you, 5 people are already quite a lot," Morino Idate said. "Any more would be a waste. They'd either be sent to the battlefield or assigned to a hospital. Your workstation is in the Special Cell Engraving Room. Your first Mission is to polish the heads that arrived yesterday, especially those from the Hidden Sand Village; they often cover their terrible hair with cloth."
Tsukasa Kaede's fingertips brushed over the cold metal nameplates on the morgue table. Three Corpses were neatly covered with white sheets, the toes of the last one poking out from a gap in the cloth, with grains of sand unique to the Land of Wind still clinging to its toenails.
"Understood, Lord Morino Idate. Ever since I started serving the Village, I've often dealt with Corpses."
This was his familiar Domain; it felt like coming home.
Gently, he lifted a white sheet. The Sand Shinobi's ashen expression was forever frozen in a moment of terror; its right arm, scorched black like charcoal from Fire Release burns, was the perfect material for him to develop his Corpse Release.
Tsukasa Kaede, now in work mode, displayed impressive technical skill — as long as it didn't consume Chakra, he always produced excellent results.
Here, there was ample material, a sufficiently large space, and a stage where he could properly showcase his talents.
Occasionally, Tsukasa Kaede would issue commands to the moving Zombies, making them perform various actions, without causing much surprise among his colleagues.
Everyone knew Tsukasa Kaede was practicing his Soul Death Technique again, and there weren't many in the entire Hidden Leaf Village who knew this Ninjutsu.
Then again, those who could work in the Corpse Disposal Unit were hardly righteous individuals. Which paragon of justice would choose to dissect enemy Corpses instead of shining brightly on the battlefield? "Occasionally there are Jonin-level materials… but I still haven't seen any Bloodline Limit Corpses."
Tsukasa Kaede finished processing a Corpse and regretfully removed his mask.
Morino Idate said coldly: "Our people on the battlefield keep an eye out for enemies with a Kekkei Genkai, and the enemy does the same. No Village would tolerate a Bloodline Limit being leaked; they'd rather destroy it on the spot than easily let the enemy obtain the Corpse. Have you ever seen an enemy with a Sharingan or Byakugan appear on the battlefield?"
Tsukasa Kaede shrugged. In the future, Ao would fight Konoha Shinobi with a Byakugan, but this thought remained unspoken, a mere mental note.
Morino Idate suddenly seemed to recall something and mumbled: "I remember last year on the Land of Rain battlefield, several Uchiha Clansmen disappeared after a fierce battle. At the time, Lord Orochimaru and his team almost turned the entire battlefield upside down…. Perhaps the Hidden Rain Village acquired the Sharingan."
"Didn't the Three Sannin end the War with the Hidden Rain Village? There would be negotiations after the War; they surely would have demanded the eyes back," Tsukasa Kaede said.
But he knew that was absolutely impossible.
It might not have truly been Hanzo who obtained them, but possibly Madara.
Last year, Jiraiya stayed in the Land of Rain to teach Nagato, which meant Nagato would have obtained the Rinnegan even earlier.
Madara, having lost his Rinnegan, would then need some Sharingan as substitutes.
"Ah, war, truly. What people believe to be the truth and how reality unfolds are completely different things."
Whenever Tsukasa Kaede thought of Madara, Black Zetsu, Hagoromo Otsutsuki, and the Otsutsuki descendants on the Moon secretly observing the changes in the Shinobi World, he couldn't help but sigh at the complexity of this world.
However, these figures were far too distant for him. He was currently just a Genin focused on quietly developing, his mind preoccupied with replacing his own body.
Time passed. The few people in the Corpse Disposal Unit were like forgotten individuals; aside from the occasionally valuable Corpses brought in, no one paid them any attention.
Perhaps only when they regularly reported their research findings and provided a slight boost to the Biotechnology of the era, could they prove their worth.
Tsukasa Kaede still hadn't seen any Bloodline Limit Ninja Corpses, even though he paid attention to and understood every Corpse sent here.
"So, there is indeed a more advanced, more secretive department researching the most precious Bloodline Limit Corpses?"
Tsukasa Kaede wasn't surprised by this.
Ever since Nawaki Senju died right under Orochimaru's nose, a provoked Orochimaru officially embarked on the path of seeking Immortality.
Considering the series of clandestine events that occurred during the brief Peace period between the Second Great Ninja War and the Third Great Ninja War, Tsukasa Kaede was fairly certain that Orochimaru and Danzo had already joined forces by this time.
"After the Second Great Ninja War, the Village, to enhance its Combat Power for the next Ninja World War, officially launched the First Hokage Cells Experiment Project, and conducted Human Experimentation on Konoha Shinobi and villagers, resulting in significant casualties."
"Kaedence they were able to directly conduct Human Experimentation to that extent, it meant the Village had already mastered the preliminary research findings for Human Experimentation."
The Corpse Disposal work they were doing now, all the data they submitted, would ultimately become the bricks and mortar supporting large-scale Human Experimentation a few years later.
First Hokage Cells, ah. Just thinking about it, a look of yearning appeared on Tsukasa Kaede's face.
No one knew better than Tsukasa Kaede how agonizing it was to use a weakened body, and no one craved a body brimming with Life Force more than he did.
Even ordinary inhabitants of the Ninja World all had 130 trillion Cells. What about Ninja who had cultivated Chakra and trained their bodies? How many Cells would they have?
And what about the Senju Clan and the Uzumaki Clan, renowned for their physical prowess?
And… Hashirama Senju?
Absolute quantity was absolute power. Without enough Life Force, everything was futile.
(end of chapter)