chapter 76 part 3
"I don't believe the corpses you control are inexhaustible. Once I've cleared out all your corpses and depleted your Chakra, let's see what other tricks you have up your sleeve. Don't even think about escaping! Dust Release: Detachment from the Primitive World Technique!"
A massive beam of light suddenly shot out. Although nearly fifty years old, Onoki had passed his peak, but his rich combat experience and powerful judgment allowed him to wield the terrifying Dust Release technique with even greater threat. Everything caught in the beam was instantly dismembered, quietly and without a sound. To onlookers, it simply appeared as if objects were continuously disintegrating.
And this Dust Release beam moved extremely fast, too quickly for normal Ninja to react.
But Tsukasa Kaede could.
In an instant, wherever the Dust Release beam shone, the Spatial Rift Jutsu arrived. Tsukasa Kaede's figure flickered rapidly across the field; in a flash, many afterimages of Tsukasa Kaede seemed to appear on the battlefield.
Each flicker meant Tsukasa Kaede transferred a comrade, who was almost certainly doomed, to a safe location.
However, the cost was that a zombie would endure the Dust Release attack, its body dismembered.
All of this happened in a matter of seconds. Many Konoha Ninja hadn't even reacted when they suddenly saw the scene before them change. After being touched by a corpse that had rushed toward them, they found themselves in a different place.
"Eh, this is..."
"I was just saved? This must be the legendary Spatial Rift Jutsu, that Tsukasa Kaede's Space-Time Ninjutsu."
"So Lord Tsukasa Kaede has already arrived at the Front Line? I hadn't heard anything about this, how wonderful!"
"Hmm, thank you, though you're probably a dead person, so you likely can't understand what I'm saying..."
Other Konoha Ninja, who had resigned themselves to death, were unexpectedly spared, their bodies limp, gasping for air, uttering words of thanks to the corpse beside them.
Tsukasa Kaede accepted all this gratitude.
"Hm, all 38 people in the first batch saved. Lost 29 zombies, huh..."
Tsukasa Kaede calculated the numbers.
The reason for fewer zombie losses was purely because some zombies had their lower bodies erased by Dust Release, but their heads, shoulders, and arms remained intact, allowing them to continue being used as consumables by Tsukasa Kaede to perform Spatial Rift Jutsu.
Many people witnessed Spatial Rift Jutsu firsthand for the first time, even Kage-level powerhouses like Onoki and Orochimaru, and instinctively began intel analysis.
"Heheheh, Tsukasa-kun, you just said you needed my secrecy about sneaking to the Front Line, but after the battle began, why did you actively reveal yourself? Once Space-Time Ninjutsu is used, it's impossible to conceal. Aren't you afraid of repercussions from the Village?"
Orochimaru excitedly licked his lips, watching Tsukasa Kaede reappear beside him.
Tsukasa Kaede spread his hands. "What can I do? I couldn't bear to watch so many comrades die under Dust Release's attack. As the supreme commander here, you showed no intention of acting."
"Youth is truly wonderful; one can act without restraint. If these lives can be used to drain Onoki's Chakra, then it's entirely worth it. This is war, a cruel game of attrition."
There was another sentence Orochimaru left unsaid: that the Third Hokage particularly enjoyed this attrition-based combat model.
Tsukasa Kaede immediately smiled. "Is that so? Then it seems I'm very well-suited to war. Both my personal disposition and my Ninjutsu are a good fit... So, in that situation just now, I used my own Chakra to deplete the enemy leader's Chakra, correct? Did that exchange give us a tiny, insignificant advantage?"
Only during the Second Great Ninja War did Konoha dare to play this way.
By the Third Great Ninja War a few years later, the entire Shinobi World would be fighting like mad, and the Hidden Leaf Village would have to employ various risky tactics to try and gain an advantage.
"Indeed. That's why I hold Tsukasa-kun in such high regard. I just wonder if your Chakra can hold out, and when you plan to use that Jutsu to replenish it? There are quite a few corpses stored in this vicinity, from both friend and foe."
Orochimaru was ecstatic. This war was utterly unimportant in his eyes; the Jutsu held by the person before him was far more significant.
"I wouldn't use the corpses of comrades in battle, but enemy corpses are another matter entirely."
Tsukasa Kaede looked up at the sky. His current consumption was actually manageable, whether from traveling from the Village to the Front Line or saving those people in one go.
However, this was temporary. With the decisive battle underway, having arrived, there was no reason for him to return quietly. Much of the Life Force he had accumulated would have to be converted into Chakra.
Large numbers of corpses would appear in a decisive battle of this scale; each one was Tsukasa Kaede's treasure.
Even more Bloodline Limit Ninja would die! Tsukasa Kaede clapped his hands. "Then, I shall begin creating Chakra. This will take a little time."
In the sky, Onoki also watched Tsukasa Kaede's location from afar.
"So that's Spatial Rift Jutsu. Utilizing corpses to assist in casting is certainly unique, but it appears there's still room for further development. It's different from Flying Raijin Jutsu."
With just one glance, Onoki roughly grasped the limitations of Spatial Rift Jutsu.
Namely, it couldn't transfer objects in batches at the same time; they had to be transferred one by one.
This was why numerous flickering afterimages of Tsukasa Kaede appeared on the field—visual afterimages left by his frequent appearances and instantaneous disappearances.
Onoki's goal was not to kill these Konoha Ninja; what was the point of specifically killing a bunch of people with no potential?
It was more valuable to seize the opportunity to drain Tsukasa Kaede's Chakra and his reserves of corpses. Otherwise, what if Tsukasa Kaede escaped early? That was the trouble with Space-Time Ninja; they were too difficult to kill. Minato Namikaze was like that, and Tsukasa Kaede even more so.
On the other side of the battlefield, the young Minato Namikaze also watched the earlier exchange from afar.
"That's another Space-Time Ninjutsu; it's my first time seeing it. It's truly unique."
Minato Namikaze saw things more clearly than ordinary people, and analyzed more intel, naturally discerning the limitations of Spatial Rift Jutsu.
However, this did not diminish his admiration and regard for Tsukasa Kaede.
Kaedemply put, the Flying Raijin Jutsu he practiced was fundamentally developed by the Second Hokage. He learned it and was now trying to further refine it, developing other supporting Technique Formulas.
But Tsukasa Kaede's Spatial Rift Jutsu had no predecessors to leave it behind for him; everything had to be developed from scratch! Moreover, Spatial Rift Jutsu was, at its root, a supporting Ninjutsu for the Corpse Release Secret Technique; one had to learn the Corpse Release Secret Technique before one could learn Spatial Rift Jutsu.
"Corpse Release Secret Technique... I always feel that this new Secret Technique system is exceptionally bizarre and definitely has more development potential."