ZAN 130

Chapter 130: Mad Konoha, Wishing for Eyes

Kaede Tsukasa understood better than anyone what was about to happen—this was exactly the scene he wanted to see.

Sure enough, when the “Temporary Policy for Exchanging Battle Merits for Resurrection Qualification” was officially announced, the entire Konoha Village fell into a brief silence.

Who didn’t have regrets in their heart? Who didn’t have someone they wanted to revive? In years of war, who hadn’t lost friends or family? Even if not, getting a resurrection slot in advance was useful, just in case!

No one would ever feel they had too many resurrections—they only regretted having too few.

After a while, Konoha Village seemed like a boiling pot; the intense, fiery atmosphere suddenly erupted. Everyone was breathing rapidly, their eyes bloodshot, their chests feeling like a volcano about to erupt, desperate to do something to obtain something they had never dared to imagine before.

“Finally, finally announced… this is the resurrection policy, I’ve finally waited for this…”

“Hehe, hahahaha! Just one S-rank mission is enough, and you can also exchange multiple lower-rank missions step by step! In theory, even if you only do B-rank missions, you can eventually accumulate 100 points—it’s only a matter of time and effort!”

“Idiot, don’t be so optimistic. B-rank missions mean battles. Usually, a squad leader Jonin takes a small team of experienced Chunin to complete these missions. Even so, casualties often occur. Without real strength, it’s really hard to accumulate enough points for an S-rank mission just by doing B-rank missions.”

B-rank missions were already the minimum requirement under this policy. Leading and completing a B-rank mission granted 3 points. By this calculation, completing 34 B-rank missions would earn one resurrection slot—this was…

Extremely worth it!

Well, for ordinary ninja, the ideal scenario still required going through 34 consecutive battles, taking the lead in each, ensuring survival, and not unlucky enough to face an enemy beyond B-rank difficulty.

By that measure, it wasn’t simple at all. Reality wouldn’t provide so many ideal outcomes, but this was for exchanging a resurrection slot! Even the strongest ninja, famous across the ninja world and mastering countless powerful jutsus, had never qualified to exchange merits for resurrection, no matter how many S-rank missions they completed! Only Kaede Tsukasa could use resurrection multiple times, only he could launch such a policy, even entirely independently of the village, driving countless people mad.

“But I see it requires death within a year. What if someone has been dead for several years…”

“That’s why it’s a ‘temporary’ policy! Forgot? The corpses of those who fought for Lord Kaede Tsukasa aren’t all within one year of death. In the future, the requirements will surely be refined. But accordingly, the merit points required will likely increase. The longer the time since death, the harder the resurrection, the greater the cost.”

That said, for those unlucky ones who couldn’t complete enough missions and accumulate points… every passing year would increase the cost of resurrection. The worst case was that no matter how hard they tried, they could never revive the person they wanted…

Unless they risked their lives, eating, sleeping, and doing missions, especially dangerous ones with higher rewards!

Only the craziest people could seize this insane resurrection opportunity.

“This resurrection slot could probably be used on ourselves too, right? If we gather enough points and die in battle, Lord Kaede Tsukasa should revive us, right?”

“Of course! Since Lord Kaede Tsukasa issued this policy, how could it be a trick?”

“Hey, did you all forget? The corpses needed for resurrection must be prepared ourselves. That means if we kill an enemy during a mission, we can’t waste them—we must bring the corpse back and seal it into a scroll…”

“Great news! The price of sealing scrolls is going up!”

“Why are you so happy about the price increase? What are you up to?”

“Don’t get violent. He runs a ninja tools shop in the south of the village. In the future, the value of sealing scrolls will skyrocket. He’ll probably make a killing.”

“Hmph, what use is money? Can money be exchanged for merit points? Can it earn a resurrection slot?”

“He can just hire you with money to be his subordinate and go on missions together, can’t he?”

“Damn, that’s too evil! But I won’t submit to money. Everyone wants a resurrection slot, everyone wants to lead the mission. If you just follow along, the points earned are too few. Who knows how long it would take to get a resurrection chance? You might even die tragically during a mission!”

All over the vast Konoha Village, people were studying the resurrection policy—it was an absolute necessity. Everyone would need it at some point.

At the same time, this pushed Lord Kaede Tsukasa’s prestige to a new peak.

Those with quick wits had already started scheming to profit from selling corpses. They couldn’t touch their own people’s bodies, but the ninja world was huge—so many other countries and villages—just steal their corpses!

“Hurry! Someone has already issued a mission to recruit a batch of ninja to dig up graves in other countries and villages!”

“That should count as a B-rank mission. Grave digging is extremely hated. Who doesn’t watch over their family graves carefully? Even public cemeteries have dedicated ninja guards, afraid that one day the corpses might rise and attack.”

“Hehehe, Lord Kaede Tsukasa seems to have deeply changed many customs. I heard the people in Sunagakure were hit so many times that they switched to mandatory cremation.”

There were always clever people—and plenty of them.

When Uchiha Hachida brought his men to the mission office, he found that all B-rank and higher missions had already been claimed.

Not only that, anyone who even looked like an employer was immediately surrounded by a pack of wolf-like ninja. Once confirmed that they had a B-rank or higher mission, everyone would smile with delight and desperately try to sell themselves.

This wasn’t against the rules; employers paid to issue missions and had the right to designate who could take the mission, including the ninja’s rank and experience.

Hachida found himself in this embarrassing situation. As a squad leader of Konoha’s security team, he had been running around maintaining village order since the resurrection policy was announced, with far too many responsibilities.

By the time he finished and rushed over personally, it was already too late.

“Damn it! These guys are just camping by the employers—outrageous! But I can’t arrest them all…” Hachida’s anger boiled.

This was a resurrection slot! Even knowing that Kaede Tsukasa had been in a tug-of-war with the village recently, aware that a civil war could erupt at any moment, Hachida could not allow himself to miss this opportunity.

“Resurrection… if the conditions allow, I’ll dig up Uchiha Madara’s corpse and have Lord Kaede Tsukasa revive him! I just don’t know if his One’s Own Life Reincarnation Jutsu still works on someone dead for decades, or how many corpses are needed as offerings to resurrect such a strong person.”

At times like this, no one cared about minor details like “handling corpses is immoral.” Everyone only saw it as a necessary step for resurrection—after all, they were taking corpses from other countries and villages, so moral qualms were unnecessary.

“Lord Hachida, what should we do now? We worked hard to get here, but who could have expected… I don’t even know how to report this back to Lord Fugaku.”

Other Uchiha clan members looked troubled.

It wasn’t that they hadn’t tried—it was just that there were too many clever people, acting too fast and too ruthless. They had been quick, but waiting to report back to Fugaku, convene the elders, and then decide on action would have been far too late.

Hachida stood at the mission office for a long time, his face dark, glaring fiercely at every passing ninja. Many weaker ninja lowered their heads, afraid to meet the eyes of these arrogant, domineering Uchiha.

“Captain, if it really doesn’t work, we can spend our own money. The clan can issue missions using our funds and assign our squad to complete them. I don’t know if this is a loophole in the policy, but it hasn’t been closed yet, so we can use it.”

“Foolish. The clan’s funds are limited. We need to train clan members and buy ninja tools. If we hire ourselves, the bulk of the money goes straight to the village!”

Hachida scolded: “This will weaken the clan’s economic strength, creating a vicious cycle. Later, even reviving a few clan members won’t make up for the long-term losses! This seems brilliant, but it’s actually a very malicious trap!”

“Wow! As expected of Lord Hachida—so farsighted, seeing the problem instantly!”

“Could it be that Lord Kaede Tsukasa has actually reconciled with the village, conspiring to stage this, just to weaken us great ninja clans? Making us work desperately while draining our lifeblood to enrich the village… Over time, the village grows richer and the clans poorer!”

“Who knows? I don’t understand the higher-ups’ affairs. Whether or not there’s a benefit exchange between Kaede Tsukasa and the village doesn’t matter. I have a better plan.”

“Heh heh heh, there are always more solutions than difficulties. These self-righteous fools think watching B-rank and higher missions will quickly earn enough points? How naive!”

Hachida’s expression turned fierce: “We’ll take C-rank missions! Everyone, take one!”

“Ah? C-rank? The minimum mission level in the resurrection policy is B-rank!”

“That’s simple. Mission rank is never fixed. On our way to complete a C-rank mission, we’ll turn it into a B-rank mission!” Hachida sneered. “As long as we encounter enemies and a battle breaks out, the C-rank mission will automatically become B-rank!”

“But what if we don’t encounter any enemies…”

“If there are no enemies, we’ll create our own! Immediately take C-rank missions that require traveling to other countries. Once we leave the Land of Fire, we’ll provoke ninja from other countries and villages—whatever it takes to force them to fight!”

Hachida’s eyes flashed with intensity: “We’ll conceal our Konoha identity, show ourselves to alert other ninja, then act weak, flaunt wealth, or use any method to humiliate and insult them—anything to make them strike first! As long as they dare attack, we strike back with full force. The C-rank mission effectively becomes a B-rank mission.”

As for whether the employer issuing the mission deliberately hid the true difficulty to hire Konoha ninja at a lower fee…

That depended on the village. As long as the relevant officials weren’t fools, they would realize what was going on. At most, they’d still pay only C-rank fees to the ninja completing the mission.

But at the point of exchanging resurrection slots, who cared about such fees?

“W-Wonderful! So this is possible! As expected of Lord Hachida, your wisdom rivals that of Elder Setsuna!”

The Uchiha who preferred solving problems with fists were shocked. They had never realized they could exploit the mission ranking system to fit the resurrection policy!

Hachida smirked: “Not only that, after killing enemies, we’ll also have the corpses needed for resurrection. If we accumulate too many, we can even sell them when we return to the village. That’s another source of income—possibly more than the difference in rewards between C- and B-rank missions.”

Hachida basked in the admiration and praise of his clanmates, feeling that with his level of intelligence, he could one day become an elder and advise Lord Fugaku.

As for whether provoking other forces’ ninja into conflict might cause diplomatic incidents… sorry, there was no time to worry about that. First, secure the resurrection slots.

With enough resurrection slots, perhaps people would calm down a bit and work more reasonably, without being too greedy.

But the problem was that no one ever thought a resurrection slot was too many. One slot would make them want ten! In ninja clans, whose ancestors didn’t have a few powerful forebears? Waiting in line for resurrection was too slow—who would ever think there were too many slots?

It was obvious that soon, this wave of madness would erupt from Konoha Village, spreading throughout the entire ninja world. Any other ninja caught in its surge would be utterly consumed.

Of course, many Konoha ninja would die as well—but who cared? Those with visible opportunities for resurrection would throw themselves at it at any cost.

The vast Konoha Village had become a frenzied hub of military merit. Everywhere, ninja were scrambling to find missions, rushing out of the village.

When the news of the resurrection policy spread, it caused a stir across the ninja world. Spies continually reported on the fanatical behavior of Konoha ninja, providing intelligence for their village leaders.

Honestly, every spy observing Konoha’s atmosphere felt a chill down their spine. This had been a village with no ambitions for foreign lands, occupying the wealthiest territory in the ninja world, enjoying rich traditions and abundant wealth.

But now, everything had changed. Something even more precious had appeared.

Humans have many flaws, but when given a chance to undo regrets, those who have tasted suffering will grasp it at all costs, just to see someone lost return.

In the war-torn ninja world, regrets were everywhere. Everyone needed this. If not now, then later. At worst, they could secure a resurrection slot for emergencies, even for themselves.

“Insane! Absolutely insane! What are the Konoha people trying to do? Are they trying to start the Third Great Ninja War?!”

“Our country is being attacked more frequently—just in three months, more than the entire previous year! And the trend is increasing!”

“Many bloody incidents cannot confirm the attacker’s identity, but we know the enemies are most likely Konoha ninja in disguise. The worst part is, they even took the corpses of our dead ninja!”

“Grave robberies are frequent in all countries. If Konoha ninja crossed borders, that might be understandable, but the worst part is that our own people are doing it secretly, not just selling corpses—they’re trying to trade resurrection slots with Konoha ninja!”

It was absurd. In such a short time, resurrection slots originally costing 100 merit points had been speculated up to 1,400 on the black market—and the price would continue to rise. Everyone lacked resurrection slots, and getting one from a specific Konoha ninja involved delivering a corpse and having the other person take it to Kaede Tsukasa for revival—already a risky endeavor.

Who knew how Kaede Tsukasa would react? What if he suddenly blocked this practice in anger? Better to secure slots now while possible.

No one knew when this storm would end.

Prominent merchants in the ninja world had already started acting. In some places, there were even crowdfunding cases to obtain resurrection slots, seeking trustworthy Konoha ninja as intermediaries—it was utterly outrageous.

Konoha Village was siphoning wealth, secret techniques, ninja tools, intelligence, corpses… anything of value started flowing toward Konoha.

Everyone could see that if this trend wasn’t reversed, in a few years the Land of Fire and Konoha Village would continuously drain the rest of the ninja world, growing stronger and accumulating more resources. The strongest ninja from across the world would increasingly be drawn to serve the Land of Fire and Konoha.

Fortunately, it hadn’t reached that point yet. There was still time to deal with visible risks.

“Resurrection… resurrection! This damn resurrection jutsu, and the worst part is Kaede Tsukasa turned it into a reusable high-level ninjutsu. Is this still forbidden?!”

“Recklessly bending the rules of life and death, violating reality itself—how can such a person exist?!”

“Hmph, the Konoha ninja are throwing themselves into death willingly. Isn’t that good? They dare provoke us; we can take the opportunity to kill them. Konoha can’t say anything!”

“No need to worry about diplomatic incidents; we’ll solve this purely with force!”

Thus, killings between countries and villages surged. There was no chance of other nations uniting to suppress Konoha ninja, and with massive internal rivalries, it was normal for ninja to kill on sight when blood ran hot.

Who could know which enemy was disguised as a ninja from another faction? Killing them all ensured no mistakes.

Of course, it wasn’t mindless slaughter. During battles, everyone paid attention to corpse handling: grab what you could, destroy what you couldn’t with jutsu.

Leaders of each faction looked at the skyrocketing casualty numbers in frustration. This scenario was completely unlike anything they had known—entirely unprecedented.

It was far more brutal than squad infiltration missions: provocations, fraud, betrayals—anything could happen, with no shame at all.

Even Konoha villagers, upon learning of these external changes, were shocked. The world had become unrecognizable.

But… it didn’t matter. It was only a matter of time!

As more Konoha ninja visited Kaede Tsukasa and successfully revived relatives, things spun completely out of control. Endless competition erupted—everyone had to secure resurrection slots at any cost.

Kaede Tsukasa observed everything.

“Good, that’s how it should be. Everyone, give it your all. Dig out all the darkness in your hearts.”

Holding some vision didn’t make one righteous; schemes and manipulations flourished endlessly.

Kaede Tsukasa had never forgotten his primary goal in instigating this unprecedented situation: to unlock the Box of ultimate Bliss.

And he had indeed achieved it.

“This is enough. Finally, enough negative emotions have accumulated… as I thought, I am correct. A single human produces little negative emotion, far less than directly casting them into the Box of ultimate Bliss. But if stretched over time, the total negative emotion becomes considerable.”

Moreover, humans were easily influenced by one another. Seeing others act this way, no one would hesitate; the effect would grow exponentially.

“Then let’s open it. Show me your limits. You, who have absorbed the darkness of all living beings, can you meet my expectations…”

Kaede Tsukasa tore off his shirt, revealing the face of Hashirama behind him.

The face shifted and stretched slightly, accompanied by a faint tearing sound, becoming more three-dimensional, before suddenly opening its eyes.

The three tomoe in those eyes slowly rotated.

Kaede Tsukasa looked at the opened box, at the countless twisted masses inside, as if all of humanity’s darkness had been concentrated there.

Even standing there alone, the mind and spirit were easily affected. This corruption was ten times stronger than before, making even someone like Kaede Tsukasa frown slightly.

“I wish to obtain Indra’s strongest Sharingan!”