Naruto: Zombie Release

"Inuzuka Tsume of the Inuzuka clan, together with her ninja hound Kuromaru, managed to kill two Jonin? Remarkable. 

She's likely the first in her clan's history to forgo raising a pup from birth, instead choosing to bond with an experienced, battle-worn ninken who had lost its original partner."

Sakumo nodded to himself. The legacy of Konoha was vast and rich; its talent pool, seemingly inexhaustible. 

Time and again, seemingly unremarkable shinobi would unexpectedly pull off an astounding feat, catching the enemy off guard and inflicting additional losses, something the enemy had never prepared for.

The Third Hokage favored this kind of youth the most, those who defied expectations and inflicted surprising damage upon the enemy. 

From another perspective, wasn't this a case of Konoha using equal resources to cost the enemy more? Didn't that mean Konoha had, in essence, secured yet another small victory?

Pile up enough of those small victories, and gradually, strategic advantage would take shape. 

After all, with Konoha's deep foundation, it could afford to trade blow for blow, and even welcomed it.

"Between shinobi, the battle always begins with information. When you strike with an unexpected technique, you seize the upper hand in intelligence."

Sakumo looked over the new generation of ninja, deeply satisfied, until a fresh report caught his eye.

"Dead Soul Technique? Someone's actually taking the time to develop that forbidden art… and with impressive results? 

Yoshida Arata… a genin from the medical corps… has directly killed three enemy ninja and indirectly helped take down five more?"

Sakumo didn't doubt the report. The observers in charge of recording front-line combat were under strict orders to maintain precision. 

No village could afford sloppy record-keeping when it came to meritorious service; credibility and internal order demanded absolute rigor.

Though the medical corps had only recently been established, talents were already beginning to shine.

For a genin, or even a Chunin, to wield such a trump card as Arata had, was enough to draw anyone's attention.

"Tsunade's unit will surely produce more talented shinobi like him… Let's hope someone rises to become the next Minato."

Sakumo sighed without meaning to. But even he knew it was wishful thinking.

No matter how many prodigies were emerging now, none of them, individually or combined, could compare to Minato, who had already turned thirteen.

The reason was simple: Minato had mastered the Second Hokage's legacy, the Flying Thunder God Technique, becoming only the second ninja in Konoha's history to use space-time ninjutsu with such skill.

It hadn't even been long since he'd arrived on the battlefield against Iwagakure, and already he'd made a name for himself, taking down multiple Jonin at the age of thirteen and retrieving vital intel that had shaped Konoha's strategy.

It was astonishing. Even Sakumo, the White Fang himself, felt shaken by Minato's sheer brilliance and potential.

Raw talent, limitless potential, and perhaps most terrifying, he was nearly unkillable. Even in the face of defeat, Minato could vanish in a blink using the Flying Thunder God.

He was already like this at thirteen… In another two years, how far would he grow?

In front of Minato, any so-called genius would struggle not to feel ashamed.

"Lord Sakumo! There's movement at the enemy command post, Chiyo has entered the battlefield with her puppet corps!"

"She's finally shown up. Sunagakure can't afford this kind of war of attrition. They're the ones who blinked first."

Sakumo rose sharply, motioning for his personal guard to follow. They, too, charged into battle.

On both sides, the strongest warriors were now entering the fray.

Of all of them, Chiyo's heart was under the most strain. If she'd had a choice, she would never have taken the field.

"Konoha never runs out of geniuses… Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha left that village with an impossible legacy," Ebizo murmured with a sigh.

They couldn't win a battle of attrition. No matter how many poisoned weapons Chiyo deployed, all they were doing was increasing Konoha's casualties, not breaking their line. 

They still couldn't outlast them.

A decisive war? Suna didn't have the certainty of victory. All they could do was launch large-scale offensives and hope for a crack in the armor.

But Sakumo was too powerful, devastatingly so against puppeteers. He had driven Chiyo's puppet corps to the brink of uselessness.

"Enough with the sighing! You're just boosting enemy morale!" 

Chiyo shouted, her fury boiling over. She led her puppet masters onto the battlefield, slicing down Konoha ninja in a deadly sweep.

It was a tactical maneuver: strike suddenly, kill a batch of Konoha forces, then retreat quickly, whittling away at their numbers little by little.

But the problem was, their opponent was the White Fang of Konoha. Such tricks wouldn't work more than once. Worse still, Sakumo could use the same strategy right back at them.

No matter how the battle played out, Konoha had the resources and manpower to mirror every move. 

Even if they suffered greater losses, Suna was the one bleeding out. The knowledge left Chiyo fuming with frustration.

"So what if Konoha has more geniuses? White Fang, the Sannin, Dan, even that brat Minato, kill one, and that's one fewer genius they have forever! 

If only my son and daughter-in-law were still alive… Sunagakure has its own prodigies! Just wait until my grandson comes of age, he'll surpass them all!"

Taking advantage of the brief moment before Sakumo arrived, Chiyo unfurled a summoning scroll and unleashed several puppets, sending them lunging at the Konoha ranks.

With the Third Kazekage and Shukaku's jinchuriki Bunpuku deployed against Iwagakure, Chiyo had no choice but to rely on her brother Ebizo to help fend off Konoha's assault. 

Thankfully, her custom poisons had granted Suna a slight edge, without them, the situation would have been even more disastrous.

Meanwhile, Arata blended into the crowd, head pounding.

"There are too many people around… and I can't just start raising fallen Konoha ninja to fight. That limits me even further, and I barely have any chakra left."

Arata realized he was better suited for small-squad operations, missions where he didn't have to worry about teammates. That's where he could shine.

More importantly, he felt an urgent need to develop new Zombie Release techniques, he needed to keep expanding his arsenal.

If he kept using the same techniques over and over, eventually they would be analyzed. 

The more battles he fought, the more intel leaked, and the more countermeasures the enemy would devise. That made every future fight increasingly dangerous.

Only by evolving, innovating, and constantly updating his jutsu repertoire, only by staying ahead of the enemy's intel, could Arata feel truly secure.

"If I want a survival technique that doesn't burn through too much chakra… then it has to be that special Substitution Jutsu I've been mentally crafting.

The theoretical training I ran through in my mind didn't show any problems. Now it's time to train it in reality."

His thoughts were abruptly cut short.

Screams erupted ahead, and chaos followed, men and horses thrown into the air, severed limbs flying in all directions.

Arata looked up, just in time to see a puppet in white robes charging at him, raising a massive axe high into the air.

And then, it swung.

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