As Kakashi drew his tanto blade, the shambling corpses closed in, driven by a primal urge to feed.

But instead of attacking right away, he took a moment to assess the situation.

His earlier suspicions were confirmed: these weren't true corpses, but rather reanimated bodies trapped in a state of suspended animation.

They were likely former bandits, transformed by some unknown process into these monstrous forms.

When Motoki's team arrived, these walking dead must have fallen dormant en masse.

That's why he and his team had let their guard down, thinking they'd won after inflicting what seemed like shallow wounds.

But what really caught Kakashi's attention was that even the walking corpses with gaping wounds showed no signs of blood or internal organs. The gashes were just dark, empty holes.

Now, revived by the Water Release jutsu, they'd broken free from their deathly stillness, rising from their dormant state with a hunger for the living.

He realized that ordinary wounds wouldn't be effective against these unnatural beings. The key to taking them down was to target their joints, immobilizing them, or removing their heads entirely.

Just then, Daisuke and his partner appeared at Kakashi's side. "Captain, what's going on here?" Daisuke asked, his voice laced with concern.

"Yeah, since when did our mission involve fighting zombies?" his partner added, eyeing the approaching corpses nervously.

"Less talking, more fighting," Kakashi ordered. "Target their joints or go for a clean beheading. That's the only way to take them down for good."

The three Anbu formed a defensive circle around Yuma, still trapped in the grip of the corpse clinging to his throat. Their priority was to protect their comrade from further harm.

The walking dead shambled towards them in waves, their attacks clumsy and instinctual. For the elite Anbu, dodging such uncoordinated assaults was child's play.

But the corpses' pale, waxy skin proved surprisingly resilient. Even direct hits from shuriken barely left a scratch.

Brute force, applied with precision to critical points, seemed to be the only reliable way to take down the corpses.

Kakashi gripped his tanto with both hands, channeling chakra to enhance the blade's cutting power as he targeted the necks of the attacking corpses.

Heads rolled, but instead of blood, a viscous, white mucus oozed out.

"Ugh, gross!" Daisuke exclaimed, dodging a glob of the mucus. "What are these things made of?"

"Forget that for now," his partner said, decapitating another corpse with a well-placed kick. "I want to know what's causing this. Is it some kind of jutsu?"

"Maybe," Kakashi grunted, dispatching two more of the creatures. "But let's focus on surviving first, theories later."

After a grueling battle, the Copy Ninja and his team finally managed to dispatch the last of the walking dead.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

As they caught their breath, Kakashi surveyed the motionless faces of their attackers, sprawled in the shallow water.

He allowed himself a brief sigh of relief before turning his attention to Yuma's predicament.

The situation was more complicated than he'd hoped. The corpse's bite had inflicted a severe wound.

Trying to forcibly remove it now would likely cause blood loss. The prudent course was to secure the area first, then carefully consider their options.

The problem was, none of them were medical ninja, making effective hemostasis a dangerous task.

After a moment's thought, he came up with a bold plan. He would remove the corpse's head while leaving it attached to Yuma's neck.

This way, they could transport Yuma back to the village without risking severe blood loss, while also preserving the head for study.

The challenge would be severing the head without making the corpse's jaw move. A blade wouldn't be precise enough - he needed something more exact.

"Chidori!" Kakashi cried, lightning chakra crackling to life around his hand.

His comrades quickly stepped back, wary of the jutsu.

With a precise strike, he cleanly separated the corpse's head from its body, leaving Yuma's neck untouched.

As the headless corpse collapsed, Kakashi caught Yuma, preventing him from falling.

"Secure the head to his neck and get him back to the village, now," he commanded, entrusting Yuma to Daisuke's care.

Daisuke hesitated, sensing his intention to stay behind. "What about you?"

"The mission isn't over yet," Kakashi replied, his gaze fixed on the cave.

His father's fate and Obito's sacrifice had made one thing clear: the mission and his comrades were equally important. He would see this through.

"Inu, this is crazy," Daisuke protested. "We barely made it out of that first fight. You can't take on an unknown threat alone!"

"I'm not asking permission," Kakashi said firmly. "Get Taka to safety. That's an order."

Daisuke looked like he wanted to argue further, but Kakashi's sharp glance silenced him.

With a frustrated grunt, he carefully lifted Yuma onto his back, making sure not to disturb the gruesome attachment to Yuma's neck.

"Just... be careful in there, yeah?" Daisuke said, his anger giving way to genuine concern.

Kakashi nodded curtly. "I'll do what I have to. Now go."

With a final, worried glance, Daisuke and his partner disappeared into the trees, carrying Yuma back to Konoha.

----------

Kakashi reentered the cave, alone once more. The silence was unsettling, as if the chaos that had erupted earlier had never happened.

He moved cautiously along the wall, straining his ears to pick up any sign of movement in the chamber ahead. But there was nothing.

Nothing. Not even a breath.

Still, with the statue's power at play, he didn't dare look directly. Instead, he used a mirror to scan the area, he carefully scanned the area.

The platform stood vacant, the assembled ninja from before nowhere to be seen.

The platform was empty, the assembled ninja from before nowhere to be seen. But as the mirror's reflection swept over the platform, he caught a glimpse of a sickly green glow.

He let out a reflexive gasp and dropped the mirror, which shattered on the stone floor.

They'd left the statue behind.

Kakashi had been careful to avoid even a glance at the figure, but that flash of weird light confirmed its presence.

Were the others still hiding in the cave, waiting to strike?

Unlikely.

His sharp senses would have picked up on anyone lurking in the confined space. For now, he was alone.

But why had they abandoned the statue? Kakashi knew it was no ordinary statue, but a vessel for a powerful genjutsu.

Wouldn't it be a prize worth claiming? It seemed like a valuable asset, one that could give them a significant advantage.

Unless...

His mind flashed back to Kiri's previous scheme with the Three-Tails - sealing the beast within Rin and setting her on a collision course with Konoha, a ticking time bomb of destruction.

Could this be a similar ploy? But upon further reflection, probably not.

The statue's power was different, relying on direct line of sight. It could be neutralized by simply covering it up.

His course was clear. He had to secure the statue and bring it back to the village.

Even if it was too dangerous to study directly, it could at least be contained.

Closing his eyes and trusting his spatial memory, he approached the statue.

As his foot touched the platform, a sudden chorus of whispers filled his ears. The sighs and murmurs were nonsensical, sourceless, and in no language he could identify as human.

But one word rose above the strange whispers, repeated like a dark mantra:

"Cthulhu... Cthulhu..."

There it was again. That name, the same one spoken by the missing-nin. What did it mean?

Unnerved, Kakashi quickly wrapped the statue in cloth, muffling its power.

As the last fold of fabric fell into place, the whispering stopped, leaving only silence.

He lifted the shrouded statue, surprised by its lightness despite its stone-like construction. A mystery for the experts back in Konoha to figure out.

Slinging it across his back, he made his way out of the cave.