In the quiet underground base, only Rinjin's mature and steady voice echoed.
"Uzumaki Ashina once told me—
The Uchiha, Senju, and Uzumaki clans are all among the most ancient lineages.
The Uchiha clan are descendants of Indra, the Sage of Six Paths' eldest son.
The Senju clan descends from Asura, the Sage's younger son.
The former inherited the Sage's Eyes, the latter inherited the Sage's Body.
Later, when the Sage of Six Paths entrusted the Ninja Creed he'd worked so hard to establish to his second son Asura, this caused dissatisfaction in his eldest son.
So the two brothers broke apart, and their descendants have been fighting for countless years."
On his stone seat, Uchiha Madara squinted at Rinjin, his heart churning like stormy seas.
Honestly, he didn't believe a single punctuation mark of what Rinjin was saying.
But this content matched parts of what he'd deduced from his family's stone tablet.
If Rinjin was just making things up, then he'd have to alter the stone tablet in the Uchiha Naka Shrine as well.
While Uchiha Madara pondered, Rinjin's narration didn't stop.
He wanted to tell Madara the parts of history he knew, so this current reincarnation of Indra could change the course of history.
Rinjin had his reasons for doing this.
As time passed, he increasingly felt there was a black hand behind the entire ninja world, manipulating all major events to keep history on its proper track.
Several times when using Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation, he'd sensed a strange, prying presence—as if some voyeur was casting scrutinizing gazes from an imperceptible space.
This feeling was very unpleasant.
Later, after much contemplation, he finally narrowed down the peeping suspect to the soul form of the Sage of Six Paths—
Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo.
So who could wrestle with Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo?
Obito?
Though Obito became an incomplete Sage of Six Paths during the Fourth Great Ninja War, he ultimately lost by one move, defeated by Talk-no-Jutsu.
But old Madara was different—he was born with Flex-no-Jutsu, naturally the nemesis of Talk-no-Jutsu.
Therefore, Madara was Rinjin's number one candidate.
Inside the Graveyard of the Mountains, Rinjin suppressed his inner excitement and continued speaking blandly.
"Uzumaki Ashina told me that the Rinnegan—this eye of creation and destruction—can only be awakened when the Sage's Body and Sage's Eyes unite as one.
Once awakened, one gains the creative power of all phenomena."
Speaking thus, Rinjin chuckled and pointed at Madara's eyes.
"I heard the Rinnegan has a technique called the Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique that can revive people who've been dead for a long time."
Hearing this, Uchiha Madara nodded slightly, then shook his head, his withered face showing no expression.
"It can revive the dead, but not those who've been dead for very long."
"What about combined with Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation?"
As soon as the words fell, Uchiha Madara's pale eyebrows shot up sharply, his eyes flashing with a deadly gleam as he stared at Rinjin.
"Who told you this?"
You couldn't blame Uchiha Madara for losing composure—Rinjin simply knew too much!
The Rinnegan itself was already a secret, the Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique was a secret among secrets, and the fact that Impure World Reincarnation bodies could be revived by the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique was an absolute secret known only to him and Black Zetsu.
Yet Rinjin had just stated it so casually.
Then he saw Rinjin's face show an undisguised smirk, and his heart jolted.
Damn that smug brat, got played by this kid again!
In an instant, Madara wanted to tear out the tubes connecting him to the Demonic Statue and jump up to beat this cunning, scheming bastard to death with his cane.
On the other side, Rinjin quickly stood up as if predicting the future, distancing himself from the cane-wielding Uchiha Madara.
Though he wasn't afraid of getting bonked by old Madara, what if he couldn't help but hit back?
Respecting elders and caring for the young was a traditional virtue~
After quite a while, old Madara finally suppressed his anger and waved at Rinjin.
"You brat, come here and continue talking."
"Talk about what?"
"About why you're stealing my Rinnegan!"
"To revive my teacher."
"Come here, come to my side and say it. I'm old and can't hear clearly!"
"Heh, then put down the cane I gave you first."
"Fine, I've put it down. Come over."
"No! First tell me where that scythe in your hand came from?"
"What blade?"
"The scythe."
"What scythe?"
"..."
Watching Uchiha Madara play deaf while holding that gleaming scythe that had once cut Senju Hashirama, Rinjin decisively chose to stay far from this dangerous old man.
After a long standoff, seeing that Uchiha Madara still wouldn't put down that cold, gleaming scythe that had battled Senju Hashirama, Rinjin decisively formed a single-handed seal and escaped using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Back in Rain Village's leader office, Rinjin stood before the large floor-to-ceiling windows, leisurely observing the entire village while recalling his earlier conversation with Uchiha Madara.
Though he hadn't directly mentioned Black Zetsu, he could almost confirm that Madara no longer trusted Black Zetsu as he once had.
The seeds of doubt had already taken root and sprouted.
Over in Konoha, that girl Rin was also gradually losing her blind trust in Konoha with the help of that little double agent Mei Terumi.
So the most important thing now was to further enhance his own combat power.
For Rinjin, who had trained in Lightning Release Chakra Mode for years, the only factor limiting his combat strength was his chakra reserves.
Ever since giving part of his immortal essence to Tsunade last time, his total chakra had further decreased, now falling below even an average chunin's passing grade.
However, this couldn't affect his combat ability at all.
His fighting relied mainly on fists and his cat—missing that bit of chakra made virtually no difference from before.
Most crucially, with his essence diminished, his immortal body's recovery performance had been partially weakened.
This meant that to fully open the Eighth Gate—the Gate of Death—of the Eight Gates, he only needed to split off another portion of his essence.
Thinking of this, Rinjin stroked his chin and muttered to himself:
"Should I just kill off Rii?
Uh... if I did that, wouldn't I be a bit too inhuman?
Forget it, let's not think about that. Better figure out how to increase my total chakra reserves~"
Muttering, Rinjin walked to the low table beside the sofa, reached into his ninja pouch to pull out a blank scroll, and began writing:
1. Samehada Already tried—completely unable to increase my chakra reserves. Useless.
2. Eight Gates The first seven gates show minimal effect, but with the Gate of Death open, I completely can't control the rampaging chakra.
3. Hashirama Cells Just makes me grow grass. Pathetically weak~
4. Yin Seal Completely unable to master it—sealing techniques are just too damn hard!
5. Zero-Tails Feels inferior to genuine tailed beasts, and way uglier than my cat.
...
Looking at the scroll with one eliminated possibility after another, Rinjin helplessly covered his forehead and let out a long sigh.
Could it be that I'll ultimately have to make a move on the Nine-Tails?
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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