"Naruto: My Ninja Skills"Chapter 204: Embarrassing Toys and Respecting One's Elders (Thanks to "牙神牙" for the Alliance Leader reward)
Even though Yūshin was inside the barrier while recovering his chakra, there were still people in the Shinobi World who, like the future Kurama, could sense that something was changing in the realm.
It was just that this person's perception wasn't as clear—everything felt vague and indistinct. He sensed something was happening, but didn't know exactly what, much less whether these changes in the Shinobi World had any relevance to him personally.
That person was the "Egg Incubator," Madara Uchiha.
The path Madara took to awaken his eyes was particularly arduous, but there was no helping it—Black Zetsu had manipulated the Uchiha Stone Tablet in precisely this way. Madara believed he had grasped the ultimate secret of the Shinobi World, but in reality, he didn't possess too much information—he had far too little.
For example, compared to stealing Asura's power and then spending vast amounts of time incubating the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan into the Rinnegan, it would have been much more convenient and efficient to directly seize the "power of the Sage of Six Paths"... If you're going to devour someone anyway, why target Hashirama instead of the Sage himself?
The Yin-Yang power needed for eye awakening was possessed by the Sage of Six Paths alone, and of far superior quality.
Unfortunately, Black Zetsu couldn't accomplish this. If it could have accessed the Sage's remains, why bother gnawing on flesh when it could simply extract the eyes directly?
But Yūshin had protected the Sage's remains, and subsequently the chakra manifestation of the Sage reclaimed the Rinnegan's power. By then, attempting to take a bite out of the Sage... never mind the immoral and unsanitary issues of the "Madman's Diary," Yūshin had already sealed the Sage's coffin by that point.
Later, Yūshin entrusted the Sage's remains to the Uzumaki Clan—information Black Zetsu had no way of detecting.
During the Sage's era and the period immediately following his death, Black Zetsu's activity level was quite low; for a considerable time, it only dared to hover around Indra.
Just pulling minor stunts nearly got it detected by the Hagoromo and Hamura brothers, and its "contact" with Yūshin was conducted through Indra... Black Zetsu vaguely knew there was a ninja called "Gan" who had thwarted its grand plan of "the prodigal son dies and the moon splits," and it harbored deep hatred for this unfortunate Ninshū practitioner.
However, it could never connect "Gan" and "Yūshin" as the same identity.
While the Sage of Six Paths lived, Yūshin was his constant companion—how else could he borrow the Rinnegan?
After the Sage's death, making contact with Yūshin meant entering the Sage's field of vision... Black Zetsu certainly had expectations about what the Sage might do posthumously.
By that time, it had already established a stable connection with Indra, so what more was there to say? It simply continued manipulating Indra.
However, Black Zetsu probably never anticipated Indra's incompetence. In the struggle for the Rinnegan, he was actually intimidated by Yūshin.
So Black Zetsu embarked on the path of collecting Indra's and Asura's power to evolve the Rinnegan, but it still didn't expect Indra to be so utterly useless... Indra died without ever taking a single bite of his younger brother.
Perhaps Asura simply didn't taste very good.
As for another route to obtaining the Rinnegan—such as finding an opportunity to lure and eliminate another Ōtsutsuki who possessed it—honestly, such methods exceeded Black Zetsu's imagination.
In short, although Yūshin and Indra had limited interaction, there was still a karmic connection between them.
Therefore, when that familiar chakra reappeared in the Shinobi World, Madara Uchiha experienced a strange sense of discord.
He couldn't articulate why—just that something felt fundamentally wrong, as if ominous thoughts were circling around him... Whether it was psychological or not, Madara even felt half his body grow cold, his arm trembling involuntarily.
He even wondered if he was aging and developing some illness... Parkinson's or something similar.
"Has something happened in the Shinobi World?" Madara couldn't help muttering to himself.
Having already obtained Asura's power, Madara essentially possessed dual perception regarding Yūshin's familiar chakra. However, since the chakra attached to him could only indirectly transmit vague information, he was left completely bewildered.
Hashirama was dead, and the Asura chakra that had been attached to him had long since dispersed throughout the Shinobi World. Even if Hashirama were revived through Edo Tensei, that chakra wouldn't return to Madara's side.
Thus, the Indra chakra within him was like a retired old man—having lost his opponent, he had nothing to do all day, which happened to allow him to clearly sense Yūshin's "emergence."
"Whatever, regardless of what happens, it has nothing to do with me... When will the Rinnegan finally achieve evolution?"
Madara concealed himself in a sealed underground cavern. No matter what he sensed, he remained unmoved... Such focus was indeed commendable.
Precisely because he hid so secretively, even if someone realized he was feigning death, they would have virtually no way to locate him.
...
"Oh right, I nearly forgot about this—"
After concluding his exchange with Kurama and establishing their "friendly mutual assistance agreement," Yūshin was preparing to return to Konoha when he suddenly remembered this matter.
Having just left Konoha (as young Yūshin) and now returning (as old Yūshin), his actions seemed contradictory, but Yūshin had to return to Konoha once more... On one hand, he needed to return the unfortunate Tobirama's remains; on the other, Hashirama's body required re-freezing.
Actually, if Uzumaki Mito was particularly repulsed by Edo Tensei, Yūshin could understand if she chose to cremate Hashirama's body at this point... As he always said, Edo Tensei wasn't a ninjutsu that normal humans could have developed.
Undoubtedly, all responsibility lay with the developer—it had nothing to do with other users... Once a ninjutsu is created, people will inevitably use it.
Would Black Zetsu exploit the Sage of Six Paths' remains? Yūshin quickly provided a negative answer, because if Black Zetsu had succeeded, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki would have broken free from her seal long ago.
Since Black Zetsu was still cultivating Madara, it meant it couldn't access the Sage's remains.
So the Uzumaki Clan had protected them well?
That wasn't impossible—after all, they had excellently preserved Yūshin's "final words" to this day.
Thinking carefully, Yūshin's casual disposal of the Sage of Six Paths' remains back then seemed somewhat too hasty, appearing insufficiently respectful... But there was no helping it—Yūshin had been in a hurry to use the coffin at the time.
Yūshin could have used space-time ninjutsu for transportation, but he didn't, instead making his unhurried way back to Konoha.
Several days later, when Yūshin quietly returned to Konoha and once again entered that underground space where he'd been summoned, encountering Uzumaki Mito, Hashirama was already lying in that coffin...
Well, one coffin serving three generations—the person leaves but the coffin remains; the God Tree endures forever, one tree passing down through eternity. Uzumaki Mito truly understood the principle of waste not, want not.
No, Mito probably appreciated the quality of this coffin, which is why she used it to house her husband, right?
Her eye for quality was indeed excellent.
"So, Mito, what do you plan to do? Do you need me to re-freeze Hashirama's remains?" Yūshin asked Uzumaki Mito.
Uzumaki Mito sighed, then ultimately nodded silently.
"Freeze him, I suppose... Ah, what can I say about Tobirama's jutsu? Lord Yūshin, even if we cremated my husband's remains, we couldn't prevent others from summoning him again, could we? If someone mastered Edo Tensei."
Uzumaki Mito chose to freeze her husband's remains because even properly disposing of this body wouldn't stop Edo Tensei.
"Theoretically, if Hashirama had been injured in some battle—say, someone bit off a piece of him and preserved that flesh—and if they also happened to master Edo Tensei, then they could summon Hashirama."
Yūshin spoke while sighing, then began self-reproach:
"I bear some responsibility here too. Years ago, I advocated using Hashirama's cells to create prosthetics, which obviously caused his bodily tissues to leak out... Such things can't be avoided through strict management alone—there will always be people who covet Hashirama's power and attempt to obtain it."
"Lord Yūshin, this isn't your fault. Who could have anticipated such developments back then?" Uzumaki Mito certainly wouldn't blame Yūshin.
First, the prosthetics made from Hashirama's cells had saved many ninja over the years, and everyone was grateful for the First Hokage's benevolence. This meant that after Hashirama's death, his reputation actually grew better and better—he was neither forgotten nor reduced to a simplistic symbol.
Second, the primary responsibility for this matter was crystal clear—it was just the unfortunate Tobirama's reckless tinkering. Without Edo Tensei, there wouldn't be so many complications.
Now it was wonderful—every moderately powerful ninja who died had to worry about their soul being enslaved... Tobirama was truly heinous.
"Sigh, I have a premonition that the forbidden technique Edo Tensei will definitely spread in the future, even if we completely destroy its formulas and research materials now," Uzumaki Mito said with deep concern.
Don't say she was wrong—this bad premonition was actually quite simple in origin... In the Shinobi World, things always develop in the worst possible direction.
"Edo Tensei isn't entirely without merit. At this point, we can only trust in the wisdom of future generations."
What else could Yūshin say? The technique had already been developed, and all the infamy was borne by Tobirama. All that remained was for everyone to use it to their heart's content...
While speaking, Yūshin once again froze Hashirama, who lay in the God Tree coffin.
No need for cremation then—keeping him as a keepsake was fine. At least it provided some comfort.
"Oh, there's one more matter. I once entrusted the Sage of Six Paths' remains to the Uzumaki Clan for safekeeping, so I have a small question... Are the Sage's remains still here?"
Having finished dealing with Hashirama's affairs and returning the scroll sealing Tobirama's remains to Uzumaki Mito, Yūshin began inquiring about the Sage of Six Paths' body.
"The Sage of Six Paths' remains? Lord Yūshin, you entrusted them to the Uzumaki Clan? I... I've never heard of such a thing."
Uzumaki Mito seemed to be hearing this for the first time.
"Huh??"
How embarrassing... No, he'd lost the Sage!
Yūshin thought that abandoning a corpse—assisting in corpse abandonment—was a serious crime, especially when it was the Sage of Six Paths' body.
No, Yūshin should thank the Uzumaki Clan. Throughout the long course of history, they hadn't abandoned his "final words" the way they apparently had the Sage of Six Paths' remains.
Uzumaki Mito frowned in thought for quite a while, then seemed to grasp some clue. She said to Yūshin:
"Lord Yūshin, please come with me. I need to search through the clan's secret archives."
The Sage of Six Paths' remains—even if they seemed useless now, they couldn't have actually been lost, right?
Yūshin had no choice but to follow Uzumaki Mito to her residence.
Over these years, the former old clan leader had nominally held the title for a long time but had actually stopped managing affairs long ago. The Uzumaki Clan's internal matters had always been under Uzumaki Mito's management, so all the clan's various secret materials were in her possession.
"Lord Yūshin, please wait a moment."
After arriving at her residence, Uzumaki Mito couldn't be bothered with hospitality and immediately plunged into a certain room, searching through the vast sea of documents.
Yūshin had no choice but to sit cross-legged in the corridor of the courtyard.
Just as he sat there with nothing to do, waiting, a figure burst into the area... It was Mito's granddaughter, Tsunade.
Tsunade had seen Yūshin not long ago, but when she encountered him again, she was startled... The current Yūshin seemed different from the previous one.
Tsunade and her big sister Aoi had always been fearless, so she immediately approached and said directly to Yūshin:
"Lord Yūshin, you've returned to Konoha? You... look different from before."
Yūshin pointed to his hair: "My hair turned white."
"Oh, it really did."
But the change in appearance wasn't what caught Tsunade's attention. Whether it was his face becoming youthful again or his hair turning from black to white, Tsunade hadn't noticed initially... Yūshin's appearance looked very harmonious and wouldn't draw special attention.
What Tsunade perceived was the change in his chakra.
This reminded Yūshin that he should try to conceal his chakra better—he hadn't paid attention to such small details earlier.
Just as Yūshin was thinking this, Tsunade seemed to suddenly remember something and extended her right hand toward him.
"Hm? What does this mean?"
"Sister Aoi told me that when I see Lord Yūshin, I should shake hands with you."
"Shake... shake hands?"
Yūshin, slow to catch on, racked his brains and recalled giving two Kekkei Genkai to Hagūgen Aoi.
So Tsunade was expressing that she wanted one too?
But rather than seeking power, this was more like asking an elder for a toy... When your sister gets a new toy, of course you want one too.
Fortunately, Yūshin actually did have a "toy" available, or he would have been embarrassed.
He was now the "God Tree-Man," and the God Tree's abilities could completely cover his Wood Release capabilities... limited to Yūshin's own Wood Release, not Hashirama's type.
Therefore, for Yūshin, the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai had become useless.
Thinking this, Yūshin reached out and shook hands with Tsunade, transferring Wood Release to her... Now he truly had not a drop left.
Hashirama had come out to work for Yūshin—this could be considered payment of his wages.
After receiving the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, Tsunade, who carried Hashirama's blood, just stared blankly at her palm and silently stepped aside.
At this moment, Uzumaki Mito emerged from the room carrying several scrolls.
"Oh, Tsunade, you're here?"
Tsunade was unusually quiet, as if she hadn't heard Mito's words.
Mito frowned—when children are quiet, they're definitely up to something, and normally Tsunade wasn't a well-behaved child... What kind of well-behaved child spends all day studying gambling techniques?
But now wasn't the time to worry about such things—she had important business.
"Lord Yūshin, these scrolls record certain events. I don't know if they're related to the... remains you're looking for."
Her expression seemed somewhat embarrassed.
Yūshin didn't notice. He took a scroll and asked casually:
"Scrolls? What do they record?"
"Ahem, it's about the birth of a sealing technique, Lord Yūshin."
"Oh, a sealing technique—something your Uzumaki are skilled at..."
But when Yūshin unrolled the scroll and glanced at it, he immediately jumped up as if his rear had caught fire...
"Reaper Death Seal?!"
Uzumaki Mito's face showed guilt:
"According to clan records, in ancient times the Uzumaki Clan did indeed protect a certain body, and even suffered attacks because of it. To prevent enemies from seizing this body, the clan members decided to hide it somewhere unimaginable...
"A different dimension—this was the 'corpse-hiding place' the clan members initially envisioned.
"Then, someone suggested that since the remains belonged to the dead and were death-related, they should be hidden in the underworld—what we now call the Pure Land.
"Later, somehow the research direction went astray, and everyone developed this body into a miniaturized Pure Land dimension... It was hidden away, and aside from clan members, no one else could find these remains.
"Even later, everyone felt that leaving it idle was wasteful, so they decided to make use of this place and began sealing various things into this now-spiritualized body.
"Although opening this space requires sacrificing a life, over the millennia there have always been things whose value or danger exceeded a single person's life and needed to be sealed away.
"Eventually, it became the 'Shinigami' that governs the Reaper Death Seal...
"Lord Yūshin, do you think this Shinigami could be that Sage?"
Because Tsunade was present, Uzumaki Mito didn't directly name the Sage of Six Paths.
At this moment, Mito was grateful that Tsunade had appeared at just the right time—at least with a child present, Lord Yūshin couldn't scold her.
And Yūshin? He was already certain that the Uzumaki Clan could indeed be considered his descendants, because everyone shared the same lineage...
"Respect teachers and honor the Way."
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