Casually strolling into the Mizukage building.
At this moment, Kirigakure was experiencing the dampest time of the day.
The sea breeze blew thick fog towards the village;
In the sky, sunlight shone down, not bringing warmth to Kirigakure, but instead making the village appear gray and gloomy.
Swaggering, the Second Mizukage skillfully pushed open the door leading underground and walked in.
In the darkness, pale purple eyes suddenly opened, staring intently at the fool-like figure at the doorway.
"Gengetsu Hōzuki? A dead man?
No! Edo Tensei?!"
At the same time, Gengetsu Hōzuki also saw the pale purple eyes in the depths of darkness and instantly exclaimed.
"Damn! Rinnegan?!"
As one of the five great hidden villages, Gengetsu Hōzuki couldn't possibly not recognize the legendary eyes of the Sage of Six Paths.
However, today he was truly shocked; having bid farewell to his constant sparring partner Mu, he witnessed the forbidden jutsu that could summon the dead.
Finally, he saw a pair of Rinnegan in his own basement.
"Let me study those eyes!"
With a shout, Gengetsu Hōzuki quickly formed seals with one hand.
Just then, his body suddenly froze; at the same time, his true form appeared in a corner of the room.
"Huh~ Just a mere Second Mizukage, daring to come find me alone?"
The voice was arrogant and unrestrained.
Seeing this, Gengetsu Hōzuki, inexplicably immobilized, suddenly smirked.
"I knew it, why does this place feel so eerie, turns out there's a big rat living here!"
"Courting death!" A cold snort.
Subsequently, Gengetsu Hōzuki's body uncontrollably knelt down, as if pressed by two or three strong men.
Meanwhile, a coughing sound echoed in the darkness.
Accompanied by the cough, Gengetsu Hōzuki suddenly stopped speaking, and his body began to swell as he struggled.
Steam Dangerous Explosion!
Gengetsu Hōzuki's specialty, using oil and water within his body to create a child-shaped clone, an infinite explosive ninjutsu.
As the child clone grew thicker, amidst the coughing, a cold, sharp voice rang out again.
"What a troublesome guy! Cough cough...
Shinra Tensei!"
Whoa!
Rinjin, secretly watching from the apartment through sensing, suddenly felt his scalp tingle.
This...
Coughing like this, still able to use Shinra Tensei?
Indeed, the two sons of the Ōtsutsuki Sage don't adhere to basic ninja principles!
As Rinjin pondered, a massive repulsive force shattered everything, directly flipping the entire Mizukage building.
Simultaneously, a huge explosion sounded, and Gengetsu Hōzuki's chubby baby clone also exploded!
For a moment, the entire village was in an uproar.
Countless people rushed out of their homes in panic, gazing towards the center of the village;
Unfortunately, the thick morning fog obscured their vision.
Meanwhile, in the ruins of the Mizukage building, the Third Mizukage crawled out from the rubble, cursing, holding his bleeding forehead.
He was rather unlucky.
To complete the task assigned by Lord Madara, he worked late into the night, planning to nap in the office.
Unexpectedly, just after falling asleep, his home was overturned.
In the ruins, Madara Uchiha also revealed himself.
His black high-collared robe fluttered in the cool morning breeze, exceptionally elegant.
Sadly, his once black hair had turned mostly white, and his straight back was slightly hunched.
Just then, after finishing the hailstorm, the chubby baby clone regained agility, wielding a large sword and charging at Madara Uchiha again.
"Enough! You're really annoying!" With a low shout, Madara Uchiha used Shinra Tensei to fling him away, then leaped into the air.
Indeed, the Rinnegan is incredible; fly when you want, leave when you wish.
Secretly, Rinjin watched Madara's identical eyes, his brows gradually furrowing.
He seemed to recall that when Madara faked his death, he paid the price of permanently blinding one eye to use Izanagi?
Now, how come there are two good eyes?
Could Hashirama's cells be so monstrous, almost rivaling my immortal body?
Or is the eye just a device?
For a moment, Rinjin suddenly remembered a discussion he had with Fugaku.
The Uchiha clan, is it the eyes that are special, or the special chakra produced by the brain?
Rinjin, being completely inexperienced, naturally thought those cool big eyes were more special.
But Fugaku told him that the chakra of love within the Uchiha clan is what's truly special.
Thinking of this, Rinjin recalled the theory about awakening the Rinnegan from past memories.
It's said that only the reincarnation of Indra's chakra can awaken the Rinnegan by transplanting the body or cells of Asura's reincarnation.
Now, three guesses lay before him.
The first, Madara awakened one Rinnegan and used it to create a new Rinnegan.
The Rinnegan is the eye of creation for world peace, and also the eye of destruction returning all to void. However, using one Rinnegan to create another seems flawed.
Why did Madara need to seize Kakashi's eye during the Fourth Great Ninja War to enter the Kamui dimension and retrieve his other eye?
Why not just create one directly?!
Of course, it could be that creating a pair of Rinnegan is too time-consuming and exhausting.
The second guess, Hashirama's cells.
Hashirama's cells' regenerative ability is too monstrous, even restoring sight to completely blind Sharingan.
This theory is clearly flawed too; after Obito obtained Madara's cells, his eyes were durable but not permanently unbreakable!
If following this logic, wouldn't Danzo's arm full of eyes go from disposable umbrellas to inflatable girlfriends?
Wash them and they might...
Cough cough... this theory is flawed too.
However, there's a third theory.
Judging by the plug-and-play nature of the Sharingan, Rinjin actually found Fugaku's explanation quite reasonable.
Indra's chakra reincarnation awakening the Rinnegan by transplanting Asura's chakra reincarnation's body or cells, it's not the eyes that are special, but Indra's chakra!
Although Indra inherited the Sage's eyes, and Asura inherited the Sage's body;
Strictly speaking, Indra inherited the spiritual energy representing Yin Release;
While Asura inherited the physical energy representing Yang Release.
Does this mean that if Asura's reincarnation transplanted Indra's reincarnation's brain, they might also awaken the Rinnegan?
...
Nested dolls here!
However, this guess isn't impossible.
After all, the Uchiha clan transforms their Mangekyō into Eternal Mangekyō not by using their own eyes, but their brother's eyes.
This precisely indicates that while the Sharingan is important, what's more important is the mental energy within the brain.
Currently, all three are possible.
For now, Rinjin set aside this question, quickly forming seals with his hands, undoing Gengetsu Hōzuki'sEdo Tensei.
Now, he had confirmed Madara Uchiha's status; his combat power was still top-notch, but he had also aged considerably.
This meant that time was on his side.
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Additional Setting Details
Many readers have mentioned that the timeline in my story seems chaotic, and I feel a bit misunderstood.
To clarify, I'm dedicating this chapter to explain the timeline I've organized for the Naruto world.
First, it's important to note that I haven't solely used the manga's timeline but also incorporated the anime's timeline.
Konoha Year 17-19: The First Shinobi World War;
Combatants: Fire vs. Lightning, Water vs. Earth;
The Second Tsuchikage and the Second Mizukage killed each other;
Tobirama Senju and the Second Raikage were killed by the Gold and Silver Brothers.
Konoha Year 32-37: The Second Shinobi World War.
It's worth noting that some of you might have noticed:
According to the official guidebook, due to the devastating effects of the First War, it took twenty years for the villages to recover and start the Second War.
However, I didn't adopt this setting because it has many loopholes and significantly deviates from the well-known fact that Naruto was born in Konoha Year 48.
If we followed the guidebook's timeline, Naruto should have been born in Year 51, not the widely recognized Year 48.
To reduce inconsistencies, I discarded the guidebook's twenty-year peace period between the First and Second Wars and adopted the familiar anime setting starting from the Second War.
As for other aspects, I made minimal changes.
Another point to clarify is the ages of Minato Namikaze, Nagato, and Obito Uchiha.
First, let's establish the age order:
Hiruzen Sarutobi is older than Jiraiya;
Jiraiya is older than Minato Namikaze;
Minato Namikaze is older than Kakashi Hatake;
Kakashi Hatake is older than Naruto Uzumaki.
These age differences are generally accepted.
Let's deduce from the most familiar point:
Naruto Uzumaki was born in Konoha Year 48;
Minato Namikaze, Naruto's father, was 24 when Naruto was born;
Therefore, Minato Namikaze was born in Konoha Year 24.
During the Second War, Jiraiya, along with Tsunade and Orochimaru, earned the title of the "Legendary Sannin" and took Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan as disciples.
Konoha Year 32-37: The Second Shinobi World War, initially a three-way battle between Wind, Earth, and Fire;
The three forces clashed in the Land of Rain, leading Hanzo of the Salamander from Amegakure to declare war on Wind, Fire, and Earth.
Amid the chaos, Konoha repelled Wind and Earth, and Jiraiya's team earned the title of the "Legendary Sannin."
Meanwhile, on another battlefield, Sakumo Hatake single-handedly killed Scorpion's parents, earning the title of "Konoha's White Fang."
From the age of Nagato and his peers when Jiraiya took them as disciples, it's clear they were still children.
Meanwhile, in Konoha, Minato was just over ten years old at this time.
From this, we can infer that the age difference between Minato and Nagato is no more than five years.
For the Third War, I've organized the timeline as Year 40-45.
By this period, Minato Namikaze was making a name for himself and started leading a team.
He took Kakashi Hatake, born around Konoha Year 34, as a disciple, along with Obito Uchiha and Rin, who were of similar age.
Here's how I personally understand the sequence of the Third War:
It began with a conflict between Sunagakure and Konoha, prompting Kumogakure to join the fray;
Minato was on the Fire-Lightning battlefield, facing the A-B Combo.
Kakashi, a newly promoted Jonin, led a team on a mission.
Subsequently, Iwagakure launched small-scale invasions against both Konoha and Kumogakure, leading to the death of the Third Raikage.
The A-B Combo learned of the Third Raikage's death and withdrew.
It's important to note that during this small-scale invasion by Iwagakure, Sunagakure was also attacking Konoha.
Konoha repelled both Sunagakure and Iwagakure but exposed its vulnerabilities.
Learning of Konoha's weakened state, Iwagakure launched another attack, leading to Kakashi's team destroying the Kannabi Bridge, Obito being crushed by rocks, and entrusting his Sharingan to Rin.
Subsequently, Kirigakure captured Rin, sealed the Three Tails within her, and placed a "Cursed Seal" on her heart.
This led to Obito witnessing Rin's death at Kakashi's hands...
Meanwhile, Might Duy, a Konoha Genin, opened the Eighth Gate, defeating the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
Finally, a peace treaty was signed between Fire and Earth, with Konoha making reparations.
Then, in Konoha Year 48, the Nine-Tails incident occurred, and Naruto was born.
This timeline clarifies the birth years of several key characters:
Around Konoha Year 10:
Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane, Danzo Shimura, etc.
Around Konoha Year 10:
Shinku Yuhi, Dan Kato, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Rinjin...
Konoha Year 18-22:
Fugaku Uchiha, Might Duy, Fourth Raikage A, Teuchi, Hiashi Hyuga, Hizashi Hyuga, Fuguki Suikazan...
Konoha Year 23-27:
Mikoto Uchiha, First Ino-Shika-Cho, Kushina Uzumaki, Minato Namikaze, Nawaki...
Konoha Year 28-32:
Konan, Nagato, Yahiko, Killer Bee, Asuma Sarutobi (32)...
Konoha Year 33-35:
Kurenai Yuhi, Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, Rin Nohara, Might Guy, Shizune, Mei Terumi, Zabuza Momochi, Kisame Hoshigaki, Ibiki Morino...
Konoha Year 38-40:
Anko Mitarashi, Izumo Kamizuki, Kotetsu Hagane, Hayate Gekko, Yugao Uzuki, Kabuto Yakushi, Iruka Umino, Yamato, Shisui Uchiha...
Konoha Year 40-46:
Itachi Uchiha, Temari, Kimimaro, Jugo, Kankuro, Haku, Deidara...
Konoha Year 47-48:
The Konoha Twelve, Gaara, Karin, Suigetsu Hozuki...
This organization wasn't easy, and these represent my personal understanding and views.
Feel free to use this information as needed. (#^.^#)~
Lastly, thank you all for your valuable feedback. Love you all!
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