Chapter 59
He had waited for many a millennium to achieve his purpose, inciting conflict between the incarnations of Indra and Ashura again and again, so that he might achieve his purpose for his mother.
He had come close, but success had eluded him. Even now, with the failure of Obito, he had thought that he was poised for failure once more, even though this incarnation of Indra was the most driven and powerful one yet. Even amongst his peers, Madara was a man of focus, sheer will.
It made him powerful and easy to manipulate. Alas! He was faced with a shinobi of equal power and will, and even Zetsu had not seen any shinobi who could rival the might of the legendary Hashirama Senju. Yet Hashirama was long dead, and Madara still clung to life, hoping for a miracle that had seemed impossible all but a few years ago.
Yet he had persisted. Now, years later, he finally had his breakthrough. A new body, one made out of a combination of his and Hashirama Senju's cells. It was not perfect, and the revival would come at the cost of his Rinnegan, but he was certain that he had never been closer to the completion of his mission than today.
"So, it is finally done," the aged shinobi uttered as he examined the body in front of him. It had been created using his body as a mould and resembled his features and anthropometry, at his prime.
"Yes," he answered, and the only difference was the eyes, for unlike the prime Madara, this one had in its sockets the infamous Rinnegan.
"It is time then," and the withering Madara brought together his shaking hands as he cycled through a series of handseals, and it took him a minute just to make those thirty seals as he whispered in a creaking voice.
"Ninpo: Ghost transformation jutsu..." and Zetsu watched as the spirit, or better yet, the soul of the Uchiha clan legend, came out of his decrepit body, and slowly entered the new body specially prepared for him.
A few seconds passed until Madara opened his eyes in his new body, yet it was not the red of the Sharingan that glimmered in those eyes. No, it was the purple of the Rinnegan.
"Well then. Time for the final step," and once more, Madara in his new body cycled through a set of handseals, yet this time it all happened in the blink of an eye as Zetsu felt his heart bubble in excitement.
"Ninpo:..." he heard Madara whisper, as the light in his eyes began to vanish and a green hue began to spread over his new body.
"...Heretical Art of Rinne Rebirth!"
WHOOOOSH!
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Miles and miles away, Jiraiya found himself frowning as he sensed this ominous chakra ripple through the air. The white haired man stopped and turned in the direction of this wave of chakra, as he whispered to himself.
"This chakra...."
0000
ITACHI UCHIHA
It was a bit strange to have their new sensei as a guest in their home a day after she had beaten him and his team black and blue. But the intentions of the visit were clear to him, and this had more or less confirmed the rumors about his brother being overtly close to a foreign purple-haired kunoichi.
Though calling Konan-sensei a foreigner at this point was a stretch. The refugees from Ame had begun to integrate themselves with the locals, and nearly half of them had settled down in Konoha and had started families of their own.
If the clan members had any thoughts on his brother's affections or associations, they kept it to themselves, their tongues constrained as most of them still remembered the fate suffered by the elders when they had tried to push beyond their station.
After resting for a day to recover from their injuries, the team gathered at the training ground at the assigned time just as the Sun had begun to dawn. And as the clock struck six, their sensei emerged from the forest once more, accompanied by his brother once more.
"Tch," he heard Saiko-san click her tongue, while Anko-san's eyes narrowed.
"So, it is true," she whispered as Saiko-san turned towards him.
"I heard she came for a meal at your home yesterday," and he nodded.
"Yes, Izuna-nii invited her," and it was futile to hide it, as his teammate nodded.
"So, he really is serious this time," she whispered as the two jounin came to a halt in front of them. The air was thick with tension as the purple-haired kunoichi looked at all three of them.
"Now that all three of you have passed your initial assessment, I believe it is time for proper introductions," and her rather kind and softer tone surprised them all, as she began softly.
"We will adopt a simple pattern. Each of us will give their name, a few likes and dislikes, along with their aspirations for their future," and that was a fairly standard introduction.
"As your sensei, I will go first. My name is Konan, and as all three of you may know, I am from Ame. I dislike tardiness and am fond of origami," and she stopped for a second before she continued.
"And my dream is to bring peace to my country and the entire world..."
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The introductions continued, and as Anko-san finished with her dream of eating all kinds of Dango, he saw their sensei's lips turn up slightly as his brother finally cut in.
"Well then, that is enough talking. Now, let us get to the actual results of your assessment from a day ago," and it was Saiko-san who cut in sharply.
"What are you even doing here?" and that was a legitimate question.
"Well, I am here because even though Konan is your sensei, I have been nominated as the supervisor for the Konoha retinue heading for the exams. So, until the chunin exams are over, you all are under my care," and his smile vanished as he looked at all of them with a serious expression.
"And I am not fond of people dying while being under my care," and that was Izuna Uchiha's nindo, for there was no shinobi in Konoha who fought harder to protect their comrades than him.
During the war against Kiri, Konoha had suffered the least number of casualties of any recent conflict. And the reason for it was his brother.
"The truth is, you all are rather skilled. Your chakra controls, your jutsu arsenal, it is all above average," and though Saiko and Anko-san seemed to gloat at the praise, Itachi knew better. For Izuna-nii was rather well known for being a slave driver.
"But your instincts are abysmal," he cut in seriously, his jovial tone gone.
"Mostly because all of you lack real-world experience against a diversified group of shinobi," and that seemed to be real.
"Then how will we develop this instinct?" questioned Saiko-san, as his brother reached for the scroll tied to his back and placed it on the ground.
"The traditional way would be to send you all to missions where you will face enemy shinobi, but sadly, we do not have that time," and given that they were to depart in a bit over three weeks, they could do perhaps three missions.
Nearly not enough to develop this instinct he spoke of.
"But since we are short on time, I have a rather unique solution in mind," and at that, he furled open his scroll, revealing seven massive and intricate storage seals.
"Now most of you may have heard about this rather unique nickname of mine," and then he made a tiger hand-seal as seven six shadow clones emerged, each standing in front of one of the storage seals as Itachi realised just what they were about to witness.
"It's time for you lot to see just why I am called..." and the seals each unravelled in a cloud of smoke, and in the blink of an eye, each of his clones held in their hand one of Kiri's most feared treasures. The blades, which were once the pride of Kirigakure, now sat in the hands of a Konoha shinobi.
"...the Seven-Headed Demon of Death."
0000
MINATO NAMIKAZE
As a Hokage, he was forced to make some hard decisions, but some decisions were not so hard.
"Is it really wise to hand over all Seven of those Kiri swords to a singular shinobi?" questioned Lady Tsunade, having come to his office just after witnessing Izuna-kun bring out the seven treasures all at once.
"I understand your concerns, but there is no one more suitable than him to carry those blades," and that was for both practical and security reasons.
Storing them inside the village was simply inviting constant subterfuge from Kiri loyalists, and the blades would simply rot away in storage. In Izuna-kun's hands, the blades were constantly moving, and after what he had done to Kiri, few shinobis from that village would ever wish to face him in combat.
"He is the only Konoha shinobi who can use those blades effectively," and that was a big point in his favor.
"But is it really wise to have one of our shinobi flaunt their use," and her worries were well meant, but he had thought of it all and much more.
"There is a chance that in the future, we might have to return those blades to Kiri," and that made the blonde Sanin raise a brow.
"That is quite a pragmatic and pessimistic view," and in a way it was, but he was a Hokage, and it was his duty to think of the future.
"And so it is best that we have a shinobi in our ranks who can give us a detailed breakdown about the possible advantages and disadvantages of each of these blades, allowing our future generations to have an edge over their opponents in case they face shinobi wielding these seven treasures," and she nodded, as she rubbed her chin.
"Interesting, you have thought of everything," she added with a smile
"It is my duty," and it was good to have her back in the village, for this gave Izuna-kun more freedom, which was always a good thing.
"Have you met with the Uzumaki clan members?" he asked, and her mood soured as she nodded.
"I have," she answered, her tone sombering as she continued with gritted teeth.
"And I still loathe this village for how it failed our closest allies and abandoned them at the most crucial time," and that was indeed a point of great shame for Konoha, but now it was time to make things right.
"The woman, Kirin. The marks on her skin are a disgrace for each and every member of this village who has spoken up on Uzushio and its members," and indeed, he had read the reports himself, and reading about her suffering made his blood boil, both as a human being and as a Hokage.
"We may have made some mistakes in the past, but it is time to make things right," he added resolutely.
"Yes, it is," she agreed, looking him in the eye.
"I plan to declare the Uzumaki as an official clan of Konohagakure in the next meeting. Kushina will become the clan head," and that seemed to surprise her.
"You sure move quickly, Minato," and she nodded.
"You will have my support," and Fugaku-san had already agreed, and with the two founding clans on his side, the opinion of the rest of the clan heads did not matter at all.
"Speaking of the Uzumaki, I must bring up another rather important matter," and it was not easy to talk about this with her, but Lady Tsunade's face dulled as she added in a somber tone.
"Orochimaru's already told me about your student," and that caught him by surprise, for he had hoped to plead with her himself, just to show his sincerity.
"I am not fond that you have used my Grandfather's biology for your research like this, and I do hope that you have a damn good explanation for doing all this," and there was a warning in that tone, something which he had expected already.
"I can assure you, we had no choice in the matter," he said, and her eyes narrowed.
"I do have what you need," she continued, a bit softly, looking down at the table.
"Dan left everything he had for his niece Shizune, who unfortunately could not use his techniques," and that was promising, but her eyes narrowed as she looked up.
"But I will not hand it over unless I know exactly what is going on here, and what the hell forced your hand into desecrating my grandfather's remains like this," and as a Hokage, he had power over his forces, yet the stronger the shinobi, the lesser his power grew.
And for a shinobi as renowned and powerful as her, it was quite limited.
"Come with me, I think it will be better for me to show it to you..."
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And soon enough, both of them were walking down the dark and secret path hidden behind the Hokage faces, one of the most well-guarded and secretive places in all of Konoha.
"What you are about to learn is a secret that goes beyond S-rank," he warned her, his expression sharpening as she raised a brow.
"Right now, this secret is known by only a handful of shinobi," and soon enough, they were in front of a sealed door, one which could only be opened by a Hokage.
"What is this place?" she asked, her eyes narrowing at the sealing array, which was put here by none other than Lady Mito herself.
"This is the tomb of the two founders of Konoha," and they entered a small room, one which had but two graves, though one of them was empty, much to their dismay.
The grave of the Shodaime was intact, with its seals and stone slab. Yet the one beside it, bearing the name of Konoha's disgraced founder, lay empty, much to the surprise of the Sanin beside her.
"What is the meaning of this?" she gasped.
"You may have heard about the attack on the village that happened five years ago," and she nodded, looking at him as he told her one of Konoha's most well-guarded secrets.
"The truth is that it was not Kirigakure behind the attack. The true perpetrator of the attack was none other than Madara Uchiha..." and her eyes widened.
"You are lying! Madara died years ago! Grandfather killed him himself," and that was what they had all thought as well.
"No! The truth is that Madara Uchiha still lives..." he began, as the granddaughter of the First Hokage paled at those words.
"...and he is hungry for revenge."
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