Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 198 Rinnegan, Prophecy Shattered
Reality and ideals will always deviate, but to this extent, even Ban was surprised.

For him, the transition from death to regaining consciousness was only a matter of moments, so he did not feel that the past few years of returning to the Pure Land were particularly painful.

But when he opened his eyes again and realized his situation, he felt immense pain and shame.

Opening his eyes, the first thing he saw when he looked down was the tattered, oversized robe he was wearing, which was not his combat attire. The spreading cracks on his arms also told him the truth.

"It's the Impure World Reincarnation, and an extremely inferior one at that, returning me to the mortal world in the form I had before my death."

Ban's heart was churning with anger, but he suppressed it. He wasn't someone who lost his temper easily, unless he couldn't hold back.

The plan has gone wrong, a big problem. It shouldn't be like this. With those two guys' talents, even if there are any setbacks, even if they were to fight against the entire ninja world, they shouldn't be in such a sorry state. Why should they appear in this state?
Everyone present watched the hunched, white-haired old man with vigilance, with everyone except Tianzang staring intently.

"It doesn't seem to be a living person, but it's not a zombie either... Is it another unknown resurrection technique? But why resurrect an old man like this? What exactly is Orochimaru doing?"

Hanzo was the most nervous. He was the one who would die the fastest, but he was also the one who least wanted to die. He was just old, not tired of living and wanted to die!
Tenzang coldly said, "Don't worry, as long as this person takes action, all obstacles can be overcome. Even if the opponent has the Rinnegan, they will definitely not be able to kill you."

Upon hearing their conversation, Madara immediately looked over and asked expressionlessly, "How many years has it been since Konoha was founded?"

"Konoha Year 49".

"Hmph, such a short interval... Orochimaru and Hanzo are not part of my plan. And who are you?" Madara asked.

Of course he knew Orochimaru and Hanzo. For decades, he had never relaxed his intelligence gathering, keeping a close eye on every newly emerging powerhouse in the ninja world and new techniques, originally to minimize the impact of the intelligence gap during the vacuum period between his death and resurrection.

Tenzo said, "I am a cyborg carefully created by Lord Orochimaru, but I don't have time to explain to you now. Please deal with those two guys. I need to go back and report as soon as possible."

"You are very strong, why don't you take action yourself?"

"I'll explain this to you later. The world has changed drastically. The changes in just a few years are greater than the changes in the past few decades. Old man, you should be mentally prepared." Tianzang's tone was cold, showing no respect for Ban, nor did he need to.

Madara Uchiha? Even if Hashirama Senju jumped out, so what? He was just a descendant who inherited the incomplete bloodline of the Otsutsuki clan. Although he was able to miraculously reverse his bloodline in the ninja world, he was nothing compared to the real Otsutsuki.

Tenzang personally experienced the power of Cixian; it was an unparalleled strength.

Ban finally showed a hint of interest and slowly lowered his head: "Well, it seems those two guys encountered a setback, which was completely beyond my plan. Many of my questions will have to be answered later."

Taking advantage of the break, Konan and Nagato carefully examined the old man in front of them, trying to figure out his true identity, but no matter how hard they racked their brains, they couldn't remember who he was.

Wearing a tattered robe, with a full head of white hair, yet possessing an unwavering belief in the power to turn the tide... Who? Who could it be? Absolutely no one could match the old man before them!

Xiao Nan whispered, "This person is very strange. They even mentioned your name. Maybe they're just bluffing. Perhaps I should use my paper clone first—"

"no!"

Nagato's breathing quickened slightly, beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his eyes widened slightly, filled with surprise and uncertainty: "This guy is strange, very strange. His eyes have extremely strong pupil power!"

"Eye power? If it's not the Byakugan... then it must be someone from the Uchiha clan? But who could it be?" Konan was startled, but still couldn't remember.

"It's probably... Uchiha Madara. Compared to that guy with the vortex mask who's acting all mysterious, this one in front of me is definitely the real Uchiha Madara, but his age doesn't seem right."

Did Madara not die after the battle at the Valley of the End? In fact, he survived for a very, very long time?
Thinking back to Obito's somewhat clumsy performance, Nagato roughly figured out the situation: "Madara lived for a long time and trained Uchiha Obito. No, perhaps Kaede Tsukasa was also his doing."

"Hmph, Obito was indeed trained by me, but Kaede Tsukasa was an exception. I didn't develop something like Corpse Release. I have to admire his talent," Madara said.

But that's all; it's just a small embellishment under the Infinite Tsukuyomi. It's eye-catching and can make people take a second look, but that's all.

Nagato said in a deep voice, "You seem to know me, but it seems I haven't acted as you expected. What's going on?"

"Oh, you're not ready for that yet."

Madara slowly walked up to Nagato. This simple action made Nagato even more suspicious and uncertain. He stared intently into Madara's eyes. He didn't care about Madara's genjutsu. What kind of Mangekyou genjutsu could control the Rinnegan?

“Nagato, you’ve grown up, even faster than I expected. Those two guys probably played a part in that, but I still congratulate you on being able to adapt to the power of the Rinnegan with the body of a Uzumaki clan member.”

"Pretend to be a ghost!"

Shinra Tianzheng!

Nagato felt he should test Madara's strength first. It had been too long since the battle at the Valley of the End, and apart from knowing that Madara could use Susanoo and was skilled in genjutsu, he knew nothing about Madara.

He immediately raised his hand and unleashed a long-prepared repulsive attack. Nagato deliberately expanded the attack range to cover Madara, Hanzo, Tenzo, and others, hoping to achieve a surprising and effective result.

Faced with such a massive Shinra Tensei, Hanzo's first reaction was to hide behind the giant salamander, but he could only watch helplessly as the giant salamander was blown away like a giant kite.

Tianzang slammed his hands down onto the ground.

Wood Release: Advent of the Tree World!

Groups of thick, giant trees burst from the ground, only to be uprooted in an instant by an invisible repulsive force, piling up layer upon layer, breaking apart layer upon layer, rising and falling in an endless series.

The sheer number of broken tree trunks alone created an effect comparable to a high-level ninjutsu bombardment, enough to severely damage a small unit. However, in a battle of this magnitude, it was merely a warm-up.

"Wood Release?!" Hanzo was startled, but then understood—Kaedeji and Obito could both master Wood Release, so as Konoha's top scientific genius, it was impossible that he had no knowledge of Wood Release.

Hanzo finally understood the true meaning behind Tenzo's claim of being a cyborg.

The ability to artificially grant a boy the Wood Release bloodline limit is something that many people would envy.

Boom!

Although Nagato was also surprised by the world of trees before him, his main attention was focused on Madara.

The violent impact should have destroyed Madara's aged body, but after the impact, Madara remained motionless, his suddenly appearing half-body Susanoo taking the brunt of the Shinra Tensei. His eyes had transformed into the Mangekyou Sharingan, showing no extra emotional fluctuations, only indifferent scrutiny.

Nagato suddenly increased the intensity of Shinra Tensei. Susanoo was damaged, and its internal bones were exposed. But in the next instant, a layer of heavy armor grew on Susanoo's body, forcibly increasing its defensive strength by a level.

The attack was unsuccessful.

However, he never intended to use Shinra Tensei to defeat someone of Madara's caliber in one move. That was unrealistic. Although he could continuously improve the strength of Shinra Tensei and would definitely be able to reach the level of instantly breaking through Susanoo, there was no need for that.

Madara, controlling Susanoo, slashed down with his sword.

Before the five-second cooldown was over, Nagato hurriedly dodged the attack by sidestepping. Suddenly, Asura Path arms grew from his body and launched chakra missiles that bombarded Susanoo.

"Is that all? What else?" Madara asked.

Several summoned beasts suddenly pounced, their sharp teeth and claws surrounding Susanoo, causing Madara to frown slightly—not because he found it troublesome, but because he felt impatient.

Although the exchange lasted only a few seconds, it was enough to make him unhappy. This was not the fighting style that Nagato should have. He knew that Nagato was Madara Uchiha, yet he was still testing him with meaningless attacks.

Nagato stared at Madara. Faced with something like Susanoo, he had no way to directly attack Madara's main body, so he could only use that one move to finish the battle quickly. Madara gave him a very strange feeling, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Psychic art!"

Awooooo!!

A colossal demonic statue appeared, letting out a frenzied roar that caused the earth to tremble violently!
While both are summoning creatures, the oppressive aura and the massive tremors caused by the Gedo Mazo are simply incomparable to summoning beasts like the giant salamander or Cerberus.

"So powerful, is this Nagato's true summoning beast?" Hanzo had already retreated to a distance, looking at the enormous creature before him. If this thing went berserk, Amegakure would probably be completely finished, but Hanzo couldn't care less about that now.

As long as he's alive, Amegakure exists; at worst, it can be rebuilt. But now that he's dead, what can he do to the village?

Hanzo said in a deep voice, "It seems that one really is Uchiha Madara. I've never heard of this kind of Susanoo before. Can he defeat Nagato? Also, are you sure you can control him?"

"Alright, don't underestimate Lord Orochimaru's abilities. Even Madara wouldn't be able to break free by force." Tenzo remained completely emotionless, which made Hanzo suspect that he came from Root—but Danzo was already dead and had no right to train Tenzo.

Was Nazo born with his emotional abilities severed by Orochimaru, or did he learn them from someone else?
"The Demonic Statue of Heretics".

Madara pondered, "Is this thing still 'starving'? It wasn't filled with enough tailed beasts before it was released to fight me?"

"That's enough to deal with you!"

Nagato spoke sternly, standing atop the Gedo Mazo with Konan, and controlled the colossal creature to deliver a powerful kick.

The foot kicked towards Susanoo, which caught it with both hands. Although it was obviously smaller in size, it did not show any signs of weakness, after all, the Gedo Mazo had only eaten one tailed beast.

Nagato didn't intend to use taijutsu to remove the freckles.

"Nine Seals of the Illusory Dragon!"

Once again, Nagato solemnly used this technique that directly attacks the soul.

He couldn't pass through Susanoo to directly touch Madara's body, which meant he couldn't use the Human Path to extract Madara's soul. He could only summon the Gedo Mazo and use the Nine-Sealed Dragon Technique to seal it.

The Gedo Mazo opened its mouth, and a phantom, semi-transparent dragon emerged, roaring silently as it lunged at Madara.

"I have experience dealing with reanimated ninjas. Your greatest weakness is your soul! This world is not a place for a dead man like you!" Nagato roared.

"It seems you haven't dealt with Kaede Tsukasa yet, but you dare to look down on me like this. I don't need to know anything to guess that he has already taken control of a lot of so-called dead people."

Ban snorted coldly, raised his head to look at the semi-transparent dragon descending from the sky, and the pattern in his eyes changed again. In an instant, spirals appeared and spread in his eyes.

The feeling that made Nagato uneasy reached its peak at this moment. In a flash, Nagato stared into Madara's eyes in disbelief, as if struck by lightning.

In an instant, he understood, he knew what that strange feeling was all about... He sensed something odd from Madara, it was clearly the power that should belong to the Rinnegan!!

The Phantom Dragon suddenly stopped moving, frozen in mid-air, and even the Outer Path Demon Statue stopped moving at this moment.

"Nagato, what's wrong? Why did you stop attacking?" Konan was still a little confused. She deliberately avoided looking directly into Madara's eyes to avoid being controlled by the genjutsu, and she had already prepared to bombard Madara with countless explosive tags. Now that she realized something was wrong, she looked up in surprise.

Nagato's face was stiff, his teeth were clenched, and large beads of sweat rolled down his face.

Excessive consumption? No, given Nagato's current power, the Nine Seals of the Illusionary Dragon shouldn't have caused him to suffer like this, so...

Konan hurriedly looked at Madara, then froze, staring blankly into Madara's eyes.

"...Rinnegan?! Why does Madara have the Rinnegan?" Konan was stunned, her mind reeling!
The Rinnegan—the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths. Nagato was the second Sage of Six Paths in the world, the bearer of destiny and prophecy, the leader of change. Konan firmly believed this, but why… did Madara, an Uchiha clan member, possess the Rinnegan?!

"Isn't he from the Uchiha clan? Isn't he an Edo Tensei? Where did he get the Rinnegan?!" Konan screamed in shock and anger. It's no wonder she lost her composure; this cruel reality shattered her understanding of things from many years ago.

That reality, which should have been the truth, was easily shattered into pieces.

Nagato's dry and deep voice rang out: "It didn't come from anywhere. Those were his own eyes. I saw with my own eyes him switch his eyes from the Mangekyou Sharingan to the Rinnegan."

Konan trembled all over, forcing a smile as she said in a forced, relaxed tone, "So that's how it is. I didn't expect Madara Uchiha to possess such an ability. The upper limit of the Uchiha's bloodline limit is actually copying your Rinnegan? This clan is truly—"

"Stop talking, Xiao Nan, you and I both guessed that possibility..."

Nagato's face turned deathly pale, ashen. The so-called prophetic child had all become a lie.

(End of this chapter)