Secret in the Coffin

The coffin opened by Chen rippled with an unknown black liquid substance!

Madara walked up, glanced at it, and frowned, saying, "What is this? Where did you get so much asphalt? And you put it in a coffin—aren't you afraid of bad luck?"

Hearing this, Obito stepped forward full of curiosity. After studying it for a moment, he grabbed the coffin's edge and shook it a few times.

"Gurgle, gurgle." The 'asphalt' inside the coffin let out a thick stirring sound as it swayed.

Obito shook his head, unable to figure out what was going on.

Madara crossed his arms and looked at Chen, asking, "Is the secret of the Rinnegan really hidden in this asphalt?"

"Of course." Chen said with a harmless smile. "Because this isn't asphalt—it's your remains, Uncle Madara."

"Oh, I see... Wait, what did you say?" Chen's tone was so natural that Madara almost didn't catch it.

Madara pointed at the asphalt in the coffin, which had just been shaken smooth, and asked, "You're saying this is... my remains?"

"Yeah." Chen nodded honestly. "That's right, your remains."

"..." Beside the coffin, Obito lowered his head, his shoulders starting to tremble uncontrollably.

Trained as he was, he didn't let it show on his face immediately.

But deep inside, he was already letting out a bronze bell-like roar of laughter: I, I thought turning into a pile of fragments was bad enough, but Madara, Madara actually turned into a puddle of asphalt! Hahahahahahahahahahaha!

Madara scratched his wild long hair, his expression twisting with awkwardness, unsure how to react.

Dropping his hand, Madara jutted his chin toward the 'asphalt' in the coffin. "Look, even though it doesn't matter much anymore, logically speaking, shouldn't you give me an explanation?"

"Of course." Chen straightened his clothes and put on a solemn face. "After the Ninja World War, your remains left on the battlefield were recovered by Konoha."

"Then, regarding the disposal of your remains, two opinions emerged within Konoha. The old Konoha advisors, Second Hokage Tobirama's former disciples, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, strongly advocated destroying your remains to prevent anyone from tampering with life and death like Orochimaru and Kabuto."

"The other opinion came from the Ninja Ban, established after Kakashi Hatake became Hokage. The Ninja Ban's predecessor was the Hashirama Cell Laboratory."

"They advocated preserving your remains. After all, a ninja's remains are a treasure trove of intelligence, containing information on bloodlines and techniques. Not to mention you, Uchiha Madara, were the only one who could match the First Hokage, and even awakened the Rinnegan at one point. Destroying your remains would be like destroying the ninja's greatest treasure."

"With the two opinions deadlocked, your remains were temporarily preserved and frozen."

"Until Naruto became the Seventh Hokage, 'Sasuke,' as his supporting shadow, formally proposed to Naruto that your remains be kept. An 'Forbidden Ground' was established underground in Konoha, with a dedicated Anbu unit tasked with guarding the coffin containing your remains."

Madara was deeply surprised. "It was Sasuke who proposed that?"

"That's right. Sasuke had considered using Impure World Reincarnation on you when necessary."

"Back then, Sasuke was quite far-sighted. Not only did he propose preserving your remains, but he also suggested Naruto seal the chakra of all the tailed beasts into himself."

"That way, he would protect the tailed beasts and also give Naruto power close to that of a Ten-Tails Jinchuriki."

"Naruto refused. He didn't want to restrict the tailed beasts' freedom. He only chose to merge Yin-Yang Kurama and released the other tailed beasts back to their territories."

"I won't judge his decision back then. The ninja world was indeed thriving at the time."

"Later, through an 'inside man' in Konoha's Anbu, I learned of the Forbidden Ground's existence."

"At that time, I hadn't yet resolved to take this path. It wasn't until repeated disappointments in my dealings with Konoha that I made up my mind to break into the Forbidden Ground and take this coffin."

"And if you hadn't obtained my body?"

"I would have had other ways to use Impure World Reincarnation on you."

Seeing the smile on Chen's lips, Madara thought: You almost tricked me, you little rascal!

"Chen, you sly fox! I don't just want to know the origin of the remains—I want to know the origin of the 'asphalt'!"

Ah, was I found out?

Fine...

"I used [Yin-Yang Release] to purify your remains into something similar to 'Black Zetsu'!"

"You say... Yin-Yang Release?" Madara narrowed his eyes.

Speaking of Yin-Yang Release, one must mention a common misconception.

Most people hear Yin-Yang Release and think it's exclusive to a Ten-Tails Jinchuriki.

That's not true—that's the high-level version.

Madara had mastered the basic version of Yin-Yang Release long ago, and on his deathbed, he passed it down to Obito along with the Uchiha's forbidden techniques and the Six Paths techniques, all through genjutsu.

"Yin-Yang Release—I taught it to Obito along with the Uchiha's forbidden techniques and the Six Paths techniques back then. You couldn't have been there, right?"

"That's right, I wasn't there. I wasn't even born yet. I was born the same year Obito started the Nine-Tails' rampage."

Madara turned to Obito, who was still struggling to hold back his laughter, and asked, "Did you teach him?"

Obito said, "I never even met this guy Chen when I was alive... Pfft!"

Madara couldn't be bothered to figure out what Obito was laughing about.

"Then it's strange... How did you learn Yin-Yang Release, Chen?"

Obito was also very curious about this.

But then Chen said, "You taught me, Uncle Madara..."

"???" Was this another cold joke?

This time, Chen did not beat around the bush.

"In the Samadhi of Zen meditation, the version of you I imagined taught me Yin-Yang Release, along with the Six Paths Technique and the Uchiha's Forbidden Jutsu!"

"The version of me you... imagined? Taught... you?"

Madara almost wondered if he had misheard again.

"That's right."

Chen spoke with conviction, while Madara's mind churned: "That Zen Master taught you 'Samadhi'—is it really that absurdly overpowered?"

Chen had mentioned the Six Paths' Ninja Sect was indeed something, but Madara hadn't expected it to be layer upon layer, wearing two sets at once.

"Of course, this kind of imagination also requires certain conditions; it's not entirely something from nothing."

"Fine." With restrictions in place, Madara felt it was slightly more acceptable.

Madara lowered his head to stare at the 'Asphalt' inside the coffin and kindly warned, "But you have to be careful, Chen. Don't let anything strange sneak into me!"

This was what they called—

Once bitten by Zetsu, ten years afraid of Asphalt!

"Don't worry, Uncle Madara. To be safe, I've already thoroughly analyzed it with 'Amaterasu-no-Mikoto.' The method was to first pulverize it with Amaterasu-no-Mikoto, then restore it with Utsuro-ryu. If even a single trace of a strange component existed, it couldn't have passed."

"That's good." Madara thought to himself: Using one of my useless bodies to fulfill Chen's future isn't a bad way to achieve what Hashirama called 'inheritance,' is it?

"Do what you want to do, Chen!"

"Alright, I'm deeply grateful!" Chen nodded solemnly and formed a hand seal with two fingers!

"Zzzz!" From the chest of the Hashirama Clone above, the Black Rods of the Six Paths Technique extended downward, branching out like tree limbs, their tips plunging deep into the 'Asphalt' within the coffin!

"Zzzzz!" Using the Black Rods as a medium, the 'Asphalt' flowed upward, gradually covering the skin of the Hashirama Clone, until... the Asphalt in the coffin ran dry and completely vanished.

Madara's lips curled upward: This way, Hashirama and I have truly become one.

Hashirama's perfect clone, the Yin-Yang Release purification of my complete remains... Ashura's power and Indra's power—the conditions for awakening the Rinnegan are indeed met.

Madara had already learned through Chen that Hashirama and himself were the previous generation's Indra and Ashura reincarnates.

So the question arose again.

Chen, how are you going to integrate this external power, which doesn't belong to you, into your body to help you awaken the Rinnegan?

Madara didn't ask; he would quietly watch Chen perform for him!

"Crack!" Chen snapped off a section of the Black Rod that had been inserted into the coffin, lifted it, and stabbed it into his own shoulder.

Connected by the Black Rod, it could replace the need for palm 'touch.'

At that moment, the pattern in Chen's left eye trembled with a brilliance stronger than any ever seen before!

Madara's eyes shook: "This feeling of dojutsu power—it's not Haniyasu or Mizuha. Could it be... that eye technique he's never used before..."

"This is the eye technique my younger brother awakened for me with his death..."

--The Twin Flowers!