Shaking his head, Sarutobi Toru cast all the messy thoughts from his mind. He came to Nawaki's coffin, opened the entrance to the Reincarnation Warehouse, and stored the corpse inside.
Then, golden light flashed, and he soon arrived at the Ninjutsu Research Department's laboratory.
He first entered the Reincarnation Warehouse and returned to his physical body. Sarutobi Toru quietly examined Nawaki's corpse, an expression of confirmation appearing on his face.
More than three years had passed, yet Nawaki's corpse remained exactly as it had been. There was not even the slightest sign of decay.
Nawaki might have possessed Senju blood, but he was not Hashirama Senju, whose cells remained active even after death. Sarutobi Toru could have accepted it if the corpse decayed somewhat more slowly than an ordinary person's. But for it to show no signs of decay at all after three years, it was clearly a fake.
Moreover, although he could not sense it through Chakra, Sarutobi Toru's Hormone Fruit ability easily identified the distinctive plant hormones on the corpse before him.
He slowly pressed a hand against Nawaki's corpse and activated his Hormone Fruit ability. Moments later, it transformed into a White Zetsu, then reverted into a seed.
"Not bad. This is probably the highest-quality White Zetsu I've ever seen," Sarutobi Toru murmured as he sensed the vitality within the White Zetsu Seed in his hand.
Leaving the Reincarnation Warehouse, he casually placed the White Zetsu Seed into a nutrient solution. There were four other ordinary White Zetsu Seeds here, but they were visibly smaller than this one, and their vitality was far inferior. It seemed Uchiha Madara had put considerable effort into creating Nawaki's corpse.
"Now that I think about it, that young man really was Nawaki. But just what method did Uchiha Madara use to