Reanimation

Shi Xiu followed the system's guidance to a cave and walked inside.

"This place... it looks so familiar."

Shi Xiu carefully made his way through the dark, deep cave. The faint light filtering in from the entrance barely illuminated his path.

As he ventured deeper, the sight before him made his eyes widen in astonishment, a surge of surprise rising in his heart.

Below him stood tens of thousands of White Zetsu, packed densely together. They stood motionless like lifelike white statues, arranged in perfect, uniform rows—a truly spectacular scene.

In the very center of this White Zetsu army, a conspicuous arrow pointed straight toward the depths, seemingly guiding the way to something important.

"It seems this must be the storage site for the White Zetsu army," Shi Xiu muttered to himself. He took a deep breath, bent his knees slightly, and then leaped, landing as lightly as an agile bird amidst the army of White Zetsu.

He wove through them nimbly, following the arrow's direction, and soon arrived at an open space.

The arrow remained steadily pointed at the ground. Full of doubt, Shi Xiu looked down and asked softly, "System? What exactly is hidden beneath here?" However, only silence answered him.

Faced with the system's lack of response, Shi Xiu shook his head helplessly. With a sigh, he quickly pressed his palms together, his fingers flying like phantoms as he formed hand seals.

"Earth Style: Flowing Earth!"

As Shi Xiu's low shout echoed, the once hard and solid ground instantly began to soften, turning into a pool of flowing soil.

Shi Xiu dove into the ground without hesitation, moving freely through the loose earth.

Before long, he discovered a skeleton beneath the soil. He reached out, channeled his chakra to wrap tightly around it, and carefully carried the remains back to the surface.

Examining the skeleton in his hands, Shi Xiu used his years of accumulated experience and knowledge to judge from the bone age that the owner of these remains was only in their teens.

Shi Xiu frowned slightly, raising his eyebrows in surprise as he pondered, Could this really be Rin's skeleton? This was truly an unexpected delight.

This situation made Shi Xiu even more curious about the mysterious system. After all, something like this had never happened before. Regardless, this accident had undoubtedly brought him a pleasant surprise.

Shi Xiu did not delay any longer; he bent down without hesitation and picked up Rin's remains.

At the same time, he took the liberty of grabbing a few White Zetsu to keep for future use.

After finishing, Shi Xiu did not leave immediately. He raised his hand, slapped the ground, and left a Flying Thunder God mark behind.

Shi Xiu looked at the mark he had left, nodded with satisfaction, and then performed the Flying Thunder God technique, vanishing from the space in an instant.

In the blink of an eye, Shi Xiu returned to the Uzumaki clan's Mask Storage Temple.

Shi Xiu walked quickly to the high shelf and reached up to take down the Death God Mask. After obtaining the mask, he looked around for a quiet and secluded corner, preparing to undo the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.

To avoid having his soul harvested by the Death God, Shi Xiu had another viable method besides the Living Corpse Reincarnation technique previously used by Orochimaru.

Thinking of this, Shi Xiu gently placed the White Zetsu he had brought back onto the ground, then took Kushina's hair and Rin's skeleton from his robes, carefully placing them onto the body of the White Zetsu. With all preparations complete, Shi Xiu took a deep breath and began to weave hand seals at high speed.

"Summoning: Reanimation!"

As Shi Xiu slapped the ground with one hand, a powerful surge of chakra erupted.

In an instant, countless fragments shimmering with strange light surged out like a tide, rapidly wrapping tightly around the White Zetsu.

A moment later, the light gradually dissipated, and two figures—one large and one small—slowly appeared before Shi Xiu's eyes.

Kushina felt as if her consciousness had sunk into the deep sea, lost in a chaotic fog. She didn't know how much time had passed before the heavy sensation gradually dissipated and her consciousness began to return. When she could finally perceive her surroundings, the first thing that caught her eye was her own body. She blinked, her face full of confusion and bewilderment, and even a hint of shock, completely unable to understand what was happening.

"W-what is going on? Didn't I die?" Kushina muttered in disbelief, inspecting her hands repeatedly as if to confirm whether this body was real.

Just then, Rin, who had also just regained consciousness, turned to look at Kushina. A look of surprise appeared on her face as she blurted out, "Mistress!"

Hearing this address, Kushina turned her head sharply. When she saw that the person standing beside her was indeed Rin, a surge of excitement welled up in her heart, and even her voice trembled slightly: "Rin! It really is you! Could it be... could it be that we have both been resurrected?"

However, Rin was also confused, her heart filled with questions. She looked at Kushina and asked hesitantly, "Mistress, did you... did you pass away as well?" Before she could finish, her train of thought was interrupted by a sudden voice.

"Good day to you both. I am truly sorry to interrupt your reunion, but I have some important questions I need to ask Kushina right now." As the voice faded, Shi Xiu appeared before them.

Kushina and Rin were caught off guard, trembling at the sudden sound. Kushina instinctively pulled Rin behind her, eyes wide, staring at the figure ahead as if facing a formidable enemy.

When she focused and recognized the person's face, the vigilance in her eyes instantly turned into surprise and joy. She gasped, "You... are you Lord Shi Xiu?"

Shi Xiu smiled, nodded gently, and said slowly, "Long time no see, Kushina."

Rin's eyes widened, staring unblinkingly at the stranger who was chatting so familiarly with her mistress. She was full of astonishment, wondering to herself, Who is this person? Why have I never seen him before?

Kushina turned to look at Shi Xiu, her face full of confusion, and asked, "So, was it you, Lord Shi Xiu, who resurrected Rin and me?"

Shi Xiu nodded slightly to confirm, but then shook his head gently, explaining, "To a certain extent, this is not a true resurrection. This technique is called Reanimation. It requires the remains or hair of the deceased as a medium and a living person as a sacrifice to summon the soul of the dead into the world. The advantage of this technique is that the summoned dead possess an immortal body, but its weakness is quite obvious: it fears sealing techniques and Yin-Yang Release ninjutsu."

Hearing that a living person was required as a sacrifice made Rin find it hard to accept for a moment. Kushina clearly noticed this and pulled Rin into her arms to comfort her gently.

Shi Xiu explained, "However, I have a substitute; I am not using ninjas as sacrifices."

As he spoke, Shi Xiu pointed to the White Zetsu nearby. Kushina and Rin stared blankly at the strange, human-like yet non-human, snow-white mysterious creature on the ground.

"So you are living in a different way now. I will take you back to Konoha, but you cannot appear before others."

After hearing this, Kushina and Rin wore expressions of partial understanding and nodded slowly. Just then, Kushina began to scan the surrounding environment, her eyes searching eagerly for the person she missed so dearly—Minato Namikaze. To her disappointment, she did not see any sign of him.

Anxious and burning with impatience, Kushina turned her gaze back to Shi Xiu and asked urgently, "Lord Shi Xiu, where is Minato? Did you not resurrect Minato through the Reanimation technique as well?"