Late at night, the bustling Leaf Village finally fell quiet.
Only the patrolling ANBU still moved silently through the village. The lights on Hokage Rock remained lit, gazing down over the peaceful land like the eyes of a guardian deity.
Tianyi left the village alone, passed through the dense woods, and arrived at a hidden underground base outside the village.
The base had originally been an abandoned Root outpost. After the war, Tianyi had requisitioned it and converted it into a private laboratory.
The entrance was hidden behind a thicket, and sealing runes covered the heavy alloy door. Only Tianyi's chakra could open it. The door slowly slid aside, and cold white light spilled out, illuminating the gravel and fallen leaves outside.
Tianyi stepped inside, and the alloy door closed silently behind him.
The base was small but fully equipped. Bottles and jars crowded several workbenches, while diagrams analyzing various Sealing Techniques and charts of the human chakra pathways hung on the walls.
In one corner stood an enormous cultivation tank containing the corpse of a White Zetsu Clone. Submerged in pale green liquid, his chalk-white skin gave off an eerie glow.
At the far end stood a stone platform covered in runes-the altar Tianyi had prepared specifically for Impure World Reincarnation.
Tianyi took two scrolls from inside his clothes, unrolled them, and laid them on the stone platform.
"Release!"
Tianyi formed hand seals, and white smoke burst forth. A White Zetsu Clone emerged from the scroll and landed on the floor.
White Zetsu blinked, turning his hollow eye sockets toward Tianyi. His voice was airy, tinged with curiosity and unease:
"Huh? Where is this? Why do I feel like something's wrong..."
Tianyi did not answer. He dragged the White Zetsu Clone onto the stone platform and secured his limbs.