Rinnegan

At the end of Year 27 of the Hidden Mist Village, having finished everything he needed to do in the small town, Qing Si prepared to leave.

After storing the various necessities he had gradually purchased in town into storage scrolls, Qing Si set out on his journey to the Hidden Mist Village.

In the Land of Frost, deep beneath Mountain Graveyard, lay a vast underground cavern where an old man sat silently.

His hair stood up in scattered spikes like a hedgehog's. What had once been flowing long hair had become dry and white. His wrinkled face, bloodless cheeks, and clouded eyes all foretold that the old man's life was nearing its end.

The old man was none other than Madara Uchiha, the legendary shinobi world's demon of old.

At the Valley of the End, Madara Uchiha had been defeated and killed by Hashirama Senju. But he had anticipated Tobirama Senju's deep hostility toward the Uchiha Clan. As a research fanatic, Tobirama would certainly not destroy the corpse of the strongest Uchiha when he wished to study the Uchiha's secrets. Thus, before the battle, Madara had used a Transcription Seal to place the Uchiha's life-saving forbidden technique, Izanagi, in his right eye. After the battle, just as expected, Tobirama secretly hid Madara Uchiha's corpse in Konoha's rear mountains, hoping to study the secrets of the Sharingan.

In the end, at the cost of his right Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan losing its light, Madara rewrote reality and returned to life. He then disguised a shadow clone as his corpse and silently left Konoha.

After his resurrection, Madara Uchiha began striving to realize his ideal.

During his earlier battle with Hashirama Senju, Madara had bitten off a piece of Hashirama's flesh. After reviving, he spat it out and transplanted it into his wound, successfully obtaining Hashirama's cells. As the degree of cellular fusion gradually deepened, Hashirama Senju's face appeared on Madara's left chest. Having failed to compete with Mito Uzumaki, Madara Uchiha had found another way to remain with his best friend, Hashirama Senju, forever.

"The two opposing powers unite as one, giving rise to the Power of All Creation." Madara Uchiha understood the inscription left on the stone tablet by the so-called Sage of Six Paths to mean that the power of Hashirama Senju's Wood Release and the power of Madara Uchiha's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan could merge to produce the Power of All Creation.

Yet after transplanting Hashirama's cells, although Madara could sense his strength steadily increasing and had even later mastered Wood Release, which no other Senju clansman had ever been able to wield, the Power of All Creation he had envisioned never appeared.

As time passed, Madara Uchiha, now over sixty, gradually began to feel his strength failing him. The many old injuries accumulated from his frequent battles in youth slowly began affecting his body, and his power continued to decline. With no other choice, during the final years of his life, Madara returned to the underground base beneath Mountain Graveyard and quietly awaited the summons of the Pure Land.

In his mind, Madara Uchiha's magnificent life flashed by like a film. Every detail of his love-and-hate relationship with Hashirama Senju passed before his eyes. At seventy-one years old, Madara knew his time had come.

Just then, the Hashirama cells implanted within Madara finally completed their fusion with his own cells at the genetic level. A thousand years later, Indra's and Asura's chakra intertwined perfectly, giving rise to a thread of chakra bearing the characteristics of the Six Paths. The moment it appeared, its total amount began increasing rapidly. At the same time, it involuntarily circulated swiftly through Madara's body before surging toward the pathways around his eyes.

Madara's eyes widened. His right eye was gray and white, but the Sharingan in his left eye emerged automatically. Its three black tomoe began spinning rapidly, then connected into one and transformed into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. The Sharingan spun faster and faster as its red color gradually faded. A trace of purple appeared, then quickly spread. Ripple after ripple formed across his eyeball. Madara's Rinnegan had appeared!

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" His aged yet exhilarated laughter echoed through the entire cavern.

Madara Uchiha, whose natural lifespan was nearly over, had finally awakened the Rinnegan at the very end of his life.

"Summoning Jutsu!" As if by instinct, Madara clasped his hands together, then slammed his right hand forcefully against the ground before him. Vast chakra erupted forth.

"Bang!" Thick white smoke filled the entire cavern. When it dispersed, a massive humanoid monster appeared behind Madara. It had nine eyes, a body colored like dead wood, and ten pillar-like protrusions extending from its back.

The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path? The monster's name naturally surfaced in Madara's mind.

"ROAR!" Having just broken free from the moon's seal, the statue let out a furious roar, as though venting its resentment at being sealed away—or its rage at having been forcibly divided and stripped of the power of the nine tailed beasts.

Madara formed the Ram hand seal and began controlling the statue. Under his command, it gradually stopped struggling and extended several tube-like appendages, which pierced into Madara's back.

Receiving the statue's life force, Madara survived. Meanwhile, Black Zetsu, who had lurked nearby for years and had nearly fallen into despair, stared at Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan in delighted shock.

Mother, I finally see hope. The Rinnegan has finally appeared! Black Zetsu was overwhelmed with excitement after striving for this for a thousand years, and he began secretly plotting his next moves.

Madara, having awakened the Rinnegan, also rekindled his hope. A resurrection technique contained within the Rinnegan, known as the Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique, gave him the confidence to continue carrying out what he believed to be his plan for peace.

At the same time Madara Uchiha awakened the Rinnegan, Qing Si, who had just set out on his journey in the Land of Water, looked toward the northwest in confusion.

"A familiar aura," Qing Si murmured.

After thinking carefully for a moment, Qing Si's expression turned to realization.

"This aura seems to be the Rinnegan. It feels somewhat like Hagoromo Otsutsuki's." Having watched from close range as the Otsutsuki brothers sealed Kaguya, as well as Indra's battle against Asura, Isshiki was no stranger to the auras of Hagoromo Otsutsuki and his two sons.

"Looks like that black fellow called Black Zetsu was behind this. Then the one who awakened the Rinnegan should be Madara Uchiha!" Qing Si immediately recalled the consciousness Kaguya had split off before she was completely sealed, as well as the scene he had seen in his past life of Black Zetsu and Madara Uchiha baring their hearts to each other.

"This is getting more and more interesting. The windmill of the shinobi world has begun to turn!" Qing Si smiled, then set those thoughts aside and continued toward the Hidden Mist Village. After all, his most pressing task now was to digest Isshiki's gift and accelerate his own growth.

Three months later, in the spring of Year 28 of the Hidden Mist Village, Qing Si arrived at the Hidden Mist Village after leisurely sightseeing along the way.

Nine-year-old Qing Si now stood 150 centimeters tall. Several months of recuperation had given his body sufficient nutrition, and he no longer looked as frail as before.

Taking out the identification documents that he had the underlings at the bounty exchange issue for him when he passed through the Land of Water's capital, Qing Si strolled toward the gates of the Hidden Mist Village.