Beyond the Pure Land, the Rebirth of Crimson Eyes

[Haotian Shangdis, Donghua Dijuns, Qin Shi Huangs, Emperor Wu of Hans, Emperor Taizong of Tangs, and Hongwu Emperors reading this book, congratulations on arriving at the Hall of Gods. Remember to preserve your brains filled with sacred radiance; they are the future of humanity's survival.]

The Pure Land where the dead resided was not a silent wasteland. Hazy light flowed here, and eternal tranquility filled the air.

Uchiha Madara, the formidable figure who had once stirred up storms across the Shinobi World, was now leisurely walking across a patch of soft radiance.

He could already sense that familiar chakra ahead—

That Hashirama Senju fellow seemed to have come up with some novel thing called "hot pot" and was loudly insisting that Madara come try it.

"Boring."

Though he sounded disdainful, Madara did not slow his pace. After being dead for so long, occasionally indulging that idiot's antics did not seem too bad.

Just as he was about to pass through a gentle gate of light marking the boundary—

Boom!!!

Without warning, an incomparably violent force seized his soul!

It was as though an invisible giant hand had pierced through the barrier between life and death and forcibly dragged him out of the Pure Land!

The world spun, and his consciousness was torn apart and crushed in an instant.

Uchiha Madara's vast chakra and the power of the Rinnegan were as insignificant as dust before this indescribable might!

Deep within Knockturn Alley, inside a ruined classical courtyard, a boy of around nine was curled up on the cold wooden floor, having just drawn his last breath.

He had swallowed a highly toxic magical potion secretly passed down through his family, known as Dust-Returning Powder—

It was a final measure handed down by his ancestors, meant to preserve the last shred of "dignity" for members of the family.

Beside him lay a large pool of vomit. Black clots of blood and undigested medicinal residue were mixed into the filth, and the pungent stench of sour rot mingled with the bitterness of herbs, filling the entire room.

Bang—!!!

The skylight in the roof suddenly shattered without warning! A ball of light wrapped in thick purple-black energy crashed onto the rotten floor like a cannonball!

It was Uchiha Madara!

His condition was extremely dire. The tearing caused by the violent spacetime energy had nearly ripped him apart. He could feel his soul being savagely torn by the spacetime energy, on the verge of dispersing!

Madara's immense yet violently unstable spiritual power instantly caught hold of the boy beside him, so close at hand! So fragile, so insignificant, yet like the only island in the darkness where he could set foot!

"A vessel...!" Madara's remaining will forced him to crash into the boy's body!

Boom—!!! A silent spiritual tsunami erupted deep within the boy's consciousness. The fusion process was agonizing and prolonged, and the boy's body, which had long ceased breathing, convulsed violently. A moment later, it fell still once more.

Then—

"Ugh... hhk..."

Madara awoke.

Suffocation! Excruciating pain!

His throat was abnormally swollen, his windpipe compressed, and his lungs spasmed wildly without drawing in even a trace of air! His eyeballs bulged in their sockets as blood-red darkness rapidly devoured his vision. Every part of his body hurt beyond endurance, as if he had been trampled by a tailed beast. A strange bitterness lingered in his mouth—

This feeling... poison?!

"Ugh... hhk..."

What sort of man was Uchiha Madara? Even with his soul wounded, even in such desperate circumstances, his battle instincts and will, tempered through countless trials, were no ordinary things. His desire to survive and his towering rage erupted at the same instant!

"Damn it!"

Though his chakra was nearly depleted, his soul power remained. With his precise control over energy, he forcibly mobilized a trace of residual soul power, mixed it with some unfamiliar energy within this body, and gathered it at his fingertips—

Sss!

With a soft sound, an opening appeared in his swollen purple neck, and flowing air instantly rushed into his lungs.

Air flooded in!

"Cough, cough, cough, cough—!!!"

He tried to prop himself up with his arms, only to collapse heavily back onto the cold, hard floor, sending up a cloud of dust. Madara coughed violently as fresh air poured into his burning lungs, every breath like a blade cutting through him.

Madara staggered to the corner and leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. Beneath his eyelids, his eyes moved rapidly—

Uchiha Madara's memories were forcibly merging with another set of weak, despairing, grief-filled fragments.

The Flamel Family.

The memories were chaotic and painful: crimson eyes, an inborn abundance of... what they called "magic power," yet as though cursed, unable to be used smoothly, making them true "Squibs."

A beauty so striking it was almost otherworldly, with blood containing strange vitality that could delay aging...

These extraordinary traits had brought not glory, but endless pursuit. They had been regarded as precious "materials," captured, studied, and consumed by Dark wizards and pure-blood families like rare magical creatures...

The original owner of this body had been the last Flamel. His parents had long died in the pursuit, and the family estate had been carved up under various pretexts by those coveting it.

To protect him, they had not even given him a name.

Unfortunately, a few days ago, the key to the last vault had still been taken.

Utter despair had driven this boy, only nine years old, to end his short and miserable life in this ruined ancestral home.

Pathetic trash.

Madara judged coldly in his heart.

He was not judging the boy's choice, but the ending of being helplessly slaughtered by others.

When had Uchiha Madara ever been so weak in his life?!

Madara slowly opened his eyes—

What greeted him was a chandelier hanging loose from the ceiling, dust-covered cobwebs, and motes drifting through the dim light. The air was thick with the moldy smell of decaying wood.

The pain in his neck made him frown slightly. This body... was very strange!

He could sense an absurdly vast amount of foreign energy within it, but the channels that should have been responsible for circulating it were sluggish and blocked.

If he forcibly used high-level ninjutsu now, this newly acquired vessel would likely collapse first.

However...

Madara keenly sensed something different.

The "natural energy" of this world was astonishingly active! It was far richer, livelier, and more omnipresent than that of the Shinobi World. It flowed joyfully, resonating with this body at every moment.

It was just that... this world seemed to lack any effective "technique" for using this energy, whether chakra extraction methods or sage arts.

He staggered to the corner of the room, stopping before a washstand covered in cracks. The mirror was filthy, but it still reflected an unfamiliar face—

Pale skin, still flushed an unhealthy red from the earlier suffocation. Black hair stood up in spikes like a hedgehog's, but the most striking feature was those eyes.

Large and profound, with slightly upturned corners, they still revealed a delicacy and allure that transcended gender, even though they were now filled with physical pain and exhaustion. Was this the so-called "charm" brought by the bloodline?

But Madara's gaze pierced through this shallow appearance!

The underlying color of those eyes—was pure red!

Inborn crimson, faintly flowing from within outward!

They were not the Bloodline Limit awakened later by the Uchiha Clan.

They were... innate, essential crimson!

Madara's heart suddenly pounded!

He leaned close to the mirror, nearly pressing himself against the cold glass as he stared fixedly into those eyes—

There were no tomoe.

Yet that color, that depth, that feeling as if they were connected to some source of fundamental power...

"Otsutsuki..."

He muttered in a hoarse voice, carrying a trace of incredulous heat.

This body had inherited the physique of the Otsutsuki Clan! Inborn powerful vitality, manifested in the vigor of its blood and delayed aging; an immense natural energy reserve, that vast magic power it could not draw upon; and... these innate crimson eyes of an exceptionally high nature!

The ancestor of the Flamel Family, that woman who had gone east to study and accidentally become pregnant... what exactly had she encountered?

An Otsutsuki clansman stranded in this world? Or some mutated being carrying Otsutsuki blood?

"What a waste."

A cold, cruel curve rose at the corner of Madara's lips.

The truth could no longer be verified.

But the result was this—this family had passed down a diluted yet still extraordinary bloodline through generations! Unfortunately, this world had no chakra system. They possessed a treasure mountain but could not enter it, and because of these traits, they had instead become "prizes." Most of their clansmen had been hunted down and consumed throughout their long history!

With a foundation so close to the bloodline of the Divine Tree, they had fallen so low as to be bullied by ants and ultimately driven to suicide?

Ridiculous! Pitiful!

Since Uchiha Madara had arrived—

Then all of this would change!

These eyes, this body, this world filled with active natural energy...

Perhaps this was not a desperate situation.

Perhaps it was a brand-new beginning, filled with limitless possibilities—

A starting point!