Rei Uesugi fell silent for a moment, then broke into a smile.
"It's all right. Being able to see everyone again and talk to you again is already more than enough for me."
Her gaze swept over everyone, then suddenly paused.
"Asuma... how is he?"
Nonō, Yumi, and Ayumi exchanged glances, mischievous smiles appearing on their faces.
"Oh my, already in a hurry to find your boyfriend when you've only just come back to life?"
Yumi teased her.
Ayumi covered her mouth and chuckled too. "You still like Asuma so much, Rei."
Rei Uesugi hurriedly said,
"I... I was just asking..."
"Don't worry."
Nonō smiled gently. "Asuma is fine. Not long after the Danzo incident, he left Konoha. He's now serving as one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja at the Daimyo's Mansion in the Land of Fire."
"I hear he's doing well. The daimyo thinks very highly of him."
Rei Uesugi breathed a sigh of relief, but a trace of disappointment flashed in her eyes.
Lin Ze saw what was on her mind and said,
"There's no rush. Once your condition stabilizes, I'll have a snake from Ryūchi Cave take a message to Asuma."
"Your body is the most important thing right now."
He carefully examined Rei Uesugi's reanimated body, his thoughts racing.
Although Impure World Reincarnation could bring back the dead, it was not true resurrection, after all.
He planned to clone a perfect body suited to Rei Uesugi.
He could use Ling's original cells as the foundation, then optimize the body by adding cells with exceptional kekkei genkai.
Or he could simply use a White Zetsu.
A White Zetsu's body was an ideal vessel-a special life-form cultivated by the God Tree, with such exceptional compatibility that it could even bear Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan.
*If I can capture a