Ascension Island.
Deep within the Underground Laboratory.
The vast space had been remodeled into something like a sacrificial site. Intricate runic patterns covered the floor, and chakra lamps embedded in the surrounding walls lit the entire space brightly.
Lin Ze stood at the center of the formation, with Kurenai Yuhi, Nonō, Yumi, Ayumi, Miyamoto Ichirō, Asuma, Ichikishimahime, and the others behind him.
Across from him, Kabuto adjusted the glasses on his nose, his gaze sweeping over the dozen or so special cultivation pods arranged before him.
"Lin Ze, everything is ready."
He pointed toward the nine specially made sacrifices at the edge of the formation. They were all bodies cultivated using white Zetsu cells and the deceased's original tissue. Each looked lifelike as it lay there quietly.
From left to right, they were:
Uchiha Onibi, Ryota Uchiha, Might Duy, Might Guy, White Snake Sage, Tagitsuhime, Tashihime, Hagoromo-hime, and Rei Uesugi!
Lin Ze's gaze lingered on Rei Uesugi's sacrificial body for several seconds, a slight flicker passing through his eyes.
Fifteen years.
The girl who had spent ten years with him at the Orphanage, the foolish girl who had chosen to take her own life rather than become a burden to him, could finally return.
"Let's begin."
Lin Ze's voice was calm, yet carried a barely perceptible trace of anticipation.
Kabuto nodded and formed hand seals:
"Impure World Reincarnation!"
Countless scraps of dust and paper began churning over the nine specially made sacrifices, covering them and quickly forming nine figures.
Uchiha Onibi took shape first.
He looked down at his hands, his gray-white eyes initially blank before filling with shock.
"This is... Impure World Reincarnation?"
Ryota Uchiha took shape second.
He, too, looked around blankly. When his gaze landed on Onibi beside him, he froze.
"Brother...?"
The third, the fourth, the