Half a month passed uneventfully during Orochimaru's cultivation of the Body Revitalization Secret Jutsu.
After obtaining a permit to leave the village for reconnaissance from the Third Hokage, Orochimaru bid farewell to Jiraiya and Tsunade, who had come to see him off, and embarked on his journey to the Snake Sage's domain alone.
"Tsunade, what's with Orochimaru lately?"
"It's like something is chasing him, he seems so rushed!"
"And I always feel his chakra is growing too fast. Could he have awakened some strange kekkei genkai?"
Jiraiya, who had already been discharged from the hospital, lowered his raised arm and stared at the forest where Orochimaru's figure had disappeared in the distance. He rubbed his chin and asked Tsunade.
Tsunade, with one hand on her hip, turned around stylishly and waved her hand dismissively at Jiraiya.
"Annoying, I don't know!"
"Maybe something strange has taken up residence in his stomach!"
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, watching Tsunade walk away, and felt that her words held some other meaning.
"Strange thing?"
"Hey!"
"Have you two been up to no good behind my back lately?"
"That doesn't seem right either!"
A strange glint flashed in Jiraiya's eyes, and he chuckled wickedly, saying,
"Even if something happened, it shouldn't be Orochimaru who has something extra in his stomach, right?"
Tsunade's retreating footsteps abruptly stopped. She turned and glared at Jiraiya. Although her fists were clenched tightly, she did not, as usual, beat up this loose-mouthed bastard.
"Jiraiya..."
After a long silence, Tsunade suddenly turned around and said in a low voice,
"Orochimaru said war might be coming. Did you know that?"
Jiraiya was taken aback and immediately dropped his frivolous expression, asking with confusion,
"Orochimaru said that? When?"
Tsunade was also stunned for a moment, turning back to look at him with doubt.
"You believe it?"
Jiraiya spread his hands, looking as if it were a matter of course.
"I might not believe others, but if Orochimaru says it, he must have his reasons."
"I trust his judgment!"
Tsunade smiled with relief and nodded gently.
Turning around, she looked at Jiraiya with a serious expression.
"Although Orochimaru didn't say it outright, his recent actions show that his desire for power is greater than ever."
"Perhaps it's true, as he said, because war is about to break out!"
"So..."
Tsunade paused, looking in the direction Orochimaru had disappeared. Her fists clenched tightly.
"I plan to, like Orochimaru, cultivate in seclusion for a while."
"Don't come looking for me recently!"
Jiraiya was stunned and asked with confusion,
"Cultivate?"
"Where are you going to cultivate? So mysterious."
Tsunade looked at the large red scroll on Jiraiya's back, her expression distant.
"You already have the summoning contract with Mount Myōboku, and Orochimaru is going to seek the legendary Ryūchi Cave."
"Whether it's in terms of strength or other aspects, you two have already surpassed me."
"As partners, I won't be content to always fall behind."
"That's it then! See you in a month and a half!"
Waving her hand, Tsunade said goodbye and turned to return to the Senju compound.
Outside the deserted west gate of Konoha, Jiraiya was left standing alone.
"Is she going to find a summoning beast?"
Jiraiya scratched his head and sighed,
"Looks like I have to go back to Mount Myōboku too!"
"If I get left behind by these two, I'll have no face at all!"
He gave a self-deprecating laugh, organized his thoughts, and walked towards the Hokage's office.
"I'll tell the old man, and then ask the Great Sage to reverse summon me back to Mount Myōboku."
"After so long, I wonder how big Gamabunta has gotten!"
...
At the northernmost point of the Land of Iron, in a desolate place called the Mountain Graveyard.
The skeletal remains of a giant, unknown creature lay across a mountain peak. The originally ferocious, bone-white spurs had been weathered into scattered debris by time.
Other mountain peaks were barren, but here, perhaps due to the feedback from the death of this unknown behemoth on the land, the trees that grew were exceptionally dense.
The roots of the trees were extremely deep, piercing through the cracks in the rocks and extending all the way down into a natural lava tube beneath the Mountain Graveyard.
This lava tube was located deep underground, with a vast, astonishingly deep interior.
Tunnels crisscrossed within, leading to unknown destinations in the sunless depths. Fortunately, a gaping opening faced the sea to the north, bringing a rare ray of light to this cave slumbering deep beneath the earth.
Under such circumstances, there should be no signs of human activity. However, a faint light emanating from the depths of the cave and occasional faint breathing sounds all indicated that someone lived here.
A man clad in dark red battle armor sat cross-legged on an artificially carved stone bed.
The man's eyes were closed. To his left was a fan, adorned with a black comma pattern, and to his right was a scythe that emitted a chilling gleam.
In the dim candlelight, the man had a full head of white hair, interspersed with occasional strands of black.
Although his face was aged, judging by his chiseled features and the occasional leakage of chakra from his body, the man must have been a powerful and heroic ninja in his youth.
It was evident that the man was concentrating on refining chakra from within his body.
The method was the same as that of ordinary ninjas, combining bodily cells with spiritual energy and then refining chakra. However, judging by the location of the chakra fluctuations emanating from the man's body, it was clearly divided into two distinct areas.
While the chakra fluctuations from the rest of his body were indeed powerful, they generally followed the rules of normal ninjas in mobilizing chakra.
But a patch of flesh on his chest, although also providing chakra to the man, felt independent of his body and subtly resisted the overall chakra circulation, which was clearly abnormal.
The chakra provided by that patch of flesh was also peculiar. Unlike ordinary chakra, which was temporarily stored in the body and nourished the flesh and cells, it rushed towards a meridian connected to the man's eyes after being refined into his body.
No one knew that this unusual process of chakra refinement had been silently carried out by the man for nearly thirty years.
The chakra swirling around his body suddenly trembled, and a terrifying suction force emanated from within him, instantly drawing the overflowing chakra back into his body.
The chakra fluctuations within his body surged, surpassing any known strong ninja in the ninja world in an instant.
An inexplicable pressure began to spread throughout the cave. As the man opened his eyes, the terrifying chakra instantly transformed into a violent wave of wind, blowing in all directions.
The moaning sounds of the wind passing through the rock crevices seemed to be cheering for the man's rebirth, and did not cease for a long time.
Madara Uchiha opened his eyes. Each of his blood-red eyeballs displayed a complex black pattern, the pupils transforming into a deep black dot, surrounded by three black tomoe that connected end to end. Each tomoe extended a black line to connect with the outermost edge of the pupil, forming a unique pattern.
These bizarre and unpredictable eyes were the ultimate form that the Uchiha clan's eyes could evolve into, the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, through which he had swept the ninja world and earned his name as a demon of slaughter.
As Madara Uchiha willed it, the Mangekyo patterns in his eyes instantly came to life. After a slight tremor, they slowly began to rotate.
Madara Uchiha mobilized all the power of his eyes, and under full activation, the patterns in his eyes accelerated their rotation, instantly forming two chakra vortices radiating powerful Yin-release energy.
The exotic chakra, which had been stored in the meridians behind his eyes, was also unwilling to be outdone. As if to prove its existence, or perhaps drawn by the Yin-release energy emanating from Madara Uchiha's eyes, it poured into the rotating patterns, merging with them.
As soon as the Yin and Yang, two chakras that had reached the extreme limits of the ninja world, came into contact, they reacted like a chemical reaction. The power of Madara Uchiha's eyes was instantly pushed to an unprecedented height.
With this peerless power, Madara Uchiha clenched his fists and let out a low growl.
"Thirty years!"
"Hashirama, today I will show you that my path is the correct one!"
"Yin and Yang combined can attain all creation!"
As Madara Uchiha's voice fell, the patterns in his eyes, which had been rotating so fast they were indistinguishable, suddenly froze. As if having exhausted their last ounce of strength, the patterns of the Eternal Mangekyo began to disintegrate and disappear from his eyes.
Sourness, swelling, pain...
And many indescribable uncomfortable sensations arose from his eyes, washing over Madara Uchiha's mind in waves. The powerful mental shock made him close his eyes in agony.
Madara Uchiha gritted his teeth, enduring the mental shock, far more unbearable than when his Sharingan evolved, and let out a roar from his throat.
"Rinnegan, appear!"
All the mental energy and Yin-Yang attributes within his body erupted, and Madara Uchiha fearlessly poured them into his eyes.
"Buzz!"
A humming sound, as if from the depths of his soul, echoed. Madara Uchiha felt the pressure in his eyes ease, and an unprecedented sensation flooded his mind.
The Rinnegan had been achieved!
He suddenly opened his eyes, and the cave, which had fallen into darkness from the wind and waves stirred by the chakra, suddenly lit up for a moment.
Madara Uchiha casually flicked a spark to relight the extinguished candle. He reached for the scythe beside him, and in the reflection of the chilling blade, he finally saw the pattern in his eyes clearly.
Pale purple whites of the eyes, surrounded by concentric, wave-like black patterns.
Mysterious, profound, powerful, omnipotent...
All sorts of emotions surged into Madara Uchiha's heart. His shoulders heaved, and the corners of Madara Uchiha's mouth slowly curved into a smile, which gradually became unrestrained and arrogant.
"Hahahaha..."
"Hashirama, you were wrong!"
His laughter echoed through the cave, lingering for a long time.
Below the cave, in the deeper, darker rock depths.
A pair of amber eyes filled with malice witnessed everything that happened. A flash of joy flickered in their pupils, which then turned into utter mockery.
"Heh heh!"
"A thousand years, finally..."
"The Moon Eye Plan finally has a chance of being realized!"