Land of Grass, in a hidden, dark underground chamber.
Jokichi looked at the open stone sarcophagus before him and fell into silence.
Inside the sarcophagus was only a set of clothes; there was no corpse.
This was a cenotaph.
"He even scattered his own ashes. This is truly a ruthless man!"
Jokichi sighed in admiration.
Even after finding such a hidden tomb, he didn't leave his corpse behind.
But this was also very normal.
A ninja's corpse is also a secret treasure; one can obtain the secrets on their body through secret jutsu.
And the secrets on Uchiha Madara's body were too numerous to count.
To grind one's own bones to dust and scatter the ashes after death was completely normal.
However—
"You also absolutely never expected that the will you manifested, 'Black Zetsu', was actually a double agent!"
Jokichi smiled lightly, formed hand seals, and raised his hands.
A stone pillar rose from the ground, concealing a hidden compartment in the middle, containing a box.
Jokichi took the box out and opened it. Inside lay a piece of flesh and blood.
However, despite undergoing preservation treatment, the time had been too long. It looked like a very thin, stain-like substance and emitted a foul medicinal smell.
"This thing is too disgusting, and a Sage Crystal forged from this..."
Thinking of this, Jokichi's stomach churned.
"It's better to use Impure World Reincarnation to extract his chakra!"
...
About two hours later.
Jokichi caught a missing-nin criminal and returned to the underground chamber.
The missing-nin was controlled by genjutsu and stood dumbly to the side.
And Jokichi was drawing the formula for Impure World Reincarnation.
If summoning a target via Impure World Reincarnation for the first time, one needs to draw the formula array, then fuse the target's remaining biological material with the flesh of a living sacrifice.
Soon, Jokichi finished drawing the formula array and then controlled the missing-nin sacrifice to stand in place.
Finally, he sliced open his belly and applied the piece of Uchiha Madara's flesh to the wound.
Blood flowed out, and flesh and blood mingled.
Seeing the time was right, Jokichi began forming seals. "Impure World Reincarnation!"
Instantly, the air in the secret chamber began to flow, stirring up a large amount of dust that swirled and attached itself to the sacrifice.
Gradually, the sacrifice's appearance was replaced by another person's appearance.
—Uchiha Madara.
However, unlike the young Madara summoned by Kabuto, the one Jokichi summoned was just a dying old man.
His body was gaunt, nothing but skin and bones.
Under the pale white hair was an aged face covered in wrinkles. He looked as if even speaking took a lot of effort.
Impure World Reincarnation can only summon the state of the deceased just before their death. Yakushi Kabuto specifically created a body to restore Madara's peak combat power.
Jokichi only wanted to extract his chakra to forge items; he never intended to fight a peak Madara.
Therefore, he didn't waste time researching how to create an Impure World Reincarnation body that maintained the prime state before death.
However, even as an old man with one foot in the grave, Madara exuded a composed and unhurried aura.
His only remaining eye opened, revealing ancient bewilderment.
"Hello there, Madara. I've heard so much about you."
Hearing the somewhat brisk voice, Madara looked at the young man in front of him, his gaze sharpening.
"Who are you?"
The voice was old but powerful, completely unlike what such an old geezer nearing death should be able to produce.
Jokichi chuckled. "My name is Jokichi. I am a ninja of Konoha."
"A ninja of Konoha..."
Madara murmured twice, catching a glimpse of the formula array beneath him from the corner of his eye.
"The forbidden jutsu invented by the Second Hokage, Impure World Reincarnation. It seems you truly are a ninja of Konoha."
"However, what do you want to do by summoning this old man?"
"This aged and decrepit body, even if brought forth by Impure World Reincarnation, cannot fight for you."
"I never wanted you to fight for me. I just want to obtain a little bit of your chakra."
Jokichi smiled lightly. His pitch-black eyes turned purple, adorned with a concentric ripple pattern.
Seeing these eyes, Madara's pupil shrank violently, unable to maintain his previous calm.
"Those eyes..."
"Why do you have those eyes!?"
While questioning, Madara's mind constantly speculated on what exactly had happened in the ninja world after his death.
Why is the Rinnegan in the hands of this Konoha ninja?
Where is Nagato?
Where is Obito?
Did the plan go bankrupt, or what?
Madara tried hard to calm himself down, but that panicked look couldn't escape Jokichi's eyes.
Seemingly seeing through his thoughts, Jokichi smiled. "Rest assured, this is my own Rinnegan, not the pair you left with Nagato."
...
Madara calmed down.
Although Jokichi's sentence revealed even more terrible news, Madara, having experienced countless storms, knew that the worse it gets, the less you can panic.
Once you panic, a situation that originally could be salvaged might be lost.
The situation had already reached this point. As a dead man, there was nothing he could do anyway.
He could only further probe for information and analyze the situation.
He looked calmly at Jokichi and asked: "Are you the next reincarnation of myself or Hashirama?"
Once every generation of Asura and Indra becomes powerful, they can sense the consciousness of the chakra residing within them.
Madara stole Hashirama's cells, obtained Asura's chakra, drew out the Six Paths power, and was very clear about the karma between Indra and Asura.
When Jokichi said his eyes were his own, Madara immediately thought the other party was an existence similar to himself.
"No." Jokichi shook his head slightly. "My existence is rather special, and explaining it would be troublesome, so I'd rather not."
It's just too damn troublesome to explain, so I won't.
Madara wanted to swear inwardly.
"I have long admired the name of the 'Dancing King of the Ninja World', which is why I've spoken so much to you."
"But you're just too boring, constantly probing this and that. If you want to know everything, here, play with this."
Jokichi took out the "Virtual Life" gaming helmet.
"I've already set all the causes and consequences inside. You just need to follow the plot to see everything. However..."
Jokichi reached out and rested his hand on Madara's shoulder.
"While you play the game, lend me some of your chakra first!"
As the words fell, the Preta Path's ability activated.
Uchiha's chakra was sucked over along his arm.
However, a body with half a foot in the coffin didn't have much chakra at all, not even matching a Ninja Academy student.
If not for the Impure World Reincarnation state, this bit of chakra wouldn't be enough to sustain his life.
Fortunately, in the Impure World Reincarnation state, chakra is infinite.
The thin sliver of chakra was sucked away, but immediately replenished.
After sucking for a while, the system prompt sounded in Jokichi's mind.
[Ding! Detected special material "Chakra of the Dancing King", can forge special items "Dancing King", "Perfect Sage Crystal", "Faint Divine Tree Crystal", "Sunflare Pearl". Do you wish to forge?]