บท 24: Chapter 24
The Land of Fire, The Valley of the End.
While many in the ninja world were stirred because of him, Gensou, who underestimated his own influence, had already arrived at this resting place of his own bones.
Time changes all. Gensou initially thought that the battlefield of that year would be difficult to find. However, after some inquiries and confirmations, he quickly obtained the exact location.
"The Valley of the End... Heh, Konoha sure loves to promote the achievements of their ancestors."
Gensou looked at the ancient battlefield before him, now vastly different, and chuckled.
The Valley of the End.
A valley where a god fell.
It sounded impressive.
But upon closer thought, if someone called a "god" had fallen, then how powerful must the First Hokage, who killed him, be?
Just like the Valley of the End.
Konoha said it was to commemorate the battle between Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. But wasn't it also to further elevate the unparalleled might of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, using Madara Uchiha's name?
Otherwise, why would Konoha, rich as it was, build not only a giant statue of Hashirama but also one of Madara?
Perhaps they were addicted to carving statues.
The once-flat plain, turned into a valley by the battle of the Five Kage, now housed two enormous statues.
One of them was Hashirama.
As for the other.
Gensou's figure flashed to its head.
"The sculpture is quite accurate."
The other statue was, of course, himself.
Unlike the statues in the Valley of the End, where the "Hashirama" and "Madara" were making reconciliation seals, the statues in the Valley of the End depicted a fierce combat stance.
It was clear that in the conflict between "Senju Hashirama" and "Hagoromo Gensou," the former was in a dominant position, while the latter appeared to be more in a stance of resistance.
Standing atop his own statue's head, Gensou chuckled a few times before calming down.
The facts of that battle decades ago were just as depicted.
He wouldn't deny the truth or childishly take out his frustrations on these cold statues.
"Ninjas are not samurai. A moment of victory doesn't determine everything. Hashirama, your vision still couldn't see further."
Gensou looked at the statue of Hashirama, recalling their brief encounter, and shook his head slightly.
Despite having the powerful Senju body, and cells that future scientists would frantically study, Hashirama still died shortly after the Battle of the Valley of the End.
Gensou didn't know the exact reason for this.
But he understood one principle deeply.
Only when one is alive can one truly make a difference.
Gensou couldn't see life and death as clearly as Hashirama did, refusing to enter the world of the living as a dead man.
For him, grasping every opportunity to breathe fresh air was the real deal.
No matter what others thought.
At this moment, standing in the Valley of the End where he once fought, paying tribute to the deceased, was a victory in itself.
"A hundred years of life, and I didn't even make it halfway. Not to mention, there are beings in this world whose lifespans far exceed a hundred, even a thousand years. Such a long and beautiful journey would be a pity not to experience firsthand!"
The mountain wind blew, lifting the black cloak that covered the cracks from Edo Tensei on Gensou's body.
Gensou extended his hands, looking at the cracked palms, with a determined expression on his equally cracked face.
The first and most uncertain step of his plan was successfully completed.
He had arrived in the living world through Edo Tensei, broken free from the jutsu's control, and evaded pursuers.
Now it was time to move on to the next step, the most crucial and difficult one.
Resurrection in the true sense.
Over a millennium of the ninja world, countless fascinating chakra techniques that even attracted the attention of the Otsutsuki had been developed.
But one thing remained the hardest to conquer.
The boundary between life and death.
Edo Tensei merely summoned the dead from the underworld, not resurrected them.
Elder Chiyo of Sunagakure's forbidden technique, Self-Reincarnation Jutsu, touched upon life and death but required the subject to have just died and cost the caster's life to save only one person.
The only technique that could ignore time, numbers, and various other limitations in the current ninja world was one.
The Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique.
Gensou wanted to possess the Rinnegan and, like Madara, use the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to resurrect his true body.
The problem was that the Rinnegan was with Nagato.
With his current strength in Edo Tensei, the odds of storming the Akatsuki base to seize the Rinnegan were slim to none.
After rationally giving up this idealistic plan, he returned to his own method.
At this moment.
Standing on top of his colossal statue, Gensou looked down at the transformed landscape and silently made hand signs.
One minute, two minutes... Five minutes later.
Gensou's eyes sharpened: "Found it!"
Whoosh! A sound of breaking through the air.
In one moment, Gensou was atop the statue's head, and in the next, he was on the ground.
After a few flashes, Gensou stopped at an open space hundreds of meters away.
Without hesitation, Gensou placed his hands on the ground and murmured: "Reveal!"
In an instant, a large amount of chakra surged from Gensou's palms, transforming into black tadpole-like runes, continuously infiltrating deep into the ground.
Soon, at a certain point a hundred meters underground, the soil, originally indistinguishable from its surroundings, flashed slightly.
As the black runes merged, the area began to change.
A body, covered densely with black runes, appeared and, under Gensou's summons, began to rise rapidly from the soil like swimming through it.
Forbidden Technique: Breath of Eternal Rest.
In the face of certain defeat, Gensou's prepared contingency.
At the cost of his own death, this technique ensured his body maintained the last moments of its vitality and integrity, hiding itself from outsiders.
A unique forbidden technique of the Hagoromo Clan.
Developed by ancestors to ensure their corpses remained undisturbed and hidden from grave robbers.
Everyone knew that a ninja's corpse was a treasure trove, worth a lot of money if dug up.
As a noble ninja clan, many elderly Hagoromo members would use this forbidden technique before death to ensure eternal rest.
This had been its only purpose until now.
As the clan leader of the Hagoromo Clan, Gensou had, of course, learned it.
He just didn't expect to use it so early.
Yet,
In that situation, it was indeed the best choice.
(End of Chapter)
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