Chapter 232: Alive Once Again

(T/N: There is now a p.atreon for this work, and any new work I add will be dropped there first. check it out for an early release of up to 30 chapters edited smoothly. https://www.p.atreon.com/INeedRest)

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With the completion of the sealing technique, Obito and Orochimaru's hair turned grey at a rate visible to the naked eye.

This was the telltale sign of their life force being drained by the ninjutsu.

"Ahhh!" Orochimaru screamed in agony before collapsing, green lights shooting out from his body.

The lights flew toward the distant ninja coalition, where three coffins stood nearby.

"Hey, Madara! What are you doing?" Hashirama noticed Madara acting strangely and chased after him.

"Hashirama, don't get in my way!" Madara raised his hand mid-run and released [Shinra Tensei], blasting Hashirama away.

The dawn of resurrection was close, and Madara wasn't interested in tangling with this old friend of his.

Two green lights in the sky at that moment, dove into their respective bodies.

For an instant, Madara and Hashirama froze as their bodies began emitting faint smoke.

"This feeling..." Madara muttered, his eyes widening.

"This body finally feels complete!"

The transformation of their reanimated bodies was clear.

Their strong hearts beat steadily, and the sensation of blood coursed through their veins.

"This...this is what being alive again feels like!" Hashirama remarked in shock, feeling the rush of vitality coursing through him.

It was nothing like the emptiness of the reanimated state.

"What's going on here?" Hashirama questioned, looking up at the sky.

He recalled the streaks of light.

"Was that technique the cause?"

Suddenly, black flames erupted from Madara's armor.

"Relics of the past, stay out of this!" Sasuke's cold voice echoed from above, as he and Kakashi flew in on a ninja eagle, heading toward Colt's battlefield.

They had arrived just in time to witness the resurrection of Madara and Hashirama.

"The likes of you can't even hold a candle to me!" Madara closed his eyes, savoring the sensation of his restored body.

The armor he wore fell away, revealing his strong upper body.

"What...is that?" Sasuke's eyes widened in shock, noticing the face on Madara's chest and glancing at Hashirama's ugly expression.

"Madara, seems like you really did bite hard during that last battle," Hashirama smirked self-deprecatingly.

At the Valley of the End, it had seemed like Hashirama had won.

But now, he knew who the real victor was.

"Hashirama, do you remember what I told you at the Uchiha monument?"

"You thought that when opposing forces worked together, true peace could be achieved," he continued, pointing to his chest.

"But in my opinion, only the combination of the Senju and Uchiha chakra can bring about true power!"

"And it seems I was right."

On the ground, a White Zetsu slowly emerged.

"Madara-sama, I brought the Rinnegan from Obito."

Madara took the Rinnegan from White Zetsu's hand and casually inserted it into his eye socket.

"Hashirama, the Rinnegan is the result of the union between the Uchiha and Senju chakra."

Hashirama clenched his fists.

"Madara, it seems you've been planning things for quite some time after you left the village."

The implications were terrifying. Madara had orchestrated everything.

"I will bring true peace to the ninja world, Hashirama," Madara's Rinnegan gleamed with purple light, making even the fully revived Hashirama feel suffocated by his overwhelming power.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

He leaped from the ninja eagle, drawing his [Kusanagi Sword] as it crackled with electricity.

He aimed to strike while Madara still only had one Rinnegan—this was his best chance!

Boom!

"What is this?" Sasuke's thrust came to a sudden halt two meters away from Madara as if something invisible held him back.

"Sasuke, you remind me of Izuna… but that's not enough of a reason to let you live," Madara said coldly, effortlessly grabbing the Kusanagi Sword from Sasuke's hand and plunging it into his body.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi, still on the ninja eagle, was horrified.

He locked his [Sharingan] onto Madara. "Kamui!"

Madara, anticipating the attack, dodged the space distortion in time.

He glanced at Hashirama briefly before heading off in the direction of the Gedo Statue.

Even though he had been revived, a sense of urgency remained.

He needed to absorb the Ten-Tails before retrieving the other Rinnegan from Colt.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Colt stood next to Orochimaru's limp body.

A small white snake slithered out of Orochimaru's sleeve.

"[Bansho Ten'in]!" Colt raised his hand, drawing the snake into his palm.

As the white snake wriggled in his grasp, he silently cast a sealing technique and stored it in his ninja pouch.

Orochimaru's survival, even after [Rinne Tensei], was a testament to his resourcefulness and the lingering power of the Six Paths.

At that moment, the lids of the three coffins fell, revealing the figures inside.

Naruto's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Mother?"

The woman with long red hair inside one of the coffins was Kushina.

His voice seemed to awaken the consciousness of the people inside the coffins, and slowly, they opened their eyes.

"Where...is this?" asked the woman in the middle coffin, her long black hair and gentle demeanor striking.

"Mieko?" A surprised voice came from the coffin on the right, causing the black-haired woman to turn around. "Shin?"

The two embraced excitedly, while Naruto rushed to Kushina's side, calling out to her in disbelief.

"Kushina, Mieko, and Shin... what is this?" Jiraiya stammered, unable to form a complete sentence.

The faces of these three bore no traces of [Impure World Reincarnation].

The vitality radiating from them was unmistakable—they were alive!

"What kind of ninjutsu is this?" Jiraiya muttered in shock.

Colt stood stiffly, unsure of what to say.

He had known for a long time that he would eventually have to face this moment.

The system had confirmed it for him—he wasn't someone reborn into this world; he was always Kamiyo Colt, the son of Kamiyo Mieko and Shin.

As their son, he had the ability to resurrect them.

How could he not? To not do so would be inhuman.

For years, Colt had planned Orochimaru's involvement with the sole purpose of reviving his parents.

But now, as it succeeded, he found himself at a loss for words.

More than a decade had passed since he last called them "Father" and "Mother."

Kamiyo Mieko, now revived, felt a strange connection stirring in her heart.

She approached Colt, her voice trembling.

"You...are you Colt?"