In the underground lab of Konoha's Anbu, Tobirama stood at the front with his arms crossed. The body from the Edo Tensei was starting to break down, but he didn't care at all. He kept watching as if he didn't feel it.
In the room, Sasuke, with his Sharingan eyes that had tomoe and Rinnegan, had just finished testing a jutsu. He let out a sigh of relief.
He turned to Tobirama nearby, his eyes showing a bit of question. "Is this good enough?"
Tobirama nodded. "Almost."
With that, Tobirama walked from behind to in front of Sasuke. He looked at the White Zetsu on the ground that was falling apart and nodded.
"Using the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique takes a huge cost. Even the Otsutsuki clan can't bring back too many people at once without paying something." Tobirama's mouth curved into a small smile. "But White Zetsu fixes that problem perfectly."
As he spoke, Tobirama looked at the White Zetsu on the ground with approval. "I'd like to meet whoever came up with White Zetsu."
Sasuke didn't say a word.
He sure couldn't tell him that Kaguya invented White Zetsu. Who knows what Tobirama might do if he found out.
Oh right, they were working on the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique here.
After the ninja world war ended, Sasuke wanted to use it right away to bring back the people who were there, like Tobirama, Mito, Minato, Kushina, and his dad, mom, and brother. But Tobirama seemed to see that the technique had big side effects, so he didn't agree to do it at first.
Then they went back to Konoha, and with Tobirama's help, they started researching the technique.
A lot of time had passed. It had been a year since the war ended. The other Edo Tensei bodies were either gone because their wishes came true or their bodies couldn't hold up anymore and the jutsu ended.
So now, the only Edo Tensei left was Tobirama.
And if Tobirama wasn't the one who invented Edo Tensei, he might have gone back to the afterlife too.
But that didn't matter now. The Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique was fixed and ready. Sasuke could use it without paying any cost, but it needed a White Zetsu as the base for the Edo Tensei.
In simple terms, the original technique pulled the dead person's soul from the afterlife to the real world, built a body, gave it life force, and finished the revival. That's why it used so much chakra.
It even needed the user's life force in exchange for the revived person's life force.
But with a White Zetsu Edo Tensei body, that wasn't needed anymore. Tobirama changed the order of the revival. The Edo Tensei pulled the soul to the real world, the White Zetsu built the body, and the White Zetsu's life force swapped in for the dead person's. All Sasuke had to do was combine the first three steps into the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to complete the revival.
Tobirama was really a genius.
Sasuke looked at Tobirama with full respect. He never thought someone could make a jutsu to bring people back to life. Sure, it combined two jutsu, but putting them together to make a full revival ninjutsu—Tobirama was a genius.
Sasuke even thought that if he gave Tobirama more time, he could develop a full revival jutsu without needing the Rinnegan's power.
While he was thinking that, Tobirama pulled out a scroll and handed it to him. "Remember, no one besides us can know about this jutsu. I've removed Edo Tensei from the Book of Seals. From now on, the only new ninja who will use it is you. Got it?"
Edo Tensei was one thing, but combined with Sasuke's Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique, it could really bring people back without any cost.
"I know, Great-Grandpa Tobirama." Sasuke took the scroll seriously. "I'll tell everyone I revived that I used the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique and paid a huge price for it."
"Good." Tobirama nodded, pleased. "You decide what the cost was."
With that, Tobirama formed hand signs. The little chakra left in his body all faded away, and his body turned to bits of paper flying in the air.
A clear soul came out of Tobirama's body and headed toward the light pillar, going back to the afterlife.
Before he left, Tobirama nodded at Sasuke.
Sasuke nodded back.
Even though he didn't know why.
As Tobirama ended his own Edo Tensei, every Edo Tensei body in the ninja world vanished completely from that moment.
Sasuke took a deep breath and opened the scroll in his hand. It had two big "seal" marks on it.
One sealed a White Zetsu, and the other sealed a part of the people he wanted to revive—something needed to use Edo Tensei.
He put the scroll on the ground and formed hand signs.
With a puff of smoke, seven tied-up White Zetsu appeared on the floor, along with seven jars holding parts of the revived people's bodies.
Uzumaki Mito, Senju Tobirama, Namikaze Minato, Uzumaki Kushina, Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Mikoto, and... Uchiha Itachi.
Sasuke smiled a bit.
Even though Great-Grandma Mito and Great-Grandpa Tobirama said they didn't need to be revived, Sasuke thought about how Hashirama was still alive, so Mito agreed in the end. But she said she and Hashirama would travel the ninja world and not get involved in Konoha anymore.
Tobirama was easier. Sasuke said Madara might lead Great-Grandpa Hashirama astray, so Tobirama agreed through gritted teeth.
Minato and Kushina really wanted to come back, but... thinking about the big burden the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique would put on Sasuke, they sadly said no. They spent their last moments with Naruto for a happy year.
When the three said goodbye, Sasuke stood by trying not to laugh, and it was hard.
Because Tobirama said they couldn't let on that the revival had no cost, Sasuke couldn't tell Minato and Kushina he would bring them back later.
And then Fugaku, Mikoto, and Itachi...
Heh, Sasuke gave a cold laugh.
He didn't care how Fugaku and Itachi felt. Even if all three stood in front of him now and told him not to revive them, he wouldn't listen.
They went ahead and died all dramatic and self-sacrificing, leaving him alone to clean up their mess. Who are they to tell me what to do now? Watch this—I'm the Uchiha clan leader. What are you?
Oh, except for mom.
Fugaku, huh? Itachi, huh... When you come back, if I don't beat you until you regret leaving me alone, I'll say the Uchiha name backward!
The next moment, under the scared eyes of the seven White Zetsu, Sasuke formed hand signs with a cold smile. His tomoe Rinnegan eyes glowed, and the whole underground room filled with light.
As the jutsu spread on the ground, strong life force came from the seven White Zetsu bodies.
The next moment, seven figures formed in the light. Seven familiar faces appeared in front of Sasuke.
The cracks special to Edo Tensei showed on their faces, but as the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique worked, the White Zetsu's life force went in, and the cracks slowly faded.
Heartbeats started, blood flowed in their veins, body heat returned...
The next moment, all seven opened their eyes.
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