Is this generation of Indra's reincarnation actually still alive?
The thing wrapped around his body is a creation of the God Tree.
In other words, not only did this generation's Indra not die, but he even awakened the Rinnegan?
Inside the ruined temple, not a trace of emotion showed on Isshiki Otsutsuki's face, but his thoughts were racing like lightning.
Over the nearly thousand years that had passed, Isshiki Otsutsuki had always been careful to avoid any contact whatsoever with the reincarnations of Indra or Asura.
But he also knew that those two souls, entangled for a thousand years, had continued to reincarnate generation after generation through the bloodlines of their respective descendants, never once stopping.
This was also one of the reasons he had always suspected that Kaguya's two sons might still exist in some form somewhere in this world, hidden within some unknown dimension.
Whether he had come into contact with them or not was another matter. However, Indra and Asura were, after all, Kaguya's direct third-generation descendants, and their bloodline could still be considered pure.
For Isshiki, who was likewise born from the Otsutsuki clan, even if at this moment he possessed only the sensory capabilities of an ordinary mortal monk, he could still see through that layer of ordinary flesh at a glance and recognize the aura buried deep within the soul, an aura with which he was all too familiar.
Not to mention that this reincarnation of Indra was also wrapped in a layer of the God Tree creation.
That layer of God Tree creation could make him appear flawless before anyone in the current Shinobi World, except for someone who also came from the Otsutsuki clan.
The God Tree had originally been a creation of the Otsutsuki clan, something that had accompanied their race through countless ages. In the eyes of ordinary humans, this disguise might be without a single flaw, but in Isshiki Otsutsuki's eyes, it was as obvious as holding up a lamp in the dead of night.
And the moment he saw this reincarnation of Indra, many fragmented clues naturally linked together in his mind, and Isshiki Otsutsuki understood something else as well.
Over the past dozen or so years, why had those descendants on the moon repeatedly activated the power of the Tenseigan and cast their gaze toward the Shinobi World? He had originally thought Kaguya's descendants were searching for something else.
Now he understood completely, and what they were looking for was this, the Rinnegan.
Kaguya's body, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, had already disappeared from the moon.
And the one who had taken it away was the present-day Indra before him.
Once he understood this point, Isshiki Otsutsuki frowned inwardly even more, feeling deeply troubled.
This trip of his had merely been to see what kind of tricks that much-talked-about boy could stir up, and to pass the time along the way. He had never intended to have anything to do with Indra's reincarnation.
And yet now, by such a coincidence, the two of them had met head-on inside the same ruined temple.
His thoughts were racing like lightning, but not the slightest trace of it showed on his face.
Seeing Madara Uchiha pause his steps and look him over, Isshiki Otsutsuki took the initiative first, pressing his palms together and offering a perfectly proper Buddhist salute. "Is this fellow traveler also here to shelter from the rain? This humble monk comes from a small temple in the Land of Tea and has been wandering on pilgrimage until reaching this place. I did not expect to encounter such a violent storm, much less meet a fellow monk in this desolate mountain temple. I believe it is a chance born of fate."
Seeing that the mysterious monk before him had spoken first, Madara Uchiha followed suit and returned the salute. But he was no real monk and had never seriously read more than a handful of Buddhist scriptures, so how would he know how monks ought to address one another or exchange greetings?
Since the other party had spoken that way, he simply copied him. "So that is how it is. This humble monk saw that the sky had grown late and, with the rainstorm upon us, I thought of finding a place to rest for the night, but I did not expect to encounter a fellow monk here. It is fate indeed."
Isshiki Otsutsuki was not the only one with concerns; Madara Uchiha had his own considerations as well.
His condition right now could only be described as terrible. His body was relying entirely on the covering of White Zetsu and Black Zetsu to maintain even the most basic functions of life. Once he lost that outer shell, he would die very quickly.
And yet before he stepped through the temple gate, he had not sensed the existence of this monk at all. That degree of concealment was by no means something an ordinary person could possess.
As for just how strong the other party really was, he had no clear measure of it, but merely from the fact that the other party could suppress his aura to the point that even he had been unable to detect it in advance, this was absolutely not someone easy to deal with.
But Madara Uchiha was, in the end, still Madara Uchiha. Even after hiding underground like a rat for decades, even with his body now already teetering at its limit, the pride carved into his bones had not diminished in the slightest.
After the pleasantries, he looked at the mysterious monk with a gentle expression and began probing him directly. "Fellow cultivator, this humble monk has always had some confidence in the path of sensory perception, yet before entering this temple today, I did not notice your presence at all. Your skill in concealing your aura has truly caught this poor monk by surprise."
This Indra was still just as arrogant and unruly as the legends said.
Seeing that Madara Uchiha could not even be bothered with empty politeness and had gone straight to probing him, Isshiki Otsutsuki frowned inwardly, though his face remained unchanged.
Pressing his palms together, he smiled faintly and replied calmly, "So that is how it is. Then I have made a fool of myself before a fellow monk. To speak honestly, in my early years, while studying the scriptures, I once came upon the passage describing the World-Honored One entering great nirvana between the twin sala trees."
"At that time, this humble monk thought that within nirvana, the World-Honored One was neither alive nor dead, neither existent nor nonexistent, neither attached to form nor trapped in emptiness. Though students such as ourselves cannot reach such a realm, we may still yearn for it in our hearts."
"And so, following that principle, this humble monk created a rather shallow little method of his own and named it Nirvana Withered Glory. Nirvana is neither death nor life, just as a withered tree and a blossoming one are still the same tree, merely changing form according to the season."
Isshiki Otsutsuki opened his mouth and began spouting utter nonsense, not caring in the slightest whether the Madara Uchiha before him believed it or not, and continued: "This technique is divided into two aspects, withered and flourishing. This is the flourishing aspect."
As he spoke, the aura of the mysterious monk suddenly changed, as though an entirely new vitality had been infused into him. His whole being became like an ancient tree sprouting anew from decay, abruptly lighting up within Madara Uchiha's senses.