Beneath the Surface
Deep underground, Uchiha Madara lay on cold, wet stone. His entire body ached, but the corners of his lips curled into a silent grin.
A narrow escape? Survival? No.
He didn't see it that way.
He had paid a high price—but Nagato wasn't Orochimaru. He lacked the brutal efficiency of a ninja forged in blood. His conviction and methods were still immature. Small tricks wouldn't be enough to finish Madara off.
This outcome didn't surprise him.
Environment shapes strength, Madara mused.
He may have inherited the Rinnegan, but that doesn't mean he has the insight to wield it.
Just then, a voice emerged from the stone.
"Lord Madara. I didn't expect to see you again in the ninja world."
Black Zetsu rose halfway from the earth, the glow of joy flashing in his otherwise lifeless eyes.
He had prepared backup plans—altering the Uchiha stone tablet at Naka Shrine, and pushing Nagato down Madara's intended path. Still, if he could work with someone who already believed in the Eye of the Moon Project, that was the preferred option.
Madara's smirk vanished. His expression turned cold.
"What happened to the world? How did it fall to this state? Explain—now."
The plan had been simple: wait for Nagato to mature, then force him to use the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to revive Madara. He had even left Obito as a backup—armed with a special Mangekyō Sharingan.
Yet here he was, pulled back into the world not by resurrection, but by chaos. Nagato hadn't revived him. He only had one Rinnegan. What happened to the other? Why had the plan failed?
"It's… a long story," Black Zetsu replied flatly.
Then, methodically, he recounted the recent history of the ninja world—the fall of the original Akatsuki, the aftermath of the Third Great Ninja War, Obito's attack during the Nine-Tails Rebellion, the Leaf–Cloud conflict...
Madara listened, face cold at first, then gradually more solemn. When Zetsu described the recent battle outside Amegakure, he interrupted.
"Orochimaru… That bastard."
Zetsu spoke without bias, but the facts were clear: Orochimaru had been everywhere.
Rebuilding Uchiha–Konoha relations. Turning the tide of the war against the Hidden Cloud. Pioneering strange new body-enhancement surgeries. Every shift in the world seemed to trace back to him.
"No wonder he's become so powerful," Madara muttered, frowning.
Zetsu stiffened.
"You encountered him, Lord Madara?"
"More than that," Madara replied. "I only returned to the living world because of his battle—with some strange serpent."
He paused.
Now that the battle had ended and his mind had cleared, he noticed something... He still had a lingering connection to that serpent.
The contract seal broke my link to the Gedo Statue. But this… this is something else.
Suddenly, Madara stood—grimacing as he forced himself upright. A dim purple light flickered in his eyes.
"Lord Madara?" Zetsu asked, feigning casual concern. What kind of snake could match Orochimaru?
Madara didn't answer. The seals he had placed on his own body, combined with the lingering infection of that strange serpent's chakra, were restricting him heavily.
I can't afford to face Orochimaru again in this state.
"Prepare me a new body," Madara ordered. "Immediately."
It wouldn't be a full resurrection, not yet. But if he could possess a living vessel as a spirit, he could at least escape this broken form.
"Understood," Zetsu nodded. "I'll acquire the best vessel—using Orochimaru's own technology."
Madara gave a slow nod.
"Take me to Obito."
"Yes, my lord."
Dark liquid swallowed him whole, and they sank into the depths of the earth.
---
Moments later, in a cavern cloaked in darkness, two figures stood face to face once more.
Madara stared at Obito with ice in his eyes.
"You useless, self-serving fool."
Zetsu's surveillance left little unknown—Obito's every movement had been tracked. Madara had suspected betrayal, but now he saw it clearly: Obito never intended to revive him. He wanted to use Nagato to gather the Tailed Beasts… and then claim the Eye of the Moon plan for himself.
That was expected. Madara had built in safeguards to control him.
But what truly infuriated him… was that Obito had failed.
Fools can be controlled. But incompetents…? They are dangerous.
Obito, unfazed, replied coldly.
"And you—defeated by a fake."
His voice was calm, almost eerily so.
"I saw your entire fight with Nagato. Face it, Madara… You've lost your grip on this world."
Madara's jaw clenched—but he didn't strike. Instead, he studied Obito in silence.
"You're calm," he finally said.
Half his plan lay in ruins. Madara had been tossed back into the world battered and degraded. But here Obito stood, composed, resolute. He wasn't the reckless boy of old.
"Some things," Obito said, "have to be done—no matter what."
He peeled off his cloak. Beneath it, black sludge clung to his chest—residue from White Zetsu. With a pained grunt, he ripped it away, skin blistering as he tore it off piece by piece.
Slap!
The sticky mass hit the cave floor. Then Obito lit it on fire.
As the flames roared, he turned back to Madara.
"It's gone. What you put on me… I've burned it away. We can try cooperating again—this time, as equals."
That cursed fusion of Zetsu and the Box of Ultimate Bliss had made him stronger—but at great cost. It poisoned the mind.
So Obito had destroyed it.
Now, he would move forward—not as "Uchiha Madara," not as a puppet—but as Obito.
Madara narrowed his eyes.
"You've changed," he muttered. "Even you… have grown."
The naïve child he once manipulated could no longer be controlled.
"And yet, you dare to speak of cooperation? Between us? Do you believe we can trust each other?"
"Trust?" Obito scoffed. "No. We never had that."
"But shared goals and common enemies? That's enough—for now."
He continued, voice firm.
"Before, I stalled your resurrection. I needed a weak Nagato. But now…"
He pointed to the floor between them.
"Now, we're the weak ones. And two weak men, working together, can still get things done—at least for a while."
Madara chuckled bitterly.
"Weak, huh… There's some truth in that."
"So?" he asked. "What's your plan?"
Madara had already heard everything from Zetsu, but it would take time to fully process. If Obito had something actionable, he would listen.
Obito didn't hesitate.
"The Rinnegan is the key to controlling the Gedo Statue—and opening the Eye of the Moon."
"But we can't take Nagato's remaining eye. There's only one, and its limits are unknown."
"Then whose fault is that?" Madara sneered.
Obito ignored him.
"We need to stop chasing what's lost… and create a new pair of Rinnegan."
Madara's expression darkened.
"Do you think this is child's play? I spent decades evolving the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. You think you can just make a Rinnegan?"
"Even if you knew the process… where would you find another Eternal Mangekyō pair?"
"Yours?" He scoffed. "Not even close."
But Obito remained unfazed.
"I still have a hidden asset within the Akatsuki."
"After I destroyed one of the Rinnegan, they've been trying to restore it."
"They'll fail. But their attempt will produce something interesting."
He turned to Madara, expression deadly serious.
"They're building a body using your genetic material. A replica—identical to your original self. If your spirit entered it, could you awaken the Rinnegan again?"
Madara paused. It was a bold idea.
Yakushi Kabuto, Orochimaru's disciple, had once said the Rinnegan could only exist within Nagato's body. But Obito now believed Nagato could be substituted—with Madara himself.
The clone would have almost identical DNA. Even if it didn't awaken the Rinnegan immediately, it might after absorbing enough energy.
Madara was silent, weighing the risks.
Zetsu's voice cut in:
"Actually… it may be possible."
Both Madara and Obito looked down sharply.
"What?"
"The replica body and Lord Madara's original are almost identical," Zetsu said flatly. "The only real difference is years of accumulated chakra."
"If Madara-sama enters it early, and steadily absorbs energy to complete its development, the odds of awakening the Rinnegan may rise significantly."
Madara considered it. He remembered how long it had taken to evolve his Eternal Mangekyō into the Rinnegan—decades of effort and chakra.
But now, access to energy wasn't a problem. If what Zetsu said was true…
"Wait a minute," he said slowly, narrowing his eyes. "Zetsu. How do you know all this?"
Zetsu didn't flinch.
"I learned it from Yakushi Kabuto."
Madara frowned and turned to Obito.
"He's Orochimaru's disciple," Obito explained. "He defected from Konoha, joined Akatsuki. He's absorbed some of Orochimaru's knowledge—and his methods are feasible."
Then he glanced back at Zetsu, voice tightening.
"But why didn't you mention this before?"
_____________________
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