Location: Hidden Stone – Tsuchikage's Office
Time: Days After the Fall of the Hidden Cloud
Panic. Whispers. Documents being passed faster than intel could be verified. But the truth—no matter how absurd—remained unchanged.
The Hidden Cloud was gone.
Not weakened.
Not invaded.
Not struggling.
Gone.
Reduced to ash, craters, and hollowed mountains.
The thing was, not only was the Cloud gone, the man who had done it had placed their souls in a limbo-like state. Anyone who went to the Cloud would be able to witness what had happened—on loop—watching those people die... over and over again.
Apparently, this scene would loop for every Uzumaki they killed. For every Uzumaki that was raped, it would continue to loop—over and over again.
So far, it had looped around 500 times, yet that was only 1% of the way there. For every atrocity they had done, it would loop once more. Their souls weren't even allowed to go to the Pure Land—forever bound to this state, breaking and being reborn once more.
And the shitty thing about it was, even if the seal were to stop working one day, well... they would simply die. The Grim Reaper would feast on all of their souls, never allowing them to move. They all would die.
And to make it worse—
One man did it.
Inside the Tsuchikage's office, Ōnoki sat quietly behind his desk, eyes narrowed, fingers steepled.
He didn't say anything for a long moment. Then, with a groan befitting someone twice his size, he slowly leaned back and exhaled.
"...Well," the old man muttered, "the Cloud is no longer an issue for us. And as long as none of us step out of bounds, he will not attack this village."
Beside him, his assistant gave him a horrified look.
"Lord Tsuchikage?!"
He waved her off.
"What? I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking. Konoha got off lucky so far. We've had to deal with Aizen's puppetry and stolen Dust Release scrolls, and now Kumo—one of the Five Great Nations—is just... dust. One guy. One."
He reached for his tea, saw his hand shaking slightly, and tsked before withdrawing it.
"Aizen Sōsuke..." he muttered, as if tasting the name. That boy was a monster, no ifs or buts about it.
He was a monster.
Well, on the good side, Iwa wasn't going to get fucked over too badly. Apparently, Kumo lost their two Bijū... well damn. Sucks to suck.
Not like they could keep them. Kumo was now... well... a wasteland.
He'd probably have a stroke when he found out the man who did all of this was fifteen.
Hm... like 500+ but we shall ignore that minor detail.
Location: Somewhere Deep Beneath the Earth — Unknown Cave
Time: Simultaneously
Currently underground, an old man could be seen. His life was on life support—quite literally. The corpse of the Ten-Tails served as his life support machine.
The most expensive life support machine... and the man who was using it?
Well, it was none other than...
Madara Uchiha.
His chest slowly rose and fell as the Gedo's chakra continued to barely keep him alive, tendrils threaded through his back like demonic IVs.
The moment the news reached his ears—he opened his eyes.
Both were blank. He hadn't transplanted a Sharingan into them yet. His Rinnegan was gone—into the eyes of an Uzumaki.
"...Someone awakened the Rinnegan," he said softly.
"Yes... Lord Madara," Black Zetsu replied.
Hm. He had another nickname—the slimiest backstabber to ever live—and probably the best gaslighter in the shinobi world.
The biggest momma's boy to ever live, out here putting thousands of years of work and gaslighting just to see his mommy once more.
Truly the perfect filial son.
"...Your Rinnegan are still in the young Uzumaki. This Aizen Sōsuke... awakened his... naturally," Black Zetsu added, bowing to his great lord, as if he wouldn't slime his homeboy the second he got the chance to bring mommy back.
Madara wore a thoughtful look on his eyeless face. His life was in very real danger. Why, you may ask?
You see, Aizen had the Rinnegan, and why would that be such a big problem? Well, guess what summons the Gedo Mazō he was using to stay alive?
If your guess was "a Rinnegan user"—ding, ding, ding—you are correct. Here's a cookie. 🍪
So yes, Madara may soon be stripped of the Medicaid he needed to stay alive—at least long enough to accomplish his goal of putting everyone in a dream.
He needed to keep a close eye on that guy.
"Shall we kill him, Master Madara?" Black Zetsu asked, looking at the guy he would eventually betray.
"No..." Madara had a thoughtful look. Originally, he planned to have a dumb Uchiha with way too much positivity hash out his plan.
But Aizen could work too.
"Watch him. If he does anything out of norm, inform me—and if possible, enlighten him on the creation of the Ten-Tails. Someone as vengeful as he is will not turn down the opportunity for power," Madara said with a cold gleam in his eyeless sockets.
...well damn.
Meanwhile
"I see," Aizen said with a smile. So Madara Uchiha was indeed alive.
How funny.
Guess it was a good idea to watch that bug after all.
The small little snake wriggled away in the dirt, unable to be sensed by anyone.
Well... how could it be sensed?
After all... it was simply... an illusion.
His right eye ability was truly busted.
Left eye basically was an Uno Reverse. Right eye made his illusion a reality, and both eyes together had the ability to create a hole in space, gaining access to new dimension-type shit.
Alongside the basic Rinnegan abilities.
Oh well.
Time to make a synthetic Ten-Tails.