Nagato

Yagura had also finished testing Kushimaru Kuriarare and Munashi Jinpachi below and returned to Seiji's side.

"Let's go. These three will do. I'll go to the commander later to get the transfer order. Kagami, I've already found the last member your Sixth Squad is missing. I'll have him report to you at the First Training Ground tomorrow." Seiji spoke, then turned and left. He needed to return to the station and familiarize himself with the First Division's work as quickly as possible, then assign tasks to everyone.

Land of Frost, Mountain Graveyard, Madara Uchiha's underground base.

Madara Uchiha sat silently beneath the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, utterly lifeless. At that moment, a white humanoid creature slowly emerged from the ground. It was one of the subordinates Madara believed he had cultivated with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and Hashirama Cells—White Zetsu.

After White Zetsu had been successfully cultivated (though it had actually been awakened by Black Zetsu, who used the opportunity to reveal itself), Madara was delighted to discover that this artificial life-form, brimming with Hashirama Cells, possessed an ability called the Mayfly Technique. It allowed it to merge with the earth, vegetation, and trees and move at high speed. By entering the organic network of plant roots, underground water currents, and the like within the ground, it could rapidly travel anywhere. Most importantly, while White Zetsu's ninjutsu was active, it cut off all traces of its presence; even Madara Uchiha himself could not detect it.

Beyond that, Madara discovered that White Zetsu could produce a great number of clones. Though they were very weak, they were perfect tools for scouting and gathering intelligence.

Thus, after obtaining White Zetsu, Madara almost never left this base again. After ordering White Zetsu to scatter its clones throughout the Ninja World to gather information, Madara spent most of his time asleep.

"Lord Madara! I'm back." White Zetsu woke Madara Uchiha from his slumber.

The one speaking was White Zetsu's main body, and it had brought Madara a piece of news he had awaited for a long time.

"Speak!" Madara Uchiha's aged yet domineering voice rang out, carrying a trace of exhaustion. After all, he was already an old man nearing eighty.

"We found an excellent Vessel in the Land of Rain, around five years old," White Zetsu said.

"He has a head of bright red hair!" A somewhat lively voice suddenly chimed in. A spiral-faced White Zetsu appeared beside White Zetsu's main body. This strange White Zetsu Clone seemed to have developed some sort of problem, making it distinctly different from the other clones. It had even named itself Tobi.

"Red hair... from the Uzumaki Clan? Excellent. The Uzumaki Clan, whose vitality surpasses all others in the Ninja World, can fully bear my Rinnegan." Madara Uchiha murmured to himself. It was unclear whether he had thought of Hashirama Senju or his rival in love, Mito Uzumaki.

"This brat is named Nagato. From our observations, he seems to possess excellent ninja talent. His parents are both physicians from Amegakure, though they do not normally live in the village. His mother also has red hair." White Zetsu introduced Nagato's basic circumstances to Madara Uchiha.

Hearing this, Madara Uchiha suddenly reached up and removed his own eyes. He then replaced them with the spare Sharingan he had prepared long ago before handing his eyes to White Zetsu's main body. "Go. Give my eyes to this brat and have him nourish them for me temporarily!"

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"Yes! Then we'll be on our way!" Having agreed, White Zetsu's main body immediately prepared to leave with the spiral-faced White Zetsu, Tobi. It knew this troublemaker all too well.

But White Zetsu still failed to stop him. In the end, spiral-faced Tobi got to ask his question.

"Lord Madara, can I ask one last question? What does it feel like when you need to take a shit?" Tobi asked in an utterly punchable voice.

"Get out!" A terrifying Chakra Storm instantly erupted, filling the entire underground base.

Black Zetsu, who had been watching from the shadows all along, immediately followed after White Zetsu upon seeing it leave. Transplanting the Rinnegan was a major matter. He had to ensure that nothing went wrong with it.

"Hashirama, watch closely. I will create a peaceful Ninja World!" Madara murmured before slowly falling asleep once more.

White Zetsu took Tobi and soon met up with Black Zetsu outside. The three creatures—if they could even be called human—rushed toward the Land of Rain. They had to transplant Madara's Rinnegan into the young Nagato as soon as possible, so that he could contribute his strength to the plan at an early date.

Not long after, they arrived at Nagato's home. His father, Ise, and mother, Fuso, had both gone to work in Amegakure, leaving Nagato home alone.

Black Zetsu used spiritual possession on a Hidden Rain Village ninja they happened to encounter along the way, then controlled him through spiritual fusion. Since Nagato's parents were not ninja and there were no ninja training methods in his home, Black Zetsu easily brought Nagato down with a genjutsu.

Under White Zetsu's operation, Madara Uchiha's eyes replaced Nagato's original eyes. Once the Rinnegan entered Nagato's eye sockets, however, having been without Madara Uchiha's chakra support for a long time, they regressed into ordinary eyes.

A long while later, Nagato awoke from his unconsciousness. Completely unaware that he had been caught in a genjutsu, he merely thought he had been too tired and had fallen asleep. He knew even less that, during that time, someone had replaced his eyes.

The gears of fate began to turn.