In the dark, damp cave, there was only the sound of dripping water and the crackle of the campfire. Konan held the still-unconscious Nagato and watched the mysterious man before her, the one who called himself "Madara Uchiha," with wary eyes. His specially made silver mask revealed only a hard-lined jaw and those chilling scarlet eyes. The leaping firelight reflected off the mask with an icy sheen.
"Uchiha... Madara?" Konan's voice trembled with disbelief and deep suspicion. "The legend on par with the First? How is that possible... he was someone from decades ago!"
Beneath the mask, Uchiha Narong let out a low, hoarse chuckle. The laugh seemed to have passed through countless years, carrying the weariness and vicissitudes of one who had seen through the world. He deliberately altered his voice, making it sound like a broken bellows, thick with an ancient air.
"To one who seeks eternity, the years are but the snap of a finger." His voice was slow and heavy, every word seeming to carry the dust of history. "Death is not an insurmountable barrier either. I have continued on in a certain way until now, only to complete an unfinished great work—to create a truly peaceful world."
His gaze fell on the unconscious Nagato, and those Mangekyō Sharingan glimmered faintly in the shadows. "These eyes are the best proof. The ultimate power of the Sharingan is not something an ordinary Uchiha can reach. The Rinnegan Nagato possesses is an even greater symbol of the Sage of Six Paths' power. I have been waiting—waiting for someone who can bear this power, and is willing to use it to change this twisted world."
At that moment, Nagato slowly opened his eyes. Extreme grief and the severe damage to his body had left him unbearably weak, but in