"After you left the village, you plotted quite a few insane things from the shadows!" Hashirama said.
Implanting cells into his chest, planning a war capable of overturning the entire Ninja World.
Even this forbidden technique that brought the dead back to life had been part of his calculations!
Hearing Hashirama's questioning,
Madara merely shook his head indifferently.
A composed look of someone in control flashed across that arrogantly twisted face.
"No."
"This was merely power that one of my subordinate's companions happened to obtain."
Madara shifted his gaze, sensing the increasingly violent chakra of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path within the distant Flame Formation.
"It seems someone in this world shares my vision and ideas."
Madara turned around.
His hollow eyes "looked" at everyone present, and the smile at his lips completely transformed into the contempt and absolute control of a god.
"So, this resurrection through Rinne Rebirth..."
"Was entirely within my plans!"
The moment his words fell,
The yellow sand beside Madara wriggled strangely.
A gigantic leaf resembling a Venus flytrap slowly opened.
The figures of Black Zetsu and White Zetsu emerged from underground.
White Zetsu wore a teasing smile, while Black Zetsu's dark half-face radiated the fanaticism of a completed scheme.
Black Zetsu raised a pale hand.
In his palm lay two eyeballs covered in pale purple ripples, giving off a chilling, ghostly glow.
"Lord Madara."
Black Zetsu's hoarse, grating voice sounded amid the gale.
"The Rinnegan have been successfully retrieved."
Madara's face, still wearing an arrogant smile, slowly turned toward Black Zetsu.
His hollow eye sockets faced the two Rinnegan.
He did not hesitate in the slightest.
He raised both hands, brutally pinched up the eyeballs, and pressed them directly into his empty, bloodied sockets.
Blood spilled from the corners of his eyes.
Madara