Nagato

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

"Let's go. These three are enough. I'll go see the captain later and have the transfer orders issued. Mirror, I've already found the final member your Sixth Squad is missing. I'll have him report to you at Training Ground One tomorrow." Qing Si turned and left after speaking. He needed to return to the garrison 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, devoid of even a trace of vitality. At that moment, a white humanoid creature slowly emerged from the ground. It was White Zetsu, the subordinate Madara believed he had cultivated using the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and Hashirama Cells.

After White Zetsu had been successfully cultivated (though he had actually been awakened by Black Zetsu, who took the opportunity to appear), Madara was delighted to discover that this artificial life-form, filled with Hashirama Cells, possessed an ability called the Mayfly Technique, which allowed it to merge with the earth, vegetation, and trees and move rapidly. By entering the organic network of plant roots, underground water currents, and the like beneath the earth, 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 could not detect it.

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

Thus, after gaining White Zetsu, Madara almost never left the base again. After ordering White Zetsu to scatter its clones throughout the Shinobi World to gather intelligence, 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. He had brought Madara news he had been waiting for a long time.

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

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

"He has a head of bright red hair!" A somewhat lively voice sounded at that moment. 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. He was distinctly different from the other White Zetsu clones, and he had even given himself the name Tobi.

"Red hair... from the Uzumaki Clan? Good. The Uzumaki Clan, whose life force surpasses all others in the Shinobi World, can fully bear my Rinnegan." Madara Uchiha muttered to himself. It was unclear whether he had thought of Hashirama Senju or of his romantic rival, Mito Uzumaki.

"This brat is called Nagato. From our observations, he seems to possess excellent talent as a ninja. Both his parents are physicians from the Rain Ninja Village, though they do not normally live in the village. His mother also has red hair," White Zetsu explained, introducing Nagato's basic circumstances to Madara Uchiha.

Upon hearing this, Madara Uchiha abruptly 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 nurture them in my place for now!"

Plug-and-play.jpg!

"Yes! Then we'll be off!" White Zetsu's main body immediately prepared to leave with Tobi, the spiral-faced White Zetsu. He knew that troublemaker far too well.

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

"Lord Madara, can I ask one last question? What does it feel like when you have the urge to poop?" Tobi asked the punchable question in an equally punchable voice.

"Get out!" A terrifying storm of chakra erupted at once, filling the entire underground base.

Black Zetsu, who had been watching from the shadows all along, immediately followed after seeing White Zetsu 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 Shinobi World!" Madara murmured, slowly falling asleep once more.

White Zetsu brought Tobi along, and they soon met up with Black Zetsu outside. The three creatures, who might not even count as human, hurried 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, Fusō, had both gone to work in the Rain Ninja Village, leaving Nagato home alone.

Black Zetsu possessed an Amegakure ninja they happened to encounter on the road, then controlled him through spiritual fusion. Since Nagato's parents were not ninjas and their home contained no methods for ninja training, Black Zetsu easily brought Nagato down with genjutsu.

Under White Zetsu's operation, Madara Uchiha's eyes replaced Nagato's original eyes. Once the Rinnegan entered Nagato's eye sockets, however, they regressed into ordinary eyes because they had long been deprived of Madara Uchiha's chakra.

After a long while, Nagato woke from his unconsciousness. Completely unaware that he had fallen under genjutsu, Nagato merely thought he had been too tired and passed out. He knew even less that, during that time, someone had switched his eyes.

The gears of fate began to turn.