I Want to See an Uchiha Who Understands Despair!

Mountain Graveyard.

Inside a stone cave.

Thick white pipes crawled across the stone walls, tangled and coiled like dead giant pythons, silently connecting to the stone seat in the depths.

Madara Uchiha sat there.

Old, gaunt, his eye sockets deeply sunken.

If his chest had not been rising and falling ever so slowly, he would have looked more like a corpse that had not yet been dried and buried.

At the edge of the stone wall, a mass of black liquid silently seeped from a crack, taking human form on the ground, half its face hidden in shadow.

"Lord Madara, there are leads on successors."

"Obito Uchiha. Two-Tomoe Sharingan. Hot-blooded and impulsive, values his companions, and has an intense desire to prove himself."

"And there is another."

It paused.

"Uchiha Ye. He is more interesting."

Madara finally slowly lifted his eyelids.

"Speak."

Black Zetsu's tone carried an emotion even he could not quite explain.

"This person is nine years old, possesses the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, has mastered several special abilities, and is nearly as strong as a Jonin."

"But most importantly, he values bonds more than his own life."

Madara's shriveled lips curled slightly.

"Tell me more."

As though he had prepared for this already, Black Zetsu lowered his voice further.

"During his two years at the Ninja Academy, he actively approached his classmates almost every day."

"Especially Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, and Rin Nohara."

"He used many methods. Sometimes he gave gifts, and sometimes he took the initiative to strike up conversations and create interactions."

"The three of them are extremely dependent on him and hold him in awe."

"More importantly."

"He even gave up a special ANBU recruitment opportunity in order to stay with his companions, choosing instead to join an ordinary Genin squad."

"He appears lazy and unrestrained