The flashback world shifts to a dark cavern where an ancient man sits beside young Obito. The image of the cave is crystal clear, as if Obito knew every inch of it. Obito is lying on a bed, bandaged heavily down his right side. The shells of white zetsus hang from a strange statue at the end of the cavern.
"Where am I?" asks Obito, looking up at the old man.
"Somewhere between life and death, Uchiha child," says the old man.
Obito's face falls. Then he notices the old man's left eye. His right eye is hidden by his fringe. "Your eyes...are you an Uchiha?"
"Well, maybe," says the old man.
"Oh well," says Obito, losing interest. "Where are we? It's dark and I can't see very well. Who are you, anyway?" Then he laughs. "Don't tell me you're a shinigami?" Obito's smile turns to an expression of horror when he sees that the old man's walking stick is, in fact, a scythe. "NOOO!" Obito screams. "I DON'T WANNA DIE!"
The old man watches Obito calmly, an expression of disappointment on his face.
"HELP! I just saw your scythe!" Obito continues to gabble in distress. "You must be a shinigami for sure! I've lived my whole life under a creed of helping old people! I know I've caused lots of mischief and broken a ton of rules! I'm sure the scale must tip on the positive side! Please don't take me to Hell! OWWW!" Obito screws up his face as the pain from his injuries hits him.
"The fact that you can feel pain means you are alive," says the old man calmly. "But it is a miracle you are alive. I am amazed that those boulders did not crush you. It is almost as if you passed right through them."
"Where did you find me?" asks Obito, much calmer now that the threat of dying is passed.
"In a passage way that I created," says the old man. "Collapsed by a pile of rocks. Half of your body was crushed. I patched you up as best I could."
"Why?" asks Lord Fugaku, turning to Madara. "Why did you help him? I know some people can survive having half their body crushed, but he was a stranger who meant nothing to you right?"
"That's true," says Lord First, answering for Madara. "But Madara only has two weaknesses. The inability to pee if someone is watching and the inability to watch a child die."
"I reckon you'd get on with Iruka-nii," says Naruto, smiling radiantly at Madara. "He has a soft spot for kids too."
"Yes, well," Madara sounds a bit embarrassed. "Back to the flashback please. And for those of you who aren't as sharp as Fugaku: yes that is me."
"So you saved me?" says young Obito, smiling. "Thank you."
"Don't bother thanking me," says Madara. "I expect you to repay your debt to me. After all, helping the elderly is you motto, isn't it."
"Well, yes," says Obito. "So what do you want me to do?" Madara is silent so Obito asks glumly, "Do you want help with bathroom stuff?"
"That would be good," says Madara, quite calmly.
Obito's face falls.
Naruto falls over laughing.
Obito blushes.
"What?" says Madara, shrugging. "I was elderly. Obviously that's not a problem now."
Young Obito tries to wriggle out of it. "I'm sorry, but I can't stay here forever. There's a war going on, and now that my sharingan is awakened, I'll be able to protect my comrades even better."
"Protect you comrades, eh?" says Madara, sadly. "I'm sorry, but with your body the way it is, your life as a shinobi is over."
"No!" yells Obito, upset by the news. "No, no, no! I've finally awakened my sharingan! It can't be over! Not when I've finally gotten stronger!"
"Wake up to reality," says Madara sadly. "Nothing in life is fair. The longer you live, the more you see that only pain, suffering and futility exist in this world. Listen to me: wherever there is light, there are also shadows. Wherever there are victors, someone else is vanquished. The desire for peace creates war, and hatred is born to protect love. These things are opposites that cannot exist without each other."
Obito rolls his eyes in boredom. "Where are we?"
Madara gazes keenly at Obito. "Because you were hurt someone else was saved, isn't that so?"
Obito's stiffens. His mouth falls open. It is clear he understands what Madara is saying. "SHUT UP!" He yells. "I don't want to stay here forever! Ow..." Obito stops to wince in pain.
"Leave if you really want to," says Madara, turning away. "If you can move, that is." Madara walks slowly to a chair nearby, dragging his scythe along beside him.
Obito watches him, growing more agitated by the second. Finally, he says, "You're a rogue ninja, aren't you? Just who are you?"
"I am a relic of the past," says Madara. "A ghost of the Uchiha clan. I am Madara Uchiha."
"MADARA?!" screams Obito. "But aren't you dead? What era do you think this is?!"
"A moment ago, you were ready to believe I am a shinigami," says Madara, quite calmly. "But perhaps I am a shinigami, because this world is truly hell."
Obito stares, his eyes widening in horror.
"I have cheated death by syphoning chakra from the Gedo Statue behind me, otherwise I would be long dead," explains Madara.
Obito turns to look at the creepy statue looming in the corner. Dried out husks of white zetsus hang from branch-like tails and what looks like a person is petrified in the front of the statue. Hands reach up beside the person, making it look as tough three people are trapped in the statue, unable to get out.
"I'm going home!" says Obito, sounding frightened and desperate. Obito rolls off the bed and starts dragging himself along the ground by his chin.
"You won't get far," says Madara. "Neither of us can leave with our bodies. If you keep moving around, the synthetic tissue from Hashirama that I went to the trouble of grafting to your body will peel off. Don't rush to your death after I went to all the trouble of saving you."
"You did what now with my tissue?" demands the reanimated Hashirama.
"I used it to make the gedo statue stronger and help keep myself alive," explains Madara. "And I grafted a combination of white zetsu cells and your DNA into Obito to rebuild his body. He didn't know it at the time, but I made him far stronger than he ever would have been otherwise."
"I can use wood style," says Obito. "But I suck at it."
"Pfft, no you don't," says Nagato. "Now pay attention to the flashback. It's just starting to get good."
Young Obito is still trying desperately to crawl away from Madara.
"There are a lot of things I'd like you to do for me," says old Madara.
"Like what?" demands Obito, pausing his pitiful attempt at escape. "What could an old guy like you possibly want from a kid like me?"
"To sever the fate of the world," says Madara, suddenly very, very serious. "A world of only victors, a world of only peace, a world of only happiness: I will create such a world."
"SO WHAT?" snaps Obito. "Who cares? I just want to go home."
"Nothing goes as planned," says Madara. "You will realize that in time."
Obito ignores him and keeps shuffling along the ground.
"If you want to die so badly, go ahead," says Madara, watching Obito with pity in his visible eye. "But I'll be taking that sharingan of yours."
Obito stops his shuffling and glares at Madara. "What do you want my eye for?" he demands. "You've got your own sharingan."
"My eyes are on loan to another," says Madara. "This is a spare that I transplanted later. I'd like to get a few more in stock, since I don't have a right eye yet." Madara pulls aside his fringe, revealing an empty eye socket. "However, I do have an old pair that no longer work for me. One of them might be just the thing to replace your left eye. But I will not give it to you if you insist on getting yourself killed. With two eyes together, the true power of the sharingan can be unleashed."
"Hey, that reminds me," says Obito, interrupting his own flashback. "Whose eyes were they?" He points to his left eye: his rinnegan. "Whose eye was this?"
"Mine," says Madara. "That was the left eye I was born with. The eyes I gave to Nagato originally belonged to my brother, Izuna. After he died, I took his eyes because my own were failing from sharingan overuse. They were no good for me, but for you? They were just fine."