Stunned silence greets the revelation that Obito's left eye belonged to Madara.
Finally, Nagato says, "Maybe we should form a club. The My Eyes Used To Belong To Someone Else Club."
"That reminds me," says Lord Fugaku. "The T-Shirts for the Mythic Doujutsu Club arrived. Nagato, Obito: you two can collect yours when we're done here."
"Awesome," says Obito, then seeing the look on Madara's face, he unpauses the flashback and continues his story. "I'll fast forward a bit to cut out most of the boring parts where I just sleep on and off for a while."
Obito lies on his bed, staring up at the ceiling while Madara sleeps sitting in his chair over by the gedo statue. Two white zetsu, one with a face that resembles a giant swirly lollipop, and the other with curved spikes sticking out of its waist, stand at the foot of Obito's bed, watching him.
"How do you feel?" asks the swirly zetsu.
Obito sits up and shuffles back, away from the creepy white monsters. "Bad," he says. "How do you think I'm doing?" Most of Obito's bandages are off now, with just the large tarpaulin-like cover over the right side of his torso left. "How long have I been here?" he asks. "It feels like ages."
"Don't worry," says Spiky zetsu cheerfully. "You don't have to pay rent."
"Those of us created from the gedo statue don't have to eat either," chimes in Swirly zetsu. "So no food bills. We don't even poo!"
"Don't lump me in with you guys," says Obito, rubbing the covering on the right half of his torso. "Only half of me is made of the same stuff as you."
"And thanks to that you can survive without eating and drinking," says Spiky zetsu nodding. "You should be grateful to us."
"FOR WHAT?" demands Obito. "Madara was the one who saved me!"
"But Madara put us in charge of watching you," say the both zetsu is unison.
"DON'T TALK IN SYNC!" yells Obito. "IT'S ANNOYING!"
"Now don't be like that," says Spiky zetsu. "Madara told us to help you with your rehabilitation so that you are up and running by the time he wakes up."
"So Madara gets to sleep while he makes you two do all the hard work, huh?" mutters Obito. "I have to get well so I can get out of here!"
"Oh!" says Swirly zetsu, slapping his fist against his palm in sudden understanding. "Do you want to go back to Rin and Bakakashi?"
Obito's face transforms into a hilarious expression of shock. "How do you know those names?" he asks, his eyes wide.
"You talk in your sleep," says Spiky Zetsu.
Obito looks mortified. "How do I get out of here?" he asks, sounding a little desperate.
"Can't be done," says Swirly. "Madara made us seal the exit after we dragged you here on his orders."
"What?!" A panicked expression takes over Obito's face. "Then how am I going to get out of here?"
"Not our problem," says Spiky zetsu shrugging.
"Where did the rest of you go?" Obito demands, seeing that the white zetsus hanging from the tree are all gone. "If the entrance is sealed, how'd they get out?"
"They went outside to collect intel," says Spiky zetsu. "We can all move through the earth."
"But never mind that," interrupts Swirly zetsu. "I have something very important to ask you."
"What is it?" asks Obito, obviously not interested.
"What does it feel like to poo?"
It is not so much the question as the expression on Young Obito's face that causes everyone at the Temple of Jashin to start laughing. Of course, some laugh harder than others, but even Madara laughs a little.
Young Obito glares angrily at the zetsus and growls, "So you can come and go as you please but I have to stay here and listen to all sorts of weird things!"
"I am sorry for asking about poo!" the zetsu immediately apologises.
"That was weird, but I'm actually talking about all that dumb stuff Madara said!" shouts Obito, angrily.
"Madara is not nice enough to dumb things down for a brat like you," says Spiky zetsu, sighing. "Basically, he wants to erase all the bad things in the world and escape inside a dream where everything is exactly how you want it. Even the dead can come back to life!"
"It's like casting a BIG genjutsu over the whole world, and everyone is in their own dream where everything is perfect for them!" elaborates Swirly zetsu.
"That makes no sense," says Obito, pulling a face. "I'm not interested. Besides, I need to get back to Rin and Kakashi." Obito climbs off the bed and staggers over to the cave wall. He begins to walk around the cavern. Each step is incredibly painful, as his right leg is held together with medical tape and zetsu cells. When Obito falls, Swirly zetsu catches him and helps him to carry on.
Eventually, two other zetsus return. Obito continues his rehabilitation while they cheer him on. He unwraps his new arm and starts moving it around and developing muscles in it. The first time he manages to shakily stand on his feet without support, Swirly zetsu is so happy it hugs him.
Obito practices balancing things on his new hand, and balancing on his right leg. As time drags on, he begins to exercise more methodically. There is much less urgency in his movements as he begins sparring with Swirly zetsu and, after a while, he even starts doing press ups with Swirly sitting on his back. Spiky zetsu looks on smiling as Obito regains his former strength. Slowly, painstakingly, Obito is recovering.
And then one day Spiky zetsu gives Obito a jar containing an eye. "Madara told us to give you this once we were sure you would recover," it says. "Now you just have to let us transplant this eye into your empty eye socket!"
Obito calmly lets them transplant the eye into his left eye socket and gets back to his recovery. Several days pass before Obito can take the bandage off his new eye and test it. Once he does, Obito simply confirms he can see out of it and carries on rehabilitating.
The urgency might have gone, but his determination to recover is no less. He carries on training as his hair grows longer his body grows stronger.
One night, as Obito rests, Spiky zetsu emerges from the boulder. "Obito!" he says urgently. "Your friends Kakashi and Rin are in trouble!"
"What happened?" demands Obito, sitting up.
"They are alone and completely surrounded by Mist shinobi!" says Spiky zetsu.
Obito leaps off the bed, all the urgency back in every inch of his body. THe bed shatters beneath him as he leaps towards the bounder and runs across the cavern. He pulls his right fist back and punches the boulder, putting a large dent in it. Obito's prosthetic arm crumbles and falls off, unable to withstand the force Obito struck the rock with.
Obito stares at the boulder in desperate horror. He clutches his shoulder in pain.
Swirly zetsu walks up behind him, a long tether connecting the back of its head to the gedo statue. "You can't break through that boulder with your current strength," says Swirly zetsu.
"But I have to go and help Rin and Kakashi!" says Obito desperately.
"Then let me help you," says Swirly zetsu, unravelling its body and enveloping Obito. "Wear my body and use my strength."
"Is that okay?" asks Obito. "Don't you guys work for Madara?"
"Isn't he a good boy?" says Spiky Zetsu as Swirly's head wraps around Obito's. It looks like a white version of the mask that present-day Obito wears as Rain.
"It'll be alright," says Swirly zetsu. "Madara won't mind you helping your friends."
"Thanks, guys," says Obito gratefully. He flexes his fists and walks calmly up to the boulder. Obito draws his fist back, the tether linking him and Swirly to the gedo statue pulses, and then Obito punches the boulder. It shatters into a thousand pieces which crash to the ground in a cloud of dust.
"Nice move," says Spiky Zetsu. "Staying tethered to the statue and using its power was a good idea."
"So you're leaving then?" says Madara. Apparently the noise woke him up.
Obito reaches behind his head and pulls out the teather. Swirly zetsu's head unravels into a collar of spikes, leaving Obito's head free. "I have to save my friends," he says. "I am grateful that you saved me, but I have to go now."
"It may be premature to thank me," says Madara forebodingly.
"I won't be coming back here," says Obito.
"Yes you will," says Madara, and sits back. "And then you will show me how grateful you really are."
"Where are Kakashi and Rin?" asks Obito.
"Don't worry," says Spiky zetsu. "You are wearing a clone of me. We can communicate telepathically over short distances. We also have many more of us spread out underground."
"I'll use them to guide you to your friends," says Swirly zetsu, poking Obito in the face with one of the tendrils that form his head.
"Let's go then," says Obito. He leaps through the debris from the boulder and finds himself in a room filled with weapons. A few cloaks are hanging on the wall, so Obito grabs one and wraps it around himself as he passes.
"What's the situation?" asks Obito as they emerge into the outside world. It is night, and few stars shine through the thick clouds overhead.
"The others are saying something about test subjects," says Swirly. "But I don't understand what they mean."
"Where is Minato sensei?" demands Obito.
"Who?"
"The Yellow Flash of the Leaf!"
"Oh, he's on a different mission," says Swirly. "But since I am stronger than you, you should let me do the fighting when we arrive. Most of the Mist ninjas up ahead are ANBU and jounin. Ah, but who knows? Maybe the combination of the Senji tissue Madara attached to you and your Uchiha blood will cause a new power to emerge."