Rin doesn't recognize him. Obito can't stop himself from crying about that. And now the shocked and slightly horrified expression on Rin's face just makes it worse. Obito dives under the blanket on his bed and sobs into his pillow.
Suddenly, the blanket is pulled back, and Madara pulls Obito up by the back of his cloak. "Pull yourself together, boy!"
"But Rin doesn't recognize me!" Obito sobs.
Madara smacks Obito across the face. "Stop blubbering, you cry baby!" Madara snaps. "Act your age!"
Rin giggles, and Madara slaps her too. "Don't laugh at him girl," Madara scolds her. "If it weren't for Obito, you would still be dead."
"Still…?" says Rin, a confused expression on her face.
"According to my intel guys," Madara drawls. "When he saw you die, Obito awakened the rinnegan in the new eye I gave him and immediately used it to bring you back from the dead."
"Did I?" asks Obito, gobsmacked (both figuratively and literally. His cheek still hurts.) "But what happened to Swirly?"
"You are a moron," says Madara, sighing and touching his hand to his forehead. He drops Obito onto the bed and sits down beside him. "The Rinnegan has many powers, one of which is the power to bring the dead back to life. That power takes so much chakra that to use it will kill you. But you somehow managed to use Swirly's chakra instead of your own to cast the Rinne-rebirth."
"So I killed Swirly to bring Rin back?" says Obito, feeling a little sick.
"This is exactly what I was trying to explain to you," says Madara. "Nothing good ever happens unless something bad also happens. Where there are winners, there are also losers. When one life is saved, another is lost. To gain power, you must give up that which you hold dear. Do you understand yet, Obito?"
Obito understands. He understood when he saw Rin with Kakashi's chidori through her chest. "Yes," he says.
Madara scrutinizes Obito, and then nods. "Yes, I do believe you understand."
"It's not that complicated," says Rin. "But is there more to this conversation that I don't know about?"
"Sharp girl," says Madara. "There is more. But first: how about you tell Obito what happened to you?"
"...Oh..." Rin's eyes take on a haunted expression. "I got captured by the Hidden Mist...I don't remember most of it...they sealed something into me...some sort of super weapon that will be unleashed when I pass through the barrier around the Leaf...the only way I could think of...I had to protect the Village…"
"So you tried to kill yourself," finishes Madara. "As I said: to save something or someone, something or someone else must perish."
"The seal is still there," says Rin, clasping at the front of her cloak, right over the place Kakashi's chidori stabbed her. "I can feel it draining my chakra. I don't know how long I can hold it."
"Hm," Madara grunts. "So you weren't dead long enough for it to unravel. I know of someone in the Hidden Rain who can help you with that seal. But before I let you two go and find him, I will tell you my plan."
"Your plan?" says Obito, frowning. "You mean the genjutsu thing?"
"Yes, the Infinite Tsukinome," says Madara. "Let me show the two of you what it is."
"I get why you're showing me," says Obito, scratching his head. "But why are you showing Rin, too? She doesn't owe you for saving her life."
"If I hadn't saved you, she would be dead," points out Madara. "Besides, she has no where else to go. She will help you enact my plan."
"Will I?" says Rin sceptically.
"You will," says Madara in a steely tone of voice. "To create the perfect world of the Infinite Tsukinome, I need the Tailed Beasts. The Mist sealed one into you: the Three Tails."
"What do you need the tailed beasts for?" asks Obito, wondering what Tailed Beasts have to do with a genjutsu.
"To return them to the Gedo statue over there," says Madara, pointing his scythe-walking stick at the statue at the far end of the cavern. "Once the Tailed Beasts are sealed into the Gedo statue, the Ten Tails will be reborn and grow into a tree. The tree will grow a flower, inside which will be an eye. The eye will reflect off the moon and cast the world into a genjutsu."
"Won't pulling the Three Tails out of me kill me?" asks Rin, frowning.
"It will," says Madara nonchalantly. "I'm sure Obito will be happy to bring you back afterwards. Any more questions? My time is nearly up."
"Where did the Gedo Statue come from?" asks Rin.
"After my Rinnegan awakened, I summoned the statue out of its sealing stone," explains Madara. "You probably know the sealing stone better as the moon. Any more questions?"
"How do you control the rinnegan?" asks Obito.
Madara rolls his eye. "Practice," he says. "And before you ask, the same is true for your Mangekyou Sharingan. But be careful with the Mangekyou. If you overuse it, and do not give yourself time to recover between uses, you will go blind. You will be able to see with your sharingan activated, but not with your normal eyesight."
"What about my seal?" asks Rin.
"You need to seal the Three Tails into the Gedo statue," says Madara patiently. "You will need help with that, so go and find Akatsuki. They are a group in the Hidden Rain that just formed. One of the core members is Nagato Uzumaki, the boy I gave my old eyes to. He is a seal master trained in the Whirlpool Tradition. Is that all?"
"I have about a hundred more questions," says Rin.
"Me too," says Obito. "Like do I look better with short hair or long hair? Does this cloak make me look fat? How old are you actually? Can we get some new clothes? We're cold and wet; can we make a fire so we can dry off? I know I don't need to eat anymore because of the zetsu cells you grafted into me, but what are we going to feed Rin?"
"STOP!" Madara claps his hand over Obito's mouth. "That's enough questions. You look better with long hair. No, that cloak doesn't make you look fat. You can get new clothes when you go out to meet up with Akatsuki. If you want a fire make one, I assume you know the Fire Ball Jutsu? The boulder is gone now so you can come and go as you please to get food for your girlfriend."
Obito nods, his eyes wide.
Rin blushes. "G..Girlfriend?"
"That is enough questions," says Madara standing. "I have had enough of dealing with you two already. Zetsu!" he calls over Spiky Zetsu. When Spiky Zetsu reaches Madara, Madara places his hand on Spiky. A strange black substance slithers out of Madara and covers the right half of Swirly Zetsu. "I will leave this behind to guide the two of you. It is the manifestation of my will. Think of it as half of me." Then Madara reaches behind his neck and pulls out the tethers binding him to the Gedo Statue.
Madara gasps in pain and falls back onto the bed. "I'll see you soon, Obito. Black Zetsu will explain the rest of the plan." Madara closes his eyes and finally dies.
"Wake up!" Rin shakes Obito awake. "Obito, wake up!"
"What is it?" asks Obito, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
"The Black Zetsu is gone on patrol," says Rin. "We're leaving. I will NOT follow that crazy old man."
"Weren't you sleeping?" asks Obito, wishing for the sweet embrace of slumber.
"No, I can't sleep until this seal is fixed," Rin says. "Now let's go! Get up!"
Obito rolls out of bed. "Fine, but I'm only leaving because it's what you want."
Together they leave Madara's hideout. On the way out, Obito and Rin stop to grab some of the weapons stored in the same place they got their cloaks. Once they are out of the cave, Obito and Rin speed away through the forest. They pull their hoods low over their faces in case someone is watching. They cannot afford to be recognized. For hours they travel through the forest until they reach the Land of Rain.
After a day of searching, they finally track down the three top members of Akatsuki. Nagato, Yahiko and Konan are standing in a small group talking about something or other.
Obito wastes no time in walking right up to them. "Excuse me," he says. "Are you the leaders of Akatsuki?"
Nagato, Yahiko and Konan turn to look at Obito and Rin, who is standing a little way behind Obito. "I am Yahiko," says Yahiko. "I am the leader. Who are you?"
"It's a long story," says Obito, drooping. "We are Leaf shinobi who are thought to be dead. We cannot return to the Leaf - well she can't, and I won't leave her. We need your help to stop a madman from casting a genjutsu on the whole earth by reviving the Ten Tails."
"Why us?" asks Yahiko. "We are not warriors, we are peace makers."
"We need Nagato," says Rin, getting straight to the point. "I've been made into a jinchuuriki, but the seal is unstable. I need his help to fix the seal. That is one reason. The other reason we need Nagato is because our enemy will try to recruit him because of his rinnegan."
"So you have decided to turn against us?" says Black Zetsu.
They all turn towards him in alarm. "How did you find us?" asks Obito.
"You forget," says Black Zetsu. "We can sense where you are because our cells are grafted into your body. If you turn against us now, you will never be able to rest again. We will hunt you until your death, and we will take the girl and extract the Three Tails from her."
Yahiko interposes himself between the two Leaf ninjas and Black Zetsu. "We will protect these two from you."
"We are not interested in you," says Black Zetsu. "We are only interested in Nagato. Join us, Nagato. We can help you control your power."
"As much as I want to learn how to control the Rinnegan," says Nagato, his face setting in determination. "I cannot betray my friends. If Yahiko wishes to protect these two from you, then I will stand with him, and I am sure I can hide them from you."
"Very well," says Black Zetsu, sinking into the ground. "We will come for you again."
"Come inside," says Konan. "Tell us everything, and we will help you."
"That is all I need to know," says Madara. "You may stop the jutsu now, Obito."
"Yes sir," says Obito, and deactivates the Flashback no Jutsu.