Chapter Two: A Prolonged Life

So… I doubt Izuna will ever truly appreciate the lengths I have gone for him. Sometimes I still boggle at how far I've managed to come.

Izuna would be very disappointed to hear that Operation Wipe the Hidden Leaf Off the Map failed spectacularly. Believe me, I tried more than once. Hashirama got in my way… Every. Time.

All I want is Tobirama dead at my feet, an unrecognizable husk of a former man. Is that too much to ask?

But no. No, the Hidden Leaf remains standing, and Izuna's murderer continues to breathe… I have failed you, Izuna.

But don't go thinking I've just been wallowing here in self-pity. See, I found the Nine-Tails while wandering the Elemental Nations. Totally just chanced upon it. Of course I used Izuna's former eyes to force the creature to do my bidding – then I cloaked it in my sublime Perfect Susano'o. It will be the infallible instrument of the Hidden Leaf's destruction.

Hashirama took the fox away from me, of course. Bastard just doesn't understand the concept of sharing. What's mine is not yours, Hashirama; what's yours is, well… I might or might not use it to obliterate the Hidden Leaf. Depends on how I'm feeling at the time, really.

Regardless, I was beaten once again. And the nine-tailed fox was sealed away in Hashirama's Uzumaki wife, Mito. Uzumaki are not to be trifled with, so I kept my distance for a while; but I could not let Izuna's death go unavenged. His blood was still crying out for justice, damn it!

At any rate. In my most recent battle with Hashirama, I bit off a chunk of his arm… That's something, right, Izuna? It wasn't Tobirama's arm, but I'm pretty sure you would still feel proud of the accomplishment. His power is now mine, Izuna; I'm one step closer to ending this corrupt system for good!

I did end up faking my own death. I had no choice; I needed time to recover. The last place I fought Hashirama at is now called the Valley of the End… It's an ode to you, my fallen brother. You should be so proud your former eyes are capable of so much destruction. Do you see what your former eyes have wrought? Of course you do. You continue to see the world through my eyes.

Be strong, Izuna. It will be over soon.

Well, I'm still in this Hell of a reality. And I'm old. So old. I never did seem to catch a second wind after my final battle with Hashirama at the Valley of the End… My injuries were too grave, even with Hashirama's flesh implanted into me.

Foolish tablet. It lied about me obtaining greater power by combining Uchiha and Senju powers. I suppose that's what I get from a worthless clan like the Senju, though; their DNA is shit.

Perhaps that's not totally accurate. It took decades for anything to truly surface, but it did, eventually, surface. I'm looking at the end results of my labor now… The Rinnegan. Legendary eyes that had been nothing but a fairytale until I had actually seen it. I mean, anyone could have written on a tablet and claimed they were the Sage of Six Paths… Parts of the tablet were only revealed after attaining a certain level of Sharingan? The person that wrote it was likely a powerful Uchiha ancestor.

But now I know the truth. The Sage of Six Paths did exist. I'm the second person in history to wield the most amazing pair of eyes ever. Izuna… Your former eyes belong to a god now. A vengeful god. For with them, I shall rain fire and brimstone on this hopeless world… It's really too bad that Tobirama went and got himself killed by the Kinkaku Squad, because he wouldn't have stood a chance against me with these eyes. So weak, Tobirama. You were a pathetic Hokage anyway…

The only problem is that I'm. so. old. now. Why did these eyes take so long to kick in? Damn Senju genetics… Oh well. Better late than never.

Now where to begin…