Chapter Three: Passing the Torch

Curse these old, brittle bones. Traversing the world is not as easy as it once was.

I suppose I'm getting a little ahead of myself, though. The first thing I did after obtaining the Rinnegan was to summon the Gedo Statue, the corpse of the Ten-Tailed Eldritch Abomination that was sealed away in the moon for centuries. Though that was quite the feat, it was only the first step to reviving the Ten-Tails. That was taxing enough on this bag of bones of a body. I would hate to have to collect all the Tailed Beasts myself, let alone jam all of them down the throat of the Gedo Statue… That would take entirely too long. And I'm certainly not getting any younger.

So. I will be accomplishing the rest of my multi-stage plan through the act of delegation. As things currently stand, there are no rogue Uchiha other than my glorious self. That's unfortunate, because an Uchiha would be the ideal candidate for the second transplant of Izuna's… my eyes.

Regardless, my tireless research that lasted just a little over a week managed to reveal something extraordinary. I would never, ever consider using a Senju, which are going the way of the dinosaur much to my gleeful pleasure, but their allies, the Uzumaki, are fair game.

Oh? You don't think those red-headed freaks are worthy of wielding the eyes of a god? Well, you'd be right. Those plebeians could never hope to use these eyes to their fullest extent, but I only really need one to resurrect me eventually, when all the hard work has been accomplished. I would normally never trust one of Mito's family and Clan, but I don't have a choice in the matter. It's not as if I'm walking right into the heart of Whirlpool to pluck one of their own right from under their noses; I'm desperate to keep Izuna's former eyes safe, but I'm not suicidal. I managed to locate a baby of Uzumaki descent in the middle of Rain Country… That's literally all it does in that country. Every. Single. Day.

What's that? You don't think it's fair for me to piggyback off of the hard work of other people? Tough. If life were fair, Izuna would be alive and well, Tobirama would be dead, I would be the Hokage, and Izuna would be my successor. As it stands, I'm fighting an uphill battle by kicking life in the balls to make sure it stays down. I am the god here; I decide how things will go.

So I gifted the Uzumaki brat with the eyes of a god. I have no regrets there. His living conditions are perfect; he will grow up to see the hopelessness of reality, and will gladly resurrect me when my followers get in touch with him. That's right; I managed to manufacture an army of Hashirama by implanting some of his Senju DNA into the base of the Gedo Statue. They lack his battle prowess, but at least they won't side an evil-brother-killing bastard! I can afford to be petty; I'm Madara Uchiha, bitch.

Officially, I also procured a random Sharingan that was just lying around… Unofficially, I procured it after cornering one of my former clansmen. The bastard destroyed the other before I could get to it… Foolish mortal.

But what if things don't go my way after I pass onto the Pure World? What if life pushes back? Well, I've already got that covered. I… procured… an Uchiha child that was deemed worthless by the same backstabbing bastards that turned their backs on me, in the middle of one of those World War things, and I have molded him into my liking after applying a Curse Seal to his heart and killing what was apparently the love of his life or whatever.

Still no regrets.

One of my final acts was leaving behind a physical representation of my Will. He will ensure things go my way without fail. I have complete faith in him; he even sounds like that voice that's been whispering in the back of my head for ages now, telling me what to do, how the Rinnegan works, etc., etc.

Totally not suspicious at all. He's my Will, so they were all my ideas and genius.

With that, I severed myself from the Statue that kept me alive for so many years. I should have rejoined Izuna ages ago, but there was work to be done. There is still much work to be done, but now it is out of my hands.

… Well, well. Kami favors me; I died with one eye and woke up in the Pure World with two. I told you Kami favored the Uchiha! … Wait a second. Is that… Izuna? But… Where are his eyes?

Well shit. It appears I was wrong about his sight being restored in death… I think… I think I will be steering clear of Izuna until I'm resurrected. Izuna can certainly be bitter and hold a grudge; I know that all too well…