"Tell me about the Rinnegan." Naruto said. "You mentioned that the only way to get the Juubi out of its prison was through the use of the Rinnegan, but... if Asura and Indra were Hagoromo's sons, did neither gain the Rinnegan?"

"Hagoromo had an especially powerful form of Chakra, and those two sons of his inherited separate aspects of it. Indra inherited the spiritual aspects, the Yin half of his father's abilities; Sharingan and potent spiritual energies included. Asura, on the hand, inherited the physical aspects, the Yang half; and acquired potent physical energies, incredible resilience and stamina, as well as enhanced healing."

"The Rinnegan can only come into being when those separate aspects are united. Until Madara, and Nagato, this had never happened since Hagoromo himself."

Naruto nodded, mulling the thought over. "So Madara did it, somehow. Encouraged by Black Zetsu? Might have been. Probably was, actually, but then... how did Nagato get it? How did Madara do it, actually? Inoichi mentioned that there was a clone of Hashirama, which means he had access to the genetic material, but if it were as easy as just injecting an Uchiha with Senju juice, you'd think it have happened a lot more."

"Never use those words again."

"I didn't intend for it to come out like that." Naruto pointed out. "But back to my point, Nagato was... what, six when got the Rinnegan? Really young, according to Jiraiya."

"Unnatural." Yinkura said. "Nagato is almost certainly an Uzumaki, but even if he was also an Uchiha, he should not have been able to awaken the Rinnegan."

Naruto pursed his lips. "Okay. Not sure why not, but I'll take your word for it."

He went silent for a few seconds.

"Can Izanagi be set on a time-delay? Or, be set to activate after death, on meeting of conditions?"

"There..." Yinkura paused to consider. "I have not seen it used in such a manner, but there is no reason it shouldn't be able to be used in such a manner."

"Right." Naruto clapped his hands together. "So, let's lay this out chronologically; Madara is fighting Hashirama. He manages to get some blood or flesh from him. Madara then loses to Hashirama, and dies, planning to revive himself afterwards. The plan succeeds, Madara leaves, nobody knows."

"Then... Madara doesn't gain the Rinnegan, not quickly, not immediately." Naruto rested his chin on his knuckles. "Because if he was in the prime of his life when he gained that, there wouldn't have been no need to wait and set up this whole thing with the Akatsuki. So he gains it later on, past his prime, when he can't risk fighting the entire world. Madara then summons the Juubi Statue, learning of it from... where? Where did Madara find out about that statue, unless having the Rinnegan just grants the ability, knowledge unneeded?"

He shook his head. "Doesn't matter either way. Madara then sets up that clone, and starts making White Zetsu. Black Zetsu has obviously come in at some point before this, because unless the Juubi was releasing the captured souls itself, he was responsible for their creation. Madara doesn't know."

He looked up. "And then... what? Madara is old, but he has a plan. There's Tobi, Obito, whatever, who's his pawn, which links to Nagato... how?"

"Theoretically-" Yinkura answered after a moment. "If one wanted to preserve a Rinnegan, an Uchiha, a Senju, or an Uzumaki would be the ideal hosts; the latter two especially."

"Madara's got a legacy, a spy network, and a plan." Naruto considered it. "So he transplants his eyes into Nagato, preserving them for the future. Nagato can handle the drain, even when it activates. It would have had to happen young, because Nagato was very young when he actually activated it."

"Which loops back around to Obito. Obito, separated from his team, is a target for manipulation. Madara does so, because he's old and Obito's a traumatized teenager, and thus creates for himself the successor, and somebody who could manipulate Nagato into doing whatever he needs Nagato to do. Somebody that, as an Uchiha, can just take the eyes directly if Nagato doesn't cooperate. For... what purpose, though? What does he need to go through all this trouble to do?"

"Who knows." Yangkura growled. "That guy was a nutjob."

"Yeah, but we know he wasn't the one truly in charge. Whatever Madara was working for, Black Zetsu had co-opted it to revive the Juubi. Which is... still the actions of a nutjob, but hey. What did Madara need the Bijuu for that he was convinced to just go and seal all of them in the statue?"

"Does it matter?"

"It's more pieces to the puzzle, so kind of, but since we don't have any answers..." Naruto sighed. "Nothing to do but wait and gather more information, I guess."

He frowned. "Can I ask a favour, Yinkura?"

The darkly-coloured Kyuubi turned towards him, regarding him for a few seconds. "You may."

"Can you please keep us updated on Drich, as well as check with Isobu, the Ichibi, and the Yonbi on what they know? Bit of a long shot, but at this point, I'm willing to try a lot."

Yinkura nodded, slowly.

Naruto smiled up at him, before he paused. "And you know what, I just remembered that the Naka Shrine exists, so I'll have to take a look around in there when we get back to Konoha."

"The what?"

"The Uchiha shrine. Lot of history and important garbage in there." He waved his hand. "Anyway, thanks for all of this Yangkura, Yinkura. Huge help. Even if it does mean that I'm not going to get too much sleep tonight."

Yangkura grunted. "I don't care."

"You keep telling yourself that, uncle." Naruto jumped to his feet. "Bye~"

He vanished.

"He has no survival instinct, does he?"

"No." Yangkura stated, flatly. "Until I had the misfortune of meeting him, I had never truly realized the extent of the idiocy Humans could get up to."

"Hah." Yinkura returned. "The Shinigami's stomach, more pleasant than the living world. What is everything coming to?"

"Hopefully, an end."