The next afternoon, at the residence of the Uchiha clan head, Shen was listlessly writing a novel.
"Tch, I just slapped a record disc on impulse—why does the old man have to chase me across Konoha in front of so many people?"
Indeed, the scope of the Uchiha father-son duo's "game map" had already expanded to cover all of Konoha. At this rate, who knew? Maybe they'd soon be running all over the shinobi world, or perhaps after three or five decades, they might even end up on the moon?
"Just you wait, old man! Once I finish this prologue, you'll be begging me to let you read what comes next!"
He roared from within his room, completely oblivious to the pair of eyes watching him from the shadows.
That same night, not far from Konoha in an underground chamber.
"Lord Madara, I've come with my report."
Zetsu emerged from the ground and briefed Madara about recent events in Konoha, particularly focusing on the latest situation concerning his key target—Shen Uchiha.
"Oh? That upstart pup Hanzo dares to target someone from the Uzumaki clan? Looks like each generation of the shinobi world gets worse than the last. He dares call himself a 'semi-god'? In my day, I wouldn't have even spared him a second glance!" Madara grew increasingly agitated, clenching the armrests of his chair tightly.
In his mind, there wasn't a single shinobi currently alive worth taking seriously. After all, he was a man bold enough to declare submission to Konoha in front of the future Second and Third Tsuchikage. To Madara, there were only two kinds of people—Hashirama Senju, and everyone else. Such was Lord Madara's fiercely proud and unyielding nature.
"With your current condition, you probably couldn't defeat Hanzo anyway," Zetsu said bluntly.
"Pfft! Let him try facing me directly! Back then, when I fought Hashirama, one strike from me was enough to redraw the entire map of the shinobi world. Look at what these modern ninja can do nowadays—leveling a single mountain makes them the strongest around? I could casually slice through entire mountains with my Susanoo back then! These young kids today..."
Madara ranted endlessly about his past glories while Zetsu listened helplessly, thinking how utterly baffled he was by this phenomenon.
Do humans really become more talkative as they age? Zetsu couldn't wrap his head around it.
"Do you know how many days and nights I fought against Hashirama? Do you know how flattened that battlefield became? Compared to that, I'd bet that brat Hanzo wouldn't last more than half an hour against me!"
"A real man doesn't brag about his past glories," Zetsu said mockingly.
Zetsu's sarcastic reply made Madara's old face twitch furiously with anger. "Zetsu! Who taught you to speak like that?! I'm your creator!"
"Oh right, you mean this way? Actually, I learned it from your successor, Shen Uchiha. I noticed he often talks this way and really gets people riled up. What do you think, Lord Madara? Doesn't that kid seem talented at everything he does?"
Madara slightly composed his expression. "If what you said is true, then it's indeed intriguing. Influencing others' emotions through music, showing extraordinary talent in developing ninjutsu, inventing various chakra-powered machines, and even indirectly easing tensions between the Uchiha clan and the village... Had this occurred in my time..."
Madara paused here, but soon his tone gradually became furious as he raged, "No! I've already lost all hope in the Uchiha! They actually intend to coexist peacefully with the village just because they're tired of war? Our clan was born for war!"
Finally, Madara sighed, saying, "Even if he could change the Uchiha now, it wouldn't matter anymore."
Black Zetsu remained completely unaffected, after all—he still couldn't comprehend human emotions properly. He simply lacked any human emotion.
"So, when does Lord Madara plan to meet him? Also, Third Hokage seems to have been sending people to protect him."
"Protect? I'd say it's more like surveillance. Since Konoha's founding, all major clans have harbored hostility toward the Uchiha—they fear the power of the Sharingan. As for meeting him, we'll wait until he unlocks the Mangekyō before doing so."
"What about Nagato? It would be troublesome if the Amegakure leaders discover he's a descendant of the Uzumaki clan."
Nagato was, after all, the most crucial piece in the plan. As an Uzumaki, he could control the Rinnegan, which allowed Madara to implant a talisman into him at birth to host the Rinnegan within Nagato's body.
Of course, Madara didn't do this just to hand everything over to someone else in the end—the point was to make Nagato willingly resurrect him using the Rinne Rebirth Technique. So how could they motivate Nagato to do that willingly? That question was something Madara's successor—temporarily chosen as Shen Uchiha—would resolve.
Unlike in the original Naruto world, Madara now had ample time to prepare, and he had enough patience to watch his chosen heir grow while monitoring Nagato's development.
After careful thought, Madara finally spoke, "Just keep an eye on Nagato. If any Amegakure ninja approach him, disguise yourself as a Konoha shinobi and kill his parents. This way, we can plant seeds of hatred against Konoha in Nagato's heart. Then we'll wait for the right opportunity—one when Konoha's parasites themselves decide to strike against Shen, this promising Uchiha. At that moment, the Moon's Eye Plan can officially begin."
Zetsu replied with a playful tone, "And how exactly does Lord Madara plan to get him to unlock the Mangekyō?"
Madara's voice turned cold: "He has either loved ones or close friends—sacrificing one of them will effectively stimulate his brain and activate the Mangekyō. And once that happens, you can bring him directly to me."
The Sharingan awakens not from hatred, but from love within the heart of an Uchiha. Take, for instance, how Second Pillar longed to protect the Heir, or how Obito fought to shield Rin and Kakashi. In essence, the Sharingan symbolizes the love inherent in the Uchiha bloodline.
This setting needs slight modification: there was a flaw in the Second Hokage's research. After unlocking the Sharingan, neither Second Pillar nor Obito underwent drastic personality changes—they only became even more resolute in their belief of protection. This whole mess has got to be pinned on the author.
(Author's angry note: AB is just a manga artist—he knows nothing about *Naruto* anyway?!)
The Mangekyō, on the other hand, is completely different. It represents the loss of love and can only be awakened when an Uchiha undergoes intense negative emotions that produce a special kind of chakra—such as when the Second Pillar discovered the truth about Itachi, or when Madara and his brother Izuna both killed someone dear to them.
In terms of appearance, the regular Sharingan has three separate tomoe, while the Mangekyō forms patterns by connecting those three tomoe into a single design. Each pair of Mangekyō Sharingan possesses a completely unique pattern.
"Got it, Lord Madara!"
"And also—"
Madara called out to Zetsu, whose lower body had already sunk into the ground, adding one final request: "If you can, bring me a copy of that beat. I'd like to experience it myself."
"No problem, Lord Madara."
Zetsu answered with widened eyes in surprise. He never thought the mighty Madara Uchiha would actually be into something as wild and hype as that kind of music. In his mind, Madara had suddenly become a lot more human.
After Zetsu vanished underground, Madara's right eye became hazy. Looking at the Uchiha clan's fan symbol hanging on the wall, he softly murmured: "Brother Izuna, I can no longer protect our Uchiha Clan anymore."
In this vast underground chamber, Madara sat alone—aged, silent, and full of sorrow. Maybe, during all those endless days of waiting, he did feel just a little regret.
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