Deep within the Gedo Statue's sanctuary, beneath the constant weeping rain of Amegakure, the air was suffocating. Obito Uchiha, his mask cracked from a previous skirmish, stood before the towering husk of the Gedo Mazo. Beside him, Black Zetsu merged with the floor, his yellow eyes gleaming with a malice that predated the concept of Shinobi.
They had seen the white castle in the desert. They had felt Aizen's Reiatsu. For the first time in a thousand years, Zetsu's plan to revive Kaguya was facing a variable that didn't belong to this world.
The Resurrection of the Ultimate Predator
"Aizen has already claimed the Nine-Tails and the One-Tail," Obito said, his voice a low growl of frustration. "The Allied Forces are marching toward their deaths, and the Hokage have returned as puppets of the dead. If we do not act now, the Moon's Eye plan will be nothing but a dream within Aizen's nightmare."
Black Zetsu's voice crawled out like a snake. "The Ten-Tails cannot be completed without the chakra of the Nine-Tails. But we have a fragment... a silver of the Fox's chakra from the Gold and Silver brothers. It is enough to spark the heart. But we need a leader who can command the Void itself."
Obito looked at the sacrificial body of a White Zetsu clone prepared on the altar. "Then it is time. We bring back the only man who ever truly stood above the Uchiha. The man who will not bow to this 'Aizen'."
Obito performed the seals, his Rinnegan glowing with a desperate intensity. "Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Jutsu!" (Rinne Tensei).
Instead of a simple Edo Tensei, Obito used the power of the Rinnegan to grant Madara Uchiha a true, living body.
The Gedo Mazo roared. A massive surge of chakra erupted from the statue, pouring into the sacrificial vessel. The skin of the Zetsu clone began to harden and change. Long, spiky black hair cascaded down his back. The crimson armor of the Warring States period materialized piece by piece.
Madara Uchiha opened his eyes. They were not the black eyes of the dead, but the pulsing, purple ripples of the Rinnegan.
The Two Kings of the Apocalypse
Madara took a breath, feeling the air in his lungs for the first time in decades. He didn't look at Obito. He looked toward the horizon, toward the distant feeling of Las Noches.
"This world..." Madara whispered, his voice carrying the authority of a mountain. "The taste of the air has changed. It feels... artificial. Cold."
"Madara-sama," Zetsu whispered. "A trespasser has arrived. He calls himself Aizen. He has taken the boy you chose to be your vessel and turned him into something called an Espada. He seeks to replace the Infinite Tsukuyomi with a Void of his own making."
Madara's Rinnegan narrowed. A small, terrifying smile played on his lips. "An intruder who thinks he can steal my stage? How interesting. He has built a castle of glass and thinks it is a throne."
Madara stepped off the altar, the ground cracking under his renewed strength. "Tell the remaining Akatsuki to move. We will let the Allied Forces break themselves against Aizen's gates. We will let the dead Hokage dance for a while. And when they are all exhausted, I will show this 'Aizen' that there is only one true God of the Uchiha."