He 'd been hidden for so long that he 'd almost forgotten what it was to speak with other people. He heard their voices of course when he went to spy on the different major villages across the lands, staying always in the shadows, but it had been so long since someone spoke to him that at times he wondered if he had faded away to become a true ghost. It had been so long since he last spoke he wondered at times if his voice would still work or if he would even remember how to form the words.

The world bowed before him once. When he was young shinobi everywhere would flee at his name: Uchiha Madara. But the years had turned, marching by unforgivingly until he lived to watch his own name pass in to legend and fantasy. He 'd heard some people speculate that he never truly existed at all, that he was just some sort of made up boogey man, and it rankled. It also rankled to know that the rumors of his leaving the village were blown way out of proportion.

He never