My new story, entitled "A God of Peace, A Daemon of Pein". Let me know how it sounds, it is a challenge set to me, so It'd be interesting to see what you think.

A sealed fate

A droplet of rain falls from above, leaving its home in the sky on the journey to earth. It succumbs to the wonders of gravity, descending from its heavenly bed. A small ray of sunlight shines through, revealing the entire spectrum of wonder inside this tiny grain of water. But the droplet knows none of its potential, it sees only the path ahead, without truly knowing where it is going, or why.

The time in which it takes from the start of this raindrop's life, to the end, can only be described as ephemeral. And as if to follow such a name, this raindrop serves a purpose like none of its brethren ever have. It plummets through the air, the first thing coming into sight the grey rocks of the land. But then as it draws nearer, its destination appears to be an odd black shape that lies on the ground beneath it. But that is a false belief as well, as the raindrops view is filled with a round orange shape, with a dark hole to one side. It is that hole which the raindrop falls through, breaking on a strange combination of white, red and black. That strange symbol which the colours formed, it was nothing like the raindrop had ever seen. But that enigmatic symbol, whatever it was, reacts violently to Ephemeral's touch. A huge set of jaws swallows dear Ephemeral up, before chewing on the poor thing furiously, until the short lived beauty was no more.

"What do you intend to do now?" asked Uchiha Madara, "Without the Gedō Mazo."

He raised his head, the most movement he could manage due to the black rods impaled through his arms and legs. He looked at the person standing before him, a man with long orange hair that fell down his back. This man had a heavily pierced face, with black objects just like the rods piercing the defeated Uchiha before him. The man looked down at Madara with impassive eyes, eyes which were grey, with several black circles surrounding the pupil. The man reached forward, a hand procuring from his black cloak, the red clouds appearing to billow with his movement. The hand was placed atop the rod that pierced Madara's right leg, he gripped it and twisted, forcing Madara to cringe in pain.

"If I cannot have the weapon." the man said, with no signs of remorse for Madara's suffering, "Then I simply need… disciples."

"Disciples?" Madara repeated, letting out a dry laugh, the only dry thing in this place, "You will build an army? How do you expect to gain that many followers?"

"Man is attracted to power." the man replied, "The power to inflict pain upon his enemies. I need simply bring those beings of power to stand by my side, and others will follow."

"The Jinchuriki? Ha! You think you can control them? You may know pain, but you do not know their pain. They will never follow you."

"It is that pain that ensures they will follow me. I will offer them a release from that pain, and give them the peace they so desire, if that is what they wish."

Madara chuckled cruelly, looking at the man before him as if he was a child.

"Can't you see?" he asked, "Peace is but an illusion. Casting that illusion only stops conflict, but it cannot stop people from feeling hatred."

The man released the rod, moving slowly around Madara, until he was standing at the Uchiha's head.

"Total peace is not my goal." he said, "Without pain, peace can never be understood. As such, I will show the world that pain, my pain."

The man then reached out again, placing his hand this time upon Madara's head.

"You have experienced much pain in this world, Uchiha Madara." the man said, gripping Madara's head, "Now, find peace."

With that, he pulled his hand away, and the light faded from Madara's eyes as his soul was removed from his body. The man removed Madara's mask, tossing it aside. He then studied the Uchiha's dead face contemplatively, as if considering something about the ancient man.

"No." he said, before turning and walking away.