Madara scowled when he caught sight of the bare trees below. It had been Summer when he'd gone to sleep, and now it was almost Winter. Now that he was completely aware of the problem he was suffering through, it became a constant irritant while he was lucid. He'd had the Mizukage kidnap a Yamanaka for him, but the woman had failed to cure him despite the numerous ways he'd tried to motivate her.

Turning away from the window, he found himself looking at the Uzumaki child who should be about eight by now. The boy was studying him suspiciously, instinctively knowing that something was off, but not knowing what it was. The child, while still rather small, had grown a great deal since he'd last seen him several months before. He looked healthy and well-fed, and more like a proper shinobi child should, rather than those pampered brats that Konoha and the other villages to a lesser degree had a habit of producing. The odds and ends that were tied in his wild spiky blond hair were an interesting touch, but a rather Uzumaki one as well.

He hadn't seen an Uzumaki dressed for battle in ages. Come to think of it, aside from Naruto, the boy's mother, and that Pein brat, he hadn't seen an Uzumaki in ages period. Some of the wilder Uzumaki who were "more in touch with nature" used to tie bits and bobs that were important to them into their hair before they fought. It sounded funny, but the effect was rather fearsome, especially since the standard hair color for an Uzumaki was blood crimson.

Smirking at the boy who looked like he belonged to an almost forgotten age, he walked past him and out the door. He had to get back to Kirigakure and soon. Knowing Tobi and the fact that the Mizukage seemed to listen to him as if he were him since they shared the same face, the village had probably undergone even more changes, and with his luck they would be ones he couldn't afford to have be made considering a certain balance was necessary for his plans.

One of the reasons that Kirigakure had tended to produce such excellent Missing-nin was because it was a complete shithole and nobody in their right mind would want to live in it. Sure, proper sewers were necessary in order to prevent plague, and orphanages and the like were necessary in order to get brats off the street and out of everyone's hair, but do too much and people would notice, and start looking more closely at the most out of the way of the five major villages in order to see what was going on, and thanks to the improvements his source of loyal to him Akatsuki might dry up, which he really didn't need.

After leaving Konoha through the front gate, he made his way to Kiri and walked into the Mizukage's office like he owned the place, which he did. Seated at his desk, and in a comfy chair in the corner, and in a newly installed window seat was Yagura who was being efficient.

This wouldn't do. He needed the guy to basically operate on autopilot so he could better control him. This wasn't autopilot. The man was clearly thinking for himself when he wasn't supposed to be, which was dangerous for several reasons.

Scowling, he pulled out a pair of kunai and disposed of the two shadow clones.

The look of fear in Yagura's eyes when his shadow clones dispersed was pleasing to see. He was in control, and they both knew it.