The Uchiha clan had never imagined that the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, had once hoped a member of the Uchiha clan would shoulder the responsibility of Hokage.
And not just any Hokage—the very First Hokage himself?!
Just imagine it.
The First Hokage—Madara Uchiha.
Few people truly knew Madara Uchiha, but everyone fell into a brief silence at the thought.
Especially Ōnoki. He simply couldn't picture what Konoha would have become if that man had taken the position.
No… not just Konoha.
What kind of future would the entire ninja world have faced?
Would everyone have been strung up on trees, trapped in endless dreams? Or would Konoha have directly dominated the shinobi world? It might even have reached the point where ninja replaced the daimyo and nobility altogether.
And that era just happened to be one that Team Minato and Team Kakashi had once traveled to—
The founding era of Konoha.
Back then, what were Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju really like?
Those who had experienced that era understood them far better than the people of the present, who had only heard the First Hokage recount it within an illusion.
In that time, they had even helped the Uchiha expose the fraud known as Black Zetsu, told them the true method to revive Izuna Uchiha, and helped change Madara's image within the village of Konohagakure.
Naruto of the mission scroll world, couldn't help but think that if it really were the founding era of Konoha that he and Sasuke had visited, then Uncle Madara might actually have become the First Hokage.
If he imagined Madara wearing the Hokage robe, with a Konoha forehead protector and the Hokage hat, he'd probably look pretty cool, right?
[Side Story Warning: First Hokage Madara Uchiha personally arrives at the Fourth Shinobi World War. The Founding Four are all First Hokage.]
"As the ninja village continued to grow during its construction, the Land of Fire asked us to select village representatives."
Hashirama Senju continued,
"The leader of the ninja forces that protect the Land of Fire from the shadows—I named that position Hokage. I hoped that Madara, who had lost his last remaining brother, would become the First Hokage. I wanted him to see the entire village as something he was meant to protect, and everyone within it as his brothers, so that the emptiness left by Izuna could be filled."
"Oh, right!" Hashirama suddenly brightened while talking about that time. "Come to think of it, the name 'Konoha' was actually chosen by Madara! Even the village emblem came from him. He always liked holding up a leaf with a hole in it and peering through it at the village, so that became the inspiration!"
Konoha residents: What?!?!
Tobirama Senju said flatly, "Brother, we're short on time. You can skip this part."
"No, no, no, let me finish," Hashirama said, puffing out his cheeks. "Though honestly, I always thought 'Konoha' was way too straightforward. It doesn't really have any deeper meaning. It's just… ordinary."
The entire shinobi world collectively wondered just how large the psychological damage area for Konoha residents was right now.
Uchiha clan: This has nothing to do with us anymore, right?
Konoha residents: Who would've thought the one stabbing us in the back was the First Hokage?! We've lost!
Tobirama pouted in his own way. "Hmph."
"Maybe Madara just likes simple names," Hashirama continued. "He even named his fan technique 'Uchiha Reflection.' It's painfully plain. Nothing like my 'Top Transformed Buddha' or 'True Several Thousand Hands.' Those sound much more impressive and dignified."
Seen through Sasuke Uchiha's perspective, due to his Rinnegan abilities during the Fourth Shinobi World War, everyone who entered a realm similar to Infinite Tsukuyomi briefly wondered if they were seeing things wrong.
How could the First Hokage—someone so relentlessly optimistic—possibly be a natural-born schemer?
Right?
…Well.
Uchiha clan: We're really grateful for the name 'Uchiha Reflection.'
"I hoped Madara would become the First Hokage, with his face carved into the Hokage Rock, as a symbol of him watching over this village."
Thinking back to Madara's reaction at the time, Hashirama nearly burst out laughing.
"Madara thought I was joking. I told him I was serious. Though, since his face was a bit too fierce, it needed some… refinement."
Some refinement.
That really depended on who was doing the refining.
Looking at the First Hokage Hashirama Senju and the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju standing before them—skipping the Third for now, and even including the Fourth, Minato Namikaze—the 'refinement' work on Konoha's Hokage Rock felt a little too hardcore.
At the same time, Team Minato and Team Kakashi, who had experienced another version of Konoha's founding era, shared the exact same thought.
If Naruto and Obito were the ones doing the carving, it would probably turn into something like friendly mischief.
But if the Second Hokage handled it…
Yeah.
That would truly be beyond words.
"Enough, big brother!"
Tobirama Senju said sharply, "That's exactly why telling Madara to become Hokage back then was a completely thoughtless idea! The village isn't some gift you and Madara pass back and forth. It stopped being just your childhood dream a long time ago.
"To become the village's leader, one must earn the recognition of everyone in the village, and possess the wisdom and character worthy of that position!"
Hashirama Senju let his shoulders sag, his expression calm yet unmistakably dejected.
"Because of that… even though I wanted Madara to become Hokage, the will of the people ultimately led to me becoming the First Hokage…"
"You ask me what a village is, what a ninja is, what a clan is…"
Everyone in the entire ninja world felt as though they were being looked at directly by Hashirama Senju, the man known as the God of Shinobi.
"From the Warring States Period, when the many clans of the ninja world fought each other in hatred and bloodshed, to the alliance between the Senju clan and the Uchiha clan, creating a sanctuary for ninja. Seeking peace, hoping that children could all have an equal chance to live…"
"This is Konohagakure."
Hashirama Senju continued, "But back then, we never imagined that Konoha's success, while bringing an end to the Warring States era, would also lead other countries to follow the same path…"
"The Land of Lightning's Kumogakure, whose leader calls himself the Raikage. The Land of Wind's Sunagakure, whose leader calls himself the Kazekage. The Land of Water's Kirigakure, whose leader calls himself the Mizukage. The Land of Earth's Iwagakure, whose leader calls himself the Tsuchikage…"
"Children could attend the Ninja Academy, learning knowledge and growing up until they reached an age where they could appreciate fine sake and see the world with an adult's perspective."
"But conflicts shifted from battles between clans to struggles between villages, and even wars between nations."
Ninja from every village listened, their hearts filled with complicated emotions.
There were not many who had survived the Second Shinobi World War, but most of the adult ninja present had lived through the Third Shinobi World War.
Even now, the fear brought upon them by Konoha's legendary Yellow Flash was something they could never forget.
The mindset of Izuna Uchiha, who distrusted the Senju clan to his dying breath and believed alliances were a betrayal of fallen comrades, and the mindset of Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju, who believed peace required stepping back in order to take a greater step forward, together formed the two dominant ways of thinking among ninja.
Choose the past, or choose the future?
The answer sounded simple, yet when it came time to act, it was far more difficult than anyone imagined.
Ōnoki, the Third Tsuchikage: This outcome was inevitable. As long as people exist, conflict is unavoidable.
A, the Fourth Raikage: That's why I still can't believe the Fourth Shinobi World War ended with the entire Allied Shinobi Forces coming together.
Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage: …
Yagura Karatachi, the Fourth Mizukage, who had only regained consciousness a few days ago: "To deal with that masked man… did the Allied Shinobi Forces really set aside their old grudges in the end?"
This moment took place on the eve of the Uchiha clan's coup d'état, when everyone had been pulled into an illusion by Sasuke of the Fourth Shinobi World War era.
As a result, none of them could imagine what the future would look like ten years later.
Hashirama Senju said, "Madara and Tobirama could never reconcile with each other. I couldn't choose between them. Then Madara deciphered something on the Uchiha clan's stone tablet, a method said to achieve true peace. Because of that, he left Konoha…"
"We struggled from our youth to reach that point, yet after that, Madara was no longer in the village."
"Perhaps because he had already seen the repeated Shinobi World Wars of the future, he rejected the ninja village we built together, and sought to destroy it… to destroy the dream we shared as children…"
Hashirama Senju described that battle through his words.
Though the others could not truly place themselves in his position, they were still deeply shaken by Madara Uchiha's method of wrapping the Nine-Tails in Susanoo. And the First Hokage's Sage Art: Wood Release True Several Thousand Hands Top Transformed Buddha made the current Kages realize just how far removed they were from those two legends.
"And so, my battle with Madara came to an end. Because our fight reshaped the terrain of that region, it later became known as the Valley of the End."
The Valley of the End…
As he rewatched those memories through his own technique, Sasuke of the Fourth Shinobi World War era felt his heart tremble.
Bound by the fate of Indra and Ashura, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha created the Valley of the End. And he and Naruto had fought to the brink of death there twice as well.
'I acknowledge you.'
Those words had still never been spoken.
'I want to see you, to reconcile with you, to end this fate…'
But now, trapped within the turbulence of time and space, Sasuke Uchiha was burning with impatience, desperate to know when he could return.
And that impatience began to erode his will.
And so…
Another fragment of his memories was shared with the entire ninja world.