"Hashirama Senju!!!"
The two of them chased each other around the training grounds of the Konoha Ninja Academy.
Naruto asked Sasuke with a wicked grin, "Aren't you Madara's second Indra reincarnation? Does that mean you also..."
"I don't have that nasty habit! Shut up, loser!!"
"I don't believe you. Let me test it."
The finishing move he had learned from Itachi, the forehead poke, came in handy once again.
"Madara, I thought of a super powerful ninjutsu!"
The scene outside Kamui's Dimension changed. It seemed they were being shown another brief piece of history from Madara and Hashirama's past through time travel.
"Huh? What ninjutsu?"
"Taijutsu Secret Art: Super Fire Release Genjutsu Slash Great Shuriken Two-Stage Technique!!"
Young Obito said, "That naming style..."
Young Kakashi said, "Feels familiar."
Rin said, "But not exactly the same?"
Young Kakashi commented, "At least the length is about the same."
Minato Namikaze sneezed.
The Second Hokage asked with concern, "What's wrong, Fourth Hokage?"
"Maybe someone's talking about me? I'm a little curious. Lord First developed a ninjutsu when he was a child, but from the name alone, even I can't guess what it is." Minato Namikaze frowned and thought seriously.
"Ultimate Secret Art: Crimson Enma Slash Phantom Style: Second Stage! How does that name sound, Lord First!!"
The air on the rooftop platform of the Hokage Tower suddenly turned awkward.
The Second Hokage said, "I know you can be naturally dense, but..."
Even Madara Uchiha looked at him with an expression that seemed to ask if he was serious.
Minato tilted his head. He had always been serious when it came to naming techniques.
Hashirama Senju said tactfully, "Thank you, but that isn't my naming style anymore."
"Huh? Really? I think it's a pretty good name. What a shame."
The ninjas of the Warring States Period were silent.
At the Konoha Ninja Academy training grounds, the young ninjas broke out in a cold sweat. Their awe toward Lord First Hokage seemed to drop another notch.
"You can't even tell whether it's Taijutsu or Genjutsu from that, can you? With a name that long, are you planning to let the enemy kill you before you finish saying it, idiot?!"
Bonk.
Naruto said, "Wow, both kid Uncle Hashiramas inside and outside Kamui's Dimension are getting gloomy at the same time."
Young Madara said, "Stop getting gloomy over every little thing! While you're being gloomy, the enemy could have killed you ten thousand times already!!"
Outside, young Madara Uchiha and young Hashirama Senju were competing in a vertical rock-climbing race. Because Hashirama started early, Madara Uchiha was a little behind.
"Wait! This place..."
Young Kakashi looked at the scenery outside Kamui's Dimension.
Because Obito's vision had been following young Hashirama and young Madara outside, their view happened to be diagonally above the two of them.
"What's wrong? Is there something special about it?" Kawarama asked.
Myoko and the other two craned their necks to look at the scenery outside Kamui's Dimension.
"It seems to be somewhere pretty far from both the Senju and Uchiha clan lands. I don't see anything strange."
Sasuke frowned slightly. "It looks familiar, but I can't remember where I've seen it before."
Rin and Sakura nodded, saying they felt the same way.
Obito shook his head. He did not notice anything wrong.
Naruto said, "It's the Hokage Rock! When I was little, I used to sit on Dad's Hokage Rock and look out over the whole village! Even though it's still just a forest right now, the terrain is exactly the same as the Konohagakure I saw when I was little, dattebayo!!"
"This is the first time I've seen what it looked like before it was built."
"Now that you mention it, it really does resemble the geography of early Konoha we saw before." Only at that time, the Senju and Uchiha, along with the Shimura, Sarutobi, Ino-Shika-Chō, Hyūga, and other clans, had already been gradually expanding the village, so it had started to take on the appearance of later generations.
But now, what lay before their eyes was truly only a dense sea of trees.
"You can see the whole forest from here."
"Yeah, and even the distance is clear. When it comes to eyesight, I'm absolutely confident I won't lose to you."
Listening to their conversation, both the Uchiha ninjas and the five Uchiha brothers beside Naruto understood very well that the Uchiha's eyes could never lose to anyone.
Kurohi clung to his older brother, watching the scene outside Kamui's Dimension. As he listened to their conversation, he asked Naruto, "Is my brother going to confess to that innocent-on-the-outside, black-hearted guy?! Tell him he's an Uchiha?"
Young Hashirama protested, "What do you mean, innocent-on-the-outside, black-hearted? I'm right here. Don't all of you keep copying Izuna and making fun of me."
Young Madara Uchiha gave a snort of laughter and backed up his younger brother. "Izuna is here too."
"Keep it down, dattebayo. I can't hear what they're saying outside."
"Oh, oh."
Outside.
"You're pretty confident in your eyes, huh?"
"Of course. I'm an Uchi... No, actually, they're not that amazing."
"Huh? Why did you suddenly lose confidence?"
"I was thinking, if I were really that amazing... my younger brothers wouldn't have died."
"I didn't protect them."
Inside and outside Kamui's Dimension, everything went quiet.
Kawarama said, "In our era, living to adulthood really is hard."
"If only we could stay here forever. I don't want to go to war with you guys later either."
Myoko Uchiha, Togakushi Uchiha, Kurohi Uchiha, and Itama Senju and Kawarama Senju were close in age.
Although the three Uchiha boys and Kawarama had only recently been attacked by ninjas from the other clan, they were still young, and their awareness of clan hatred was not yet that strong.
Konohagakure inside Kamui's Dimension seemed like a Pure Land. They watched the outside world, where young Hashirama and young Madara had fallen into gloom after their younger brothers died one after another, and could not help sighing, wishing they could stay here forever.
"I don't want to become your enemy either, Hashirama."
"Madara..."
Young Tobirama told them calmly and rationally, "The reason we can stand together and talk now is because Naruto and the others from the future appeared, and because they told us the truth."
"The adults' minds are still a mess. Hatred that has lasted for a thousand years cannot be completely unraveled and explained by one truth alone."
"What is truly holding them back from starting the war again is the fighting strength of future Brother and Madara. So once they leave, the possibility that our two clans will continue fighting is still very high."
Izuna said, "And then we'll keep going back to the battlefield, fighting for our respective clans..."
Kamui's Dimension fell silent. Even Naruto and Obito had not figured out what to do.
In the outside world, young Madara and young Hashirama sat on the future Hokage Rock and talked about their brothers.
"Sorry. Looks like I made you remember something unpleasant."
"It's fine," young Hashirama said. "By the way, are all your brothers gone?"
"No. I still have one younger brother left."
Izuna paused. He knew that the Madara-nii-san from the other world was talking about him.
"No matter what happens from now on, I'll definitely protect that younger brother."
"What about you, Hashirama?"
"I only have one younger brother left too, so I'm also prepared to protect him no matter what it costs!!"
The young Tobirama standing on the rooftop terrace of the Hokage Tower pressed his lips together and said nothing.
Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju looked at the two of them from another world outside and recalled that old conversation on the Hokage Rock, sighing over the ups and downs their lives had taken afterward.
"Let's build a village of our own here!"
"The children in that village won't have to kill each other. We'll also build a Ninja Academy to train them. When they grow up and become stronger, they'll choose missions based on each person's strength and experience! There should also be a reasonable way to divide mission ranks. It'll be a paradise where children can grow up happily without risking their lives on the front lines!!"
"!!!!"
Hearing those words, Butsuma Senju and Tajima Uchiha, who had crossed over from the mission scroll world and knew that the children of the two clans would soon be forced apart, gradually widened their eyes.
They had already seen Konoha's strength. When they toured the inside of Konoha, they had also realized how prosperous, stable, and orderly this village was.
Looking at the Warring States ninja world they knew so well, there was not a single clan that could defeat Konoha, a village built by gathering all the powerful clans of the Land of Fire, in a one-on-one fight.
So Madara and Hashirama had already made up their minds when they were this young?
"You're the only one who would say something that stupid."
"What do you think?"
"It's great. If a village like that really gets built..."
"Hmm?"
"Then we'll put all our younger brothers in that village and protect them properly!"
"Yeah!!"
The revived Izuna Uchiha abruptly looked toward Madara Uchiha and saw his brother lower his head slightly.
"Hashirama, all your wishes came true. But I..."
"Madara."
Izuna Uchiha listened to the conversation between his brother and Hashirama Senju.
He thought back to when he believed this place was the Pure Land, and how he had already looked through most of Konoha's rules, systems, and the relationship between clans and ninjas. Those ideas that bore traces of Tobirama Senju made him realize even more deeply in this moment that he had chosen the wrong path.
"If back then, I had supported my brother's alliance with the Senju Clan the way you did..."
"Hmph. If the alliance had happened earlier, I would not have had to resort to an inferior plan and painstakingly develop the Flying Thunder God Technique to break the balance between the two clans."
"If I had been there, I would never have let you become the Second Hokage."
"Heh. You make it sound as if I was clinging to the position of Second Hokage and refusing to let go."
To Izuna, and to Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju in front of him, those words seemed to mean this.
If Madara had not lost Izuna, and if Madara Uchiha's personality had not become so extreme, then he, Tobirama Senju, would not have insisted on holding the position of Konoha's Second Hokage.
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