Uchiha Ren continued speaking:
"Madara Uchiha discovered the first hidden danger within Konohagakure. It was also the main point of disagreement between him and Hashirama Senju —how to deal with the other ninja villages."
"After Konoha was established, the shinobi of other countries realized that the era of individual clans fighting alone was over. No single clan could stand against a giant like Konoha. So they began imitating Konoha, banding together to form their own villages."
"Madara keenly realized that the emergence of these villages posed a potential threat to Konoha. In the future, they could drag Konoha into even greater wars."
"Because of this, Madara took an extremely aggressive stance toward them. He believed that while he and Hashirama still possessed absolute dominance over the shinobi world, they should eliminate all of Konoha's potential rivals."
"As the saying goes—Susanoo cloaking the Thousand-Armed Buddha; the two of them could wipe out four nations together."
"At that time, the power of Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju was simply overwhelming. Destroying a nation would have been as easy for them as eating or drinking—there would hardly have been any cost."
"But Hashirama believed that the peace they had achieved was hard-won. The appearance of other villages also represented progress in the era. Everyone should sit down and resolve conflicts through dialogue."
"And that led to the First Five Kage Summit, where Konoha distributed the Tailed Beasts to the other villages."
"Time eventually proved that Hashirama's thinking was too naïve. If he had listened to Madara back then, perhaps the First, Second, and Third Great Ninja Wars would never have happened."
Ren's words set many of the shinobi present deep in thought.
Admittedly, annihilating entire nations sounded extremely radical. But looking back from the perspective of later generations, if Madara and Hashirama had truly done so at the time, perhaps these descendants would not have had to live through endless suffering and war.
Ren continued,
"If that ideological conflict was only a disagreement between Madara and Hashirama—the leaders of Konoha at the time—it wouldn't have been enough to make Madara completely lose faith in the village."
"But what happened afterward was what truly made him decide to leave Konoha."
The people in the meeting room immediately focused their attention, curious about the real reason behind Madara's departure.
Ren didn't beat around the bush.
"As Konoha developed, more and more people joined the village, and it grew increasingly prosperous."
"It must be said—Hashirama Senju was a qualified Hokage."
"For the sake of the village's development, Hashirama was even willing to sacrifice himself and his own clan's interests. He used the sacrifices of the Senju Clan to pave the road for the village."
"Madara noticed this keenly—and realized the danger behind it."
As soon as these words were spoken, many people in the meeting room were stunned.
They couldn't understand what danger Madara had seen.
In their minds, wasn't it a good thing for the Hokage to be as selfless as Hashirama?
Facing their puzzled gazes, Ren continued,
"Hashirama's sacrifices may have appeared selfless—but what about the members of the Senju Clan? Did Hashirama ever care about their opinions?"
"When Madara questioned him about it, Hashirama's answer was this—"
'Protecting the village is the best way to protect everyone—our comrades, the shinobi, and the children.
Whether they are friends, brothers, or even my own flesh and blood…
Anyone who stands against the village, I will never forgive.'
"Madara was extremely dissatisfied with this answer. He believed that Hashirama had put the cart before the horse."
"After all, they founded the village in order to protect their brothers and their clansmen."
"But now Hashirama was willing to sacrifice his own clan and even his brothers for the sake of the village."
"Hashirama had already betrayed the original purpose behind the founding of Konoha."
"And that left Madara completely disheartened."
Ren's words were nine parts truth and one part fabrication.
The real part was the ideological conflict between Madara and Hashirama.
The fabricated part was the exact context of their conversation.
The reason Ren did this was actually to clear Madara's name.
After all, Madara's defection had always been a stain on the reputation of the Uchiha Clan.
If Madara could be portrayed as someone who had legitimate reasons for leaving, then indirectly the Uchiha Clan itself would also be vindicated—greatly improving how others viewed them.
At this moment, the entire meeting room had fallen into silence.
To some extent, many of them could understand Madara's thinking.
Yet they also couldn't criticize Hashirama's ideals—because they themselves were beneficiaries of those ideals.
As villagers of Konoha, they hoped the Hokage would always be as selfless as Hashirama.
But if they were members of a clan, they certainly wouldn't want their own clan leader to become someone like Hashirama.
Ren continued speaking,
"Madara's disillusionment wasn't only directed at Hashirama for betraying their original purpose. It was also disappointment toward the future of the village itself."
"Because Hashirama's ideology wasn't just putting the cart before the horse—it was also extremely dangerous."
"Certainly, a powerful village can better protect everyone living within it. And protecting the village can indeed mean protecting the people we care about."
"But that does not justify allowing the interests of the village to stand above the interests of individuals."
"We may choose to sacrifice ourselves for the village."
"But we should never sacrifice others in the name of the village's interests."
"The village's interests represent the interests of the majority."
"An individual's interests represent the interests of a minority."
"If a collective can casually sacrifice the minority for the sake of the majority…"
"Then that collective is not far from collapse."
"After all, no one can guarantee that they will always belong to the majority."
After a brief pause, Ren added:
"Take Tobirama Senju 's human experimentation, for example—that is exactly the kind of evil born from this kind of thinking."
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70+ chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Sagamaster789