After what’s definitely felt like more than just a week’s hiatus, Naruto’s back… and the flashbacks continue. Interestingly enough though, things don’t end up quite developing as straight forward as anticipated. Yes, both Madara and Hashirama ended up stopping their respective fights and became the heads of their respective clans — but from there, it sure didn’t work out as smoothly as anticipated. I suppose I was kind of expecting something like a truce between the two after that happened — in order to form the village — but in the end, it looks like the awakening of the Sharingan (“The Curse of the Uchiha”) and the death of Madara’s brother would ultimately make that an impossibility.

As such, it’s starting to turn out that the agreement between the Uchiha and Senju might never have been with Madara at all — or at least not something that he chose to do himself. It makes sense considering how we know he turned out, but admittedly, part of me was assuming that Madara actually started things off with Hashirama personally, especially from how the flashbacks have been up until now. Of course, it’s still possible that he comes around at this point — despite the fact there was clearly no way Hashirama would sacrifice his brother (or would he?) — but it’s looking increasingly likely that the defecting Uchiha will force Madara’s hand. In that context, it’s suddenly pretty easy to see how one thing would lead to another, and well… now that you see all the pieces filled in for the most part — it’s quite something to say the least.

Looking forward, looks like we got… more flashbacks — though it seems like we’re almost caught up for the most part — and well, when things get back to the present day, it looks like the end’s getting more set in stone by the minute. Because as it looks now, it seems exceptionally likely that Sasuke will at least end up letting the revived Hokage assist Naruto — though, theoretically he won’t have much of a choice either way, considering the Hashirama already broke his control over him, so we’ll likely at least see Senju vs. Madara again — and may end up either helping himself or coming back for one last fight with Naruto to settle things after Madara/Obito are defeated. Guess we’ll see. Just take that with grain of salt, as usual.

59 Comments

    1. Well, as mentioned (both in the blog and the story itself), it’s most likely not Madara’s own choice, but being forced to given a lot of the Uchiha grew tired of the constant fighting and, as we’re seeing, more are starting to defect from the Uchiha Clan to get out of the fighting. Couple that with Hashirama clearly being the stronger of the two of them, and it would only be a matter of time before the Uchiha Clan was erased entirely.

      I’m hoping we’ll get some good explanation as to how Madara finds Kurama and how Kurama fits into things.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
    2. Perhaps Hashirama dissolved the Senju clan to get Madara on board; that would explain why they’ve all disappeared. It could also work to sow mistrust if the ex-Senju’s acted like a clan in secret, even though they weren’t supposed to.

      Hochmeister
    3. Isn’t everyone forgetting that Madara said either kill his brother or kill himself?Personally I think there’s a better chance at Hashirama trying to kill himself rather than his brother.

      anonymous
    1. I was thinking the same thing, but the only known true revival jutsu requires a Rinnegan, which Hashirama doesn’t have- Edo Tensei only brings you back as an undead. Maybe there’s a secret-secret form of Edo Tensei that actually brings person properly back to life like Rinne Tensei. Or maybe he has some technique that can fake death, hmm. And maybe that’s why Madara later turns against Hashirama again even after establishing Konoha- because he found out about Tobirama’s (concealed) survival some years later and felt betrayed…and then maybe Hashirama lets his old friend kill him out of guilt?!? Just speculating (wildly)…XP

      Zen
      1. As far as I can recall, that’s just for Edo Tensei? Someone who is intimately familiar with the technique can free himself from it like Madara and Hashirama did and no longer be under the summoner’s control- but even if you do that you still remain undead, inhabiting a stolen corpse, your own real body still being six feet underground somewhere and thus not technically alive. Madara wanted to be the ten-tails’ jinchuuriki but can’t because he was revived as an undead. As far as I can remember, (don’t quote me on this, I tend to forget things) Rinne Tensei actually properly revives a person by returning their soul to their actual original body and restoring their body to pristine condition, albeit at an immense chakra cost that increases exponentially over time due to increased damage to the body by decomposition (Nagato revived fallen Konoha civilians at the cost of all his chakra and his life)…

        Zen
  1. I thought Madara took Izuna’s eyes before Izuna died in battle. How come Izuna’s fatal wound came before Madara took his eye’s. MK(the author) needs to reveal the real backstory here.

    K C M
      1. While I don’t think Hashirama is a douche, per say, none of the terrible things that have happened since the beginning of the series would have occurred if he had listened to Tobirama.

        EmD
    1. Disregarding how you couldn’t figure it out by yourself with your amazing sense of insight into people, being able to tell if they are idiots or not simply based on their preference of a fictional character.In similar situations people like badass villains like Madara over idealistic heroes like Hashirama but in this case Hashirama isn’t just a idealistic hero he’s a badass idealistic hero now that’s just too good.

      anonymous
  2. We never saw izuna fighting with his MS .. not even a tsukoyomi or an amaterasu

    No explanation to mokuton..

    Poorly done kishi.. so rushed.

    And now I’m confused about how madara has awaken his sharingan

    edo
  3. I’m guessing after all of this, Sasuke will take away a completely wrong message and still insist on destroying the Leaf. “WHAT! THE SENJU KEPT OFFERING TRUCE WITH THE UCHIHA???! If I had known this sooner I would have destroyed the Leaf!”

    However, I have to say, I really am enjoying this flashback. Top 3 flashback definitely for all of Naruto.

    Nanashi
  4. It was interesting to know that many Uchiha had defected to the Senju’s side. I can’t blame them since the constant offer of peace makes even the most skilled Ninja believe that it is not a trick.

    (sigh) Madara, if only you joined Hashirama sooner your brother wouldn’t have died. I am more surprised that all the Uchiha were this emotionally unstable. Itachi killed his mother, father, superiors, his lover, his cousin, his best friend, ….. basically almost his entire family yet he still remained loyal to the leaf village. Although he didn’t, I am sure he could have killed Sasuke if he had participated in the coup as well. Itachi was truly the strongest Uchiha that would have likely surpass Madara. Though Itachi only pretended to have the intention, he practically could have done such a feet had he continued living and obtain the Rinnegan. It is clear that Itachi could be placed within somewhere on the top Naruto popularity poll for all eternity.

    L002
    1. In SOME ways, Itachi did still fall to the “curse”. He had good intentions (as many probably did in the beginning), but he still chose to take a “dark” path in personally killing (a lot of) the Clan, choosing to take on the Missing Nin label, joining Akatsuki and doing who knows what during his time there, and so on. He didn’t become whacked out like Sasuke, but still, pretty dark overall.

      Though, Itachi couldn’t gain the Rinnegan as he would have to get Senju DNA.

      And considering he had already obtained the Mangekyo Sharingan before he eliminated most of the Clan, sooner or later, he would’ve gone blind without getting an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan as the blinding process begins the moment you unlock it. Using the Mangekyo’s abilities merely greatly speeds up the process, which is why Itachi had managed to keep his (deteriorating) sight for so long (and Kakashi possibly too, at least in the Sharingan eye); not using it much, if at all before his return to Konoha in the series and using Tsukuyomi against Kakashi, then Amaterasu to escape Jiraiya whereas Sasuke kept on using and spamming/maintaining its abilities (especially Susano’o) since awakening it, thus he went blind in just a couple weeks at best.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  5. The only thing I’m actually hoping to learn from this flashback right now is how Hashirama died. That’s still one of the mysteries of the Narutoverse and I really want to know how such a strong and legendary shinobi fell.

    rasone0104
  6. Huh, this wasn’t what I was expecting. I was put off by how abruptly Madara went from “we’ll become strong, end the wars, build our village, protect the kids, and everything will be smiles and rainbows etc etc…” to “well, our clans are fighting so there’s no chance we’ll ever have peace, let’s kill each other.” Based on his earlier personality I expected him to be more open to the idea of a treaty, or at least take a while to become a complete jerk. Yeah, their clans were fighting, but he and Hashirama could have maintained a friendly rivalry until they controlled their clans, and then made peace. It was also weird how he focused all his anger about Izuna’s death on Hashirama when Tobirama was the one who killed him (with a FTG precursor!). Now that Izuna’s dead though I really wonder what set him off at the VOTE. There’s got to be some period where he and Hashirama found Konoha and are at peace with each other, so what will make him go all “exterminate exterminate” again? Perhaps Hashirama becoming Hokage?

    Hochmeister
      1. Well, since Bleach is stuck in a flashback about Ichigo being a Unicorn with every power in the Bleach universe, which has been called ages ago.. We’ll stick with Naruto, which is more intresting.

        DeleteJX
  7. I think at this point it is pointless to convince Madara to return from his dark path.
    Seriously? Kill your own brother in exchange a peace between two clan?
    This is like if U.S. try to make a peace treaty with North Korea, they then ask U.S. to destroy England for peace.

    Nine
    1. Seems more along the lines of “an eye for an eye”; Madara’s brother died, so Hashirama should either kill Tobirama or himself so the other would know how it feels for their brother to die in front of them.

      Of course, the big flaw is that Izuna died from battle, died doing what they’ve been doing for decades before. Having Hashirama kill himself or Tobirama would hardly be the same, but worse unless it’s supposed to imply that Izuna died from giving Madara his eyes (or still possibly Madara taking them from him as they STILL didn’t show the whole thing for that).

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  8. This chapter was really rushed. Madara wasn’t fleshed out well enough to make his abrupt change in character reasonable. Why did he have the change of heart? Did he never really believe the two clans could coexist in the first place? Then his brother dies in the same chapter, and Madara orders Hashirama to either kill himself or his brother. What kind of insane logic equates killing your brother or committing suicide with being trustworthy? Hashirama should just say, “Man, you crazy.” and leave.
    “Hashirama, if you kill yourself I will trust you.” Makes no sense at all! It’s like telling someone you’ll only talk to them if they cut their tongue out.

    CTT
    1. It works with the eye for an eye logic, a brother for a brother.Madara hates the Senju for killing his brother so wanting to kill Tobirama or Hashirama is a way of evening things out.And to test Hashirama’s resolve as to how far he’s willing to go to achieve his goals.

      anonymous
      1. As I mentioned right above, the general idea fits (dead brother for dead brother), but at the same time, it’s flawed with how Madara wants it.

        Izuna died as a result of battle. I’m sure it was obvious to Madara and Izuna that the chances of dying in battle, especially in the much more chaotic times it was compared to present and especially against the Senju Clan, are very high, so the fact that Izuna died from wounds taken from battle, despite them being inflicted by his own “rival”, Tobirama, is something to be expected in such warring periods.

        Hashirama killing himself or Tobirama would be unfair on their side UNLESS, despite Madara’s words (we can see that even Hashirama doesn’t know what went on behind the scenes on the Uchiha Clan side, so only has Madara’s word to go on), it’s implying that Madara DID forcefully take Izuna’s eyes and the combined trauma and shock of that AND his wounds could have resulted in his death and, like Sasuke, he’s trying to avoid admitting responsibility for his obviously wrong actions and blaming the more convenient source (Tobirama and the Senju Clan) while trying to justify it at the same time (“For the good of the Uchiha Clan”).

        Not to mention that it would more than likely only result in further, escalated conflict between the two clans, especially if Hashirama killed himself rather than Tobirama. That would leave Tobirama as the Clan Head and given his open disdain of the Uchiha Clan, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’d immediately kill Madara right after in revenge, then go after the entire rest of the Clan while they’re leaderless.

        So it’s pretty clear that Hashirama would choose to do neither and, if only for now, somehow sway Madara with pretty words ala Naruto.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
  9. Looking at this chapter, I can see that Kishimoto’s seeming to rush through the big flashbacks, leaving a buncha things unexplained. With Obito’s flashback, we got him going evil, but then it rushed through him unsealing Kurama from Kushina, and we were never gotten any sort of resolution to why, exactly, he took control of Yagura and created the Bloody Mist; same with his meeting with Itachi at the time of the Uchiha massacre. Here, we’re not given the revelation of the Mokuton (which I’m okay with, as that’s not relevant to the what Sasuke asked of Hashirama). Looking at the chapters, this is the seventh chapter of what’s likely going to be volume 65; something’s got to happen in the next three or so chapters to justify Hashirama’s big flashback time (that answer’s Sasuke’s question ‘what is a Shinobi’). Same can be said for why he wanted to speak to ALL the Hokages; we’ve gotten the explicit truth of Itachi’s mission direct from Sarutobi, but I’ve yet to figure out how Tobirama and Minato factor into giving Sasuke the Senju point of view. Tobirama, just from what we’ve seen, followed in his father’s view of the Uchiha and all he’s served so far is proving that Sasuke’s justified in his reason to destroy Konoha; and Minato wasn’t in charge for the big issues that led to the massacre of Uchiha, nor was he around for any of the things that Sasuke takes grievance towards (outside of the incident around Naruto’s birth, but that could’ve already been dealt with pre-flashback had we gotten the chance).

    PuppetMaster55
  10. Maybe Hashirama dominated the Uchiha clan by defeating Madara. They agree to form a village but Madara is still his miserable self. What gives him the idea to take Hashi’s cells? Where is Mito?

    Hope to see Madara’s side of the story.

    SimplyTurquoise
  11. wow, this is really getting interesting but i hope theres only 2 more flashback chapters or at least 1 more. i just really wanna see whats sasukes reaction to this and what naruto is up to.

    kurai-okami
  12. Hashirama didn’t kill Tobirama. Remember Danzou’s death flashback? It showed the 2nd sacrificed himself to buy time to Danzou, Sarutobi and others escape. He also nominated Sarutobi the 3rd Hokage.

    Somnium

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