Hearing Hashirama Senju's sincere and utterly unhesitating question, Rei Kaguya, who had asked that question, could not help laughing.
Then he turned his face toward Jiraiya and Kakashi Hatake, who also did not understand why he had asked Hashirama Senju that question, and shook his head.
"Before coming here, we seemed to be discussing when the Will of Fire began to deteriorate, did we not?"
"Then now, I can give you a clear answer… The so-called Will of Fire had already deteriorated from the very moment it was proposed. The inheritance and interpretation of the Will of Fire by successive Hokage was merely the process of pushing that deterioration and corruption deeper and deeper."
"From the very beginning… it deteriorated?"
The first to react to these outrageous words was neither Hashirama Senju, who had proposed the concept of the Will of Fire itself, nor Jiraiya, who had been most deeply soaked in the Will of Fire.
Instead, it was Kakashi Hatake, who looked utterly lifeless.
He tugged at his forehead protector, covering his missing left eye even more tightly, then asked softly,
"If it was from the beginning, then it should be the part about treating everyone in the village as family and protecting them, right? Was that also wrong?"
"If the person who proposed this idea had not been Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, but Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage, then it would have been right."
Rei Kaguya shook his head and gave an answer that made the people present look at one another.
"But the person who proposed this idea was Hashirama Senju. The God of Shinobi. One of the strongest ninja after the Sage of Six Paths. Naturally, this idea became a breeding ground for mistakes."
"Why?"
Kakashi still used only the simplest words to form his question.
"Why can the First not do it, while the Second could?"
"Because compared to Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju was very weak. Weak enough that he had to use forbidden techniques like the Impure World Reincarnation to protect his village from being overthrown. Weak enough that he was hunted to death by a small faction of rebels inside Kumogakure. Weak enough that the moment he took over Konoha and became the Second Hokage, the other four great hidden villages, which had been suppressed by Hashirama Senju to the point that they did not dare breathe, immediately rushed to begin the First Shinobi World War."
Rei Kaguya looked indifferently at Hashirama Senju, whose expression had become complicated, then continued,
"Because Tobirama Senju was merely a mortal, the idea of protecting the village and treating everyone in the village as family was appropriate for him. It matched his personal ability. As long as he accomplished that, he was already a qualified, even outstanding, Hokage."
"But Hashirama Senju could not do that."
"Why? Is it because… the First Hokage was too strong?"
Jiraiya's gaze moved back and forth between Hashirama Senju and Rei Kaguya. Then, with a heart filled with complicated emotions, he reached a conclusion that was somewhat difficult to accept.
"Mm… The Sannin really are worthy of being the Sannin. You have finally displayed your true value and proven that you are not inferior to Orochimaru, who possesses core technology, or Tsunade, Jiraiya."
Rei Kaguya chuckled, which counted as acknowledgment of Jiraiya's answer. Then he turned to Hashirama Senju, raised his tone slightly, and asked,
"I wonder if you understand what I mean, First Hokage-sama?"
"I do not."
Hashirama Senju frankly admitted this.
"If it were Madara, perhaps he could keep up with your thoughts. But for me, I may have to listen more, see more, and think more before I know what you are saying."
"Then I will use a more easily understood explanation."
Rei Kaguya did not get annoyed. He merely placed his fingertips together, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said to Hashirama Senju,
"What kind of existence do you think you were in the eyes of ordinary ninja, First Hokage?"
"An especially strong ninja?"
Hashirama Senju thought for a moment and naturally gave the answer in his heart.
"Only a ninja?"
Rei Kaguya asked back with a half-smile.
"What else could I be?"
Hashirama Senju narrowed his eyes.
"Surely you are not like Madara as well… thinking that we had already surpassed humanity and become gods?"
"Were you not?"
The one who said this came from a third direction.
As Rei Kaguya walked out from the shadows and the swaying candlelight, the two clones, each with their own responsibilities, nodded lightly to the main body in greeting, then disappeared from everyone's sight.
It was also at this moment that Hashirama Senju's face truly revealed an expression called gravity and pressure.
"More than thirty years ago, during the Battle of the Valley of the End, the battlefield between you and Madara Uchiha stretched for hundreds of kilometers. You permanently changed the terrain and coastline of vast regions, and even forcibly created an unprecedented area in the shinobi world known as the Valley of the End… No one dared interfere in the battle between you."
"Several months ago, during the defense of Konoha, my battle with Obito Uchiha permanently added more than a dozen great lakes outside Konoha, each no smaller than Konoha itself. In a battle that shifted across hundreds of kilometers, we split mountains, severed peaks, cut rivers, parted seas, made the earth collapse, and made the sky change color… Likewise, no one had the courage to face that moving natural disaster directly."
Rei Kaguya walked slowly until he stopped in front of Hashirama Senju.
After Sage Mode was activated, his white eyes, their pupils contracted into snake-like vertical slits, looked especially terrifying. Along with his fully unleashed senjutsu chakra, which he no longer concealed, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Kakashi Hatake present all felt as if they were facing an existence whose level of life was completely different from their own.
"For ordinary ninja, beings like us, who can defeat the entire shinobi world alone, who have the ability to reshape the shinobi world into whatever form we desire, and who can even face natural disasters symbolizing nature's wrath and suppress them by our own strength… what difference is there between us and true gods?"
Rei Kaguya looked at Hashirama Senju, the only person present who had not been overwhelmed by his aura, and asked calmly.
"…Power is not a reason for us to regard ourselves as gods standing high above others."
As Hashirama Senju helplessly lamented the weakness of his current body, he repeated to Rei Kaguya the words he had once spoken to Madara Uchiha.
"Those who rely on power for self-importance will eventually become slaves to power… With your insight, you should not be unable to see that possibility."
"But overwhelming power naturally makes those conquered by it enshrine you as a god."
Rei Kaguya tilted his head. His white vertical pupils stared tightly into Hashirama Senju's unwavering eyes as he said softly,
"And if you, the God of Shinobi, make a decision that is too narrow and petty, then the mortals who worship you can comfortably use that foundation, step by step, to sink and distort the 'god's' decision into a hateful tool in their own hands, one used to attack dissidents."
"That is how Konoha's Will of Fire deteriorated and decayed little by little from its very source."
Rei Kaguya swept a sidelong glance over Orochimaru, who seemed lost in thought, Jiraiya, who had closed his eyes with a bitter smile, and Kakashi Hatake, whose gaze had become increasingly hollow, then continued,
"The God of Shinobi who pacified the chaotic world. When he created the brand-new entity known as a hidden village, the principle he upheld was actually to treat all members of Konoha as family and protect them like family. Then the countless ninja of the shinobi world were naturally divided into two identities: Konoha, and those outside Konoha."
"Konoha's ninja were your family. Then ninja who did not belong to Konoha were naturally branded as outsiders and enemies. Thus, the ninja class, which once might have been integrated, unified, or even reformed under the wills of you and Madara Uchiha, two gods, was cut apart into clearly defined camps of 'family' and 'enemies.'"
"From the moment the Will of Fire—this idea that protecting the village and family was enough—sprouted in the heart of the God of Shinobi, Konoha was destined to fall into a total war against everyone who was not a Konoha ninja, unable to escape for all eternity. And when you killed Madara Uchiha and further distorted the Will of Fire into protecting the village by any means necessary, Konoha, and even the entire shinobi world, fell together into a vortex more dangerous than the quagmire of the Warring States Period."
"At least during the Warring States Period, you did not need to worry that members of your own clan would stab a blade into your vital points. But in the hidden village era, as long as the great cause of 'protecting the village' is used, even the companions and relatives closest to you, people with whom you once entrusted life and death, may become assassins who stab a blade into your heart."
"Do you feel it? The consequence of being unqualified as a god?"
By the time Hashirama Senju heard this, his face had already turned completely dark.
Rei Kaguya's explanation was not obscure or difficult to understand. Merely hearing the beginning of each topic was enough to naturally follow the train of thought he provided and deduce the series of consequences that came afterward. To make it easier to understand, Rei Kaguya had even deliberately reduced the number of issues in this statement.
But precisely because of that, Hashirama Senju could more clearly feel a coldness that seeped into his bones and heart, as well as a sorrow that came from the depths of his soul.
He had originally thought that he had truly betrayed his initial ideal only when he resolved himself to kill Madara Uchiha and completely bury that close friend, someone who once shared the same dream and could understand him.
Yet in Rei Kaguya's words, he had actually stepped onto a road heading in the opposite direction from the moment he established Konoha.
Had he truly been wrong?
Perhaps.
His and Madara's original idea had been that only through heart-to-heart openness and mutual understanding between people could final peace be achieved. But if he had advanced while upholding that ideal, he should not have classified anyone as an enemy.
Had he done that?
Clearly not.
Even without considering the part where Rei Kaguya enshrined him as a god capable of changing the shinobi world, if he considered only Konoha itself, the Will of Fire he had passed down had already very obviously deviated from the original ideal he and Madara shared…
Looking at Hashirama Senju's increasingly depressed expression, Jiraiya, who had been listening silently, could not help taking a deep breath. Then he took the initiative to speak up and mediate.
"Lord Mizukage, are you not perhaps demanding too much from the First? No matter how much you elevate his position in your heart, the First was, at that time, only a human who had just walked out of the chaotic Warring States Period and was trying to carve open a new path through confusion… Since he was human, there would inevitably be times when he made mistakes, would there not?"
"Hashirama Senju was not an ordinary human. Or rather, a person who grasps the power of a god inherently bears the responsibility of guiding the world and humanity."
Rei Kaguya shook his head. Then he sighed with some envy.
"As for demanding too much… that is because Hashirama Senju was both a victor and an idealist who obtained an almost good ending."
"He protected his younger brother, Tobirama Senju. He became the strongest ninja in the world. He realized his childhood dream. He created a new era belonging to hidden villages. His thoughts were recognized and passed down from generation to generation. He was openly praised and worshiped by history as the God of Shinobi. Even the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai that once stood at the peak of the shinobi world did not continue to be inherited and spread through the Senju clan's bloodline…"
"Compared to the loser Madara Uchiha, who lost his family, lost his ideal, lost his closest friend, and even 'lost' his life, Hashirama Senju lived too successfully. Far too successfully… So successfully that even I am not certain whether I can possess an ending with almost no major failures like his when the curtain falls on my life."
"For an annoying senior like this, who left a massive pile of hidden dangers for later generations while obtaining a good ending himself, is it really excessive for me to be slightly harsher with my words and demand a little more from him?"
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