The Uchiha Clan's Current Situation

"Looks like you both understand now, so I'll continue." Fugaku Uchiha saw the looks of sudden realization on Sasuke and Itachi's faces.

He continued explaining what happened next.

"While Uchiha Madara gained tremendous strength after awakening the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, his personality changed drastically as well. The once kind and cheerful Uchiha Madara became a ruthless, closed-off person."

"Even though relations between the Senju and Uchiha later improved, Uchiha Madara, having lost Izuna Uchiha, could no longer face the hardships that followed. He resented the fact that his brothers had to die again and again."

"Though more clan members chose to submit, Uchiha Madara, burdened by hatred, still insisted on fighting to the end. To uphold his promise to his younger brother, he challenged Hashirama Senju alone. After a day and night of battle, Uchiha Madara suffered his first defeat."

"When Hashirama Senju once again pleaded for cooperation between the two clans, Uchiha Madara said he would surrender only if Hashirama Senju killed himself or killed his younger brother, Tobirama Senju.

Naturally, Hashirama Senju would not choose to kill his own brother. Yet he was willing to believe that Uchiha Madara would keep his word, so the righteous Hashirama Senju resolutely chose to kill himself. Moved by Hashirama Senju's actions, Uchiha Madara decided to lead the Uchiha Clan into reconciliation with the Senju Clan."

"Not long afterward, the two strongest clans joined forces to establish Konohagakure, inviting other powerful clans to join and strengthen Konoha. The other four nations followed the Land of Fire's example and formed their own shinobi organizations. Thus began the era in which the five great nations ruled the shinobi world, and Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara finally realized their childhood dream."

"From two shinobi clans locked in mortal conflict during the age of war, to the alliance between the Uchiha and Senju, to the creation of a paradise for shinobi—a shinobi village born in pursuit of peace. That was Konoha."

"Wow, Konoha was finally established. That really wasn't easy. What happened afterward, Father? What became of Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju in the end?"

Sasuke could not help interjecting as well.

"A village naturally needed a leader. When choosing the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju had originally intended for Uchiha Madara to become Hokage, but Tobirama Senju strongly opposed it."

"Other than Hashirama Senju, who supported Uchiha Madara becoming Hokage, the villagers of every other clan in Konohagakure supported Hashirama Senju. Uchiha Madara was isolated by all the clans in Konoha."

Fugaku continued.

"How could that be? Didn't Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju found Konoha together? Why did the villagers treat Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju differently?" Uchiha Itachi could not help asking.

In his view, the village and the clan should have lived in harmony. Uchiha Madara had devoted himself wholeheartedly to establishing the village, so why had he failed to earn the villagers' recognition?

"Because many of the clans in the village disliked Uchiha Madara. He was arrogant and respected no one except Hashirama Senju, which gave the Uchiha an extremely poor reputation in the village. Though he was one of Konoha's founders, few remembered his contributions."

Fugaku Uchiha explained it to Uchiha Itachi.

"Then what happened later? What did Uchiha Madara think?" Now it was Uchiha Itachi's turn to grow anxious, eagerly awaiting the rest of the story.

"Later, Uchiha Madara realized that the villagers were dissatisfied with him. In the end, he decided to leave the village he had founded. As Uchiha Madara was about to leave, Hashirama Senju tried every possible way to persuade him to stay."

"He told Madara that he had always regarded Uchiha Madara as his right-hand man and his brother. He hoped Uchiha Madara could assist him, and that one day the people would recognize Uchiha Madara's strengths. At that time, Uchiha Madara would become the Second Hokage. However, Uchiha Madara had long predicted that after Hashirama Senju died, the one who would inherit the position of Hokage would undoubtedly be Tobirama Senju."

"Unlike Hashirama Senju, who longed for peace and advocated peaceful coexistence for all, Tobirama Senju was radical by nature and deeply hated the Uchiha Clan. If Tobirama Senju succeeded to the position of Hokage, then the Uchiha Clan would surely be wiped out one day. Madara understood this, so he called upon the Uchiha clansmen to leave the village with him. Unfortunately... sigh!"

At this point, Fugaku paused and could not help sighing.

"What happened, Father? Uchiha Madara was the Uchiha Clan's leader, and he helped establish Konoha. With such enormous achievements, his prestige within the clan should have been extremely high. Even if not everyone answered his call, there should have been some followers, right? Why are you sighing?"

The clever Uchiha Itachi voiced his doubts. He did not understand why his father had sighed.

A trace of helplessness flashed through Fugaku Uchiha's eyes. He said sorrowfully, "It would have been nice if that were the case."

"Having grown accustomed to war, the Uchiha clansmen became engrossed in peace after experiencing it, yet not a single person was willing to follow Madara. Uchiha Madara felt deeply ashamed. He had failed to protect even his younger brother, and now he could not fulfill the promise he had made to Izuna Uchiha—to protect the Uchiha clansmen."

"Uchiha Madara knew that aside from Hashirama Senju, no one could treat him sincerely. He then asked Hashirama Senju whether, for the sake of the village, he would abandon Tobirama Senju or Uchiha Madara. Hashirama Senju hesitated, because Uchiha Madara knew him well enough to understand that this was his bottom line."

"Therefore, Uchiha Madara insisted on leaving Konoha to seek the 'true peace' he desired. Later, Uchiha Madara vanished without a trace, and no one ever heard from him again."

With that, Fugaku Uchiha, as the leader of the Uchiha Clan, had recounted the story before Konoha's founding and the changes that occurred within the Uchiha Clan after Konoha was established.

He had originally intended to end the story there, because Sasuke and Itachi had only wanted to learn about Konoha's founding.

But he had also slipped in quite a bit about the Uchiha Clan's development.

He wanted Sasuke and Itachi to understand that the Uchiha Clan had once been glorious too. Unfortunately, now it was no longer what it had once been!

Seeing that Fugaku Uchiha had fallen silent, Uchiha Sasuke felt quite satisfied. He had heard what he wanted to know—the story of Konoha's founding and why Uchiha Madara had left Konoha.

But Itachi, who was older than him, was different.

After joining Konoha's Anbu, he had constantly been indoctrinated with the Will of Fire by Konoha's upper ranks. He believed that sacrificing some of the Uchiha Clan's interests for the village's development was acceptable, since Konoha was the home they depended on for survival.

But after hearing Fugaku Uchiha's words today, his thoughts gradually began to awaken. The Uchiha Clan had clearly been instrumental in founding Konoha, so why did they now have such a poor reputation and such strained relations with the village? What had happened in between?

"Father, I still want to know what happened afterward for our Uchiha Clan to become what it is today." Only after giving it some thought did Uchiha Itachi ask this question.

Hearing that Itachi had thoughts of his own, Fugaku felt very gratified. In his heart, Uchiha Itachi was the most suitable choice for the next clan leader. If he wanted to understand what had happened in the past, he could avoid repeating those mistakes in the future.

Although Sasuke already knew what he had wanted to know, he was also curious about what happened afterward.

So he waited for his father to continue.

"It was like this. Since the First Hokage was Hashirama Senju, after Uchiha Madara left Konoha, the Second Hokage became Tobirama Senju. The Senju Clan and Uchiha Clan had once been mortal enemies. Now that the Senju Clan held power firmly in its hands, the Uchiha Clan naturally was not happy about it."

"Because of the two clans' long-standing opposition, conflicts had already been left behind. Dissatisfaction gradually arose within the Uchiha Clan over the Senju Clan monopolizing Konoha, so Tobirama Senju came up with a relatively appropriate solution and established the Konoha Military Police Force."

"The Military Police Force was mainly composed of Uchiha Clan members. Its captain, who was also the clan leader, possessed prestige second only to the Hokage. Furthermore, the Military Police Force's role in maintaining Konoha's public order could not be underestimated."

"After that, the Uchiha Clan gradually grew stronger. At the same time, calls within the clan to compete for the position of Hokage grew increasingly intense, as did their dissatisfaction with Konoha's orders."

"Later, the Third Hokage was succeeded by Hiruzen Sarutobi, a disciple of the Second Hokage. Hiruzen Sarutobi inherited Tobirama Senju's distrust of the Uchiha Clan."

"Later, Konoha's upper ranks—the village's two great advisors, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu—were both Tobirama Senju's students. Shimura Danzō, the leader of Root, had also once been Tobirama Senju's subordinate."

"Later still, during the Third Shinobi World War, the Uchiha Clan suffered heavy losses, but Konoha offered no compensation. This was all part of Konoha's upper ranks trying to weaken and target our Uchiha Clan. Not long after that, something happened, and Konoha's upper ranks once suspected that the Uchiha Clan was involved."

"Although they could not produce any evidence, we had no way to prove that it was not done by our people either. It was truly infuriating!"

"Furthermore, the unspoken rules for appointing Hokage had completely excluded the Uchiha, and the Military Police Force's reputation plummeted after that incident. After Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi took the Hokage's seat, he often turned a blind eye to the Military Police Force, leaving its personnel at Shimura Danzō's mercy."

"So, in the end, aside from First Hokage Hashirama Senju, who sincerely acknowledged our Uchiha Clan because of Uchiha Madara—"

"The Hokage who came later, Tobirama Senju, had always hated our Uchiha Clan and believed that we were a clan born evil."

"He even taught this way of thinking to Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi. That is why, for so many years, our Uchiha Clan has suffered constant suppression within the village. At the same time, the villagers do not respect our Uchiha Clan either!"

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