Yes.
He did not oppose Ōnoki's approach. After all, who could have known that the Water Shadow would suddenly rebel at that time and join the Hidden Leaf Village...
That left Iwagakure with no choice but to passively join as well.
But Ōnoki refused.
Then he ran away.
It was to preserve the village.
It was his final stubbornness.
He understood.
It was just that this path was difficult.
Because whether it was him or Ōnoki—or rather, Ōnoki had actually been watching Kitahara Kaede?(^_-) Small Group even longer than he had.
So the First Tsuchikage's true hope was that Ōnoki could rejoin the group.
Though they were not blood relatives, the First Tsuchikage believed that the Tsuchikage lineage was one family. So even if the chances were slim, if Ōnoki could return...
Then Iwagakure might still be able to endure.
He said this because he regretted it.
At first, when Ōnoki left the small group, he had thought Ōnoki was preserving Iwagakure.
He could not follow Mei Terumi, the Water Shadow's old path and hand over her entire village just to suck up to Kitahara Kaede, could he?
Take a good look. Was that something a Kage should do?
That was why he rejected the Water Shadow's approach.
After all, Kitahara Kaede was powerful, but he was not a god.
It should still have been possible to defeat him.
But...
First there was the Miko's power, then the Dragon Vein's power...
Now, all of it had been gathered onto Kitahara Kaede.
And the first power he revealed from the Miko... well, it was Moryo's power. Moryo's two black dragons could ignore ninja techniques... so if one was not skilled at dealing with this new kind of system, then... Kitahara Kaede could destroy Iwagakure simply by using Moryo's power.
Not to