You, Who Had Such a Dream

As Yun's voice faded, a gust swept through the air and stirred the leaves. A single character, "True," hung in midair for a moment before scattering to the ground.

After a long silence, Hashirama suddenly chuckled and smacked his lips. "Can you tell me... what you saw in me?"

Yun shook his head slightly. After a moment's thought, he said, "If you're sure you want to know, I can trade you information on both you and Madara. I'll give you a discount if you take them together. How about two chips?"

Hashirama considered it for a moment, then shook his head. "I only need information on Madara, and I'll only pay you one chip. That's the only trade I'll make. Whether you want Wood Release or my enormous reserves of Chakra, you can only choose one."

As he spoke, the expression on Hashirama's spirit grew serious. "The Uzumaki Clan was wiped out. Consider either Wood Release or my constitution compensation for that."

Yun smiled. "The Two Heroes of the Warring States, the God of Shinobi, the First Hokage. With so many titles, your one chip certainly carries more weight than an ordinary ninja's."

"Then... as you wish, here's information on the current Madara Uchiha. Contract."

A contract appeared out of nowhere. Hashirama glanced over it once and agreed.

"I don't know what the word 'current' means here, but the future is uncertain anyway. Trying to change the terms in front of a ninja who lived through the Warring States Period... You Uzumaki have a few tricks up your sleeve."

Hashirama chuckled. Even as a spirit, the confidence he had in his own strength was plain to see in his eyes.

The contract was sealed, and the trade began.

"Madara Uchiha is dead."

???

As the words fell, Yun saw the bewildered look on the God of Shinobi's face and barely managed to hold back his laughter.

Hashirama's spirit leaned in, tilting his head as he threatened, "Careful, kid. You could get yourself in trouble messing around like that. You know the dangerous Nine-Tailed Fox? I smacked it in the face with a giant Wood Golem hand once. It couldn't even move."

Yun took two steps back, putting some distance between himself and Hashirama's face.

"A god divided yin and yang into two opposing forces in pursuit of stability. The two forces opposed and acted upon each other, giving rise to All Things. This is a universal truth: two opposing forces can complement each other and bring about true peace."

As he spoke, Yun glanced at Hashirama. Those were the words Madara had once said to Hashirama at the Uchiha Compound.

They were also the first half of the information on the Stone Tablet.

"Back then, Madara told you about the Stone Tablet at the Uchiha Compound, but he never explained what he thought those words meant."

"The two opposing forces represented the Uchiha and the Senju. And 'complement each other' could also be understood as 'combine.' At the end of your battle in the Valley of the End, Madara bit off a piece of you."

"Thanks to Izanagi, Madara survived. And his interpretation wasn't wrong. The combined power of the Uchiha and the Senju—or, more specifically, the unique combination of you and him—granted him the Sage of Six Paths' abilities."

"Beyond the Mangekyou, the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths... the Rinnegan!"

Hashirama asked, puzzled, "Then why did Madara die? With the power of the Rinnegan, he could've easily overpowered Konoha without me there."

Yun shook his head slightly. "The power of the Six Paths wasn't easy to obtain. Because the two powers had to be combined, Madara didn't awaken the Rinnegan until he was close to death in his old age."

At that, Hashirama tilted his head toward Yun. He couldn't hide the look in his eyes, as if he wanted to kill someone.

Yun knew exactly what Hashirama meant: That's it? That's all? And this is worth a chip? He just died of old age. How could a Madara who'd died of old age and whose soul had gone to the Pure Land threaten Konoha?

Wait!

Hashirama remembered the Nine Tails Incident they'd discussed earlier. The space hadn't flagged anything as false about the events that were supposed to happen in the original timeline.

Then...

"Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique. The Rinnegan can bring the dead back to life, but the price is the user's life."

Yun continued slowly, "To revive someone at the cost of his own life, Madara needs to find someone who can bear the Rinnegan. And in the Shinobi World, the people famous for having bodies capable of bearing a Tailed Beast are the Uzumaki Clan!"

"Leaving behind what he believes to be a manifestation of his own will, he's manipulating the Uchiha's descendants. Madara is waiting for the final step of his plan. When that time comes, not only Konoha but the entire Shinobi World will be plunged into silence."

"That's everything I know about Madara so far."

Hashirama's expression grew grave. He sighed and floated into the air, gazing down at everything in Konoha beneath Kage Rock.

This was the first shape his dream of peace had taken. For peace, he was willing to surrender every last scrap of a strong man's pride.

For peace, he was willing to drive a kunai into his own heart.

For peace, he had ultimately killed his closest friend.

But now... the world still wasn't moving in the direction he had hoped.

"The timeline is set at the present, so there must be plenty more information about Madara's future. What he believes to be a manifestation of his own will... I doubt his plan is as simple as he thinks."

"I'm a dead man, and even in the Pure Land my soul can't find peace. But if I have to wait for someone to bring me back with Impure World Reincarnation, and for the caster to give me consciousness, I have no idea how long that will take."

Looking at Hashirama, who was lost in thought, Yun sighed helplessly.

Some people really were born with a unique charm. Compared with Naruto, even some of the First Hokage's words had greater power to persuade.

But...

"First Hokage, decades have passed. The truth is, time has proven that what you did back then was wrong."

Hashirama looked over, and Yun continued, "From the founding of Konoha to the end of the Third Shinobi World War, three major wars broke out in the Shinobi World in less than fifty years."

"Uniting clans and civilian ninja under the banner of hidden villages ultimately led to wars on an even larger scale. All of this happened after you died. Do you know why?"

Hashirama shook his head slightly.

"Because of your strength! The power of Wood Release affected the entire Shinobi World, and your title as the God of Shinobi kept everyone from daring to make a move. Because Hashirama Senju wanted peace, no one in the Shinobi World dared to fight."

When Yun finished speaking, Hashirama fell silent.

Only after a breeze swept past did Hashirama raise his head slightly. "Absolute power breeds absolute darkness. The longer someone holds enormous authority, the more darkness it breeds. Perhaps I really was wrong. But as a soul in the Pure Land, I can only offer a warning. I can't show you the way forward..."

Hashirama floated in front of Yun and smiled. "Madara's actually pretty foolish. You haven't said it outright, but from what you've told me, I can tell someone must be using him."

"I don't like a Shinobi World plunged into silence, and I'm sure you don't either, not with a dream like that. So..."