The Uchiha Clan's Current Situation

"It seemed you both understood now, so I'll continue," Fugaku Uchiha said, seeing the looks of sudden realization on Sasuke and Itachi's faces.

He then continued explaining what happened next.

"While Madara Uchiha's strength greatly increased after he awakened the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, his personality also changed drastically. The once kind and cheerful Madara Uchiha became someone ruthless and closed-off."

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

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

"When Hashirama Senju once again pleaded for the two clans to cooperate, Madara Uchiha 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 Madara Uchiha would keep his word, so the righteous Hashirama Senju resolutely chose to take his own life. Moved by Hashirama Senju's actions, Madara Uchiha decided to lead the Uchiha Clan into reconciliation with the Senju Clan.

"Not long afterward, the two strongest clans joined forces to establish Hidden Leaf, inviting other powerful clans to join and strengthen it. 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 Madara Uchiha finally fulfilled their childhood dream."

"From two shinobi clans who saw each other as mortal enemies and fought to the death during the era of war, to the Uchiha and Senju forming an alliance and creating a paradise for shinobi—a shinobi village born in pursuit of peace. That was Hidden Leaf."

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

Sasuke could not help but cut in.

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

"Other than Hashirama Senju, who supported Madara Uchiha becoming Hokage, every clan in Hidden Leaf supported Hashirama Senju instead. Madara Uchiha was isolated by all the clans in Hidden Leaf."

Fugaku continued.

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

In his view, the village and the clan should coexist harmoniously. Madara Uchiha had devoted himself to establishing the village, so why did he still fail to gain the villagers' recognition?

"Because many of the village's clans disliked Madara Uchiha. He was arrogant and respected no one except Hashirama Senju. As a result, the Uchiha had terrible relations with the other villagers. Though he was one of the founders of Hidden Leaf, few remembered what he had contributed."

Fugaku Uchiha explained it to Itachi Uchiha.

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

"Later, Madara Uchiha realized that the people in the village were dissatisfied with him, and in the end, he decided to leave the village he had founded. As Madara Uchiha was leaving, Hashirama Senju repeatedly tried to persuade him to stay."

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

"Unlike Hashirama Senju, who longed for peace and advocated peaceful coexistence for everyone, Tobirama Senju was radical by nature and deeply despised the Uchiha Clan. If Tobirama Senju succeeded as Hokage, then the Uchiha Clan would surely be wiped out one day. Madara understood this, so he called on the Uchiha clansmen to leave the village with him. Sadly..."

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

"What happened, Father? Madara Uchiha was the Uchiha Clan's leader, and he helped establish Hidden Leaf. With such tremendous achievements, he should have held great prestige within the clan, shouldn't he? Even if not everyone answered his call, there should have been some followers, right? Why are you sighing?"

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

A trace of helplessness flashed through Fugaku Uchiha's eyes. In a rather sorrowful tone, he said, "If only that had been the case."

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

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

"Therefore, Madara Uchiha insisted on leaving Hidden Leaf in search of the 'true peace' he sought. Later, Madara Uchiha vanished without a trace, and no one ever heard news of him again."

By this point, Fugaku Uchiha had, as the Uchiha Clan's leader, recounted the story of before Hidden Leaf's founding, as well as the changes in the Uchiha Clan after its establishment.

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

Yet 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, it was no longer what it had once been!

Seeing that Fugaku Uchiha had stopped speaking, Sasuke Uchiha felt quite satisfied. He had heard what he wanted to know—the story of Hidden Leaf's founding, as well as why Madara Uchiha had left Hidden Leaf.

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

Ever since entering Hidden Leaf's ANBU, he had been constantly indoctrinated with the Will of Fire by Hidden Leaf's upper ranks. He had believed that sacrificing some of the Uchiha Clan's interests for the village's development was acceptable, because Hidden Leaf was the home they depended on to survive.

But after hearing Fugaku Uchiha's words today, his thoughts gradually began to awaken. The Uchiha Clan had clearly been one of the great contributors to Hidden Leaf's founding, so why did it now have such a poor reputation and such strained relations with the village? What exactly had happened in between?

"Father, I still want to know what happened afterward. How did our Uchiha Clan become what it is today?" After giving it some thought, Itachi Uchiha finally asked this question.

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

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

So he waited for his father to continue.

"It went like this. Since the First Hokage was Hashirama Senju, after Madara Uchiha left Hidden Leaf, the Second Hokage became Tobirama Senju. The Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan had once been mortal enemies. Now that the Senju Clan firmly held power, the Uchiha Clan naturally was not pleased."

"Because of the long-standing hostility between the two clans, conflicts had already been left behind. Dissatisfaction gradually emerged within the Uchiha Clan over the Senju Clan monopolizing Hidden Leaf, so Tobirama Senju came up with a relatively appropriate solution: establishing the Konoha Military Police Force."

"The Military Police Force was primarily made up of Uchiha Clan members. Its captain, who was also the clan leader, held prestige second only to the Hokage. Moreover, the Military Police Force played an indispensable role in maintaining order in Konoha Village."

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

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

"Later still, Hidden Leaf's upper ranks—the village's two advisors, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane—were both Tobirama Senju's students. Danzo Shimura, the leader of Root, had also once been a subordinate of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju."

"Afterward, during the Third Shinobi World War, the Uchiha Clan suffered heavy losses, yet Hidden Leaf offered no compensation. This was all the work of Hidden Leaf's upper ranks, trying to weaken and target our Uchiha Clan. Not long after that, something happened, and the upper ranks of Hidden Leaf suspected that the Uchiha Clan was involved."

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

"Furthermore, the unspoken rules for becoming Hokage had completely shut out the Uchiha. After that incident, the Military Police Force's reputation plummeted. After Hiruzen Sarutobi took the Hokage's seat, he often turned a blind eye to the Military Police Force, allowing Danzo Shimura to deal with its officers as he pleased."

"So, in the end, apart from the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, who genuinely recognized our Uchiha Clan because of Madara Uchiha—"

"The Hokage who took office afterward, Tobirama Senju, had always hated our Uchiha Clan, believing us to be a clan born evil."

"He even passed this way of thinking on to the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. That was why, over all these years, our Uchiha Clan had suffered constant suppression within the village. At the same time, the villagers did not respect our Uchiha Clan either!"