Uchiha Yusuke's tone shifted, becoming heavy:
"But later... Clan Head Madara left, and when he returned, he was already fighting the First Hokage. In the end, both of them fell.
The First Hokage's wounds proved fatal, and the Second succeeded him... Everything changed.
Regardless of what the Second truly thought, the reality was that an invisible rift between the village and the Uchiha began to form and spread from that moment onward.
Suspicion, estrangement, isolation... It was as though we Uchiha were slowly being pushed to the edge of the village by an invisible wall.
How could decades of accumulated disappointment and vigilance be so easily dispelled?"
Yusuke withdrew his gaze and looked at his son again, but there was now a different light in his eyes:
"Until Nangō Kumoi, the Third Hokage, appeared.
He possessed absolute strength close to that of the First Hokage, yet his skill at governance far surpassed the First Hokage's.
The new policies he promoted appeared radical, but their core was to break down barriers and allow everyone to establish themselves through their own ability.
More importantly, he himself was not from the main Senju line, with whom we had once shared old grudges. His favor and appointment of the Uchiha seemed more... sincere and pragmatic.
He made me vaguely see once more the shadow of the First Hokage's era, when the village truly needed and acknowledged the Uchiha's strength."
He paused, then concluded:
"The times really are different.
Sora, the old rifts may never be completely erased, but new bridges are being built.
We Uchiha cannot refuse to step onto a new bridge toward the future simply because of the pain of the past.
These old bones of mine may no longer be accustomed to the sights from atop that bridge, but you young