Madara stared, stunned. He had never seen Hashirama like this—serious, unwavering, desperate even.
"You… want me to be the Second Hokage?"
Hashirama nodded. "Yes. I'll make it official tomorrow."
It had only been half a day since their last meeting.
In Madara's mind, he'd already made peace with his decision to leave the village. He'd even started preparing for it. Now, this?
His mind raced. There had to be a trick. Hashirama, as loyal and idealistic as he was, couldn't possibly say something so dangerous—handing the entire village to a Uchiha?
Could it be a calculated political move? A trap to pacify him?
No. That wasn't like Hashirama. He wasn't the scheming type.
"…Hashirama," Madara said finally, "if this is some kind of joke, I don't appreciate it."
"I'm not joking," Hashirama said firmly. "I'm serious. You will succeed me. I've made my decision."
Madara clenched his fists. This wasn't the Hashirama he knew—at least not the one who always hesitated when it came to making bold political moves. What had changed?
"This isn't like you."
"I know," Hashirama said quietly. "But I've seen what happens if I don't act."
Madara narrowed his eyes. "Explain."
Hashirama didn't hesitate. "Today, I was taken to the future… by someone—no, something—beyond even our comprehension. He called himself the Yudao Sage. An immortal."
Madara's expression didn't change, but his brow twitched ever so slightly.
"You're saying… you time-traveled?"
"Yes."
"To the future?"
"Yes."
"Hashirama," Madara said dryly, "you're a grown man."
"I know how it sounds," Hashirama said, a bit more heated now. "But I'm not lying. This being—this Yudao Sage—has powers I've never seen before. He took me thirty, forty years into the future. And what I saw…"
He trailed off, exhaling slowly. "What I saw terrified me."
Madara said nothing, but his expression grew cautious. Despite himself, he was listening.
"In that future… you left the village, Madara. You abandoned Konoha. No one followed you, but you returned later—with the Nine-Tails. You attacked the village. I was forced to fight you, and in the end… I killed you with my own hands."
Madara scoffed. "How dramatic."
"I wish it weren't true. The destruction you caused… The pain. The division. And that was just the beginning. After your death, Konoha began to splinter. The world was plunged into war again and again."
Madara raised an eyebrow. "And you expect me to believe this?"
"I don't expect you to believe me," Hashirama said. "But I need you to hear me out."
He sat down right there on the cold stone floor of the Uchiha shrine. "Come. Sit. I'll tell you everything I saw."
Madara hesitated.
But curiosity, and perhaps something deeper, drove him to sit opposite his old friend.
Hashirama began recounting everything.
From the Nine-Tails' rampage under Obito's control to the tragic death of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze—killed using the Reaper Death Seal to save his son. The numerous shinobi wars, the rise of Akatsuki, Pain's destruction of Konoha, the return of Madara as a puppet of the Moon's Eye Plan…
And worst of all—the Fourth Shinobi World War, when the world was nearly destroyed. When Madara became something inhuman, consumed by an ideology so absolute that he turned his back on the living entirely.
He told Madara about Obito, about the Infinite Tsukuyomi. About how Naruto Uzumaki—Minato's son—rose from an outcast to the savior of the world. And how Sasuke Uchiha nearly repeated Madara's path.
When Hashirama finally finished, he was pale and exhausted.
Madara had gone from skeptical to contemplative to deeply disturbed.
"…You're saying, if I leave Konoha, I'll become… that?"
Hashirama nodded slowly. "If the events remain unchanged, yes."
Madara fell silent.
The chamber was quiet for a long time.
Hashirama studied his friend's face carefully. Madara didn't react violently. Didn't call him a liar. Didn't walk away.
Instead, he looked like someone who had just been handed the future—and didn't know what to do with it.
"So that's why you want me to be Hokage?" Madara said quietly.
"Yes. If you stay in the village, if you inherit the role of Hokage, we may be able to change everything. No war. No betrayal. No Moon's Eye Plan."
Madara frowned. "What about Tobirama?"
Hashirama hesitated. "He… won't like it. But I'll handle him."
Madara gave a bitter smile. "He hates me."
"I know. But I trust you. I believe in you. And I will make everyone else believe too."
Madara looked up, a flicker of his old self returning. "You think just because you offer me the title of Hokage, everything will be sunshine and peace?"
"No," Hashirama said. "But it's a start. We need your strength. Not as a weapon—but as a pillar. The Uchiha need to see that they're part of Konoha. Not just tools. Not just enemies. Leaders."
Madara stood and began pacing. "If what you saw is true… then the entire system is flawed. The cycle of hatred will just repeat, whether I'm Hokage or not."
"That's why we need to fix the system together," Hashirama said.
Madara turned sharply. "Hashirama, I don't want to be a band-aid on your broken system."
"You won't be," Hashirama said. "You'll be the foundation for a better one."
Another pause.
"…If I agree," Madara said, "and I become Hokage—will you support me? Even when the entire village resists?"
"Yes."
"Even when the other clans protest?"
"Yes."
"Even if Tobirama opposes it?"
"Yes."
Madara stared at him long and hard. Then he looked away.
"…You've changed," he muttered. "The Hashirama I knew never would have made this offer."
"I saw a world where everything we built burns to the ground," Hashirama replied. "I'll change everything to stop that."
A bitter laugh escaped Madara's throat. "Hmph… Maybe you really did go to the future."
Another long silence.
"…Give me time," Madara said finally. "If I'm going to make a decision, I'll do it with both eyes open."
"You'll have it," Hashirama said.
Madara turned and began walking deeper into the shrine. "But if I do take the title… I'm changing everything. No more pretending Konoha is perfect. No more hypocrisy."
"Fair enough," Hashirama replied, smiling.
And then, Madara stopped at the steps. "Hashirama."
"Hm?"
"If I become the Second Hokage… You better prepare Tobirama. Because if he comes at me, title or no title—I won't hold back."
Hashirama exhaled slowly. "I'll talk to him."
"Make sure you do."
Madara didn't look back as he disappeared into the shadows of the shrine.
Hashirama remained alone for a long moment, heart pounding.
He had no idea what Madara would decide.
But this was the first time he'd seen even a hint of hesitation in those eyes.
A spark of possibility.
Maybe… just maybe… the future could be rewritten.
And the cycle could finally break.