"Hashirama, I can already feel your sincerity."
"All of this is for the Uchiha."
Madara Uchiha's eyes fixed on Uchiha Makoto before him.
The blood feud between the Uchiha and the Senju could not be allowed to continue. For longer peace, he had to suppress the other voices in the clan.
In an instant, Madara's chakra surged. Crushing pressure rolled down on Makoto.
"Lord Madara, have you forgotten Lord Izuna's dying words?"
"We must avenge him. We must take our revenge on the Senju."
Under the weight of that pressure, Makoto's breath hitched. He decisively brought up Uchiha Izuna.
Izuna Uchiha died by Tobirama Senju's hand. Even if, for Hashirama's sake, Madara was willing to give up revenge on Tobirama, Izuna would forever be the knot that could not be untied in Madara's heart.
At the mention of Izuna, Madara's expression clearly shifted.
Within a few breaths, the pressure on Makoto suddenly eased.
It worked.
Izuna was a special key to Madara, able even to counter the Senju enchanter's sway over him.
Makoto thought this over, then looked back at Madara.
Now was the perfect moment to forge his own persona.
Breaking away from the Uchiha and surviving as a rogue in the shinobi world would be brutally hard, and he still meant to found a village. Later, when Madara led the Uchiha to found Konoha, Makoto could use his identity to gain something within the village.
"Izuna, Izuna, forgive me."
"Hashirama, for peace between the Uchiha and the Senju, is even willing to give his life."
"Forgive me, Izuna. I cannot avenge you."
Madara drew a deep breath, buried his hatred, let his eyes pass over Makoto, and began to speak.
"Clansmen, Izuna was my dearest brother. He died by Tobirama Senju's hand. I once swore I would avenge him myself, take Tobirama's head and offer it at Izuna's grave, but I now abandon that vow. Doing so is meaningless. Killing Tobirama will not bring Izuna back. It will only deepen the hatred between the Uchiha and the Senju. We have fought for far too long. It is time to end this."
"Hashirama and I share a dream."
"One day, in a village built together by the Uchiha and the Senju, Senju and Uchiha will sit side by side as brothers. One day, the Uchiha will change. Though you object now and oppose the decision I have made, there will come a day when Senju and Uchiha are as close as kin and move forward together."
Madara spoke from the heart, voice slow and strong, painting a vision for the Uchiha present.
The wars between Senju and Uchiha had lasted too long and grown too cruel, to the point that children of only a few years had been forced onto the battlefield.
Children should grow happily under the shelter of their clan, not die in war.
If hatred continued, their children would repeat the cycle. None of the Uchiha present wanted that.
Endless battles, constant killing, and a worsening situation had already nurtured war-weariness in their hearts.
If things could truly be as Madara said, if war could stop and Uchiha and Senju live in peace, then perhaps that result was not unacceptable.
The living must look forward.
The tide turned at once.
Makoto had expected as much.
Madara was the Uchiha clan head and its strongest warrior, the leader the Uchiha recognized.
Once he resolved to decide, eight or nine out of ten clansmen would follow.
And the situation was dire for the Uchiha. Choices were few.
Reports may lie, but the front line does not. The Uchiha had been defeated in open battle, and with Madara, their clan head, taking the lead in accepting it, continuing to resist and launching revenge against the Senju would end only one way.
Hashirama's giant Buddha and Tobirama's Flying Thunder God would show no mercy to stubborn Uchiha remnants with no value to unite.
"Lord Madara, it seems your mind is set."
"In that case, as for revenge, I can only…"
Makoto put on a deeply conflicted face and, after a struggle, "reluctantly" agreed to set aside his hatred of the Senju.
"But, Lord Madara, I still do not trust the Senju."
"To earn complete trust, you must make a man believe you are his friend. In short, you must stand behind someone before you can strike from behind."
"There are petty men among the Senju."
"A thousand-year feud will not vanish so easily."
Madara, you will die miserably.
First Hashirama quietly comes up behind you and drives a blade through your heart. Later Black Zetsu quietly comes up and drives a hand through your heart.
Take this as a hint and a warning.
Of course, what Makoto said now was not aimed at Hashirama.
Hashirama could indeed be called a friend, and the Uchiha could gain his trust. As for the stab in the back later, that would be mutual consent, even a little spice to deepen their bond.
But there were petty men in the Senju.
Who were they?
Obviously Tobirama Senju, that innately malignant old Senju. A bug in the dark, forever suspicious of the Uchiha, forever harboring ill intent.
In Tobirama's view, the Uchiha were a pathological clan. The Sharingan evolved through chakra born of extreme emotion, which meant the stronger an Uchiha grew, the more easily he veered to extremes, and the more extreme he became, the stronger he grew.
Without proper guidance, such Uchiha would easily become internal dangers to the village. Such Uchiha must be tightly monitored, suspicion maintained forever.
Tobirama would always seek a chance, use the Flying Thunder God to mark the backs of such Uchiha, and when necessary, strike hard.