Thinking about Madara and Izuna again (just some sketches and thoughts).
I can't help it. No matter how much time passes, I somehow always return to the era of the Warring States Period and its corresponding chapters. The themes, the characters, the tragedy - it's just peak.
It's so damn short (too damn short) and yet all the little details we do see/are shown, say so much. A small detail I've always enjoyed is how young Madara's clothes seem far too big for him. It's a minor, inconsequential design choice, but I think it really helps convey the themes that Madara and Hashirama are beginning to explore as they come to know each other.
They recognize that they are both children who are forced to live in a world where they're ultimately expected to kill and be killed like men. Childhood is nonexistent here, it's a foreign concept - there's no time for such luxuries amid war. That Madara's outfit doesn't quite 'fit' him yet and he obviously hasn't 'grown into it' symbolically calls back to this horrific reality... and then it makes you wonder, how many young Senju and Uchiha never fully 'grow into' their clothing or armor?
Granted this could just be a classic/historical Japanese clothing nod that I have no reference for/am looking too deeply into (and, of course, there are other characters who also wear baggier clothing simply for 'style'), but where's the fun in that, lol?
Personally, I also like to view this design choice for Madara as a way of hinting at the nature of 'hand-me-down' culture which is something often explored within the series when it comes to the Uchiha in particular. The idea that 'your brother can't use this anymore, so now it's yours' and how it could thematically connect to this greater culture of the Uchiha passing their eyes/light to one another... I don't know, it's just good stuff haha.
And then, knowing that Madara shared Hashirama's progressive (for their time) values, I often think about what ideological clashes Madara might have been processing during this period - both within himself and against/with those in his clan (especially since we are never directly shown such things). Regardless of how he truly feels and by nature of his role/the brutality of the era he lives in, he is essentially doomed to watch his only surviving brother (who looks like he still bears baby fat when we're first introduced to him, by the way - I don't know about anyone else, but to me Izuna and Tobirama both look exceptionally young during the river confrontation) grow into his armor and fight alongside him.
Madara would know that, logically, Izuna fitting into his armor means prolonged protection and safety, but emotionally, wouldn't it bother him to see his brother fully enter into a world where he has to fight? A world where Madara might not always be there to protect him and keep him safe? A world where he never gets that childhood Madara and Hashirama have dreamt for kids to one day have? The moment Izuna puts on his armor and begins to know it as a second skin, he inadvertently confirms the ugliness in the world that Madara hates the most.
In that way, the fact that something as simple/minor as the barely worn jacket a deceased older brother used to wear or the fact that child-sized armor not only exists at this point in time in shinobi history but is considered a necessity, would be all the more reason for Madara to damn and judge the cruel world around him.
Idk, just in general I will always wish that we had gotten Madara's unfiltered recollection of these same events, at least to have them in contrast (or even to supplement) Hashirama's. While I think, given what we do have, Hashirama's retelling is likely the most accurate version of a 'past Madara' (especially since he knows Madara so intimately), there are/will always be things he just simply can't know or understand about his friend... and that then leaves so many of these lingering threads/questions unanswered and underexplored.
We know, for example, that Hashirama struggled once Madara's true identity was revealed to him and it became all but guaranteed that either the two of them or their families would one day clash, but how did Madara handle it? And what did it mean to those around him when news spread that he had awakened his sharingan not in battle or with the death of a dear one, but when he swore/chose to completely remove Hashirama from his life (someone who brought him joy, connection, and acknowledgement) in order to protect his family?
Did Izuna, back then, know what awakening the sharingan truly meant? Reexamining his reaction, he seems to be in awe of this change when he notices his brother's eyes. Similarly, we see with young Sasuke in his flashbacks that he talks about Itachi's sharingan with pride only to be later told by his father that he's 'too young' to be thinking about things associated with the sharingan...
Sure, they're both 'excited' reactions/responses from children in relation to a legendary skill important to their bloodline, but it makes me wonder if the true nature/meaning behind the sharingan is something that only those who have awoken it ever speak to one another about. While it of course equates to strength and the ability to better outlast your enemy, symbolically it also carries an intense, often painful emotional weight with it too. I've always enjoyed the idea that, while it's inevitable that kids and outsiders might view the sharingan and its related rumors as this great 'wonderful' achievement, only those who have actually experienced the awakening within themselves can really understand its true nature and that, given the unforgiving world they live in, those eyes are often reflections of great anguish, despair, and grief.
Something, something, older members of the clan having a more reserved/bittersweet view of the sharingan where it is acknowledged as an advantage that will hopefully lead/contribute to the preservation of their clan/loved ones but it also symbolizes the loss of innocence that can never be restored.
How did learning this then shape Izuna's perception of his brother's sharingan over time? Once he awakened his own and knew the cost/impact it had on him, did his understanding of what Hashirama meant to Madara begin to make more sense? Or did it confuse him even more because he couldn't fathom anyone, let alone his brother, caring so deeply about a Senju?
Again, idk. I'm just yapping, lol.
All these years later and I am still desperate for more when it comes to this era of Naruto's history (especially as it relates to Madara and Izuna/the greater Uchiha clan cultural lore).
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