Hashirama headcannon
i have this head cannon of Hashirama that has been bugging me for years. canonically, Hashirama is shown as a goofy, charismatic, happy-go-lucky man with a bit of an idiotic personality. this personality was what enabled him to build Konoha and become its leader. fortunately, I never liked Hashirama’a canon character and it was solidified by fics on ao3 that mostly showed Hashirama as an incompetent man who only dreams but doesn't actually work for it and I always thought of Hashirama as a very manipulative character who showed a bit of psychopathic tendencies and hid them behind his happy facade to make people feel at ease or let their guard down around him.
this is of course what I perceived of canon and feel free to disagree with it and since Kishimoto was vague with every timeline that was not naruto era it makes it open to different scenarios and situations.
my perception of canon! Hashirama was that he hid his dark self under a happy persona to make it easier for people to trust him which was what exactly happened with Madara. Madara blinded by his grief and trust of Hashirama made it easier for Hashirama to use him. as it is canon that an emotionally unstable Uchiha can be easily manipulated. Hashirama took advantage of this and made Madara do what he wanted and when his use was over he let him go and the circumstances made everyone think that it was Madara at fault.
We have some proofs of this from canon because when u look at the warring era, especially the uchiha - senju war , there are many inconsistencies, like why did it take so long for Hashirama and madara to make peace after they became clan head. my thoughts on this are probably because while hashirama did shout his desire to have between their clans in every battle he did not back it up with his actions.
madara was already very distrustful of people around him that to trust, he concluded that hashirama who only spoke sweetened words and not showed it with his actions could not be trusted.
I am not saying that madara is also not at fault here but if u look at this closely, senju clan may have been a shinobi clan but they also would have had trade businesses with other clans and while hashirama could have shown that he was genuine with his peace by retreating his clan from battles, attacking only when threatened and not picking fights with the uchihas.
uchihas may have been confused and wary of this at first but after months of no battle between these clans it may made peace more plausible and appear more quickly. and after some months of no squirmishes he could have send a peace treaty so that madara knows tha he is serious about his intentions.
another thing that caught my attention from canon and ao3 writers was, hashirama basically abandoned madara after the formation of konoha. a lonely madara whose last light may have been hashirama, with his clan who turned his back on him , hashirama who ignored him he may have thought that hashirama used him and in his rage left the village. and even after the formation of village hashirama may have not worked towards the techincalities to keep the village going.
hashirama doesn't seem like a bureaucartic person who will actually work on the formation of village like sewer lines water pipelines and buildings trade businesses etc. all of this may have fell either on tobirama’s shoulders or madaras' shoulders.
tobirama mostly may have done this work because he seems like a very ruthless, intelligent and efficient man who gets shit done.
and lastly we see who hashirama truly is in the 4 shinobi war arc when hashirama praises itachi for killing his clan and saving the village.
I cannot stress this enough but praising a manipulated 13 year old child for killing his whole clan and not having a stable healthy life he should have had is sick like really disgusting. The whole point of konoha was that children stopped being put into battlefield early and dying. Hashiramas reaction to itachis circumstances should have been disgust and scathing criticism on hiruzens incompetency but all he does it praise itachi??? That seems ooc.
hashirama’a actions and later tobirama’s prejudice was what drove the situation to the coup during hiruzen’s time. uchiha were probably holding decades of resentment that finally blew in huge proportions. on top of that danzo’s collection of sharingan eyeballs prior to the massacare must have come from somewhere right?
the uchiha may have suspected that someone from high chain command was stealing the uchiha eyeballs. because many uchiha members went missing without a trace in suspicious circumstance is not a coinicidence. like it was happened once maybe twice but when it was happening repeatedly then there is something suspicious going on.
uchiha clan a prideful, closed off, and arrogant clan who are control freaks and fiercely independent may have felt powerless in these circumstances.
the inability to do anything, the hopelessness may have turned them onto the path of their self destruction. the kyuubi attack was finally the straw that broke the camel’s back.
finally i think hashirama’s nature was only truly known to tobirama and perhaps to some depth mito. madara may have realized it too late.
tobirama may have accepted it and unconsciously moulded himself to balance this but ultimately it was what may have blocked his potential and his dreams.
tobirama’s ruthlessness is much much better than hashirama’s casual and perhaps sadistic cruelty.
