Standing beneath the Hokage Rock, a landmark structure that permeates the entirety of "Naruto," Uchiha Shin'getsu looked up at the colossal stone statue of Senju Hashirama.
In that instant, memories of her past life intertwined with reality, stirring a maelstrom of emotions within her.
Unlike the anime, the Hokage Rock currently only featured the lone head of Senju Hashirama.
In this period, even Tsunade hadn't been born yet; both the Fourth Great Ninja War of later generations and Naruto, the fated Child of Prophecy, were mere distant tales.
However, the Battle of End Valley and the subsequent death of Senju Hashirama were truly imminent.
Kamitsuki averted her gaze, silently looking at Uchiha Madara, who was also staring at Hashirama's head, appearing to be lost in thought.
Konoha Village could never be the peaceful haven he envisioned, and even without Black Zetsu's intervention, Madara would likely leave this place in the end.
Madara's love and hate were so extreme; compromise simply didn't exist in his life.
But the Uchiha Clan, already accustomed to a stable life, would surely not choose to follow their clan head.
By then, Madara would probably be alone again, and then fall into darkness.
Recalling Madara's tragic latter half of life in the plot, and his world peace operation after his resurrection that nearly destroyed the Ninja World, Kamitsuki felt a tingling in her scalp.
She suddenly felt an unimaginable burden resting on her tender shoulders.
Forget it, for the sake of Ninja World peace, I'll just go with him when the time comes.
An old man, if he doesn't have a young person watching over him, can easily be manipulated by certain ill-intentioned individuals.
But before that, my foolish Master, you'll just have to be my wallet and my ride!
Thinking this, Uchiha Shin'getsu, who had decided to become a Konoha rogue Ninja, tugged on Madara's sleeve.
She extended her small hand, pointing towards the only designated dessert shop in poor Konoha Village.
Meeting Madara's gaze, she lifted her adorable, soft face, her large black eyes sparkling with hope and anticipation, and pouted in a voice so sweet it could drip honey:
"Master, Master, I want dango!"
...
On the desolate Konoha street, passersby all widened their eyes in astonishment, their mouths agape almost as wide as their staring eyes, their shocked, twisted expressions making each of them look as if they had seen God in broad daylight.
And the reason for their immense shock was far more fantastical than seeing God—that Uchiha Madara, he was actually carrying a child while strolling through the streets!?
Who in Konoha Village didn't know Uchiha Madara?
He was the Shinobi World Asura who single-handedly challenged the entire Ninja World on the battlefield, a super-strong Ninja who dared to show disrespect to Daimyo, a prominent figure standing at the pinnacle of this era.
Whether they were commoners from the bottom of Konoha or Ninja from Ninja clans, they had long regarded such a figure as an inviolable deity, looking up to him while also keeping their distance.
And this was the way of survival for the common people, after all, a single stomp from a deity was enough to destroy these ants.
But now, that Uchiha Madara, whom they regarded as a god, as an Asura, whom they wished to prostrate themselves before, was actually walking brazenly down the street, holding a beautiful and adorable little girl like a doll in his arms, and clutching a large handful of dango in his hand, and then, he was actually eating dango?!
Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Madara, do you still remember your title as the Shinobi World Asura?
What's the difference between how you look now and that silly Senju next to you who's holding his daughter?
The Konoha villagers' internal complaints surged like a raging tide, breaking through their mental defenses.
However, their target did not receive their telepathic waves; instead, he continued to stroll around brazenly.
Uchiha Shin'getsu nestled obediently in Madara's arms, wide-eyed as she observed the strange and colorful world around her, and then, couldn't help but show a look of distaste.
Unlike the steel jungles of skyscrapers in her previous life and the classical Japanese-style architecture of the Uchiha Clan Land, Konoha Village's buildings were characterized by exaggerated, bizarre, and down-to-earth styles.
The plump, round Hokage Building resembled a teapot containing a tanuki, with large blocks of red, green, and yellow clashing together, looking rather like the rustic aesthetic of the Senju Clan.
Low-rise bungalows and towering trees were scattered everywhere, making one feel as if they had entered a kappa's hometown.
Although Konoha Village was called a Village, from the perspective of its population and land area, it was more appropriate to call it a city.
Although it was poor and rustic to an unbearable degree, one could still glimpse the shadow of its future prosperity and grandeur.
The passing crowds wore simple clothes, but they were very clean, and people's faces and eyes showed vigor and vitality, a hope for a good life that those living in war could never possess.
Kamitsuki silently withdrew her gaze.
Konoha Village was never a utopian ideal, but it indeed became a haven for many people.
She could not deny its darkness, but she also could not completely deny its existence like Madara did later.
Alas, such complex feelings.
Snatching a dango from Madara's hand, Kamitsuki fiercely bit into the soft, glutinous rice ball.
It was all Kishimoto's fault; what did he know about Hokage? What kind of terrible plot did he draw, making her live in fear every day after transmigrating, and only able to eat this damned dango!
Objectively speaking, the dango, covered in kinako and brown sugar syrup, was sweet and delicious, and its chewy texture was very appealing.
However, as the only designated dessert with limited supply in Konoha Village, Kamitsuki, who had an insatiable sweet tooth, could only survive by eating dango every day.
Even the most delicious food eventually gets tiresome, let alone Konoha Village's dango, which only came in one flavor; there wasn't even red bean dango, let alone the famous three-color dango.
Kamitsuki, unable to quit sweets and with no other sweets to eat, simply had to live by gnawing on the dango she had long grown tired of.
Damn it, this life is too painful for a sweet tooth!
Just as Kamitsuki was concentrating on dealing with the hateful glutinous rice balls, Madara, who was carrying her around, suddenly stopped.
On a small stall by the roadside, jewelry and hairpins reflecting a faint glow caught his eye.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, he, oblivious to their presence, reached out his hand, rummaging through a variety of gold, jade, and emerald ornaments.
Finally, he picked out a black wooden hairpin inlaid with a ruby and inserted it diagonally into Kamitsuki's hair.
At this moment, the Konoha villagers' jaws successfully detached from their faces.
The poor jaws fell to the ground one after another, producing countless crisp sounds.
Kamitsuki, her mouth full of dango, couldn't speak.
She chewed the sticky rice a few times, innocently blinking her bright black eyes.
Her soft baby hair simply couldn't support the hairpin, and it fell off within a few moments.
Madara timely caught the falling hairpin, saving it from being shattered.
He carefully pinned the hairpin into Kamitsuki's hair again, and with his precise technique, the hairpin indeed did not fall.
However, Kamitsuki had eaten so messily that her face was covered in kinako and brown sugar water, and her originally fair and soft face now looked like a little calico cat.
The beautiful hairpin Madara had carefully selected looked comical and amusing on her head.
"Hmph, you're covered in food, you have no table manners at all."
Uchiha Madara poked Kamitsuki's plump cheek with a look of disdain.
He put down the hairpin and began to select other accessories, enthusiastically trying each one on Kamitsuki.
Is this some kind of real-life dress-up game?
Kamitsuki's mouth twitched.
She felt that Madara's expression now was exactly the same as hers when she played dress-up mini-games in her previous life, only this time she was unfortunate enough to become the female protagonist of the dress-up game.
Madara was like a Nuannuan player with obsessive-compulsive disorder; he no longer bothered to pick out accessories, just tried them on her one by one.
The crowd's gazes pricked Kamitsuki's face like needles; she would undoubtedly become a super celebrity in Konoha Village from now on.
Compared to the complex feelings of Kamitsuki and the Konoha bystanders, Uchiha Madara's thoughts at this moment were actually very simple.
He simply felt that if other girls had something, Kamitsuki must have it too, and that Kamitsuki deserved the best.
Children born in the Warring States Period had no childhood.
Uchiha Madara's youth was even shrouded in the shadow of war and the continuous grief of losing his brothers and family.
Perhaps he himself hadn't noticed that his gaze towards Kamitsuki always held a profound sense of worry.
Could such a small and fragile life truly grow up well?
"Madara, Madara, Lord Madara!"
A trembling wail interrupted Uchiha Madara's contemplation.
He looked in the direction of the sound; it was the unlucky stall owner who had been standing there since earlier.
At this moment, he looked at them with a fearful gaze, his hand, trembling like Parkinson's, laboriously pointed at Madara and the jade bracelet crushed into fragments in his hand.
"....."
Madara expressionlessly flicked away the jade fragments in his hand.
Kamitsuki, in his arms, seized this opportunity and quickly swallowed another dango.
"I'll buy all of these.
How much?"
"No... no need to pay...."
Under Madara's gaze, the poor vendor was almost in tears.
How dared he ask Uchiha Madara for money!
Wasn't that tempting fate?
However, the wealthy Uchiha Madara did not care for freebies.
He pulled out over a dozen gold coins and threw them to the vendor, then packed up all the jewelry and hairpins and took them away, walking off with Kamitsuki in his arms, leaving only the vendor clutching the gold coins and the onlookers staring blankly at his retreating back.
Everything that had just happened had shattered their worldview; they needed some time to reattach their fallen jaws.
"Lord Madara... is he out shopping with his daughter?"
An unknown bystander uttered this exclamation, and only then did people suddenly realize.
That's right, Uchiha Madara is also human, after all.
As a human, he would have emotions and desires, and family bonds.
He was already so old, and Lord Hashirama, his peer, even had a son, so it was perfectly normal for Madara to have a daughter, wasn't it?
"Lord Madara's daughter is so cute! And her eating habits are really bad, pu ha ha ha!"
"I just realized today, Lord Madara is really handsome! Much more handsome than Lord Hashirama."
The silent crowd suddenly erupted into unprecedented gossip and banter.
People teased Madara, who was like a silly dad, and his silly and cute "daughter," even boldly discussing interesting anecdotes about the Uchiha Clan.
The Uchiha and the Village, who had always been separated, actually drew much closer to each other amidst these jests.