It's really, really cool! This is my favourite fanfiction, after all. I know maybe I'm too late, but I have to say that I love it so much! I have experienced many emotions when reading this fic, and it's perfect!
Can you please let me translate it to Vietnamese? I really want to introduce you and your fanfictions to my friends. I promise I will write the author name and attack the original link
Thank you in advance

This last omake is exactly what I thought should have happened in that scene where Hashirama went looking for Madara and the guards said Madara was with a girl. Not all of it, but if only they hadn't said he was with a girl and had offered a little more clarification, the entire rest of the terribly sad story wouldn't have happened...

*sob*
I hate domino effects of bad decisions.

This is the second story I've ever read where an author tells you what would have happened if the characters had made different choices. And just like the first story, it is _absolutely devastating_. There is nothing more torturous, more agonizing, more frustrating and awful and guaranteed to have the reader ripping their hair out and crying than knowing "what could have been." Those 4 words are famously known as the saddest words ever. I love the story, I just...felt that your use of this authorial technique was perhaps too effective (for my comfort). This story is too good at hitting my terribly sad buttons.

Even though this fic is pretty old, I think I have to write a review anyway, even if no one will read it, as it's far too good to not get my written praise. I've read it twice, 1st was in late May: I'd been reading a Naruto liveblog (despite not having seen Naruto), and HashiMada had been popular among the also a Naruto-fan subset of a fandom I'm in. I was like idc about Naruto, but sure, I'll bite. This got me so invested in the Naruto world, and showed me the amazing potential Naruto fanworks can have that I bought a bundle of the first 40 volumes off ebay. From my now engagement with the fandom, I can tell that canon marched on, meaning some of the details of the story don't fit anymore, but tbh that doesn't matter, this is just a damn good story. Here's a *Jenny Nicholson voice* numbered list of what I loved in this fic:
1) The literary fiction like writing style, and I loved all the intense, close, focus on facial expressions, tone, and emotion. The feeling of having important conversations where you have to rapidly analyse someone's expression, respond to them, and then self-reflect, is captured really well and is just as nerve-wracking as it is in real life. Hashirama is fantastically written and you really feel like you're trapped together with him in his head. Hashirama's conversations with Madara where my fave parts of the fic.
2) The focus on politics, I love the fights in Naruto, but the under-explored politics in Naruto interest me even more, this has excellent ideas for what early Konoha could be like.
3) I wish I could upvote other reviews, but yeah I agree, the dual-meaning of 'Man of Dreams': both the homophobic caricature Hashirama fears he is, and a term for an idealist, is fantastic, and those themes aren't just window-dressing - they're heavily explored.
4) The whole feeling of kinda 'you are in love: you are in hell'. I'm getting better, but my default strategy for same-sex crushes since I was 13 is to ignore them and hope they go away, they don't - so I distance myself from the crush, sabotage my friendship with them, systematically destroy it. So yeah Hashirama not picking Madara as nidaime made a lot of sense to me from that perspective, and it hit very hard.
5) Uchiha clan weirdness. I loved the non-combat uses of the sharingan, ie Madara drawing the fake map for Mito was amazing and one of my fave moments in the story. Their clan only marrying itself and the fudging of anti-incest calculations is disgusting, but also headcanon excepted lmao.
6) The rest of cast were also great! I loved Mito, especially her introduction, my heart also aches for her - that in the end neither Madara nor Hashirama romantically loved her, but it's fittingly tragic. Tobirama and Sarutobi Sasuke were also fun. Modern fanon Tobirama comes off a lot more villainous and manipulative (which I also love), and I've even seen a villainous Sasuke, but just seeing them be more or less heroic and fun here, was nice.
7) The, idk how to express this, construction of the text? I loved all the brackets, and how the text reflects drunkness. I loved how some chapters have cool formats, like how chapter 9 has 3 sections starting with 'a word on', it makes very readable while also kinda catching you off guard.
8) The 'Will of Fire' dream Hashirama has of Madara near the end nearly made cry, the story doesn't just exist to build to that moment I must stress, it's great in its own right, but god that chapter is just a bittersweet culmination of everything that had come before it. And after it, though Hashirama is still tragically in love with Madara, there's some peace; like eg Hashirama can joke about Sasuke and Tobirama being married without much pain.
This was a masterpiece. I couldn't stop thinking about this story after I finished it, hence the second read. This is definitely a hidden jewel of a fic. Back in May, I was incredibly depressed and couldn't sustain an interest in anything, getting into Naruto partially via this fic, has dealt with that and has made this summer pretty fun.

Hashirama lost Kawarama and Itama in canon!naruto

hashirama you big idiot! and madara too man

leaf stationary, awesome

I really like your style of writing and how visceral Hashirama's reactions are as a result of it. I have a feeling I won't be able to stop myself from reading the entirety of this fanfiction within a short period of time haha.

It is 7 in the morning, and I've been reading this since midnight. Dammit, I told myself I was going to stop at chapter three and continue tomorrow (well, today) in the afternoon, but noo. Three chapters turned into four, which turned into five, which turned into twenty-four. I am the master of self-control. (I would be a terrible ninja)

I can't tell you how much I appreciate these omakes. Holy crap, I loved all of them. FINALLY some requited HashiMada! Teasing banter instead of screaming accusations! Laughing instead of crying! Kissing instead of killing!

I loved this entire fic, and it was definitely worth the lack of sleep. Hell, I'd never sleep again if you had more HashiMada to offer. Thank you so much for writing this story!

And so it ends, and it was brilliant. And hold on, what was Madara doing as the snail mask ANBU, the night of the battle? Damn, and hadn't he been healing Hashirama and everything?

Even if canon has thrown the Tobi Madara theory out the window, I still loved the ending for being so damn fitting. They killed each other, and of course it also parallels the beginning of the fic in a nice little bit of symmetry. :) Bless you for writing all this, seriously. What a rollercaster of emotions! I loved it.

You clever, clever person. The three Tobis, and then working in the spiral, too - even if we now know that it's really my boi Obito, still an awesome moment.

Madaraaa nooo

(I'm sorry, it's six in the morning and I'm not sure what else to say)

Hashi and Mito, so cute in their flailing awkwardness. And Mads makes a little cameo :')

This fic has been amazing so far, I just strongly feel the need to reiterate.

So Madara finally realizes Hashi loves him? :( I loved their entire battle scene, and honestly you could have shown the entire thing and I'd have been delighted. I teared up when you mentioned Madara's eyes glistening, because aghh they both just wanted peace!

See, this is what happens when you're both idiots who refuse to talk about feelings. Dammit, Madara. Dammit, Hashirama.

Mito was so close to finding out! Agh, I just want them to be in solidarity. They could at least find comfort/support with each other over their mutual pining :( Shit, though, they were screaming so loudly - surely someone heard them?