Anime Empires

Otsutsuki Indra and His Descendants Were Robbed by Imperialism

With the current global political climate (S/O Aquarius in Pluto) let’s revisit Naruto and Naruto Shippuden’s primary theme: Imperialism.

By Natalie Gumo (Nat The Yapper)

Illustration by Samuel Kombo

“Your selfish misconception will mar the future of Ninshu with war and calamities. I have no intention of ever stopping my fight until I accomplish this, my soul will reincarnate and fight, however long it takes!” — Otsutsuki Indra.

If Kishimoto’s pen was slightly more decent then Shippuden would likely be one of the better shounen out, but here we are. Despite that, he kind of ate when it came to imperialism in his series and how Konoha is such a perfect example of it, both internally and externally.

Disclaimer: I’d like to start by admitting that I am one of the biggest Uchiha defenders, and this article might be tinged with bias towards them, but I have things to say (or type, in this case).

Imperialism: a Definition

But first, imperialism. For the purposes of this article, we’ll use the Britannica definition: state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas. Because it always involves the use of power, whether military or economic or some subtler form, imperialism has often been considered morally reprehensible, and the term is frequently employed in international propaganda to denounce and discredit an opponent’s foreign policy.

We all know the tragic story of the Uchiha, and how the narrative seems to punish them significantly simply because of their different world view. What many people seem to ignore however — both in the narrative by the characters and outside it as fans — are who the sole architect of this punishment is. This in turn, brings out ever more clearly the point that imperialism is incredibly insidious and it will always rot the inside and implode with catastrophic circumstances for everyone involved.

I mean, look at the mess that is the United States right now.

Graphic by Vera Kabushemeye

Hagoromo, Indra and Asura

The Uchiha’s woes start with their ancestor, Otsutsuki Indra and his younger brother, the ancestor of the Senju and Uzumaki clans, Otsutsuki Asura. Their father, Hagoromo, the Sage of Ten Paths and the first jinchuriki, had decided that Asura would be the one that would be his heir as opposed to Indra. He sidelined Indra, the more prodigious of his two sons, because Indra was of the opinion that peace would be best attained through power. Meanwhile, Asura was of the opinion that peace was best attained through friendship and team work.

This is where the mess begins.

To summarize, the narrative implies that teamwork and friendships tends to trump raw power, which is not entirely true. Even the narrative shows us multiple times with multiple characters that raw power will defeat all elements of teamwork if the character is busted enough, and one thing Naruto does not lack is busted characters.

[embed]Why We Love Animanga Fire Dudes Uchiha Madara. Roy Mustang. Rengoku Kyōjurō…coldtakegeeks.co.ke

The Senju Clan and Their Continuation of Asura’s Imperialism

However, Senju Hashirama, and by extent Asura, show us how they are simply imperialists that dress themselves up in pretty words and polite smiles to get people on their side to hide how much power they are willing to amass for themselves to control everything and everyone else around them.

The funny thing is, Hashirama did not necessarily need to do all of that.

Anyway, before Hagoromo died, he released the nine tailed beasts from himself, giving them consciousness and allowing them to exist just as they are, with free will on condition that they don’t harm the shinobi. I doubt Madara and Hashirama are the first reincarnates of Indra and Asura respectively, but they are no doubt the strongest thus far, yes, even stronger than Sasuke and Naruto. Hashirama went and collected the tailed beasts solo and distributed them to the other newly formed villages “as a token of peace”. He collected these beasts through force, which, in retrospect could have predictably spelt doom for the shinobi world.

No one can convince me Hashirama didn’t know what he was doing when he used force against the biju, and as a result, no one can convince me that he didn’t know the future ramifications of that particular act. He went against the teachings of his own Ancestor. There was definitely an aspect of selfish flexing and almost zero political acumen in that action, an action which caused the inevitable subsequent shinobi wars.

Because what do you mean one shinobi single-handedly collected every single bijuu, and distributed them against their will to other villages, when even the absolute strongest in these villages would need tens of other shinibi, — most of whom would die — to even just barely subjugate them?!

That sort of power concentration in one person is dangerous because it can make anyone’s head swell. Imperialism on steroids.

Now, let’s compare this to the US. Since after WWII, the US has postured itself as the bastions of morality and freedom, the ones that won the war for its allies and therefore they should have a say in all things leadership and greatness. However, just like Konoha did in Amegakure and other shinobi villages, they poked their nose in wars they had no business poking their noses in: from South East Asia (Vietnam War), to East Asia (Korean war), to all the coups in South America, Asia and Africa (read about Pinochet in Chile, Iranian Shahs, Pol Pot in Cambodia and Lumumba in DRC), to all the literal genocides they’ve been ignoring (Bosnian War, The Rwandan Genocide and the Palestinian Genonide), and ignoring the theft of resources using force their allies may be behind (Iraq, Yemen). If you’ve ever opened a history book, the parallels are painfully obvious.

And then, and then, when you add on to the fact that Tobirama Senju killed Izuna Uchiha, the same Tobirama that went out of his way to spew bigotry towards the Uchiha Clan during both he and his brother’s terms as Hokage and then spread these same seeds of bigotry to his students… It’s just impossible to not see how all this was simply orchestrated. Hashirama knew how his brother felt about the Uchiha, so him sitting there and telling Madara that Konoha is one big happy family and telling Tobirama not to mistreat the Uchiha when he dies is just disingenuous at best and clear bigotry at worst. He had all the power to ensure the Uchiha at the very least were not discriminated against, something which he was obligated to do and something which Madara asked him to do multiple times, but alas.

I don’t think I need to explain what befell the Uchiha from there.

[embed]Uchiha Madara and the Pros (and Cons) of Benevolent Dictatorship With the recent coup-induced French-exit from West Africa, this Naruto character’s hard-line stance on creating change…coldtakegeeks.co.ke

I mean, the US has the audacity to claim they are going “to fight for freedom” in these countries when they are literally funding armed militia to crush democratically elected governments because the democratically elected leaders will concentrate resource development inland instead of exploiting their people to send all their riches to them ( Check out Banana Republics in South America.) First of all, what are American freedoms doing in Chile and Vietnam? What purpose did Hashirama have to go round looking for tailed beasts? Why was Konoha destroying the hell out of Amegakure for?

And just like Tobirama dedicated his entire life to ensuring the Uchiha suffered for existing, is the same way the US dedicates themselves to strip their own people and the people they oppress from proper information and rights to understand this is all a forceful maintenance of power for them.

The exact same way Itachi was manipulated by Sarutobi Hiruzen to massacre his clan, is the exact same way the US manipulates young, impressionable people to go and commit war crimes and crimes against humanity in other countries. ‘It’s for your own good,’ apparently.

If you know, you know.

I’m not saying Konoha would have been ideal if the tables were turned and the Uchiha were actually the ones that got to rule. In fact to be very honest I know it would have been pandemonium, a sort of benevolent dictatorship simply because of the way they as a people are set up: perfectionists and single minded in their determination to be the best. The narrative makes it quite clear there is no love quite as deep and devotional as the Uchiha’s, but there’s also no hatred as pure and as unshakeable as theirs. (Obito never forgave Konoha for the incident involving Rin, and I support him fully in that). I know the shinobi world would be significantly more different if it had them at the helm, but at least with the Uchiha, they were straight forward and direct. You knew where you stood with them at all times.

Can’t quite say the same about the Senju, and by extension the Uzumaki. The Hyuuga are on thin ice, but theirs is an entirely different story.

Really, we see how imperialism can wreck everyone’s shit and make an entirely unavoidable mess, because Hiruzen could defend his maniacal, mad scientist, human rights violator of a student who eventually came back to consistently cause all manner of problems for the village — but the Uchiha is where he drew the line. Mad work, frankly.

All in All

To conclude, the Uchiha deserved so much better than Hagoromo’s fate on them, and they are better than me and many others because that coup needed to have happened immediately after Hashirama died. I think we can all borrow some lessons from the Uchiha, and in particular Madara, who dedicated his entire life to fight the lies that the Senju-Uzumaki were spewing just to hide behind their true objectives. Revolution will always be there as long as there is greed fuelling oppression.

© 2026 Natalie Gumo

Nat is a professional simp, hater and yapper obsessed with her favourite (mostly) shounen series. She reads far too much manga for her own good, watches far less anime than she should, and has a lot of things to say about the more mainstream and not so mainstream series currently airing. You can find her running her mouth at MsVillainStan (twitter, IG and TikTok). Come say hi.