Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-25343176-20150612124722/@comment-26379028-20150613180007

Well, I think many people in that level or stronger existed before Hashirama , but they were just warmongers so they didn't get much fame like the First Kages and Madara.

P.S. : I don't really believe the rumor that Madara and his brother were the first to awaken the Mangekyo in the Uchiha. We have seen Indra using his Susanoo a 10 centuries before the beginning of the series.

And because the state the world was in, many people , must have went through tragedies , including the Uchiha. So many Uchiha must have awakened the Mangekyo before, and who knows , maybe some awakened the Rinnegan but again were forgot because of being warmongers.