Symbolism: Naruto Manga 575: Stone Will

Symbolism:

• The Stone: is a symbol of the will of the Rock village. (similar to konoha's will of fire .) In the flashback the Kage references the will of a shinobi whenever he speaks of the stone. 
• The Pedestal: is a symbol of the the physical shinobi as a person.
• The cleaning of the rock: a symbol of patient and diligence used to help manifest the true value of the will of the shinobi.

Scene 1: A younger Oonoki is with the Kage of the rock village cleaning stones. The Kage complains about Oonoki's half-ass cleaning methods.The Kage tries to explain the importance of the stones, but Oonoki doesn't buy it.

Quote: Kage"This stone...is the symbol of our shinobi village's strong will!"

Explanation: Here the Kage blatantly explains what the meaning of the rock is. Even better, the Kage is now speaking specifically about the will of Oonoki.

Scene 2:The Kage throws the stone located on the pedestal into the water where a plethora of other rocks are and then directly speaks about Oonoki.

Quotes: Kage: "Here...if you put a new one on the pedestal no one will notice"

Explanation: Here the Kage sets up to teach onoki another lesson. By throwing of the rock is synonymous to a shinobi losing their will. If we take the pedestal as the shinobi's body, and the rock as the shinobi's will, then when the Kage replaced the rock could represent how easily the change of a will can happen. The fact that Oonoki is unable to recognize the original stone/will, explains the kages warning.

Scene 3: Oonoki is battling Madara. He is badly injured while Madara doesn't seem to be scratched at all. Oonoki grabs a rock from the ground and the panel zooms in to his determined face. But then his facial expression changes and he drops the rock. 

Quote: Kage: "if you don't pay attention you will lose that will at the end. If you forsake your will while hitting against that wall...you will begin to make excuses and obtain hatred in exchange of your determination."

Explanation: "Although Oonoki was given this warning he eventually ends up losing his determination and will while fighting Madara. Madara's power was the wall that oonoki was unable to overcome, and was what the Kage warned," would turn his will". During that fight, oonoki had lost the will during the battle, which was represented by his dropping of the rock.

Conclusion: The flashbacks ends, Oonoki awakens and realizes that he had been making excuses all along, and through this realization is empowered