Bird's Eye View
Summary: Toriyama Sora from the land of Earth came to Konoha for aid in a political matter. She did not count on being caught up in Hashirama's matchmaking.
For growing up in the warring clans era my childhood was calmer than you'd think. Granted, it wasn't peaceful by any stretch of the imagination but it certainly was better than what was going on in the land of Fire with their infernal Senju-Uchiha war. I honestly have no idea how they funded all that fighting. It's like they make their living off killing each other! Some of us actually have to eat. Then again, maybe it was resources that they were originally fighting for?
Anyway, I guess you could say I was pretty lucky. A few generations back, which in shinobi terms is an eternity, my clan the Toriyama made an alliance with a nomadic civilian herding clan- our protection for their food. We shinobi guarded the herders from renegades while our hawks guarded the livestock from the carnivorous alpine parrots. It worked well; with an entire clan backing them, most bandits and rival herdsmen learned not to mess with the Hitsujikai. 'Course we still took some missions; there are some things you need to buy that you just can't get from a sheep or a goat- Kunai for example. We found that they were much more effective when made out of metal than they were out of bone or horn, no matter how hard the Hitsujikai tried. Then there were always some who challenged us anyway, green or desperate bandits or other herders who took up arms that we'd take all the best grazing lands of the steppe. Shinobi were hired, battles were fought, and people died. But it wasn't the constant paranoia that I'd imagine living in Fire would have wrought.
Then word spread that the Senju and Uchiha had formed an alliance, were gathering arms with other clans of the region and fear began to tickle at our senses. Apart, the legendary clans could tear at each other's throats for all we'd care, whittling each other down to nothing. But together they formed a power stronger than the sum of its parts, a threatening storm gathering on the horizon- a tornado before you knew which path it would take. The shinobi clans of Earth were brought together with our shared fear.
Even before a common threat joined us as one, our enmity with each other was much less personal than it was in Fire. We were hired mercenaries; people died on the job. It wasn't uncommon for civilians to hire multiple clans for a task, and we lived with the knowledge that someone who might be your enemy on one mission could be your ally on the next. And if they happened to have killed someone you held dear on a previous mission, you sucked it up and dealt with it because that's the life of a shinobi. Since not many other clans had tried allying themselves with a consistent food source like we did, not keen on 'catering to the whims of civilians 24/7', it wasn't like we had fought much over who could take which civilian clan or whatnot. Whatever we fought over was for the benefit of the client and not for our own gain. Our kills were impersonal, no need to hold a vendetta. Really, the land of Earth was teetering on the edge of peace already and all it needed was the final little push that the threat of the Senju-Uchiha alliance provided.
The clans of the land of Earth formed… a coalition. It wasn't until we received a missive from Konohagakure that we were called a 'village': a Village Hidden in the Stone to be exact. We hardly formed a cohesive unit, each clan still having their own home base. What we had was merely a shared understanding that if Konohagakure attacked, we would come to each other's aid, and form a joint front for a powerful enemy. Therefore I was very surprised when after a meeting of the clan heads our leader came back to us to report that the Kamizuru clan had received a missive requesting the "Tsuchikage" of "Iwagakure" to attend the 'First Five-Kage Summit'.
The first summit? As if they were so sure it would happen again? And to just assume the leaders of all the five nations would call themselves 'shadow' like they did- honestly, how conceited could they be? Well, as it turned out, not as conceited as the Kamizuru who only deigned to share this information after the Kamizuru clan head Ishikawa had attended the summit claiming the title of Shodai Tsuchikage for himself. Needless to say, the rest of the clans were pissed. But fighting amongst ourselves would only show weakness to our enemy, and if they were assuming we were a united front then we couldn't afford to be less than that.
And so the construction of 'Iwagakure' began at last.
You know how I said that the clans of earth didn't fight for personal gain? Well that's only half true. Clan rivalries did exist, and one of them happened to be between the Toriyama and the Kamizuru. Like the Uchiha/Senju feud, no one knows how it started but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with our birds eating their bees. We hold each other in mutual disdain. They're impractical pricks who believe in shinobi superiority and scoff at our decision to ally ourselves with a civilian clan. They call us hoof lickers. We call them hive-minded, sticky-fingered idiots who need to get their bees out of their asses. But despite the mutual dislike we never went out of our way to kill each other.
That didn't stop us from acting petty though. Sabotage was par for the course, like a really big prank war between whole clans (as long as no one died as a direct effect of our actions, we maintained the status quo). And, lucky us, Ishikawa was just petty enough about our little feud to decide that the Toriyama weren't needed or welcomed to join Iwagakure on the claim that 'a half-civilian nomadic clan would not lend any advantages to a stationary military base'. That was honestly fine with us… at first. Remember that Iwa was first created as a defensive retaliation to the alliances forming in Fire. As international tensions began to rise with the tailed beast negotiations we soon realized that if Konoha ever decided to attack Earth, the Toriyama would be left out in the cold. We neither wanted to be singled out by either village and eliminated, nor caught in the crossfire between two giants' war lacking protection from either side. So since Kamizuru Ishikawa had named himself the Tsuchikage and thereby claimed Iwa wanted nothing to do with us, our only other option was to talk to Konoha.
Since we have the excuse of Hitsujikai trading, Konoha was ridiculously easy to infiltrate. I simply guarded Old Yagi and his son Tsuno's wool caravan as they made their way to the village. The fact that they were men and that I kept my hawks by them for protection lead sexist citizens of Konoha to easily believe that they were the ninjas, (or at least merchants with some ninja training) and I was merely Tsuno's young wife. It was a misconception that I didn't rectify. Seen as such I was able to pick up gossip and learn key pieces of information.
The civilian sector of Konoha was much more developed than in Iwa. From what I'd heard, Iwa didn't have any civilians and used that as rationale for not letting us Toriyama join and bring along the Hitsujikai. I was of two minds on Iwagakure's civilian policy. On the one hand, loose-lipped civilians were a liability and I did get most of my information from them, but on the other hand I didn't expect Iwa to be able to run simply off of chakra and testosterone. They had to get civilian goods and services from someone. I suspected they'd come to realize that on their own sooner or later, (the shinobi we sent out to sabotage their food supply line trying to ensure it be sooner), and Iwa would be forced to accept that they needed non-combatants; thereby losing their only legitimate reason not to let us in. Until then though, we needed insurance and protection- thus my mission in Konoha.
My prospects began to look up when I was able to learn that the Hokage was a huge romantic, the Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi clans held an alliance preceding their integration into the village, and the Nara clan kept deer. Now these may seem like random and innocuous facts but to me they were the beginnings of a plan.
I started by talking up the Nara, introducing our markhor to their herds and asking if they'd kindly share their salt licks with our beasts of burden. My 'curiosity' led me to ask about the creation of the village, and how Hashirama had gotten other clans to join. I admitted my interest was somewhat self-serving; that our clan's alliance with another gave the Tsuchikage suspicion as to where our loyalties would lay if we joined the village. I used vague manner of speech, mentioning the civilian/ninja clan alliance we partook in without specifying which clan I was in. Once it became clear that the Nara would not shun me for being a foreign shinobi, I spoke freely and truthfully of our situation, a move that they seemed to appreciate.
With the Nara backing me I was able to get an audience with the Hokage in which I appealed to his romantic sensibilities, playing off of the slight similarities between the Uchiha/Senju conflict and the rivalry between my clan and the Kamizuru. I preached about how my clan only wanted to continue our ways in peace and protection. I caught Hashirama's heart hook line and sinker. I realized too late however that his bleeding heart might be a bit too bloody when he vehemently proposed that I marry his best friend Madara Uchiha.
"I'm… flattered, Hokage-sama, but I fail to see how this might help our situation." I politely declined.
"A marriage alliance! With the Village Hidden in the Leaves backing you, the Village Hidden in the Stone wouldn't dare attack and may even accept you into their fold in order to gain access to your political connection. In exchange you will be the bridge between our two nations! This is perfect; I'll draw up the contract right away. Love will pave the way to international cooperation! Why didn't I think of this before? Catching the tailed beasts to distribute power evenly won't be necessary- we should have a bride exchange instead!"
I felt myself flailing as it became abundantly clear I'd gotten in way over my head.
How could I tell him what a stupid idea that was? If the Toriyama allied so flamboyantly with Konoha it could be seen as a direct threat to Iwa, possibly interpreted as an ultimatum for them to ally with both of us and could lead to a massive war rather than peace.
Not only that, but how would calling off the tailed beast hunt be received now that the possibility was already brought up? Would Hashirama's backing out cue the others in to start an even bigger war? What had I done? To my utter relief Tobirama came to the rescue just then to shut his brother down.
"You're getting ahead or yourself, brother." Yes, by god he was. Tobirama's irritated voice rounding the door was my savior. "We do not even know if the Uchiha is so inclined. His preferences might lie elsewhere." He sent the Hokage a meaningful look that had my cheeks flushing in realization but Hashirama entirely missed.
I cleared my throat. "I agree, let's not get too hasty. We… may want to consider alerting Madara-sama to this… proposal?" And if Tobirama were right about Madara's orientation then I would be off the hook.
"And you can't go giving village backing to every pity case who comes knocking on our door, brother." Tobirama added in, to my annoyance.
"Ah, yes. Both of you have valid points." Hashirama sheepishly admitted. "I may have gotten a little overexcited." He looked thoughtful. "Madara will have to be handled carefully. He's been a bit… moody, lately."
I caught Tobirama rolling his eyes from the corner of my vision. "Oh yes, ever since you married Mito the man has be absolutely green." He commented sarcastically.
"All the more reason to surprise him with a wife!" Hashirama nodded decisively. "Once we're both married Madara will have nothing to be jealous of and we can resume our friendship on equal footing."
I was starting to feel a little indignant at this point. Not only had the brothers turned their attention exclusively to each other, effectively ignoring me, but was I really being used as some sort of bartering chip to equalize Hashirama's and Madara's bromance? Regardless of the insult I kept my mouth shut while the brothers bantered. I was still a shinobi and wouldn't pass up the chance to listen to the brothers' speak without the filter they'd most likely keep for a more respected guest.
The heir to the Senju clan pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Your willful ignorance is intolerable, brother. For as long as I've known him the man has been besotted." Tobirama remarked. "Kami knows I hate the man but your obliviousness to his feelings is beginning to boarder on cruel. Especially considering his clan's affliction. It's not you he's jealous of anija."
"Then whom would he be jealous of?" Hashirama asked in utter befuddlement. "Mito?" Then he burst in to raucous laughter at the sheer idea of it.
A look of pain crossed Tobirama's face as if his brother's stupidity physically ailed him. I could agree with the sentiment. He slowly shook his head. "That poor, poor man." Tobirama left us with the biting remark "I don't know what Madara did in his past life to deserve you."
Hashirama quieted down from his amusement and sent a confused look my way. "What could he mean by that?" Eyes widening he turned back to the door to find his brother long gone. Looking back at me he sincerely asked, "Do you think Tobirama has the hots for Madara?"
Despite my best efforts, the tea I had been sipping spewed violently out my nose and mouth at the Shodai Hokage's comment. How was this man the head of the first ninja village?
"O-oh, oh dear! Are you all right?" Hashirama asked. "Was it something I said?" I looked up from desperately coughing into my handkerchief to stare at him with wide eyes. He had the decency to look sheepish. "Yes, you're right. Silly question. I shouldn't be talking about your potential husband like that. Speaking of which, do you know how to cook inarizushi?" If my face wasn't already red and convulsing from spewing boiling hot liquid out my nose I'm sure I'd have had a very noticeable eye twitch of irritation.
I cleared my throat one last time and tried to get back on track. "Hokage-sama," I said levelly, pretending as if nothing had happened, "Because of our partnership with birds, the Toriyama are uniquely suited to surveillance and security. I'm sure a trade of assistance could be negotiated were we to form an alliance. A rotating cast of my clansmen could, for instance, be spared from our ranks for you to do with as you wish. Having Toriyama employed in the forests would significantly increase the safety of your village and all we ask in return would be assurances that should a war between Konoha and Iwa (god forbid) ever come to pass, the Toriyama will be respected in its neutrality, protected from collateral damage and given aid should Iwa decide to target us for elimination."
Hashirama seemed to be thinking it over and I internally sighed in relief. "I can see the difficult situation you're in." He said seriously. "However, a promise of aid against Iwa is a lot to ask, especially if the most you could do for us in return should it come to war would be neutrality."
I poured myself some tea and thought over my reply. I had to strike a balance between trying to seem too weak to help in a war but strong enough that our help in other areas would still be desirable. "Understand Hokage-sama, that us taking anyone's side against the hidden village of our own country would be tactically unwise. We do not wish to make an enemy of the panther who rules our mountain. She has chosen not to let us into her den but has also deemed not to chase us off entirely. We hope to keep it that way. Against other predators we'd be willing to give aid, but not against the mountain lion."
"Well then rather than seeking protection from afar, why not move from the mountain to the forest?" Hashirama asked. He grinned, "Would you like to give it a go in the wolves' den?"
"You- you mean move to Konohagakure?" I blinked at his smiling, nodding face. "I thank you for your exceedingly generous offer but I'm afraid it's not at all possible. The Hitsujikai would never agree."
"Ah, but why not?" He gestured to the barren plateau backing the village and the literal cliff-face carved into it. "The herds could stay on the Hokage Mountain."
When I looked where he was pointing I had to cough into my fist to keep myself from laughing in his face and asking, 'you call that a mountain?' Because really, it was a hill. A tiny rock hill with his face carved into it that someone had the dumb idea to name Hokage Mountain. I couldn't hold back a snicker.
"What?" Hashirama sent me the widest, most innocent look that I'm sure could chastise almost anyone into doing what he wanted and I had to swallow back another fit of laughter.
"Ha-Hokage-sama," I finally managed, "I don't think the Sage himself could convince our herders to transport all five thousand six hundred twenty nine mountain goats across three countries to settle down on a rock without any grass."
He blanched, "F-five thousand…"
"…Six hundred twenty nine. Yes." I finished for him. "I know because we count every morning and search down those that are missing." And I hadn't even included the mouflon and markhor.
Hashirama deflated. "I… see. And I suppose that downsizing would be out of the question."
I hummed in agreement. There wasn't even a question. Hitsujikai loved their beasts. Hashirama still seemed to be dazzled by the sheer numbers in our herd so I decided to take my chance to state my case. "My clan is willing to give you peace of mind, Hashirama-sama. There is nothing that can get past our bird's eyes. Your village will be safe under our wing and all we want in exchange is some insurance for a possibility that may never come to pass. Iwagakure has shown no hostility toward either of us so far, and may continue not to in the future. It is their ignorance and pride that prevents them from allowing a clan who is allied to a civilian tribe to enter their ranks. Once Iwa sees the error of its ways and realizes the futility of building a nation of soldiers alone, I have every confidence they will allow my clan in. You need only promise protection until then- protection that you may not even need to supply, and in exchange you'll get our services until we no longer need the possibility of yours."
He frowned, thinking it over. "I still like the idea of a marriage alliance." I bit back a groan. "But your offer does sound more appealing the second time through. Let us compromise; promise us a political bride after your clan is united with Iwa and send envoys to the Tsuchikage to expedite the process. If his reason for excluding you is as you say, I'm sure you can convince him otherwise. Until then Konohagakure will offer you its protection." He turned to me with a winning smile and hand extended but I wasn't quite ready to conclude this negotiation.
I smiled back. "As you have so wisely suggested Hokage-sama, we have already sent envoys to Tsuchikage-sama in regards to our admittance to Iwa. Once we are united with the village as you elegantly put it, a political marriage agreed upon prior to our involvement with Iwa would only alienate and hinder our standing in the village. Thus the Toriyama and Hitsujikai will do everything else in our power to bring about an alliance between Iwagakure and Konohagakure." Finally I stuck out my hand to shake but Hashirama didn't take it, instead trying to get the last word.
"I expect you'll be starting right away then?" He asked with a mischievous twinkle.
I tried not to falter but the look on his face made it seem like he'd won. "What?"
"Send word back to the Toriyama for reinforcements with one of your hawks. You'll watch over the village solo until they arrive. Oh, and report any suspicious findings to Madara. I'll have the Uchiha put you up." Before I could protest Hashirama took my limply outstretched hand and roughly shook it.
What had I gotten into?
