Everything had been an adjustment.
From his financial situation to the culture, the values; where he saw echoes of his own world. A closer look revealed a twisted and mocking image of the familiar.
Like the kids going to school. Tony didn't need an alarm clock anymore - he woke up regular as clockwork to the sounds of the local kids bouncing off his rooftop. As dawn broke, Tony watched the second wave of kids while he got the forges back up to temperature.
The herd spilled from the neighbourhood across the river, the one with a red and white fan painted on the walls. Siblings would insist on holding each other's hands. The older ones were proudly wearing the hitai-ate with Konoha's symbol trying to corral the younger ones to school. They argued and screamed, on one occasion he's seen a kid drag his little sister by the ankle. Girls skipped hand in hand, singing silly songs.
It was a deceptive picture of innocence.
These kids were carrying kunai and shuriken. They were armed and trained. The future soldiers of Konoha. They still had their baby teeth. The older siblings were just hitting puberty and already in uniform.
The song drifting over the river went:
"five shinobi went to bed
one's from iwa so he's dead
one's from kumo an'
the kiri-nin's pissed
one's from suna but he won't be missed
and the last shinobi to go to bed
was the konoha-nin who kept his head!"
It was kinda catchy.
Technology-wise, Tony would compare his new dimension to somewhere around the mid-twentieth century. There were still prominent pieces of machinery in use that would fit into the late nineteenth century. It was weird and whenever Tony thought he'd got the hang of it, this world spat something new in his face.
He'd been right about the lack of ballistic weaponry. Bows and arrows existed but that seemed to be the end of development. War and all its facets were controlled by shinobi, and they were determined to maintain their monopoly.
Nevertheless, life waited for no-one.
After he'd been accepted into Saburo's employ his welcome at the hostel had worn thin. The weaponsmith had been kind enough to find Tony a sleeping mat and a mosquito net, an essential item in Konoha's humid summers.
At night he found a comfortable space on the floor at the workshop and drifted off into a fitful sleep. He dreamed of the people he missed; Jarvis, both of them. Dum-E, U, Butterfingers - Rhodey and Happy, always dragging his dumb ass out of the fire.
Now he was haunted by the shortness of the list. Only two were technically people.
Well, his mother had always encouraged him to 'make' friends... although she likely hadn't meant that so literally.
Tony threw himself into his work, as he always did; avoiding his thoughts and feelings. Exhausting himself so that they couldn't follow him into sleep, clogging up his brain and wrapping tightly around his chest.
In the mornings he'd either forgo breakfast or eat last night leftovers, then set to work with his morning tasks. Setting out the molds for shuriken and kunai blanks and getting the forges back up to temperature, after which he would check the calendar and pull out the specialized projects for the day.
The forging itself was proving to be the hardest work Tony had done to date. He'd started with learning the basic how-to's, pumping the bellows and getting the forge hot and keeping it that way.
Saburo had since moved him onto learning the basic tools of Shinobi trade.
"This," Saburo said "is ninja wire. Dead useful." he added, guiding Tony to draw it out from a bar into a rough twist and then through the first of several draw plates. Saburo took it from there, working the metal through the rest of the plates until it was down to size. "Cheap to make and shinobi go through it like a biju goes through a village."
"Shouldn't there be a machine for this?" Tony asked, stretching sore arms. The technology wasn't that hard. He could probably whip something together. Another machine to add to his ever-growing list of things he needed to make.
"Maybe. If we were in Kumo," replied Saburo.
"Kumo?"
"It's another hidden village, one of the great five in fact."
"There are five of these places," Tony said in horror.
"Oh no. The last count, I think there were seven, but there are probably more. Ya know… still hidden." Saburo said as he fed more wire through the plates.
"And they are?"
"The Great Five are, Suna, Iwa, Kiri, Kumo and finally Konoha. The very first shinobi village ever established."
"Why are only five 'Great'?" Tony grunted from the effort of turning the handle.
"Well, they were among the first to be built, excepting Kumo. They established themselves at the very end of the first war. They like to present the five as if they hold the balance of power, but that's not all of it." Saburo cut the wire and began a new reel. Pulling one through and handing the end to Tony secured for a new coil." Aure, they're powerful, but the 'great five' are the only Shinobi Villages that have the sanction and support of their Daimyō to operate."
"That's why Kumo's got the machines, everything's run by their Kage, and the Lightning Diyamō might exercise a lot of control, but they get more funding out of it. The Raikage pays for and distributes the weapons. Hell, Kumo even trains their own smiths. The whole she-bang. Or at least that's how it used to be."
"And here?"
"Konoha Shinobi forces will pay for all standard weaponry, medical care, and basic housing - if your division has a barracks. Anything fancy or specialised comes out of pocket or the clan."'
"How do you know this?" asked Tony.
"My family. Later my brother, when he went on missions. Pass me that hammer."
The wire wasn't for any particular order, most of Saburo's customers needed multiple coils with any purchase. The smith liked to always have plenty of various grades in stock. Wire was considered part of the standard equipment loadout, along with a brace's worth of shuriken and a pouch of kunai.
"Put them away in the back," Saburo told him.
Tony nodded and scooped up the neat coils. There was an open crate in the order room, and Tony pulled it out in order to make sure the new coils wouldn't wind up in a tangled mess. It was as he pushed it back he noticed a small, dusty crate, stamped and dated like the ones for current orders. If he was correct this one was late by three or four years.
"Hey, Saburo what's this?" He shouted, pulling the order out and sliding the other crate away. "I found down the back."
Tony set it on one of the benches and started sorting through it. It was just kunai, three prongs with thick paper wrapped around the handles. Somebody's special order then.
Saburo froze at the sight of them.
"They're a friend's," he said. Tony waited for him to elaborate - grouchy as Saburo maybe, he loved to explain.
"I don't see it on the calendar," said Tony
"He's dead now."
"Uh."
"Leave it. My nephew can take it when he next shows up. Whenever the fuck that will be."
The box would still be sitting in the room months later. An old rag covered it, then dust, then it's pushed back into its old corner behind the wire crate. Tony wondered if Saburo and his nephew got on, or if the box would always be there. Maybe he was away. Maybe he was dead.
Living here had made Tony morbid.
As the days passed Tony was given more tasks, less menial and more apprenticeship. When Saburo came in the morning, he was often already drawing out steel into basic shape on the tilt hammer. The old man would finish the last of the hammering so they were all uniform, but Tony was getting pretty good if he did say so himself.
There was more to it than that, but Tony prefered the more active work over smelting - which took days - or wrapping handles.
"Normally, we buy from the mill but it's important to know the process, in case we get cut off in war."
"Has that happened?"
"For two years during the second, and a couple of months in the third." Saburo had said, during which he had Tony shovelling charcoal and iron sand into the kiln. "Konoha could only open up the road when we allied with Suna. That was in the third war."
"There's iron here?"
"There's a quarry in the mountain. It's inactive for the most part, they don't want to exhaust it."
"And what, they open it up during war?" Tony asked. "Who mans it?"
"Only for the big ones. They conscript civilian workers. Everyone does their part." Saburo's mouth twisted. "We either work together, or we die together."
There had been three Great Shinobi wars. Their body count would never match Earth's, but the atrocities committed in them could not be dismissed, and Tony could only get a hold of the civilian records. He'd heard things though. Non-combatants slaughtered in clashes, torture, human experimentation. He dreaded what the unabridged reports said.
Most of what he'd learned came from the other apprentices, or forge hands. The Iron district was filled with far more than the master smiths and their workshops. His stay in Saburo's workshop had become a bit more comfortable - and less embarrassing - when he discovered numerous others in his same position.
The group pooled money and cooked together in an open fire pit by a couple of barns or shacks, Tony couldn't tell. They'd offered him a spot, but Saburo told him it cost and the floor felt the same. Tony decided to stick to the workshop, for now, it was better for his savings. Maybe when the season changed and the temperature dropped.
Ages varied anywhere from twelve to twenty. The young ones out here tended to be orphans showed talent or had been tossed out of the orphanage. While the older ones were finishing up apprenticeships and saving for an apartment in the village.
They were welcoming, quick to explain the cooking system and how everyone chipped in. Tony wouldn't have thought it, but it worked out cheaper in the end. The food wasn't the best, but it was warm and, usually, they split the leftovers for breakfast. The company made up for the simplistic food.
He'd been sitting on the grass outside by the cooking fire. The sun was just starting to dip in the sky. Not that it did anything to help lessen the summer heat. She'd plopped down next to him, food in hand and introduced herself as Uchiha Momoko.
She was pretty. Soft features, onyx eyes, and long hair all done up with a particularly long hairpin.
"Kinnichi?" he said.
"No!" She laughed. "It's kunoichi. Your pronunciation, it's so bad."
"Well that's insulting. I'm trying here and you're just putting me down."
"Mmmhmm, sure sure."
"Can I try again?"
"You can try -"
"Thank you."
"- but I doubt you'll succeed."
"You're mean. Here, attempt number four. Ku -"
"Okay go."
" - I'm… you're interrupting me. Sabotage. This is sabotage."
"You can say Sabotage, but not Kunoichi?"
"You keep interrupting me."
"I'll be quiet," Momo promised.
"I doubt that. Okay, Kuno-"
"Starting now."
"That was on purpose," He accused.
She smiled wide, "yeah it was."
"Okay, how about we?" He covered her mouth with his hand. "Kunoichi!"
"Mmmm!" Momo shouted into his hand.
"Ah. You licked my hand!"
"You put it over my mouth!"
"What about my 'pronunciation'?"
"It was… alright."
"Just alright?"
"Needs some work."
"You gonna tutor me?"
"Hah! I bet you are a terrible student."
"My teachers always said so."
Momo smiled, the edges of her lips upturned, wistful like.
"I was always perfect. Couldn't disappoint the clan."
"This isn't disappointing to them? I thought you would be the town pariah, working in a smithing shop."
Momo giggled.
"Maybe if I married a rice farmer. The Uchiha were the original smiths of Konoha." She raised her head, straightening her back proudly. "I am honouring the history of my ancestors."
"Wow, you really are a goody-two-shoes."
"I don't think so." She leaned forward whispering, "I nearly went to school in the capital."
"That's your scandalous rebellion."
"Hey! It was a big deal, the whole clan was up in arms, and the Hyuuga Affair had just happened. Absolutely everyone had something to say about it." She leaned back on the grass. "All my aunties said I should stay home and get married, all my uncles were trying to organise a guard."
"How big is your family?"
"Five hundred or six hundred strong. It's easier to call everyone Aunt, Uncle or Cousin," Momo said. She turned in her seat and pointed to the neighbourhood across the river, in the evening light the lanterns and their glow was just becoming visible. "That's us over there. All alone."
"What happened?" Tony asked. "I mean with the school and capital. I'm not even going to ask how none of you have murdered each other living together like that."
"It's come close, especially when I had to babysit my little cousins." Momo laughed. "Itachi was always such a little weasel." Momo giggled at her own joke. "Anyway, the clan head decided no. I mean I was sad, but it was for the best y'know? With the civil war breaking out in Chōson, and Konoha was still at war with Kumogakure…. I wouldn't have been safe in the capital. It's better that I stayed in the village."
"I have so many questions," said Tony.
"Go ahead," Momo said.
"Where's Chōson?
"It's also known as The land of Water. But my Chichi-ue likes to use the 'proper names'."
"How long ago was this?"
"Oh, just last year."
"This happened last year? Is there a war going on, and why has no one told me?"
"We have a years' ceasefire with Kumogakure. If the treaty isn't signed at the end of Nigatsu then yes, we'll be at war again. We're kind of the last two going from the third Shinobi war - everyone else has already dropped out. Iwagakure, because of, well… the Fourth decimated them. Mizugakure lost support from their Diyamō when our shinobi cut off regular trade. Sunagakure was on our side… they secured their borders and went back into the desert. So it's just us and Kumogakure."
Tony wanted to ask more. It painted a worrying picture. In America, he'd never been close to the violence, like the Gulf war. He'd always been off to the left, behind the stage, dealing out the weapons. He was just the merchant.
He wasn't the merchant here. He was another person, another disposable cog waiting and hoping that it would all be over before it reached him.
Momo turned away from him and shouted at a pair of kids heading back across the river.
"Izumi-chan! What're you doing out so late?" she shouted over.
The little girl turned and smiled widely, grabbing the toddler in her arms, and carried her over to them.
"Momo-ikoto! We had survival training today, and tomorrow we're going camping overnight! In one of the training fields!" The younger girl in her grasp wiggled and slipped free before running and diving into Momo's lap.
"Hey Nori-chan! Did you come out to meet your sister?" Nori nodded into Momo's kimono. "My, what a good girl. Oh no! You haven't introduced yourself."
Tony smiled. Nori shuffled around on Momo's lap until she was sitting comfortably.
"What do we say?" Asked Momo tickling the little girl, causing her to erupt into giggles.
"Hajimemashite , I'm Uchiha Nori. I'm four. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu." Nori held up five fingers. Momo gently pushed the thumb down.
"Hello Nori, I'm Stark Anthony, but everyone calls me Tony."
"How old are you?" Mommo nudged Nori gently "Toni-san."
"I'm twenty-eight."
Nori looked at her hand. "There aren't enough fingers."
Tony laughed, "not on your hand."
" Hajimemashite Toni-san, My name is Uchiha Izumi, please forgive my sister, she's very young." The older girl said, bowing politely. He waved it off.
"Momo-ane, have you seen haha's new baby!"
"What?! She's got a new one already!"Momo gasped in exaggerated surprise. Nori's face scrunched up in confusion. "I mean, I was sure she just had you yesterday!"
"No! I'm four."
"Yes you are. I haven't seen your mama's new baby. Are they a good baby?"
Izumi nodded sweetly.
Nori said, "No! He cries all night. I don't want the baby."
"You cried all night when you were that old," Izumi said.
"I didn't!"
"Well I better get you guys home, and you can introduce me to your little brother." Momo stood picking up Nori with her and settling the girl on her hip. "I'll see you later Tony-san."
"Yeah, seeya." Tony said.
He watched the group move down the path towards their home. Tony leaned back on the grass, as the last of the light dipped below the faces of the mountain. The chatter slowly died away as everyone slowly retreated back to their beds.
Tony was feeling restless. He made sure to grab some leftovers for breakfast, and dropped the container at Saburo's before walking in the village.
The architecture wasn't what he really expected, with so many aspects of this world mirroring that of Japan, he'd kind of expected arched roofs and square buildings. The outlying building resembled that, but in the village centre it was as if someone had hollowed out one of those giant tree trunks and divided it into floors.
It was dark now, and stings of lanterns lit up the streets. Tony looked up and saw more and more of the orange glow from balconies and bridges that connected the cylindrical buildings together. Yellow light spilled without a care on the path from open bars and cheap restaurants. With patrons entering for the early night.
Tony moved along pausing as the lanterns changed from orange to red down one road, leading to a part of the village he'd never seen. He stopped himself when he saw a woman guide another down the road, the way she carefully took the patrons money in hand.
He passed more shops, an all-night convenience store, another bar, a ramen stand and a second hand weapon store with bars intermixed between all of them. Tony found one he liked the look of eventually. The entrance was clean and it had less shinobi than the other he passed.
The bartender directed him to a seat at the bar itself and he ordered a cup of sake. Then… well, he kind of just sat there, fiddling with the sake cup. Tony turned away from the bar and began watching the street.
It was mostly shinobi. They weren't in uniform, but it was the way they moved, walked. It set them apart from the crowd in ways that Rohdey's training never had. They had a wrongness to them. It wasn't just them. It was the civillains to, the technology, the children, the houses. All of it was wrong.
Tony would never have the power to make it right either, their Hokage had made that clear. Not as a civilian, and he would never be anything more than a civilian.
" I have to got to get out of here ," he said in english.