Random Update! Because what with the plague and everything I suddenly have much more time to sleep, think and subsequently write. I hope everybody's keeping well and finding reasons to stay hopeful.

There are a lot on new names in this chapter, but there's no requirement to remember all of them. Or any of them; important people will be re-introduced as needed. Certain characters are borrowed from DOS and recursive iterations thereof (Thanks Silver Queen, BoPeep, Pepperdoken and everybody else who contributed to the google doc of OCs and minor characters), so play 'spot the character' if you wish!


Direct thee to Peace

Nine years of peace isn't so bad, truly. It's really good, in fact: all the more so when you consider that they still aren't properly at war. It's just that two different Outguard squads and a trading caravan have all been ambushed separately by Earth Country shinobi within the past month, so Madara cannot in good conscience allow this ill-treatment of his clansmen to continue. It may be just inconvenience and assault so far, but he will not allow it to escalate into murder.

He wrote a letter to the Earth Daimyo after the first time, but the reply he received –at the same time as news of the caravan attack– was distinctly lacking in assurances, which was sufficiently suspect that he was already making preparations by the time a second Outguard squad returned from a mission west looking distinctly scuffed from being ambushed on the road. Nobody has died yet, thankfully, but there's no reason to believe that will last. These attacks are just testing the waters.

So Madara is going for a show of force. His clan is being attacked while not under contract, so this is a personal assault and he is within his rights to respond accordingly.

Still, nine years of peace? He'd hoped for longer.


"But Madara, I should come! We're allies!" Hashirama is deeply offended by the recent attacks on the Uchiha, all the more so because the Senju have not been so assaulted. Tobirama rather doubts his brother is aware of the implications and politics of such a choice, or of what would doubtless result should he accompany Madara on this excursion. Madara knows though, so Tobirama waits silently to see what distraction will be waved in his brother's face to dissuade him from his current path. Hashirama is depressingly easy to distract, so long as things are properly framed to appeal to him.

"Hashirama, this is a personal attack on my clan," Madara replies with a steady patience Tobirama can't help but admire. "If I take you along it makes it look like I can't protect my clan without Senju support, which undermines my authority as Outguard Head. It also makes this conflict a shinobi matter, when I am trying to keep it political and non-violent. As the head of a noble family, I am within my rights to approach the Earth Daimyo personally to inquire as to why he is condoning the assault my kinsmen in territories under his control and he is not allowed to fob me off with platitudes without risking censure from other nobles whose family and dependents travel through his territory, such as his fellow daimyo. If I travel with a civilian-style entourage he is forced to negotiate with me as an equal, not as a mercenary contractor."

Very true; the Earth Daimyo likely wants Madara to come armed and supported as a shinobi warlord, so he can then refuse to see the Uchiha Outguard Head and claim he is being menaced.

"I personally would very much appreciate it if you were to stay in Konohagakure, Hashirama," Madara continues earnestly. "With the ongoing unrest, it's possible others will take my absence as an opportunity to challenge the village, either directly or by assaulting our allies. If you're here to respond quickly to direct threats and co-ordinate with my wife on matters pertaining to the other clans, it will be a weight off my mind." And so the handling of Hashirama is delegated to Kita, who will manage it with no less ease than her husband and considerably more patience; it will be interesting to see what she has his brother do while Madara is absent.

Hashirama's resolve instantly melts in the face of this overt emotional plea. "Of course I will Madara! You're right, it would be best for me to stay here while you're negotiating; we have lots of people depending on us both. I'll take good care of the village while you're away, I promise!" Thereby also affirming the Senju's vassal status; Tobirama can't say he's surprised by the level of cunning involved. Madara's always been cleverer than Hashirama.

"I know you will," Madara agrees with a soft smile that is all the more convincing for being utterly sincere. "I'd also like to borrow Tobirama, if I may; Izuna is not able to accompany me any more than you are and I would be grateful for a second pair of eyes and ears."

"I'd be honoured," Tobirama interrupts before his brother can agree on his behalf. He's used to standing in for his brother in formal situations; this time it will be his choice rather than an unfortunate necessity. It will also be edifying and amusing to get to see in person how Madara plans to resolve the situation.

"Thank you, Tobirama; Kita has already offered to watch over your children, seeing as their mother is currently visiting family." Officially, Chika is in Uzushio catching up with her half-siblings; unofficially she's sneaking around Water Country with the rest of Kamui's squad, trying to discreetly make sense of the chaos that has overtaken the archipelago's shinobi clans. Hashirama doesn't know about that because it's an Uchiha mission and therefore not his business. Tobirama only knows because he was involved in deciding such a mission was necessary, and Chika was the only person in Konoha they could send to act as a native guide to the frankly bizarre melting pot that is Water Country's shinobi culture.

Chika's not been legally his wife for almost a year now, her duties completed following his daughter's naming last summer. She's still a Senju –the marriage contract makes that clear– but she's equally Uchiha thanks to her adoption, and practically speaking she spends far more time with her 'sister' than her maternal family. Kamui's daughter Rakko sees much more of Chika than Tobirama's two children do, but that's to be expected really when it is Kamui that holds Chika's heart and Kamui's house where Chika actually lives.

Tobirama doesn't really mind; he went into his marriage knowing it was a legal fiction and it's honestly a relief to have the deception be over. Chika doesn't really have the temperament for motherhood –she is too much like her own mother for that– and he has no issue with raising Makuma and little Yukino by himself. Well, with his leopards and Kita and Madara's ever-willing support, that is; support he is always willing to offer in return when they need someone else to watch over their children.

Mito helps too, of course –little Tamayama is not quite a month older than Yukino-chan– but Tobirama personally prefers his children to be more secluded from the increasingly busy village when he's not there to watch over them personally. Five of the Uchiha's Lineage Heads have relocated to the village in the past eighteen months, but Madara is still living in the old Uchiha compound and Tobirama much prefers the implied security there. As do his leopards; a den should be hidden away, for the kits' sake. That his two children are much younger than brother's children –save Hashirama's youngest– is also a factor: Tsunama and Madoma are both in shinobi training now and Menka is five. Makuma meanwhile is three and Yukino is only nine months, which works decently well with Kita's two-year-old Shirakami and year-old Adatara.

Benten is twenty now, fully adult and a squad leader in the Outguard with a face –and chakra signature– so very like her brother Hidaka's that Tobirama is forced to distinguish them by hairstyle and scent; not that he will ever admit to the latter to either's face. Never mind that Hidaka is head of the Konohagakure Police Force; all the Uchiha wear their clan coats around the village, just as other clans don their respective colours, so it's impossible to tell at a distance who is Outguard or Homeguard or neither.

There's a movement to issue the police force with its own uniform, but discussions have stalled on what that uniform would be, so Tobirama suspects there will be no consensus any time soon. It is more likely that there will be some kind of additional identifier over their clan clothing, but what that will end up being will take time to determine and arrange.

On the matter of his own clothing however, he's willing to let the Uchiha clan dress him for the impending meeting with the Earth Daimyo. He would rather not look like a poor cousin standing next to Madara is all his finery, even if that means wearing something that marks him as a retainer of the Uchiha clan. He knows Madara; the man will see dressing Tobirama as an opportunity to flaunt the wealth and strength of the village, which means the outfit –outfits most likely– will be well-made, extremely expensive and in full accordance with Senju tastes and traditions. And he will not have to pay for any of them.

Having to deal with civilian politics and politicians for a week or two is a small price to pay, all things considered.


Her youngest child is eighteen months old now and Kita has made good use of that time –and the latitude offered to mothers of small children wanting to spend time with fellow parents– to better get to know the other clan matriarchs in Konohagakure. And a number of other ladies as well; Aburame Akitsu is the sister of the next Aburame Head rather than his wife, but she was the first person Kita made a point of reaching out to. They were friends already, although they hadn't seen each-other since that one meeting at court, so inviting her friend to visit the village was perfectly acceptable. Especially since Akitsu-chan is married now with two sons, Kera and Pata.

Akitsu's brother Aburame Shīka also has a son, an adorably earnest four-year-old called Shihen. It isn't so surprising really that the Aburame main line begin all their male names with the same character –the poem kanji– when they are as old a noble family as the Uchiha. Technically older actually, if significantly lower-ranking.

Then there is Akimichi Chōkō's wife Keiko, Yamanaka Inosuke's wife Inokiku and Nara Shikari's wife Mikasa –a half-Yamanaka– along with Mito, whom she is already well-known to. The Akimichi Alliance's heirs and their spouses are all younger than her, with their firstborns all between Mitama and Shirakami in age, so her excuse of introducing her younger children to their peers while they are young enough to be free of prejudices works very well indeed.

The Akimichi Alliance then introduce her to Sarutobi Koto, wife of Sarutobi Nisuke the Sarutobi Clan Head, as well as Sarutobi Isamu, wife of Nisuke's younger brother –who is also their clan's best warrior– Sarutobi Sasuke. Koto-san's oldest son Kagetaka is five years older than Toshi and Azami, her youngest Hōzan is Takahara's age and there are three other children in between; with her Kita mostly talks about the challenges of parenting teens and pre-teens. Sarutobi Isamu is younger, as are her children: Hiruzen is eight, his sisters Etsu and Katsu are five and three respectively and his little brother Ushiro is not quite a year old.

Isamu-san is much quieter than her sister-in-law, no doubt acutely conscious of the disparity in rank between herself and Kita, but she does gradually open up on the subject of children. Hiruzen-kun is making friends in Takahara's age-group, Etsu finds a delighted fellow mischief-maker in Mitama –they both climb trees with as much fearless alacrity as Kita did aged five– and Katsu manages reasonably well at getting along with Shirakami, who age two is already showing off his grandfather's imperiously demanding attitude, tempered only by a surprisingly determined compassion that the entire Uchiha clan finds disarmingly adorable.

If Takahara doesn't make a strong play for succeeding Madara, it may well end up being Shirakami as next Outguard Head; he's only a toddler but he has drive in spades, far more than easy-going Takahara has ever shown. Her oldest loves pleasing his father, adores his younger siblings and has an excellent mind, but he's not passionate about success like Shirakami already is, which rather shows; Takahara was not this determinedly and precociously verbal. Not that Madara loves Takahara any less for that; on the contrary, her husband is delighted to have such a gentle son with whom to discuss clan history with, even if it means dedicating less time to his firstborn's martial education.

Getting to know the Kurama proved rather more challenging –she ended up having to go through Tōka's mother, Senju Sumi née Kurama– and revealed that said clan does not confer much power at all on those women who are neither battle-trained nor in the main line of inheritance, which seems terribly short-sighted to Kita. It might however explain why the Kurama have never managed to become truly prominent before now, so she lets it be. Kurama Tomi's distinct reluctance to allow her two children to run around and play with anyone not of her clan is unfortunate, but the point of the village is to provide a choice. If the Kurama choose not to take advantage of the opportunity to build cross-clan camaraderie, that is their own problem.

Sarutobi Isamu introduces her to Shimura Takemi, a civilian from a merchant family who set her sights on four-years-younger Shimura Dōjun to get out of an arranged marriage to a man she disliked. Takemi-san has a keen head for currency and strategy, although she is perhaps a little too mercenary at times; her husband, a calm and sympathetic man, tempers her very well. Dōjun-san is not the Shimura Clan Head –that is his cousin Kōsa– but his wife effectively occupies the position of matriarch through sheer skill and efficiency, seeing as the actual wife of the Shimura Clan Head is a warm, cheerful women with no head for politics or money at all. Shimura Suke does invite Kita to call on her twice, but it's very clear within the first ten minutes of the first meeting that Suke-san is not the sharpest knife in the kitchen. She's a delightful hostess and clearly an excellent mother to her seven children, but her best and smartest political decision to date has likely been to leave all of said politics to Takemi-san.

Kita finds herself growing almost reluctantly fond of Shimura Takemi, no matter how much she has to stay on her toes around the other women. She's not been challenged like this since Tajima died and she finds she has actually missed it; well, kind of. Now she is in control and can choose when to interact with her designated opponent, it's almost fun to play the game and verbally fence with someone who is determined to defeat her personally rather than just as a proxy for her husband or her clan.

Takemi-san has three children, two sons and a younger daughter: Hanzō is eleven, Danzō is eight and Shinomi is three. She doesn't really seem to spare much time for her oldest son –unlike her husband, who is training both boys in clan-specific studies parallel to their centralised lessons under Senju and Uchiha teachers– but Danzō seems to enjoy spending his free time sitting quietly on the engawa and listening to his mother talk to her guests through the open shōji, entertaining his little sister with her toys so she doesn't fuss.

Kita cannot forget the presence of the little eavesdroppers; her chakra-sensing prevents it. However she strongly suspects that Takemi-san does forget her younger children are listening, going by some of the things Kita has heard her say. Which are not things that Kita would say within earshot of her twelve-year-old twins, much less Takahara or the younger ones. Benten yes –Benten is an adult now and better understands the nuances of duty and the cultural subtleties in play– but not the others.

It is however not for her to judge how another woman chooses to raise her children. She is trying to strengthen the bonds between the various clans resident in Konoha, and she is making good progress. That is what really matters, especially now that the unrest abroad has turned into outright attacks on Uchiha shinobi.

Konohagakure will have to stand as one if they are going to get through this, and forging bonds with certain clans is trickier than others.


"So how's it going with the Hatake?"

Kita smiles; her rueful feelings clearly carry across though, because Inuzuka Mitsu, matriarch and grandmother with a necklace of tiger teeth –and scars on her arms to match– cackles at her.

"That badly, huh? And you with an in already! Or is Tobirama-bō not earning his keep?"

"Tobirama left for Earth with my husband yesterday, Mitsu-san," Kita says, absently kissing the top of Yukino's head as the infant shifts restlessly in her sleep. Tobirama's daughter is not quite nine months old, but she already has a cap of soft white hair covering her scalp. It doesn't stick up like Makuma's hair does but it does have a bit of a curl to it, so as she grows older it will probably become significantly more unmanageable. Going by the hairstyles of those Hatake she has met, Kita can tell it's unlikely that Yukino growing out her hair will make it easier to tame.

"And he didn't think to introduce you to his relatives first? When it's you he leaves his kids with rather than his brother?" Mitsu snorts. "And I already told you to just call me Mitsu, Uchiha-chan; no need for a fancy-pants noblewoman like yourself to stand on ceremony with a butcher's daughter."

"I have nothing but respect for a woman able to keep so many rough-and-tumble shinobi and ninken in good order," Kita replies mildly, but does make a mental note to drop the honorific in future. "And Tobirama did introduce me to those of the Hatake whom he is closely related to, such as his aunts and close cousins." The issue is that the Hatake clan has lineages much as the Uchiha do, but those lineages are rather less closely related and operate independently of one-another, the entire clan only meeting up once a year in the late spring after planting season. The lineages are in fact so distinct as to have markedly different phenotypes –not that she has any idea how to articulate that in Japanese– despite the entire clan sharing dark grey eyes, pale and somewhat gravity-defying hair ranging in shade from grey and silver through stark white into platinum blond, and relatively lean builds for their height.

Specifically, Tobirama introduced her to his aunts Barano and Hiruno, joint matriarchs of the Hatake's leopard lineage, with a mention of an uncle named Yōbai who is dead and Hiruno's husband Tensai, who is alive but not currently present in the village. He also introduced her to Barano's daughter Imono and her children –aged six and two years' old– and Hiruno's son Ryokubu, who has a newborn called Nashi. Kita's not quite sure whether or not Imono is married or who Nashi's mother is or was –the little boy is barely six months old and definitely isn't weaned– but she assumes their not being mentioned is some kind of Hatake thing so isn't asking.

Kita has had tea with both Tobirama's aunts and Imono –together and separately– since they arrived in the village in the early winter and Imono has since introduced her to Hatake Biwano, whose husband's mother is the matriarch of the lynx lineage. She is yet to actually meet Hatake Awano-san, but the conversation with Biwano was very interesting and Biwano's son Hōri is a bit older than Sukumo, which could have been a disaster –Sukumo is intensely opinionated these days concerning what counts as interesting and worth her time– but actually went surprisingly well.

However that is only two lineages; the Hatake have seven, one for each of the summons contracts they hold. Those lineages can then be grouped by general phenotype into three subsets: the fairest-skinned Hatake with facial bones very like the Senju –more typical of eastern Fire and the archipelagos between Fire and Water– hold the dog and wolf contracts; the more golden-skinned Hatake with rounder faces and subtler features like the natives of Frost and distant Snow hold the lynx, tiger and snow leopard contracts –Tobirama is markedly paler than his cousins and has a much longer nose– and the dark-skinned Hatake who are all-around taller hold the boar and bear contracts.

The clan is not particularly large –numbers apparently range between fifteen and twenty-five per lineage, with an overall age range from newborn to early sixties– and only about a third of them are in Konohagakure at all; that said third is all respected elders and parents with young children says quite a lot really. Kita knows the Hatake opened negotiations with the Uchiha following pressure from the shinobi village currently forming in Lightning, but she doesn't know exactly what kind of pressure it was. Clearly it was fairly serious for the entire clan to have moved their more vulnerable members to western Fire when their traditional territories are in north-eastern Fire, spreading up through Hot Water and Frost into the southern half of Lightning. To abandon their home range almost entirely they must have felt threatened, although it's likely most of the clan's warriors are still patrolling there and taking missions.

Kita is aware that her husband probably knows exactly what is going on, but he hasn't volunteered the information so she isn't going to ask. It's really not her business unless either he or the Hatake choose to tell her about it.

"Well the only Hatake I have met properly is Raino-chan, who introduced herself because she's got a contract with the Dog Summons and they wanted to chat to my Shiramaru," Mitsu says, "and her three-year-old son wanted to play with my great-nephews. Really though, what kind of mother names her son 'turnip'?"

"I think it's traditional for Hatake to name their children after produce," Kita says diplomatically. Imono –written 'taro field'– introduced her son as Genmai –'brown rice'– and her toddler daughter as Mugino, which means 'bean field.' Then there is Nashi –'pear'– and his father Ryokubu, whose name is written as 'weeds.'

So not all produce, but there's very definitely a farming theme to go with their clan name, which is written as 'field'. Specifically a dry farming field like the Uchiha grow millet, buckwheat and vegetables in, to distinguish it from a wet paddy field such as the Senju vassals grow rice in.

Not that Inuzuka Mitsu really has room to talk where names are concerned: her name is 'paw' and she named her daughter Nomi –written 'ear'– and her son Nodo –'throat.'


By week two of their stay in the Earth Daimyo's court Tobirama is caught between bubbling fury at the sheer self-serving cowardice of the Earth Daimyo and mildly concerned awe at how magnificently in control of both himself and the situation Madara is. The way the Outguard Head smiles at every meeting with the daimyo, advisors and other nobles, his pleasant patience in the face of their host's dithering and the subtle way the entire court is slowly bending around him, gently nudged with sincere respect and cunning words. The daimyo doesn't seem to have noticed yet that he is increasingly alone in a crocodile pit of his own making, but whether he does or not, Tobirama would put money on Earth Country having a new daimyo before the end of the year. Possibly by the end of the summer…

The daimyo's wife has noticed. However very tellingly she seems disinclined to trust her husband's ability to keep her alive and is instead colluding with her brother, who has thrown himself behind the daimyo's cousin. Tobirama isn't sure what got said when Benten was invited to take tea privately with Yutaka-sama, but clearly the young woman has learned well from Kita how to dissolve anger and turn an argument in a direction of her choosing without ever revealing her full hand.

By week three the daimyo has been talked into a corner and somehow been convinced he is sufficiently in control to be able to afford the generosity of summoning to court the head shinobi of the 'village' founded on his land –making it clear that Iwagakure is a military investment and nothing at all to do with trade or 'security' to protect the population from bandits– to make a public apology to Madara for the 'misunderstanding' and witness the signing of a formal treaty between Earth and the Uchiha with favourable trade terms. Tobirama does not expect for a moment that the treaty will last –and knows very well that Madara doesn't either– because those terms are so very favourable that whoever replaces this daimyo will declare the document void as soon as they have consolidated their position, out of paranoia if nothing else.

It's somewhat terrifying that Madara has perfectly set up a coup in a foreign country's court without even once using his sharingan, or indeed any chakra at all beyond the basics for ensuring privacy and security in the guest quarters. That it took him little more than two weeks is just a bonus; Tobirama is desperate to go home just so he can spend a few days gushing and arguing the specifics and implications of certain of Madara's choices, because he knows he's missing some of the courtly subtleties of the other man's moves and wants the details. Many more details than they have time to discuss here, in what little time they have in the evenings behind the security seals. Sleep and other forms of rest are very important for maintaining one's edge, after all.

The most delightfully horrifying part is that on their first evening in the guest quarters, after they had thoroughly secured themselves from eavesdroppers and intruders, Madara threw himself down on a zabuton and said, "The man's a disgrace; his people deserve better" and then promptly set about making it happen. Making the Earth Court think it was their idea, even.

Tobirama is so glad of Madara's inability to truly wish Hashirama harm and that their clans are allies now. Otherwise the Senju probably wouldn't exist anymore.

He can see Kita's thoughts and methods in Madara's words and choices as well and it makes the overall shape of the future emerging all the more nerve-rackingly intoxicating. He can see the trap forming, see how mild words and gentle observations are leading Madara's audience to reach conclusions and decisions they believe are their own and it fills him with no less triumph than his own previous military successes have. More even, because they are winning without ever shedding a single drop of Uchiha or Senju blood.

Tobirama is fully complicit in this eventual outcome, offering his observations and awareness of the feelings and movements of the court whenever they are in private for Madara to take into account, making suggestions and picking at flaws, but he is not ashamed to say that the final product will be more Madara's work than his own. Only Madara could possibly be ambitious enough to decide to overthrow a daimyo for being petty and ineffectual and then make the man's own court do all the work for him.

He's so glad he's here to see this unfold. He'd never have been able to fully appreciate the beauty of the set-up otherwise.


The shinobi who answers the daimyo's summons is familiar to Tobirama, in that he's heard of the man on numerous occasions but never actually faced him across a battlefield. He's not sure if 'Ishikawa' is a personal name, a family name or an epithet, but the warrior is of Butsuma's generation and well-known for being both a shrewd leader and somehow managing to use Earth Element chakra to fly with. Tobirama would very much have liked to meet the man as an ally in order to discuss ninjutsu theory with him, but he can recognise the unlikeliness of the possibility.

It could have been interesting though.

With Ishikawa is another infamous shinobi: Mū of the Dust Release. It's rather unnerving, to look at a man and feel no chakra presence at all. Knowing what he does now about stealth and Kita's seals, Tobirama suspects there's a Sage aspect to Mū's ability. Not that having an idea of how the technique works enables him to bypass it, of course; he still can't feel the man's chakra.

There's a short teenager lurking behind both men, wearing rudimentary armour under a cheap formal kimono –the sort he can now tell at a distance has been all-to-recently purchased from a shop, as opposed to Ishikawa's more faded and far better-fitting finery– and giving off a strong sense of uncomfortable awe. His chakra's similar enough to Ishikawa to be a relative; a grandson perhaps? Tobirama keeps his eyes lowered and his senses sharp; he doesn't need to look at these men to know what they're thinking, although not looking at the Mujin is more him trusting Madara than truly being able to read the bandage-swathed shinobi's utter lack of chakra. The formal kimono over the bandages is clearly inherited –it is a much older style and does not hang quite right on the man's frame– but well-kept and of very good quality.

Tobirama wonders what this whole scene looks like to these men. Here is the daimyo in his robes surrounded by his silently hostile court, their intentions clear to anybody capable of reading chakra, here is Uchiha Madara in exquisitely fine silk hitatare in darkest royal purple, embroidered with many-hued fireballs and phoenixes, unruly hair pulled back in a high topknot with only the jagged bangs framing his face hinting at his usual appearance, a steel-cored fan held loosely in one hand and a smile that Tobirama knows without even looking will be slightly too sharp and knowing for any shinobi's comfort.

He can sense Ishikawa calculating, feel the man thinking furiously even as the grey-haired shinobi bows courteously and voices the usual polite nothings to satisfy the daimyo. Tobirama knows what he looks like, dressed in hakama and haori of the finest silk with incredibly thin vertical stripes woven into the weave –almost an optical illusion in how the material swims before the eyes– over a kimono of plain Aburame tensan, almost insultingly fine in its simplicity and how little of it is visible when by itself such a garment costs more than many landed samurai earn in a year. His haori lining is ridiculously elaborate in comparison, expensive cyan-dyed silk richly embroidered with snow leopards chasing fish along a mountain stream, glittering water droplets chased in silver against a cloudy backdrop, the hidden opulence barely hinted at through his sleeve openings. The lining, Tobirama feels, is evidence that Madara has been planning to dress him for an occasion such as this for quite some time; not that any of the other garments are less expensive or elaborate, but personalised embroidery takes hours upon hours of work –as he knows from watching Kita– and the haori is not the only outfit that has been meticulously decorated by hand.

Tobirama knows his clothing bears stitched seals in every seam, more seals concealed in the embroidered lining –Madara demonstrated before they even left Konohagakure that his clothing is knife-proof to all but a powerful chakra adept and fireproof as well– and that the external softness and vulnerability the outfit implies is just another kind of armour. He knows that Ishikawa is looking at him, seeing the extravagance of his clothing and how he bows his head meekly behind Madara and is reaching conclusions of his own.

A decade ago he was a sworn enemy of the Uchiha, his entire life shaped by a centuries' long feud. But now here he is, wearing clothing finer than he could ever have afforded then even if he had saved for a decade, a trusted vassal and valued retainer of his former nemesis.

Madara's chakra ripples slightly, the familiar promise of deadly heat barely leashed that is so often accompanied by his most terrifyingly deranged smiles. "I know of course that Iwagakure serves Tamura-dono in all things," he says smoothly, effortlessly insulting the daimyo with the implied awareness that the man is personally responsible for the Uchiha's recent inconvenience despite repeated assurances otherwise, and diminishing Ishikawa's achievement in bringing so many mule-headed mountain shinobi together under his authority in the same breath, "so I have every faith that there will be no further misunderstandings between us."

The implication that the Uchiha Outguard Head would gladly burn Ishikawa and his entire village to ash and gravel if given a suitable excuse comes across loud and clear; behind the two adults, the teenager flinches.

"Madara-sama may rest assured that his intentions and hopes are fully understood," Ishikawa replies steadily, "and that Iwagakure has no desire at all to make an enemy of such an accomplished and generous individual."

"Then we shall have peace," Madara says warmly, steel underpinning every word, "for the betterment of our respective peoples. Tamura-dono requests your presence for the signing of a historic treaty between us, as a witness to what can be achieved in peace."

Tobirama has heard it said that Kita smiles like a tiger and he has in fact seen the expression for himself on occasion, but it is Madara who smiles like an open grave, wide and hungry with a faint edge of teeth to swallow up any who dare to venture too close. He can't see the man's face, just the back of his head, but by the way the teenager's chakra cringes violently he knows exactly what is on Madara's face at this moment.

That effortlessly confident, almost serene smile that Tobirama has never once seen directed at Hashirama, but that was turned his way on multiple occasions before the treaty signing. The smile that was doubtless the last thing many of his kinsmen ever saw. The smile that says, "Come and die."

Tobirama knows there's no shame at all in retreating from this particular expression; suicidal he is not and has never been. Ishikawa cannot retreat physically in this moment, but his polite bending to the formal trappings of the occasion is in itself a kind of surrender. Madara has undoubtedly triumphed on this particular battlefield; whether he has won the overall war remains yet to be seen.

It will depend greatly on how the now-inevitable coup falls out and what course the next Earth Daimyo chooses to take in leading his country.


Madara knows even as he leaves Earth with Tobirama and the two squads specially put together for their skills in diplomacy, interrogation and espionage that he is never, ever going to be welcomed back. Not after this, no matter who ends up on top when the dust settles after the coup he's coaxed into motion; nobody at the Earth Daimyo's court, who watched him smile and charm while utterly demolishing with nothing more than words the scion of a family that has ruled them for twelve generations, is going to want him to set a single foot inside their border ever again, and they will no doubt warn their children too.

That's fine by him; he can make it work. At the very least Earth is unlikely to be troubling the Uchiha any time soon and this decisive victory will give everybody else pause. Possibly for as long as a year, which will be time enough to arrange for Konohagakure's various other shinobi clans to participate in joint training with the Outguard, so they can all learn to work side-by-side with minimal difficulties. He has put off war for a little while, but sooner or later somebody is going to get greedy and over-ambitious. That's just life.

Tobirama is an excellent ally; his sensing skills provide Madara with additional context he'd never be able to acquire by himself, and the younger Senju's way of nit-picking at his plans enables him to fill in the weak spots before enacting them. He'll ask Tobirama to help with the joint training sessions too; he's sure the other man will have some good ideas.

It'll also irritate Izuna, which is always fun.


Despite having missed the first fortnight of the new school year due to being in Earth, Tobirama is still responsible for the one of the new classes of eight-year-olds at the shinobi academy. Hijiri has very kindly been filling in for him, but now he is home he will have to get to know the students whose education he will be overseeing for the next six years. He won't be teaching all their classes –not even half of them in fact– but he is the person expected to mentor these fifteen children through their shinobi education, encourage them to do well, make sure they are playing their strengths and compensating for their weaknesses, ensure they do not come to harm and be confident in their survival to adulthood when he lets them go at fourteen.

Hijiri has implanted his students' faces and names in his mind, but has refrained from adding any details of behaviour or temperament on the basis that doing so also confers bias; Tobirama is grateful for both the details provided and the implied confidence that he will manage just fine at raising three squads-worth of children into capable shinobi without outside interference. At least he's not expected to do all the work himself; he'd not have the time to raise his own children if that were the case.

Still, there's a lot that can be done in three hours a day, and once they've properly grasped the basics he will see less of them, entrusting their education to a range of specialists and checking in regularly to make sure they are absorbing the material. By the time they are ten he will only see them for one hour a day –in shinobi classes at least; he's still teaching advanced kanji and calligraphy at the schoolhouse– and once they are thirteen they will only get one hour every other day, but as exposure time shrinks it will also become more exclusive. His own hours will remain the same; he will simply see fewer children during them, to better focus on their individual needs as they grow into strong shinobi.

Tobirama doubts very much that all his students will choose to pursue fieldwork; he's likely to lose a handful to apprenticeships in shinobi-related professions before they're all fourteen, and of those who graduate only those from the smaller clans are likely to immediately start taking missions with mentors. The Uchiha will have an extra two years of training under Madara if they want to join the Outguard –or under Hidaka for the police force– and he is well aware that most of the children he will be teaching are signing up for this because it's what their parents want and they don't know what else to do with themselves. Demonstrating that there are honourable and meaningful alternatives to a warrior career is his job as their teacher.

He knows war is coming, but none of his students will see it. They're too young and Madara's rule that nobody younger than fourteen is allowed to take missions in Konohagakure is absolutely non-negotiable. The Uchiha Outguard head wanted it to be sixteen but the smaller clans objected, so currently the standard is set at fourteen –and will doubtless be revisited later– but as a compromise nobody younger than eighteen is allowed to take missions without a mentor who is a civilian-legal adult.

Tobirama hopes that by the time his class graduates, sixteen will be the new baseline age-limit. Given that Madara is likely already planning joint training so that all the shinobi based in the village can meet the very high Outguard standards, that's likelier than most might believe.

Arriving in his new classroom –which is an Uchiha-style raised roof over a clay floor, no walls at all– Tobirama checks the leash seal Kita provided him with to keep Yukino from crawling away into the bushes –incredibly practical and the kind of thing only a parent could think of– sets his daughter on the ground and upends a small bag of wooden toys beside her. She'll no doubt be constantly underfoot, but the challenge of keeping an eye on their surroundings as much as their footwork will be good for his students.

As the bell over the schoolhouse peals to signal the beginning of the afternoon session, Tobirama's students arrive in little packs. Matching faces to names is easy when Hijiri has done the work for him and some of them he knows already: Uchiha Kagami, Tokimi, Omusha, Otofuke and Hatsu for instance, as well as Senju Sesshama. Madoma and Takahara are in a different class –favouritism and the importance of avoiding it was mentioned– as is Tateshina's firstborn Neishi, Kamui's Rakko and a good number of others. This is after all the treaty generation for both Uchiha and Senju.

Despite full-time shinobi skills classes having been opened to children from outside the Uchiha and Senju clans for a while now, this year is the first time all the other Konohagakure clans have decided to allow their children in, so Tobirama's class also features Akimichi Torifu, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzō, Mitokado Homura, Inuzuka Hara and Kegawa, Nara Shizue, Shiranui Nao and Utatane Koharu. He's pleased to see that almost half his class are girls; women always bring a different perspective, and familiarity with multiple perspectives is necessary to thrive as a shinobi.

"You're the sensei Tō-san was standing in for, Bira-oji?" Hatsu asks excitedly, bouncing lightly on her toes right at the front of the training barn while most of the rest of the class hang back to stare. He's not sure why; it's not like he wears his armour in the village and Yukino is currently hiding her face in the back of his knees.

"It's Bira-sensei, Hatsu-chan," Otofuke says firmly, "like in my neesan's calligraphy classes."

Tobirama claps his hands twice, calling everybody's attention to him; they promptly form up in three rows of five, which Hijiri evidently taught them was expected. He'll thank the man later, although he may need to rearrange his students so it's not just Uchiha at the front.

"Greetings, class. I am Senju Tobirama and I will be your primary sensei until you either leave this class or graduate. This means that I will assign your elective classes and review your marks in them, and if you wish to attend other electives you must ask me to arrange them for you." He pauses. "In order to stay in this class you much also keep up with your reading, mathematics, geography and history classes in the schoolhouse, so if you are struggling please come to me so I can arrange tutors." The children in the advanced classes need to be trained to offer help to the less accomplished ones, to build camaraderie and develop good habits for when they are in the field.

"Yes sensei," his students chorus, ducking into variously low bows depending on which clan they are from and how nervous they are.

"You may call me Tobirama-sensei," Tobirama informs them calmly, "or Bira-sensei, if that is easier." He knows that the Uchiha children will default to 'Bira-sensei'; they have all called him 'Bira-oji' from the moment they learned to talk. "Any questions?"

The boy wearing glasses in the middle row –Mitokado Homura; he will have to learn to compensate for the liability of those lenses– raises a hand. "Sensei, why is there a baby?" Yukino has recovered her poise and is now sitting on Tokimi's foot and giggling; the older girl is trying to surreptitiously wave a length of ribbon to keep the infant amused without taking her eyes off Tobirama.

"This is my daughter Yukino-chan," Tobirama replies blandly. "She will be helping you with your awareness; a shinobi cannot afford to lose track of their surroundings while focusing on their duties. Anyone else?"

Nobody else speaks up, so Tobirama starts the lesson. "Hijiri-san has taught you the safe handling of shuriken and knives, so today I will teach you to handle kunai and senbon." Not how to throw them –there are separate classes for that– but how to hold them appropriately and how to pick them up off a flat surface or draw them from a pouch. "I will also test you on shuriken and knives." If they all behave themselves he may even be able to get started on identifying and handling explosives. Training children is not particularly hard; a person simply needs to be patient, clear and consistent, both with the instructions and with the praise. "Then after you have proved to me you are capable of diligent obedience and attentive focus I will teach each of you a new chakra exercise."

Every single pair of eyes is instantly focused on him, even the Nara's. Excellent.


The Uzumaki are removing the curse they laid on Sora-ku. Kita knows it's sealing, but she still thinks of it as a curse; what is a curse but words made real and factual? Seals are words, so they can be used to curse as well as bless, and the Uzumaki of several hundred years ago cursed Sora-ku at the Senju's behest. Now they are removing it, peeling it back layer by careful layer, and Kita could break it herself but she doesn't see any reason to let her honoured guests know that. The sealing meetings with the Uzumaki have been highly productive, as they have taught her words and additional structure for many concepts and scientific principles that she only vaguely understood from her memories of Before, but she isn't going to share all her secrets any more than the Uzumaki are. She certainly isn't going to point out what she knows are errors, either. Not when they tried to imply she was the one who was mistaken.

Her students are having fun, although she could do with fewer explosions. She's already has to repurpose a more remote barn for them to train in, so no bystanders get hurt and they don't frighten the livestock as much.

The reason the Uzumaki are doing the Uchiha such a large favour at no cost is that the majority of the Hatake clan are uncomfortable with the idea of having a mission office in Konohagakure despite many of their clansmen now living there for at least part of the year, so Madara suggested Soka-ku as a compromise. It's a known Uchiha holding and not all that far from the border with Hot Water, but also sparsely inhabited and technically under the aegis of the Cat Clan rather than Madara personally. However Sora-ku has had no groundwater for centuries due to Uzumaki seals and nothing grows there, so Mito has arranged for those seals to be removed. For the Hatake clan's sake, who are technically the Senju's allies rather than the Uchiha's, for all that the Hatake do not seem particularly keen to renew ties with anybody except Tobirama.

Perhaps that's why Mito made the offer; gratitude and a sense of debt can go a way to prompting the Hatake to spend more time with the Senju and form fresh bonds. However Kita doesn't get the impression that the Hatake care enough about manners to stop shunning the Senju just because one woman got her relatives to make the place their new mission office is being built less inhospitable, especially when the reason that place is so inhospitable is her family's fault in the first place. After all, the Senju and Uzumaki have been allies to the Uchiha for most of a decade now, so they really should have offered to do this sooner.

As it is, Kita is present in Sora-ku when the Uzumaki announce that the seals have been fully removed and a young tree is planted in a dew-drenched empty marketplace as proof and promise, so she hears the quiet scoff of the Hatake to her right –Gin of the bear summoning branch– when Mito calls it a 'symbol of goodwill between our clans.' It's a very quiet scoff though, barely more than a huff, so Mito probably missed it; there's nothing on Hatake Gin's face to indicate he is giving the occasion any less that his full and respectful attention.

Hatake Kanran thanks Mito in a cheery drawl, but the other Hatake present –there is one warrior from each lineage– watch silently with lidded eyes and loose postures that only look casual to civilians who don't know any better.

Then again, six tall men and women with variously wild hair in shades of pale grey, ivory and bleached gold, all leanly muscled and wearing off-white haori with red mountain patterns on the sleeve cuffs, the cloth covering green lacquered armour and the same slightly stretchy black under-armour the Senju favour, does make a rather intimidating picture even when most of them are slouching slightly with their hands resting lightly on their belts. A range of summons are also present: again, one from each of the Hatake's summons' clans as well as about a dozen cats. Kita suspects that there has been some diplomatic posturing on the summons' side of things as well, but going by the relaxed postures of the animals present it's all been fully resolved with no hard feelings on any side.

The Uchiha have rarely come into conflict with the Hatake –different home ranges and vastly different mission preferences– so maybe it's not so surprising that their respective summons were able to negotiate and come to terms so easily. Kita still hasn't met all the Hatake Lineages' matriarchs, but those Hatake she has met seem to be overall rather more inclined towards caution and shrewd observation rather than swift action, so that's not really so surprising.

She's not offended; caution serves a shinobi better than foolhardy haste ever will. She means the Hatake no ill-will and she can wait. War is not upon them yet.


Kamui's Squad returns from Water Country in the middle of November, well after typhoon season had blown itself out but before the winter storms have really set in. The five warriors all pile into the Clan Hall's main room, unloading reams of notes from their umbrella bags and piling them up all around the walls. Madara pours tea and waits patiently for them to settle; they've been away almost the entire year, having left in March and been entirely out of contact the entire time. Madara could have ordered Hijiri to send regular crows after Kamui, but that would have risked the squad's cover unnecessarily. Water Country is a dangerous place, all volcanic islands with occasional earthquakes and strong, unpredictable currents in the seas around them, and that's without considering either the wildlife or the local shinobi.

Eventually all the notes and scrolls have been produced and Chika lays out a patchwork map over the tatami, six different wide scrolls and another eight sheets of paper which when assembled out together reveal a detailed diagram of topography, water currents and settlements both civilian and not as well as all manner of other symbols.

"Right, so," the redhead says firmly. "This is Mizu no Kuni. The great island the daimyo lives on along with most of his nobles, the twelve Courtiers," she gestures, the circular movement encompassing the dozen smaller islands clustered around the large central one, "the Protector" –the larger south-easterly island that runs roughly parallel to the south-western peninsula of Fire that leads to Tea Country– "and the Heralds, which are disputed: they say they're independent and Water say otherwise." Meaning the two islands north and west of the rest of Water, closer to Hot Water and Lightning. "Every forty years or so some noble or clan tries to take over the Heralds and every time the locals hire Uzumaki to help them fight off the assault. The last time was when I was a child, so it's not due to come around again for about another decade."

Madara knows the smaller of what Chika called 'the heralds' as Benisu Island; presumably that's what the locals call it. It has a coral reef connecting it to the larger island that is so near the surface that it's impossible to sail a boat through the gap; the water is so shallow in fact that it's a bad idea to run directly over the surface as well, due to the likelihood of sudden waves throwing a person onto razor-sharp rocks.

It's a very good map: large scale and detailed with more than just topographical features. Anything would have been better than the rather rudimentary and piecemeal maps that were all the Uchiha had possessed previously –maps Kamui's Squad had been sent off with copies of as starting points– but this is excellent. Also rather concerningly different; entire islands have vanished entirely and others have appeared or moved. Considering the vast majority of Water's islands are volcanic, that implies the geology is rather more active than they'd previously considered possible. This map may well be out of date in a generation's time, which is a disconcerting thought.

"What's this?" Madara asks, tapping the 'do not approach' symbol scrawled in a dotted circle between the large southern island and the outer edge of the smaller attendant islands. There are dozens of even smaller islands scattered about and numerous reefs, but it's the major named islands that are significant in political matters; those islands have enough population, resources and industry to wield political influence at court.

"That's where the Sanbi is," Kamui says shortly. "We saw it; shipping sticks close to the coastline there to avoid it, but every now and then somebody loses a boat." And, goes unsaid but not unrecognised, their lives.

Madara nods; bijuu are an unfortunate but unassailable hazard. The Gobi wanders around Fire Country's forests and he did see it from a distance once, but the dolphin-horse is very shy and scrupulously avoids human contact. Other bijuu are less retiring: the Nibi wanders around Lightning with little care of human settlements and farmland, the Ichibi is Wind Country's only actively malicious desert feature –if also possible to avoid provided there is a moderately talented sensor in your squad– the Nanabi is wide-ranging and startlingly stealthy for a giant flying beetle, the Hachibi is frequently seen sunning itself off the coast of Tea, the Yonbi has claimed a volcanic caldera in Stone Country that everybody with a brain avoids entirely and the Rokubi is at large somewhere in Earth Country, its acidic slime constantly eroding new canyons and caves both above and below ground. The Kyūbi hasn't been sighted in well over two centuries, but the Uchiha last saw it in the bone forests of the peninsula north and slightly west of Rice Paddy Country, so it's probably still up there in the wastes.

Hopefully it's asleep.

"The nobles call the islands what I just did," Chika goes on, "but the locals have their own names for them. A range of different names, even, depending on the caste of the speaker and their clan or island of origin. For instance, most of the mid-caste locals call the central island 'Mist Country' because all the hot springs make the low-lying central region very warm and foggy."

Madara studies the map more closely; all of that island's mountains are around the coast, a ragged ring of blunt but narrow peaks enclosing a large plain dotted with lakes, a single river snaking out through a narrow rift to the west. "Is that entire island one big volcanic caldera?"

"Yes," Chika says bluntly. "Hence all the hot springs and why the entire plain is so incredibly fertile; most of Water Country's fruit crop comes from there, as does the rice. The attendant islands are all small and mountainous, if still very fertile, so dry-field farming is more common because water is scarcer. They're also more exposed, so crops need to be hardier or at least salt-resistant. The Protector is the only other island large enough and low-lying enough for proper paddy farming. Unfortunately for everyone it's also where the Kaguya Clan live, so they're strong and rather prominent despite not being a proper native clan."

"That means a lot to the locals, I take it." Madara knows the Kaguya are originally from Fire Country and that they claim royal descent, but he's never seen any records to prove it despite their affectation of shaving their eyebrows and parting their hair in a zigzag pattern like the long-dead Imperial family. The entire clan is also completely insane, which unfortunately does support the theory of their being of at least noble descent; only a prideful Imperial remnant would choose inbred madness over thinning their line with 'lesser' blood. Yes, the Uchiha as a bloodline are all inter-related to some degree, but they make a point of bringing in new blood in every generation, have rules about who is and is not allowed to marry in terms of cousins, and keep track of how frequently lines have intermarried in the past. Inbreeding has unfortunate effects on reasoning ability.

"Oh yes." Chika grins tiredly. "That's part of why the islands are all up in arms right now: the Kaguya are trying to expand. Well, they've successfully expanded a bit –out to these islands here, see?– but to get any further they have to either go right around the Sanbi, through these reefs and come up in Hōzuki territory, or else go through the Hoshigaki. Currently they're trying to go through the Hoshigaki."

"Failing abjectly to go through the Hoshigaki," Naka-hawknose says quietly from where she's tidying the mountains of notes into something hopefully approaching order alongside Take and Akihisa. Those three were chosen for this mission because they all lack the distinctive Uchiha look, and they seem much more confident in themselves now than they were when Madara saw them off in the spring.

"That too," Chika agrees, rolling one shoulder. "So much so that the people they had managed to cow into obedience are kicking up a fuss and hiring shinobi from other parts of Water to rescue their sons taken away for 'training' and to do away with their daughter's 'husbands'. So the Yuki are involved and so are the Munashi and the Terumī, then the clans adjacent to them tried to take advantage of several of their neighbours' best shinobi being away from home to expand a bit into their territory, kicking off more local scuffles."

"It's a big old mess," Kamui agrees wryly, "but it is less chaotic than it looks from the outside."

Madara hopes the notes fill in the gaps for him; he is starting to see the shape of the overall picture from Chika's introduction, but he is probably going to need to read all of the scrolls and disparate snippets to be able to make considered and effective decisions. However he should get an overview first, to hear how things went and what stood out to his warriors.

"Give me the high points," he orders, "and then you can use the Clan Hall's bath house." It's private and nobody will kick them out if they decide they want to lounge in the pool for an hour or two; it's going to take him at least that long to skim everything as it is.

"At once, Madara-sama!"