Tajima had been born during a lull in their war with the Senju.
It was another clan-the Kissek, that had destroyed the compound he had been born in. The Uchiha had simply thought there was an earthquake at first. But once boulders began battering down their walls, they had known it for the attack it was.
The Uchiha had wiped out the Kisseki clan down to every last man, woman, and child for their actions-but they moved compound's regardless, there hadn't been too much they could salvage. There had been so many injured Uchoiha then. Especially non-shinobi who hadn't managed to dodge falling debris. His father had left all the injured civilian elders behind. Including the older maid who kept their home.
Grandmother Chihiro, the old woman who had raised him in between his studies as a viable heir to the Amaterasu lineage, and his training in the ninja arts. Tajima had never quite forgiven his father for that.
In a lot of ways Grandmother Chihiro was the only parent he had ever known. The one person in his life who was consistently kind to him, and showed that care and concern. The first few years in the compound without her steady maternal presence had been hard.
When he joined the war efforts-it became harder still.
Tajima had always been more talented than his brothers, more intelligent and clear headed. He had known, long before they had all become ash on their funeral pyres, that he would be the one to inherit the title of clan head, and he had always comported himself accordingly.
He had long learned love was a luxury he couldn't afford, so even when he fell in love with a non-lineage Kunochi, even when his soul sang in the presence of Natsume, he kept his distance.
The Uchiha allowed exactly two types of Kunochi on the field. The well prepared Lineage Kunochi who were taught to blend seamlessly with their male counterparts until they could activate their Sharingan and were allowed to retire, and the lineage-less Kunochi who had little to no chance of activating their clan bloodline limit who did the fieldwork the more privileged Uchiha Kunochi
saw as beneath them.
Natsume had been the latter. But the woman had been poetry with a sword in her hands and Tajima had fallen hard and fast for her when she'd saved his life in a tea shop when some Senju scum had laid an ambush for him. Natsume had been undercover, but she had interfered when he'd become overwhelmed. He still dreamed about fighting at her side, how seamlessly they had moved together, and the private joy in her self satisfied smile when she slew the last of their opponents.
Tajima had known in that moment that nothing would make him a happier man than to marry her. But he was head of the Amaterasu, and he was to be wed to the Kamui heads daughter-the agreement had been made years before by Tajima's father. Honor and duty demanded he marry another, and so Tajima had conscientiously kept his distance.
But he couldn't help but look into Natsume and learn everything he could about her. Every piece of knowledge was an unearthed treasure-secrets kept close to his heart on days when his future loomed, bloodied and bleak.
Natsume was of the Kagayaku Ejji.
The Shining Edge, they'd called themselves. A collection of Sharinganless clan shinobi who his father claimed were wastes of Uchiha blood. Yet they still managed to use Weapons, Jutsu, and Taijutsu so they could keep pace with proper Uchiha out in the field, so they had his lineage's respect, begrudging as it was.
No one could deny it was earned.
But they were largely seen as a danger to the centuries old traditions that governed the clan, and so every clan head before them had been leery. The Kagayaku Ejji had been one of the driving forces behind keeping the non Sharingan Lineages from trying to make a name for themselves.
His father, grandfather, and even great grandfather had been trying to weed out the Kagayaku Ejji for more than a hundred years.
There had almost been a civil war in the Uchiha clan because of them. They had emboldened those without their bloodline limit to fight for more resources. Some, like those of the summoning and healing lines, were more successful than others.
If the war with the Senju hadn't heated back up, if it hadn't given the main house the distraction and excuse they needed for the Kagayaku Ejji to slowly disappear-then those of the clan who awakened the Sharingan, those true Uchiha who made up the heart of the clan could have been displaced.
Or so his father had explained, when Tajima had inquired 'casually' about what little the clan had recorded of them in the archives.
His father had looked down on them-but Tajima had been raised by Grandmother Chihiro, and there were things, bedtime stories and simple asides that meant he couldn't help but think otherwise.
Once upon a time Tajima's favorite bedtime tale had been that of the first Uchiha. The story, as told by Grandmother Chihiro, began with a priestess in Fire country who served the sun and fire god Amaterasu, getting kidnapped by the last true son of the Otsutsuki clan. The only holder of the Rinnegan, who had been searching through the elemental nations for a bride that would give him a son that would inherit his eyes. The priestess was beloved in fire country, for she was fire touched, and could make flames dance to her will, but to the man-she merely another bride in his endless search, and so he took her prisoner and added her to his collection.
The priestess prayed every time he visited her that none of her children would have the eyes her husband wished for that she so despised. And none of them did, every child bearing the same dark hair and eyes as their mother. Finally-afternoon more than ten years of trying to convince a child with the Rinnegan with the priestess, the Otsutsuki killed the priestess and the latest dark haired, dark eyed child in a horrid rage.
The oldest child, who witnessed the awful slaying of his mother and youngest brother, invoked his mothers god, Amaterasu, for the strength to avenge his dead family members-and Amaterasu answered.
His eyes bled red like blood and the cruel man who was his father burned in dark fire for his sins. Thus the first Uchiha was born.
It was the one tale he'd made a point to share with all of his children. Mostly because he liked the way it blended with the other asides Grandmother Chihiro had made over the years. Like that there had always been Uchiha without the Sharingan. And that the first fireball Jutsu was created by a lineage-less ancestor blessed by the spirit of the fire priestess. Those the Uchiha valued, those that innovated and created better weapons and stronger armor were once known to be fire-touched. Those that lit the way forward for the clan under Amaterasu's blessing. Tajima had never cared about the information at the time, but he'd felt that if anyone could be called fire touched-it should be those of the Kagayaku Ejji.
It was silly of course, the romantic musings of a boy in love. Nothing Tajima ever shared with anyone else, simply another musing to keep close when he needed strength.
Then Natsume had died on a mission, and it was as if the color bleed from the world.
Paradoxically, it became easier to be clan head then. It became easier to make the hard choices. To place the needs of the clan above everything else. The creation of the orphan homes was the best way to ensure more Uchiha who were predisposed to activate their bloodline had better resources and were able to live long enough to activate their Sharingan.
That they were then beholden to the Lineage whose resources were used to raise them was anecdotal, and an easy sacrifice to make in exchange for better trained soldiers. Tajima was clan head, every decision he made was in service to the clan and winning the war with the Senju. He had sacrificed too much to accept anything less-and the clan that had taken Natsume from the world had to burn down to the last man. Tajima prayed for vengeance to Amaterasu every night.
He also kept an eye on what was left of Natsume's family. She had an older sister who had given her Nephews she had once eagerly trained with.
Still-war was something no one could perfectly plan for. He'd made the choice to keep Natsume's nephews close. They were worthy shinobi-and they had served as his personal guard long enough that Tajima felt perfectly at ease with them at his back.
Coming back from a draining mission and running into Senju scouts meant they had to do their best to escape, or all twelve squad members, some of the most powerful Uchiha in the clan were at risk of death before they even had a chance to pass on their Magenkyos to their family members. He couldn't take that risk.
He knew Natsume would never forgive him, but It made sense to ask Arata, her oldest nephew, to stay behind.
Any warrior on their very first mission for the clan was worth three regular shinobi from any other clan. A Kagayaku Ejji was worth five lineage-less blooded warriors-but a Sharingan user was worth ten. So Tajima informed Arata that he was to do his best to distract the enemy while they made their escape.
Aratas brothers chose to stay behind and fight together in the hopes that they could all make it back home to the compound. Instead they all died, leaving Ayumi Uchiha as the last of the Kagayaku Ejji-and the poor child had no idea of the heritage her lineage held.
Tajima gave her the best marriage he could, something he would have done even if her brothers hadn't died saving his life-she was all that was left of Natsume's heritage and family, after all.
Tajima did his best to learn from the incident as well.
Uchiha were too passionate when it came to members of their immediate families. He immediately ordered that blood brothers were no longer allowed to work on the same squad. Mission rate success rose in the wake of this, Uchiha less blinded by familial love and able to give their best to their missions.
Tajima continued to do his best for the clan-when his cousin died and left Ayumi with two young children to feed, he thought they would go to the Amaterasu orphan home for training, and planned to have them guard his heir the way their uncles had once guarded him. Instead Ayumi remarried, but Tajima had checked personally, and Hayate Uchiha was an honorable warrior who was kind to his step sons and diligent in their training-Ayumi had chosen well for her second marriage.
When his wife died and the child she carried died, Tajima took the traditional year to mourn her passing and carefully chose a bride. His new wife, Kikiyo, was chosen mostly because she was of the Izanagi lineage and because she'd once activated her Magenkyo and proceeded to save her father once, and then her brother-costing her both eyes. Her brother had asked the healers to give her his eyes on his deathbed when he'd made it back to the clan mortally wounded, but Izanagi was an unforgiving technique. Even her new eyes were useless, his wife was completely blind. A secret she was fairly successful in keeping in front of anyone that didn't know the particulars of her situation, she was a very skilled Kunochi. Truly the only downside to his new bride was that she didn't want to be married to him.
He knew she kept her maid as a lover. Lineage Kunoichi who stayed on the field when they activated their bloodline limit were very rare, but as the unspoken rule to retirement was marriage or crippling injury, any of them who were homosexual and wanted to keep their independence would have no choice but to stay on the field.
With the death of her brother and her fathers own crippling, his wife had no choice but to bend to the elders' will. Considering that the Izanagi elders were rather desperate for ration distribution rights, it didn't take long before she married him. Tajima let her keep her little lover and pretended ignorance as long as she gave him children. Which she did, and her sons were notably more talented than those of his previous wives-making the marriage one of his better choices.
Tajima privately thought he had an eye for unions, even Ayumi's child with his cousin was quickly climbing up the ranks of the clan's weapon experts. He wasn't as good with a sword as his aunt had been, but his use of weapons and taijutsu was deaft and unmatched by his peers. Tajima tried not to wonder if his children with Natsume would have been so talented. It was a useless thought that only made him ache with how much he missed her.
Even when he had understood that they could never be together-just knowing that they were in the same compound had soothed something inside him. Seeing her, practicing Kata, or training her nephews had been enough for him. It was so difficult to live in a world without her some days.
And then the Senju attacked their compound.
Tajima could claim that he was accustomed to losing his sons, but the wounds they left in his soul never quite healed. He couldn't afford to cry and scream with his grief the way so much of his kin did. Another of Grandma Chihiros favorite words of wisdom was that Uchiha carried fire in their blood, and the only thing that kept them from burning everything they held dear was control.
Tajima knew his grief was not a tame enough thing to release in the compound. It was something he held in tightly and only loosened the reins of his burning hatred on the field.
A couple of months later, taking a break from reviewing the building plans for the new Uchiha compound, Tajima finally found the strength to read Izunas report on the loss of his youngest.
Blue flames.
There were no Uchiha techniques that used blue flames-let alone any so powerful.
Tajima had an impulse then-it had been a very long time since he had made an impulsive decision. So long he'd forgotten what it was like not to weight the reactions of all the lineage factions before making a choice-but he'd decided to nonetheless. The existence of Naoya's Sharingan felt like justification enough, his cousin hadn't even had a Sharingan but the Amaterasu Lineage was strong enough in the gift of their bloodline that it shouldn't matter that Akane would likely never activate it herself.
It was one of the best decisions he ever made.
The child proved herself to be fire touched more and more with every project. He knew his son was happy with the match, but by the time Akane was thirteen Tajima would have forced his heir to wed her regardless of his feelings on the subject. Tajima felt perfectly comfortable giving the war all of his time and attention while his heir and bride-to-be handled the clans day to day.
Then Akane was poisoned.
Madara and Naoya proceeded to pull off a very effective mass assasination of every Uchiha elder that had a hand in the incident. Madara didn't even look apologetic when Tajima sent him to the frontlines and banished him from the clan for a year.
Naoya was punished with fifty missions to be completed without pay before the end of the year, if he failed to do so he would be met with double Madaras punishment. Tajima had initially given them both the same punishment, but Naoya had pointed out he'd paid with an eye to right the clan's mistake, and used the loss to negotiate. Tajima had set the failure condition mostly out of aggravation that that was indeed the case.
But the reason the punishment was so light in the first place was because the Tsukuyomi Lineage had been growing audacious and needed to be taken down-he hated to admit it, but both boys had done him a great service. There weren't many ways for the clan head to interfere with the liaisons between other Lineages.
The Tsukuyomi lineage tended more towards women than men. Over half of the Uchiha Kunoichi force was composed of sixty to seventy percent Tsukuyomi Kunochi at any given time. But none of the direct Lineage had activated their Magenkyo since the last user had died twenty years before-and they never had a chance to pass the Mangekyo on. It made the Tsukuyomi elders restless, and they had decided to marry into key positions to keep themselves in power. The only other downside Tajima had seen to his wife was that Kikiyos mother had been a Tsukuyomi.
It was said Kikiyo inherited the gift before sacrificing her eyes as she'd had.
He knew the Tsukuyomi elders visited her regularly, but he hadn't thought much of it. His wife had very little power in the clan, he never thought she'd agree to bethrowing Madara to one of her Tsukuyomi cousins in the wake of Akanes death.
It had given the Tsukuyomi elders all the incentive they needed to assassinate the clans most powerful jutsu specialist-the driving force between the population boom those without a lineage were experiencing, and the notable improvement of their shinobi forces.
Fortunately Akane was rescued, and fire touched as she was, she'd even created an artifact that would save the lives of so many Uchiha down the line. He'd even received reports from the healing halls that feeding the blessed water to those injured in the wards seemed to improve the standard of healing. There hadn't been a wounded infection since they adopted the practice.
Such a key figure-such an important asset to their war with the Senju, almost lost. And he even had to punish his heir and her brother for their rightful vengeance. The entire incident left a bad taste in his mouth, so he decided to confront his wife.
The room Kikiyo kept to was peaceful and quiet, especially when he visited, and her maid made herself scarce. He found her drinking tea, as he often did-she looked graceful and immaculate, not at all like someone who had disobeyed her husband and clan head.
Tajima didn't bother to sugar coat the incident, "I want an explanation for your attempt on the life of our sons intended."
Kikiyo barked a laugh, a joyless sound he'd never heard her make before, "What else can I want? What I've always wanted, my freedom."
Tajima snorted with disdain, "Is that what the elders promised you?"
"They didn't have to promise, they offered to kill you in exchange for wedding Madara to one of our own. The little girl you chose for him had turned the clan Matriarch title into something quite coveted these days. No one would bother to make me stay in the compound once I was a widow," Kikiyo responded blandly.
"Did you think you could get away with no consequences?" Tajima was genuinely curious.
"You already keep me locked up like a prisoner. What else could you do to me? Are you willing to torture the mother of your heir? Or are you feeling kind and wish to bestow upon me the sweet release of death?"
Tajima narrowed his eyes, "I've found your little maid a lineage-less shinobi to marry. She's barred from this compound effective immediately, and Haruka will find an old widow to care for your basic needs."
Kikiyo froze, the only give away to her distress was the slight twitch of her fingers as she forced herself not to clench her hands. When she spoke, she sounded convincingly calm.
"And why should that matter to me?"
"Because I'll be sure to instruct your new maid to pass on details of her wedding, her future children, and most importantly, how much happier her life will be without you in it." Tajima said, matter of fact.
Kikiyos hands trembled and Tajima left with some satisfaction. He smirked when he heard porcelain shatter as he closed the door behind him.
He knew quite well how cruel the world felt without the person you loved most, Kikyo should be thankful he was being merciful enough to let her little maid live. None of his children or the clan at large would care or think to check the particulars if he executed her for treason, after all.
X
So this is V3 of this chapter and I'm still not in love with it but I'm trying to keep to this update schedule come hell or high water so here we are. Compared to V1 this version of Tajima is significantly less of a Sharingan racist for lack of better term-but it doesn't actually stop him from being awful, so you know; character depth.
Also about Uchiha creation myths-let us not forget that the best myths all hold a kernel of truth. The actual incident was some Hyuuga asshole with Rinnegan dreams kidnaps beloved fire priest and chucked the 'useless' dark eyed babies to the servants, kids grow up to decide that dude needs to die and when they loose one of their own instead; behold the Sharingan. Then lots of Hyuuga die and the main house is like-ok, side branch you are the only trusted servants now.
Next up we see more chalice research, was magic actually a thing, does Naoya fess up to murdering like a lot of elders and being on punishment? What random detail will I add that ends up as serendipitous foreshadowing? I need to stop doing the announcer voice in my head this is not me talking about the next episode of DBZ lol-but yeah I would love to hear what y'all think of the story and how things are going.