Touka had thought it was some Uchiha scheme. Something her father had discovered and been captured for in order for the Uchiha to keep up the bluff. She'd been furious with her cousin for falling for it. Furious with the Uchiha for their deception when the ceasefire was so necessary for both clans to make the transition in leadership. Hashirama had wasted no time in 'making new friends' as he called it and Tobirama had drafted treaties much faster than he was comfortable with.
Many of her fathers generation weren't terribly happy with her cousin. But Touka thought Hashirama had the right of it-the more ally's they had to call on, the better. The war had been swinging in the Uchihas favor within the last few years. More scrimmages ending with the bulk of the deaths belonging to the Senju. The Uchiha were slowly becoming better armed all the time and Touka had hardly been the only Senju to be unhappy with the difference.
Hashirama dreamed of peace with the Uchiha, and while Touka thought her lovable idiot of a cousin would happily create alliances with every other clan in fire country-the idea of peace with the Uchiha remained a pipe dream. There was no other clan that hated them like the Uchiha did-no other clans had ever managed hundreds of years of feuding and bloodshed. But once the Uchiha were outnumbered-not even her cousins goodwill could save them. They just needed some time to solidify those alliances, so the ceasefire had been important.
Touka had simply thought the Uchiha had realized they were better off continuing the war through the leadership transitions. The female Uchiha that spoke for the party that handed her father over was easily recognized. There weren't many female Uchihas on the field, and The Blue death had earned quite the reputation thanks to the few shinobi that survived a battle with the deadly Uchiha.
Somehow Touka didn't think a woman who hated the Senju enough to figure out a technique not just to burn them alive-but to turn them directly to ash, had any interest in making sure the ceasefire happened.
After the appearance of a hidden creature, her younger cousins kill of the Uchiha clan heads fiancé, her father death, and the existence of a signed ceasefire-Touka hadn't known what to think.
It became obvious-once the Uchiha and Senju compared notes, another diplomacy mission evidently spearheaded by the Uchiha heir and the blue death, that they did have a hidden enemy. Another clan that had been silently meddling in their war as far back as the clan had records. An enemy strong enough to cast a genjutsu on the Uchiha spare and the Senjus best sensor without either of their awareness.
It had been horrifying.
The idea of hundreds of years of Senju and Uchiha killing each other off, all under the design of an enemy they hadn't even known they had. An enemy only the Blue Death had identified and brought to light...
Hashirama had been enraged.
It wasn't often Touka thought of her goofy older cousin as a dangerous shinobi-but dangerous was the least of it when Hashirama got angry.
It was terrifying.
Tobirama hadn't been dealing well with the idea that he was compromised. Her younger cousin had gone home and scoured every piece of clan paperwork he had so much as proofread in the last year-trying to find any mistakes he could have made that would have resulted in further conflict with the Uchiha.
He'd found them.
Moreover, he found that most of them he'd collaborated with Touka father on. It made her fathers sudden stop and veering away from the party even more suspicious-so they dug into her fathers work. The other elders found traces of secret missions her father had ordered. Missions like the extermination of an entire generation of Uchiha children, regardless of whether or not they had been in the womb.
Touka had been sick at the thought.
She'd long accepted that young as they were-once an Uchiha was sent on the field, they were a warrior. The Senju did the same, they were hardly in a position to claim moral superiority. But the idea of targeting true children, helpless babes in their cradles…She'd never known the Senju had stopped so low.
Such actions-if the Uchiha were truly willing to try for peace, then they were better people than Touka was-because she knew that was something she could never forgive. Later, when her mother found her, and brought up her constant reminders of being of marital age in a bid to bring back a sense of normalcy to a world that suddenly felt upside down-Touka had known what to do.
She'd gone up to her lovable idiot of a cousin who seemed to specialize in doing the impossible and offered her marriage as a political tool for an alliance with their mortal enemies. Her clan had most recently cost the Uchiha clan head a future bride, offering a Senju one was a way to prove how serious her clan was about the future. Touka was the female relative closest to the Senju clan head-there was no better bridal prospect among the Senju.
It was why her mother was forever nagging Touka to settle down and marry a man. Ideally an Uzumaki to cement stronger ties with their closest relatives and introduce new blood into the Senju. Uzumaki sized reserves were how chakra monsters like Hashirama and Tobirama came about, after all.
Her mother had even bribed whoever was in charge of Mitos nominal guards back in Ushio to send single respectable shinobi for her to get to know. Uzumaki-being Uzumaki, mostly treated it like a big joke and Touka had genuinely improved her ability to keep a straight face through sheer practice from weathering their teasing.
Kotaro-her latest prospective husband from Ushio, had crowed in delight when he found out about Touka's engagement to Izuna Uchiha. He'd decided he must have been such a horrible prospect as a husband that Touka found herself an Uchiha match instead and found great joy in lamenting loudly about how he would never find love being so hideous that he'd even driven a Senju into the arms of an Uchiha. It was, like so much Uzumaki nonsense, ridiculous-but the spectacle he made of himself did seem to ease some of the tension in the clan about Hashirama's latest ill-advised decision, as the most polite among the elders put it.
Touka didn't know exactly what she was doing, but she did know what she wanted-and that was for the blasted war that had cost her so much family and so many friends to finally be over, free from the influence of whatever enemy had been playing them for fools for centuries.
So regardless of her mothers fear, the clans general discontent and her families paranoia-Touka moved forward, until she was standing in the Inn that the Uchiha had rented out ready for her engagement ceremony.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Mito asked, Kotaro-the faithful shadow at her side watched her with a a calm dissecting gaze most would never believe the typically foolish Uzumaki capable of-and it occurred to Touka for the first time that maybe Hashirama came by his obnoxious flamboyance honestly from his mothers side. It wasn't a mask the way most people would understand it to be, she'd never seen them use feelings that weren't genuine-but it did make it hard to remember that they could be serious. Of Touka said she regretted her decision-she was sure Kotaro and Mito would do everything in their power to insure her engagement did not happen.
For a moment Touka did wish she'd listened to her mother and married Kotaro instead. They'd grown closer over the months following Toukas decision, and without her mothers insistence, Mitos guard wasn't changed as consistently, so she had gotten to know this Uzumaki cousin better than any prospective husbands before him. He was more than ten years older than her, but Uzumaki vitality being what it was, he could still pass for a teenager in the right light. He was hardly her mothers first choice for her daughters husband, but Touka had been turning down candidates as far back as she could remember. The Senju main line had no daughters and so Touka had always been the best way for other warriors in and out of the clan to create close ties with the future Senju head through marriage.
But Kotaro was kind, he respected Touka's opinions and decisions and he'd never once made her feel as if he looked down on her for being a woman. Most of her fellow Senju shinobi couldn't say the same. But marrying him, while perhaps ensuring her a calm worry free marriage, and strengthening ties between the Senju and Uzumaki further still-would not do anything to end her clans centuries long war.
Touka found that the idea of peace and any children she had not dying pointlessly on the field due to some unknown clan's machinations the way her father had was more important to her. Even if it did mean any children she had would be Uchiha.
So decided-Touka noded with confidence she didn't entirely feel and finished dressing for her betrothal ceremony.
Her future husband wasn't a stranger to her, but considering she usually saw him on the battlefield, it shouldn't surprise her to think Izuna Uchiha looked like a completely different person in his formal Yukata as both diplomatic envoys went through the steps they had carefully outlined for over a year. The engagement was to last six months, and if they managed to keep it going without incident. Then they would be married in truth, though what would happen afterwards was a little more mysterious to Touka. She'd overheard her cousin saying something eagerly about a new village to a furious Tobirama but they had clamped up as she approached.
Touka could have never imagined what Konoha was if she didn't see it happen with her own eyes.
After her marriage, the Senju and Uchiha had established a village they would defend together with any other like minded allies. It sounded like a fairytale.
It became even more fantastical when they set out a vote for leader of the village and Hashirama won. Yet the Uchiha didn't riot. Things didn't magically turn to rights between the clan, but it was fairly obvious to most of their Allie's that the Uchiha were being more magnanimous about their alliance than the Senju were, which was just embarrassing.
Even more embarrassing was the visit she received from Akane Uchiha with a list of ideas for getting her clansmen under control. Touka had glimpsed the other Kunochi a few times in battle over the years and she'd always thought her to be the most bloodthirsty of Uchiha.
The establishment of Konoha taught Touka just how wrong she was.
Akane Uchiha was responsible for the creation of glass buildings she called green houses that meant feeding their shinobi forces was the cheapest it had ever been for the Senju. Her finger prints were all over the village, trying to create cohesion between her clans and the others, and worse yet-succeeding.
It wasn't bad because of what she was doing, it was more the way she was doing that made Touka feel a sort of anxious panic.
It was like watching a prettier, less loud version of Hashirama charming clan heads left and right. But where Hashirama typically convinced other clans of his vision using unspeakable amounts of charisma and the backing of the Senju, Akane seemed to only use reason and shared interests with the smallest sprinkle of charisma.
She'd even had the idea to hold a welcoming ceremony for new clans that joined the village every six months and watching her work the crowd deftly reminded Touka that so called soft skills really could make or break a clan-there was a reason they were the skills that were most often used in court with Daimyos.
The other woman was very good at what she did, and Touka tried not to be bitter when she'd implement a few of her suggestions and did see the results she wanted. Her husband was quite amused when she voiced her frustration and simply let her know that Akane had clawed her way up from the bottom of the clan, lacking the clans vaunted kekkei genkai as she did, and still made herself one of the most influential leaders of the Uchiha.
Uchiha clan power structures were headache inducing, unlike the much more straightforward ones in the Senju. There were Lineages which were basically just families that always produced heirs with Sharingan, major and minor for some arbitrary reason Touka was not Uchiha enough to know the details of, despite having married in.
But Akane did not belong to a lineage, despite her older brother having a Sharingan, and the other women of influence in the clan were not her fans.
It was amazing how much easier Touka's social life as a mainline Uchiha bride became when she'd figured out she just had to work in Akanes name into a conversation and the other Lineage wives and daughters would happily ignore her Senju origins just to spend a few hours speaking badly of their clans best Kunochi.
Touka didn't get it, but she was a blooded warrior and both ruthless and opportunistic enough to take advantage of it-and while it may not have made Touka out to be the best person, it was nice to hear about how everyone was completely in love with Akane Uchiha.
The rest of the non lineage shinobi basically worshiped the woman. Even a lot of lineage shinobi supported her even against their elders wishes. Outside of the Uchiha, even other Senju would grudgingly acknowledge Akane as the most palatable of the Uchiha. Not to mention the other clans that were drawn into her sphere of influence much more easily.
Touka had never even heard of how they'd met, but she did know Akanes fist face to face conversation with Kotaro had left her second favorite Uzumaki cousin quite smitten.
It was stupid to be jealous. Touka had chosen the loveless political marriage she was in. It was even going better than she dared hope. Izuna was very respectful of her and never tried to put her in difficult or awkward situations. Even her brother-in laws were always kind to her. Even if she'd first found it difficult to look at Akira after learning just how he'd lost use of his legs. Being married to Izuna was going about as best as it could go and they'd even slowly developed a friendship over the course of their marriage and were beginning to discuss a child.
But Kotaro was probably the first guy she'd ever actually liked and it somehow burned to know how openly taken he was with Akane.
Touka wasn't an idiot though, and wouldn't jeopardize her clans future for petty jealousy. Especially not when she was so painfully aware of all the sacrifices she'd made to make it happen.
Things definitely got easier when she was pregnant though. It made it much easier to put the what ifs and day dreams to be with the existence of her child. An Uchiha Touka would gladly fight and die for.
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Forgive me if there's more typos or if I'm lacking coherency somewhere-your girl is down bad with a cold and I had to battle a sea of mucus as I was editing this and it may have gotten the best of me, so I'd appreciate some feed back if there are any areas of confusion and if it's bad enough I'll try to re-edit before I post next week. Hope y'all like the chapter though!