X - The Tangled Web We Weave
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The moon was high up in the sky when Danzo stepped in the inner sanctum of the Ise shrine. No one stopped him. But it was not for the reason of the lateness of the hour or the fact that halls seemed barely guarded. To believe such a thought was a sign of the naive. Though belief of the gods had waned in the Land of Fire with the nobles leading the charge, the shrine was still a seat of power. Held for decades by the modern day sage, Senju Kira. He was a beloved figure not only in the capital, Makimuku, but in the whole Land of Fire. A philosopher and scholar who was beyond the tawdry notions of politics, so the noble denizens of Fire say.
Such an important figure was well protected. The halls of Ise ran with seals of protection, painstakingly carved out by the Namikaze serfs on the behest of Uzumaki seal masters. Finished just before the start of the second shinobi war, as a reminder that what befell Whirlpool would never befell Fire.
Danzo easily slipped inside because he was simply well known to the shrine. Just as Senju Kira had stood as the Head of Ise for decades, Danzo has traversed the halls even longer. First as a student of Senju Tobirama who had been the shadow to the Hokage and throughout the years as the now shadow to the Hokage, Danzo had always been a stalwart figure to Fire's cause.
"Old friend," a fond voice greeted Danzo as he stepped into the light. Senju Kira's voice was a warm balm to the messy business Danzo undertook in behalf of fire and the suspicions looks he obtained because of his duties. Case to point the scowl that Tsunade threw at him on his arrival. Such a coddled naive child, Danzo sourly thought, made bearable by the fact that her deliberate blindness would never give her full control of Fire's forces. Cooler and more calculating heads, such as her father and cousin, would always prevail.
"My lords," Danzo rumbled in greeting as he know-towed. His joints creaked at the uncomfortable position especially after such a long journey, but it was a point of pride. Something Tsunade seemed to be unable to grasp with her uncomfortable fidgeting. Danzo despaired with how the great Arakawa-Senju line seemed to be diminishing with every generation. Thank the gods Lord Kira and Lord Minoru still understood with the former's indulgent smile and the later's imperious nod of approval.
"Rise Elder Danzo," his Daimyo, Lord Minoru, spoke. "How fared your mission?"
"A success, my Lord," Danzo could not help but extoll. "General Mifune has accepted our arguments and will personally lead his troops to march with us."
Tsunade gaped in disbelief. The idea that the Land of Iron would heavily weigh in their favour was considered a pipe dream. No matter how Fire posited that the hawk summon Sasuke commanded was an imposter and not the royal summon, Garuda; they well knew it was simply their attempt to delay the inevitable until they could show a summon of equal weight at their side. Iron in all its caution would not simply throw their hard won reputation for impartiality and neutrality even with all the promises of riches an alliance would bring. The cold bare Land of Iron knew their power lay in the respect all the nations gave them. No nation would dare attack the last unbiased seat of Imperial law and the veneer of respectability it gave to each and every pretender prince and their territory. This coupled with the metal rich lands and the most prized veins of high carbon iron, the Land of Iron had been able to play the different major powers in equal footing. To make them willingly throw away their knife edge balance, was supposed to be an impossible dream.
"No one protested?" Tsunade breathed out.
"Would it matter?" Danzo replied derisively. "The General's word is law."
"Let's not be too hasty old friend," Kira interjected breaking the animosity arising from the two. "His advisers may not be too keen."
"And they might suspect something," Minoru interjected grimly. "How did they take Mifune's decision?"
"What do you mean suspect?" Tsunade interjected. "You must have offered something so substantial that you should have seek approval for it? There was no mention of it. We did not give leave for such a negotiation."
Her gaze swept through the three men, and to her astonishment, she realised she had been kept in the dark. Danzo's expression though deferential, bordered on impatience. Her father Kira held a mildly apologetic mien, while her cousin Minoru looked resigned.
"Tsunade," Minoru coaxed. "We gave elder Danzo full leave to initiate the 2nd stage of the Wildfire initiative."
Horrified, Tsunade spat out a protest. To think they would allow the use of the sharingan and its reality altering abilities allies and equals. The report written in Orochimaru's distinctive hand painted a stark frightening picture of the evolved Sharingan, the Mangekyō. Skills that defied reality and forcibly warped it to the caster's liking. It was as if the God Tsukuyomi plucked threads of his power and gave it to the Uchiha to use as they will.
"The Kotoamatsukami was exceptional," Danzo reported with a satisfied smile, easily seeing that his Lords were eager for news. It was a risk allowing him the use of Uchiha Shisui's eye and Mangekyō, but Danzo had pushed for its use. Had argued and insisted on its use, until he gained their reluctant approval. "I have essentially grafted into his mind the rightness and loyalty to Fire's cause. It's a thing of beauty," he recalled fondly. "It convinces you so thoroughly, changes you in such a base level that you are able to defend your position and create your own justification."
"What did General Mifune decree?" Minoru prodded.
"That by tradition, the Imperial line and its branches practice agnatic primogeniture. Unless a council determined differently, Itachi Uchiha is clan head and the Uchiha's candidate to the throne."
"None contested the decision?"
"Itachi Uchiha brought our demands to Sorata Yamamoto nee Namikaze. What else is it but a declaration of his allegiance?"
Danzo enthused. It was such a heady feeling when he felt the Kotoamatsukami take hold of Mifune. The deftness and strength of the genjutsu that all laid at his fingertips. Everything fell into place. No one could see any different from Mifune, and when the old fool delivered his analysis, even those stubborn haughty samurais could do nothing but agree. Even when the murmur of discontent grew from the ranks of the Hatamoto nobles, the highest rank of the samurai vassals, no one dared contradict their Lord. He could not help but gleefully remember the tight lipped faces of the disgruntled Hatamoto nor but savour Okisuke's clenched jaw. A treat as Mifune's right hand man had initially wanted to bar Danzo away and refused to consider treating with Fire.
"Worry not my Lords," Danzo assured the two men as his gaze captured Lord Kira. His Lord that he ad sworn to protect and to serve. A dear dear friend who had believed in him, even when everyone else was dazzled with the brilliance of Kagami Uchiha. Even Hiruzen eclipsed him at a certain point and left Danzo behind, but he always knew of all of them, he had been trusted the most. After all, didn't Tobirama Senju left him in charge of Root? Root, the elite guards that were the shadowy enforcers of the Arakawa-Senju Lords. "Even if many disagree with Mifune's interpretation of Imperial precedent, what can they do? The interpretation is valid. Our influence untraceable. And those poor souls in Iron, having put forth the law as their ruler, will never admit to a mistake in their part."
"This is madness," Tsunade interjected.
"We thank you for your excellent service old friend," Kira Senju ignoring his daughter's outburst. "But we cannot be overconfident. Tell us everyone who openly and secretly disapproved, and those who we can count to our side."
"As you wish, my Lords."
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"I cannot believe this," Tsunade spat out. Danzo's report shook her to the core. She could not believe this as she wildly turned her gaze to her father and cousin.
Minoru's pitying eyes met hers that she flinched. 'Liar,' her mind mocked her. She could almost hear Gamamaru damning rumble when they first met. "I would not be bought down so low to claim as my master, a girl who lives in an illusory world of her own making," the toad sage had roared before turning his back at her.
"Tsunade!" Senju Kira's voice cut through the air. It was calm yet implacable. Tsunade could not help but flinch at the tone. Here she was an adult twice over, yet Senju Kira's would always have the power to showcase her foolishness. Not that he did it often. Oh no, more than half the time, he was gentleness in itself. Most of her memories of his were his gentle voice or his kind distracted tone. For sure he's spoken exasperatedly at her, especially when she and Minoru would go about some form of childish mischief with a bemused Dan trailing after them.
But from time to time, he would morph into a different creature. A creature made of unbreakable stone, stern and cold. Who was she kidding? She only saw this side of her father once. Once was enough to inevitably burn it in her mind. When she as a foolish child accused him of not carrying that her brother had died. Such a stupid thing if she looked at it, accusing his own father of not mourning a dead son. And here she was repeating the same mistake over again.
"There are things we have no choice but to do," Minoru spoke at last. His eyes conflicted. "You think the Wildfire initiative an anomaly, but ..."
"Surely those were a desperate time," she cried out.
"And these are not?"
She could not reply. She knew they were at the cusp of war. Nay, they were at war. No matter how much everyone denied it, when Wind took in Uchiha Sasuke and declared him their lord with the blessing of His Holiness, how can they not but respond? They had all but declared him the rightful pretender to the Imperial Throne. How could it be borne by every a nation who had enjoyed their own independence and will to govern. The Arakawa-Senju knew it. They were the rightful heirs to the Empire, but those times have past. No longer will the different nations bow to the Emperor, even to their own good, so they have worked subtly. Pulling strings in a double pronged strategy of silk and steel.
Now Fire has to fight for stability, lest the Empire of Go descend to a state of anarchy to last for generations. If there was a way to end it swiftly, she could see why they would take it.
"I can't feel I betrayed all I espoused," she admitted, thinking of her golden haired great nephew. The promises that fell from her lips as they stood together for a better world. "What can I face Naruto when our ideals are moot?"
"You are making a world he can live in Tsunade," Minoru spoke in exasperation.
"You don't understand," she shot back. She knew father and cousin had never met her sunny boy, so they could not understand her desire to protect him. This childish innocence and stalwart belief in the world's goodness that she could never cling onto with the ruthless machinations at court. "Naruto makes me long back to the simplicity our lives lost so early. I want to protect it, but how can I when it's basis is a lie."
"Really Tsunade," Minoru shot back. "Why would the boy know? He is but one cog in the machine of your brilliant shinobis, but an unremarkable cog in the court except that you dote on him."
Throughout those words, Tsunade could feel Kira Senju's observing stare. She fidgeted as she remembered her bargain with Gamamaru.
"What did you do?" Tsunade heard the horror in her father's tone.
"I made a bargain with Gamamaru when I informed him of our connection to Naruto."
Her simple reply caught the two men's attention.
"That was not yours to reveal," Minoru exploded.
"How did he word the bargain?" Kira spoke in alarm. "Did he speak through Katsuyu or set it in writing?"
"I spoke to him myself," she replied guilelessly.
Minoru stiffened at her words, whilst her father's features morphed in slowly dawning horror. He demanded, "Did you go to Mount Myoboku?"
Tsunade felt an inkling of annoyance at the question. All her life she was inundated with do's and don'ts and the rules had never changed and wavered even when she had proven herself capable. They had been so adamant she treat with the recalcitrant toad, so she took the risk. She remembered Katsuyu's and their warnings, but isn't it more important to secure a strong claim to the throne by wrangling Gamamaru promised allegiance?
"Yes," she spoke defiantly. "And I passed through Sora."
"You foolish foolish child!" Kira Senju berated while Minoru cried out in dismay.
"And what of it," she shot back. "Yes," she continued preventing them from further speaking. "I saw the guardians, Zuijin and Zushin, was bought before O-Inari,"
Silence. Her revelation was met with heavy silence, before Minoru release a short disbelieving laugh. "Did you not think that by meeting O-inari, you have allowed the line of Indra over us?"
"I do not see why meeting the Summon Kingdom's Minister of the Right allows the Uchiha an advantage."
"And surely you do know O-Inari Abe-no-Seimei is the Summon King's minister and therefore his creature."
"And the Summon King does not interfere with the cares of men." Tsunade's hands curled into fist. Minoru was being tiresome. It was a well known fact that summons are locked into their destiny. More so the Summon King, who is shackled in the unrelenting preordained pace of the Land of the Spirits. "He cannot. And he, any summon, has no need or want to," she declared, remembering perfectly the perfect peace and power that rattled her bones every time she visited. How could anyone wish to leave and toil in the confusion and violence of the world of men.
"Do you believe that twaddle?" Minoru jeered whilst her father drew himself even more stiffly. "Garuda is king. He is half divine. Do you think creatures of power would not have their own games and agenda?"
Tsunade sputtered.
"If what you believed is true, then we would have not existed. Amaterasu-Ōmikami Ōhirume-no-Muchi-no-Kami would not have sent her grandson to rule over us!"
Minoru's voice crested into a shout. Never had he risen his voice at her She had always been the wild and tempestuous, and he had always looked at her in indulgence.
Yes, she knew she deliberately cultivated this reputation because she hated court life and its endless politicking. But to her shame, she also did it to avoid responsibility as the last Senju princess. It left her teacher, the Sandaima, to hastily search for a successor when she packed up and left. She had always dodged the responsibility of ruling. Too frightened by the shadowy depths each and every person in her life drowned in. Now here she was it seems, a weak link to the chain.
He stepped forward, nearly looming. "What did you give?"
"I don't know," she raged backed, guilty, as Minoru's wild eyed look slapped her in the face. Her normally unflappable cousin, so different from her childhood partner in crime. They had both wrecked terror on the stodgy courts with responsible Dan as the one who balanced their penchant for mischief. She looked back at all those years when Minoru had to adopt a sober steely persona and Dan left the capital for Konoha. The Kato family had been long-standing allies of the Arakawa-Senju, and when Lord Kato married a Yamanaka Kunoichi from the main line, it had been decided that should a child from their union be born with enough chakra for a shinobi, the child would be sent to Konoha. A child that would be groomed to become Hokage and cement the Senju powerbase.
Dan was born perfect for the role. A dutiful second son, close to both Daimyo to be and the Senju princess, with enough chakra to rival the great clans. Plus, the unique blend of the Yamanaka and the Kato bloodline brought forth such a unusual mutation. Instead of the Mind Transfer Jutsu, Dan's unique chakra allowed him to move his spirit. It was a coup for the mostly human noble family of Kato, who before could only boast an unverifiable legend that one of their far-flung ancestors married an offshoot of the diluted lines of Jimmu Tennou.
Tsunade remembered leaving for Konoha soon after. Minoru had started to slowly be subsumed into his role of ruling heir, and she had found little enjoyment in court with all of its restrictions. She had found Konoha a breath of fresh air from the stuffy ceremonial laden court. Her age mates mostly casual, except for the guarded Uchihas and the very proper Hyuugas. Hiruzen, her teacher and Hokage, indulged her free spirit and her interests. And Dan, childhood friend and unspoken Hokage heir, looked at her in fondness and gratitude. They had been both grim and guarded men by the time she came and they looked at her unbridled nature as a relief. She had been free and carefree back then, but now here she was back in court and representing Konoha. The freedom of those days all gone. Hiruzen and Dan had left her, and she had now taken their place. Taken just a step, and now she must decide how much further she had to go. She wondered if she was truly ready. Was she really willing?
"What did you promise?" Minoru grasped her arms in a painful grip. Tsunade would remembered Katsuya's alarm of the thought and she had wondered why all who knew were so upset. Her meeting with O-inari had been painless. The fox had been a polite but distant figure. Nothing happened. She remembered being bought to his presence. His sharp gaze. The sly curve of his lips. The drumming staccato of his fingernails. And…and…and…
Tsunade's eyes widened in shock. "I DON'T KNOW!"
Minoru jerked back, as if slapped. She could feel his fingers spasm at her skin, before softening and gentling. He closed us eyes. Slumped in an almost defeat.
"What did you do," Minoru murmured over and over as he encompassed her in a bone crushing hug. It felt like she was a young girl again as she buried her face in Minoru's shoulder. Just like old times when she couldn't bear the intense scrutiny and the sly double speak that perpetuated the Makimuku palace. This old fossilised monument of another age that tried to crush her. Minoru had been her solace. No matter how subsumed with his role her came to be, she could trust him to be able to hide and protect her. Minoru, her cousin, who she left to face the vultures alone. The man she knew who would be able to stand tall against it. He has always stood tall for her.
"I'm sorry," she murmured back. She was horrified. She wanted to give back for all her cousin, her closest and only remaining childhood friend had done for her. But instead she had made a hash of it. She was now a girl duped. One of the most powerful Shinobi was nothing more than a fool who danced at a summon's string. What else is it but that? She tried to look back, but she could get nothing. She kneaded her chakra, letting it wash through her mind. She tried to see the signs of tampering, but she could find none.
In her cousin's embrace, Tsunade looked to her father. The intensity he initially radiated was now lost. Instead, he seemed to have retreated to a blur or light and shadow. Unreadable in every way.
"I'm sorry," she mouthed. "I'll be better."
With her words, Kira Senju's features collapsed into a sea of regret.
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"Tsunade has bought us a bind," Minoru spoke wearily to his Uncle as he buried his head in his hands. His cousin had long retired, leaving the two men alone contemplating the mess in their hands.
"We can no longer do anything with the boon she does not remember," Kira Senju replied softly, voice soothing. It was odd, Minoru thought, his uncle's seeming unconcern. "Worry not, Abe-no-seimei must follow one inviolable rule when he asked for his boon. It must be tied to his fate or that of the Land of the Spirits...It might amount to nothing."
"Or it might be our damnation," he muttered back. "But it is not this I am truly worried about."
He got an arched brow in return as he raised his head. He knew there was nothing to be done with the Summons. Those half divine beings were beyond them. He worrried about something closer.
"Uncle," he spoke in a voice brimming with patience. "She has set that Namikaze brat as our heir. The noble houses will not accept a ruler from a serf's bloodline."
"The boy is half Uzumaki," was the reply he got. The voice was chiding, a subtle reminder who had more experience.
"Which is a dead clan," he riposted. "No matter how old or royal, it is all but dead and a tainted line is all that is left."
It earned the Daimyo a sharp gaze from his esteemed Uncle. "You forget young Minoru," Kira Senju replied, nearly whisper soft. "We are a dying clan as well. We are all that is left and both our branches, only women have sprung."
Minoru licked his lips. His eyes widened in realisation.
"I think it's time you call your son in law," the elder continued, gaze intense and unbreakable. "Make use of his clan's ambition. The Hyuuga, that is."
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Notes:
-Makimuku - IRL name of the palace of Emperor Suinin (Makimuku Tamakinomiya Imperial Palace) and Emperor Keiko (Makimuku Hishironomiya Imperial Palace)
- high carbon iron - an essential component to the best bladed weaponry as higher carbon content in iron allows for strong / harder and sharper steel. Of course has a downside as the metal tends to be brittle. Japanese swordmakers solution to this problem was creating a laminated blade with both hard and soft steel
- agnatic primogeniture -
in law, the rule of inheritance whereby land descends to the oldest son.
- Hatamoto - banner vassals, essentially the most noble / senior houses serving the Daimyo (IRL). In this story, the most senior and noble of the samurai houses in the Land of Iron. You can compare them to the Dukes in the western convention
- Amaterasu-Ōmikami Ōhirume-no-Muchi-no-Kami - combination of Ameterasu's 2 full names which is Amaterasu-Ōmikami
and Ōhirume-no-Muchi-no-Kami
This chapter unfortunately took so long because I couldn't decide where this story was to go. There was a number of directions I wanted to go, but in the end o decided to do a more grounded approach. I'm not sure if it's noticeable here yet as I've only shown Konoha's side with Danzo and Tsunade at different ends of the spectrum. Hopefully this isn't confusing. If it is, do let me know as I redid massive amounts on this chapter. If there's any typos or weird phasing, do let me know as this isn't betaed.
Lastly, title comes from one of the most famous lines of Shakespeare.