![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eoa) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fandomweekly2022-01-07 01:39 pm
[#117] Chasing the Sky (Naruto)
Title: Chasing the Sky
Fandom: Naruto
Rating/Warnings: G
Bonus: No
Word Count: 912 words
Summary: The Senju council discuss a marriage allience with the Uzumaki.
There wasn’t time for grieving.
Not for the Senju clan head, at least. Tobirama was still getting used to the title – he’d come to associate it with his brother or his father, not himself – but the duties were as if tailored for him. Scarily quickly he’d made them a part of his schedule, a part of his life; even a part of his coping: instead of staring blankly at his brother’s armour, pieces of blood and mud and flora stuck to it even long after his last battle, Tobirama asked for the smith so he knew what could be done with it. Instead of waiting for the gravity of Hashirama’s death to fall upon him, he let work drag him through a mad dash from reality.
However, there was one part of being the Senju clan head that he didn’t think he would ever get used to: the role itself. The meaning, the gravitas; the expectations.
The council meetings.
Admittedly, the elders weren’t as bad as Hashirama painted them out to be. Yes, they were traditional, “stuck in the past” as Hashirama put it, but Tobirama didn’t mind. He wouldn’t like to cosy up with the Uchiha either; peace, he agreed with Hashirama, was long overdue, but he thought it unlikely to happen. However much it seemed otherwise, Hashirama and Madara were the kind of men to spearhead peace – stubborn as bulls and charismatic to boot. But Tobirama wasn’t Hashirama and Izuna wasn’t Madara. Admittedly, Tobirama could haggle a neutrality pact from Izuna if he sacrificed his pride – but not much else.
Perhaps that was a part of why the elders never asked him about his stance on the topic; perhaps they didn’t think him capable of dragging them, kicking and screaming, into a better world, like Hashirama did. Perhaps not; there were more important topics to cover in the heavily protected council room, after all. Winter was only weeks away and they were woefully underprepared for it – there was food enough, but the Uchiha forced them to move further from their fields and wrecked their trade roads while at it, too.
No matter; they weren’t covering any of those topics that day. The order of the day were the Uzumaki, and Tobirama thought he knew where Elder Masumi was going to take the topic of their amicable relationship with the Uzumaki. Sick of Masumi’s circling of the topic, he asked her: “Could we get to reading the proposal, then?”
(If the Uzumaki wanted a marriage alliance, Tobirama wouldn’t mind – if they brought their fair share of resources to the table, that was. No longer was he the boy who would call their sudden declaration of neutrality at the onset of the Uchiha-Senju conflict cowardice – they recognised an imbroglio, they prevented getting caught up in it; if anything, it was the smart thing to do. However, they still were distanced from mainland politics – the little help they gave in return for the Senju’s supply food for them was useful, as they were the only seal masters who the Senju could trust with creating seals for their clan, but it still wasn’t enough.)
Masumi smiled. “There’s nothing to read, my lord.” Some of the other elders looked surprised; others didn’t. Tobirama filed that information away for a later time. “I suggest,” Masumi continued, “we make the proposal.”
Unrelenting, isn’t she? Tobirama thought. As he went through the benefits and downsides of such a match, another elder – one of the surprised ones, Elder Nori – echoed Tobirama’s thoughts of the Uzumaki. “During Hashirama’s leadership, you criticised him for overpaying the Uzumaki for the seals they make for us. Such a match would force them to make more – to protect their daughter who would marry you. We could also propose to a seal mistress.”
“Like the heiress, Lady Mito,” Masumi proposed.
“Lady Mito…” Elder Michi echoed. “I’ve heard she’ll propose to Izuna.”
“Rumours and hearsay, I say,” Masumi, indeed, said. “Why would the Uzumaki turn cloak on us now?”
Tobirama broke his silence then: “Technically, the neutrality pact still stands. If they did turn cloak, we couldn’t argue they betrayed an ally; we may be such de facto, but in truth, it’s more that we have connections with them and the Uchiha don’t.”
“That may be the point. Perhaps they’re looking to create connections with the Uchiha, for a change,” Michi argued.
“Why, though?” Tobirama couldn’t help but ask, at the price of siding with Masumi. Masumi was the elder most well-versed in the softer, more finicky shinobi arts – spying and arts, for example – as she was an Uzumaki that married into their clan before Tobirama was even born. Because of that fact, though, she was biased, so Tobirama didn’t like to side with her on this topic.
“There’s no motive,” Nori agreed. “We’re the better ally, anyhow; already connected, less volatile and overpaying them, too.” At the nodded agreement of everyone on the council, Nori continued, more confident, “I suggest we send the proposal in any case and as soon as possible. If they choose Izuna, as the rumours may lead some to believe, or refuse our proposal, we’ll know to cut off the as-of-yet unpaid for food supply.”
“And if they don’t, I’ll have an Uzumaki’s hand in marriage,” Tobirama concluded.
no subject
no subject
And because I'm such a kind author, I'll make it even more complicated! But seriously, now, thank you for reading fandom-blind <3
no subject
I always read all the fics here, don't feel I can vote otherwise. I've learned bits about a lot of fandoms that way. =)
no subject
Also, I really like this line: "Rumours and hearsay, I say," Masumi, indeed, said.
no subject
Thank you! I'm glad you loved the work (and liked that line - when I was writing it, I giggled myself and hoped that someone out there will share that dry humour of mine).
(I love your icon btw!)
no subject