Cacophonous Harmonies Bordering on the Eldritch

They had been through this twice before already, once when Hashirama had first succeeded his father (and the amused disbelief on Tou-sama’s face when he received that letter was permanently etched into Madara’s mind as much as the unholy glee that followed as he called in patrol leads to determine how they could best exploit the opening handed to them by the Senju’s new, apparently softheaded, clan head). The second time had been after Madara had taken power but before he realized how deeply attached some of his elders were to the idea that true peace required an unquestionable show of superiority so none of their enemies or rivals would dare to move against them again.

 

That ceasefire didn’t survive the night.



note: Hashirama’s not stupid – this was a test and he was well prepared for Tajima to exploit the opening he gave him, which is why the Senju elders didn’t sabotage the attempt because they thought it was a feint all along. Hashirama wasn’t really surprised either… but he would have liked to be wrong.


Maybe this version of events will fit better in the Friendship Conspiracy AU

So the bijuu are formed from her cast off chakra and the rest of her is trapped in the moon. Could she be reintegrated into the natural cycle bit by bit via a VERY (very very very etc) careful chakra drain, and once the moon is just a moon and all of her chakra is back in the world, reborn as an untwisted, balanced version of herself?
Pros: cute bunny demon thing goes through the evil baby orphanage transformation, corrects chakra imbalance shark that kishimoto jumped, fun premise for exploring more mythology slanted things in setting
Cons: evil bunny moon goddess is still a dumb fucking BBEG,what to do about Zetsu (just have him break up in the reincarnation cycle and get resistributed maybe?), that's about it

Koujiko allowed herself to be shooed out of the low wooden building that served as the Uchiha's healing hall and, seeing nothing in particular that gave her reason to venture further afield, seated herself at the base of a persimmon tree shading the front of the hall. The flickering shade of the leaves was soothing on her tired eyes, and the heat of the day pressed down on her. She hadn't noticed as much while she had something to occupy her, but the distant clamor of the busy compound soon faded into indistinguishable murmuring. A cool breeze ran over her face like wet silk, rousing her just enough to realize that she was rapidly falling into a doze, her as-yet-nameless watcher's eyes still a steady weight on her, but it was such a nice day and she had nothing else to do while the Uchiha argued about how much assistance she would be allowed to offer as it related to their precious eyes, so...

With a self-satisfied smile on her lips, Koujiko succumbed to the dragging fatigue at last, and fell asleep.

She wasn't sure how long she napped, dimly aware of the footsteps of passersby and the sweet ringing of the windchimes whenever the breeze returned to ruffle her hair, but the sharp tickle at her nose brought her out of her lazy doze in time to snap her hand up around the wrist of the opportunistic prankster. Squinting sideways, she raised her eyebrows at the Uchiha child she'd caught, looking meaningfully at the bristle-ended weed she'd been using to tickle her nose. Snatching the weed out of the child's loose fingers, she tickled her nose right back. "See how you like it, hm?" Koujiko said as the girl squeaked and brought up her other hand to protect her nose.

She chuckled and released the girl's wrist. "Go on, shoo," she said, and the girl stuck out her tongue and ran off to a knot of other children her age, hanging back and watching from a safer distance.

Koujiko rolled her eyes a little as the tiny mob took off, smiling a little to herself as she settled back against the trunk of the tree again. She had just closed her eyes again when she heard the voice of her assigned shadow, just above and behind her shoulder.

"I wouldn't have expected you to feel comfortable enough to sleep in the open in the middle of a compound of potential hostiles." 

Koujiko snickered, slitting her eyes open and rolling her head back to look up at the shinobi standing over her, neck loose and throat lazily exposed. "Ah yes, because if you all decided to attack me while I was awake, you wouldn't stand a chance."

The shinobi tipped his head sideways, a half nod acknowledging her point.

"Besides," she continued, closing her eyes again and leaning her head back against the trunk, "healing takes a lot of energy, and we've been traveling for a while. You learn to take your rest where you can get it." 

The Uchiha snorted. "If you looked a thing like them, I'd say you were a long-lost Nara for that." 

Koujiko hummed distantly, asking after a long pause. "Healer clan?" 

"Clan of sleepy deerherders," he corrected. "I found one asleep in a tree on patrol once, just on the outside of our borders. Startled him off his perch, hit the ground, and went right back to sleep." 

Koujiko chuckled. "I can respect that level of commitment to a good nap." 


 

Genma didn't need to do anything to bring his target to him, as it happened; they slammed around the corner and into the wall hard enough to raise dust from the sun-baked brick, not two feet from his perch. He had been watching the entire chase long enough to be convinced this wasn't some elaborate triple-feint trap and shrugged to himself as he flicked a senbon out. Sometimes it really was that easy.

The traitor's eyes were on him as the senbon sunk home and he would normally barely spare them a glance past that, not worth his attention once he had brought them down. Which they should be already, not looking up at him with a bright expression like they think he'll fucking buy that they're happy to see him.

He narrowed his eyes at them, pulling a second senbon from between his teeth, and then stops, arrested by the flicker of more Suna nin moving in. The traitor catches Genma's eye, flicks him a quick pair of ANBU signs: surrender, talk, and he does not let even the ghost of a snarl twist the cultivated blandness of his sharp-eyed non-expression as he seizes them under one arm and uses a shunshin to pull them both away.

-

Name's back slammed into parched brick for the second time in about ten minutes, but they kept their complaints to themselves. If they hadn't gotten that magnetic repulsion technique off just in time, they had no doubt that they would be nastily dead of whatever toxin Shiranui puts on senbon with a traitor's name on them. Not that they can technically betray a village to which they don't belong, but Name was absolutely not going to take that approach with Shiranui of all people, not when they have the much simpler (and truthful!) explanation available.

"You've got maybe three minutes before Suna catches up to us again, and I'm not dragging you with me a second time." 

"Great, you have no idea how glad I am to see you," Name said. Shiranui didn't even twitch, just kept watching them. "I need you to hit me again-" that got them a raised eyebrow and the faintest twitch of lips, he couldn't have said gladly any more clearly than that and Name is really, really glad that they haven't actually set themselves against the Leaf today. "-Some kind of sedative that will pass for death. Yamanaka Inoichi said I need to show you this first." Telegraphing the motion, they pulled their right sleeve down to reveal a seal inked into their forearm, not moving an inch otherwise while Shiranui looked it over and sliding the sleeve back up as soon as he gave the barest nod.

Normally hazel is such a warm color, brown-green-gold together, but Shiranui's eyes were still just a breath above subzero when he looked at them. He opened his mouth just as a Suna nin shouted their location, and pulled another senbon from the seam of his vest instead. Time slowed, Name staring at the needle and wondering if they should repel this one too, but they wouldn't be able to outpace the Suna nin. Their only way out was playing dead, but was a seal that they didn't even know how to read enough to convince this Konoha tokujo that they were still acting in his village's interests, or was that senbon just as deadly as the first? 

He had them dead to rights, either way, they decided, and holding Shiranui's eyes they opened their other hand, neither poised to make any hand signs, no last minute attempt at a save. It would look to the Suna nin closing in like fruitless begging, a fool's attempt to win over a ruthless assassin. Shiranui kept their gaze, and they hoped they read the gesture for what it was.

I'm trusting you. Not because you trust me, but because you trust your people.

They saw a flash of decision and the flash of silver at the same moment, then a sharp sting as it sunk home in the crook of their neck. The world wavered almost immediately.

Dry mouth, dizziness, sound distortion, their mind catalogued automatically as they fell, the frustrated shout of the Suna jounin chasing them sounding like it was carried underwater to their ears.

Shiranui was gone, but in the dust where he stood was the same seal Yamanaka left on their arm, erased a second later in the wind of his shunshin.

Then there was nothing.

じがね/ 地金
1. ore; unprocessed metal; ground metal​
2. (one's) true character​ <<<<!!!!!



2. Maki-e​ is Japanese lacquer sprinkled with gold or silver powder as a decoration using a makizutsu or a kebo brush. The technique was developed mainly in the Heian Period (794–1185) and blossomed in the Edo Period (1603–1868). Maki-e objects were initially designed as household items for court nobles, they soon gained more popularity and were adopted by royal families and military leaders as an indication of power.