Aiko WAP ch 31 full

She started to come down from the adrenaline high while Izuna and Hashirama exchanged weirdly tense politesse about the micro season. Doubtlessly it was some kind of intellectual sniping. Aiko did her best not to analyze what they were saying- fuck, were they referencing poets? They were referencing court poetry in an attempt to establish their cultural credentials, because no one could be honest scuzzy murderers, they had to pretend to be classy–

Anyway. Aiko found herself at the center of negotiations and extremely out of place. It was bizarre. Everyone clearly knew that she was wildly outside their social system. God only knew how they were explaining it to themselves, though, because it wasn’t like she truly passed muster as a humble holy woman.

The atmosphere was tense. Tobirama was utterly impassive but he didn’t let her out of his sight for a moment. Madara was even more intent, lost in contemplation that she could not begin to unravel.

As subtly as she could, Aiko massaged at the place where she had reattached her arm. The limb was waking up with pain now. There was a bone deep ache protesting the way she lived her life. Tobirama finally said something that she didn’t track, a polite response to his brother’s prodding.

Undeath? That might be more accurate. Was she really living in the conventional sense? Humans didn’t get to reattach limbs like this, and not their heads for sure.

‘Focus.’

“I appreciate your kind attention,” Aiko said, in response to whatever pleasantries Madara had just leveled at her. Probably something about starting their discussion. “It is my fervent hope that we can discover a pathway to resolve the interpersonal conflict that has negatively affected both of your ancient and noble clans.”

Izuna hid a mean little smirk in his sleeve. Madara paused for a microsecond before nodding.

…He looked disappointed. Whoops.

Aiko didn’t really bother to wonder what he’d said. The moment was gone and there was no point in regret.

“I think that we should establish our hopes,” Hashirama suggested. He cut a sideways glance at his Uchiha friend. “It is very kind of you to mediate this discussion, Aiko-sama.”

Oh no. She pressed her lips together very hard to choke down the hilarity of her being the peace negotiator. 

“What an idea,” Izuna said cheerfully. “I think it would make many people happy if the Senju relocated to the other side of the continent. Surely we could live in peace if you were very far away. With the Uzumaki, for example, or on the edge of Water Country.”

Huh. That was a good area. Aiko had personally enjoyed ruling it. 

“Not the worst idea,” Aiko allowed. “But I think that would require displacing another noble clan and that bloodshed would be tedious.”

Kind of counterproductive to just go start a new land and resource war.

“And far away,” Izuna wheedled, like he thought he could talk her around on the appeal of the Senju being very far away. She cut him an amused look. She didn’t have any particular problem with the Senju.

“The Senju will not be banished from Fire Country,” Hashirama said dryly. “We would find it extremely inconvenient.”

“If only the Uchiha had foreign allies,” Tobirama said bitchily. “Then the Uchiha could act on this otherwise excellent idea. Extremely unfortunate.” Aiko stifled a snort at the affronted looks on Izuna and Madara’s faces about being called friendless losers.

“Thank you for that kind suggestion,” Madara gritted out in a tone that was so hostile he might as well have said ‘go fuck yourself’. “I do not feel there is a need to explore the logistics of this option. We are comfortably established in our current location. Perhaps we ought to discuss the possibility of more minor adjustments to our territory to resolve our tensions.”

Huh. What exactly did he have in mind? Aiko looked at Hashirama for an answer. 

“Unfortunately, the previously suggested ideas were not received favorably by the Senju,” Hashirama said, which sounded a lot like, “You’re an asshole and you knew we won’t do that shit.” 

Yeah, fair enough. Aiko made the slightest head nod from side to side. Madara had probably come up with some idea that they trade some territory with other nearby clans to introduce a buffer area, and Hashirama rightly pointed out that it could just as easily be a contested territory by proxy situation. 

If Aiko was brutally honest with herself, she knew that these people here had much better insight into the barriers to peace than she did. It seemed asinine to her that peace had eventually been achieved in her timeline after Izuna had died- 

‘Oh. No. Because that called the bluff; answered the big question of ‘what will happen if the other clan outmaneuvers us?’ 

The Senju had the decisive upper hand and could have wiped out the Uchiha. The fact that Hashirama wanted to join with them is the only reason that the conflict didn't end the way it was always predicted to, with one side’s annihilation.

…Maybe Aiko could have spent more time trying to read between the lines of village propaganda. It seemed so obvious now. They'd had peace because Hashirama had been able to strong arm his clan into letting the defeated Uchiha live (presumably that strong arm was enforced by Tobirama, otherwise there would have been a coup.) The Uchiha simply hadn't been in a position to prevent the assimilation and a generation of living together had sanded off the rough edges of bitterness. 

With limited success, judging by the whole Uchiha coup thing, but, you know, you live and you laugh and you learn to give people meaningful roles in the power system. 

“We need an existential threat more immediate than the possibility of one of your two clams being annihilated,” Aiko announced with satisfaction. “If your clan members feel certain the alternative to cooperation is death, they will stop fearing the tactical disadvantage of agreeing to peace.” She felt very pleased with herself for solving it so neatly.

Everyone looked at her. The silence was very loud. 

“Do…you suggest that we form a conspiracy to manufacture an outside threat to join forces against?” Hashirama suggested gingerly. 

Madara had an incredible intensity to him. He was still just staring at her. Was he even breathing? You could see the crazy in the air. Aiko got lost in his dark eyes for a moment. She shook herself back to reality and then shrugged. “We could do that,” she allowed. “Or I could just kill everyone who disagrees with peace until the survivors agree to band together.” 

Izuna choked on nothing at all. 

“Perhaps that could be perceived as damaging to your reputation,” Hashirama tried weakly. 

Ah. Aiko frowned. Fair point. It would be hard to make a powerful cult if people thought - no, actually, people would worship a warlord. 

Still. It wasn't her first choice. She leaned back and left the ball in their court. “It's a suggestion,” Aiko said mildly. “If I'm brutally honest, you are doomed to cooperation. In a decade you'll all be living together in Konohagakure except for the ones who have to die to make it happen.”

“Excuse me?” Hashirama hit a new high pitch. 

Madara leaned forward, brow furrowed. “Is this a prophecy?” He asked seriously. His voice was dark and warm. 

Yeah, sure, whatever. Aiko nodded gravely. “Unavoidable,” she said. “The most direct route is for one of the four of you to die.” She nodded at them all in mild acknowledgement. “You’ve been in a stalemate. You all get stronger, very much so because you're trying to get ahead and win the arms race. But you improve at the same rate, so no one ever gets advantage. But you're now so far developed past the standard fighter that if one of you is free to act, the battle belongs to that side.” 

“Yes,” Izuna said, “that is the idea.” He full-body twitched against an obvious impulse to throw himself across the table and stab a Senju. 

‘...If it's a Senju who dies, we probably don't get peace,’ Aiko recognized. ‘Izuna won't lay down the law to keep the Senju alive the way that Tobirama must have in my history.”

Madara gave him a look of censure. 

‘And Madara babies him too much for that to change.’

Hashirama and Tobirama seemed utterly unaffected by the interplay. They probably expected it.

“Perhaps you have already weighed in this situation with sufficient demonstration of your ability and interest in the outcome of events,” Madara said. He was apparently just going to skim over that last bit about how it would be convenient if one of them dropped dead. “I see the logical appeal of uniting against an enemy, but I suspect that we could not use such rhetoric without starting a much bloodier conflict to justify our claims.” 

“...And bloody conflict is bad,” Aiko said slowly. Right. They were actually aiming for pacifism, not driven by the need to just wrap up this stupid historical inevitability. From their perspective, this wasn't inevitable at all.

Hashirama looked extremely troubled. His face twitched. He twisted his hands on his lap. 

Tobirama didn't move a muscle or speak, probably because Aiko had said she'd rip a hole in the firmament and express mail him to hell. Fair enough, honestly, but she did briefly wonder if he would have had something valuable to say. 

“We could unite for mutual benefit in a more positive sense,” Madara suggested. No, it was more like beseeching. He was leaning over as if he truly wanted Aiko’s approval. “For example, we could jointly solve the current political crisis.” 

Aiko waited for elaboration. 

“... because the Daimyo is dead,” Izuna elaborated. He aimed a glare at Madara’s skull that went unnoticed by his target. 

Oh, right. Aiko made a ‘fair enough’ sort of gesture. “The civilians do seem to think they need my approval to appoint a successor,” she agreed. “Should we install a puppet?” 

“...A what?” said Madara, a lucky man who had never fought against Suna, probably because the country didn't exist yet and the puppeteers were busy traumatizing other locals. 

“Someone from one of your clans who does what we want,” Aiko explained impatiently. “We set up a Daimyo from clan A, two advisors from clan B, add roles for a couple ally clans, kick benefits to vassals, and Bada bing Bada boom, you're too big to fail and too powerful united to be opposed. Peace in Fire country.”

Until the other clans unionized into their own superstate ninja villages, but she didn't feel the need to spell that prediction out for them. It wouldn't help her argument. 

Hashirama looked a little ill. “...You believe that this could be done without killing the Daimyo’s family?” He asked weakly. 

Aiko felt her brow furrow. “If you don't want to, I suppose.” She hadn't really thought about them. “Whichever clan gets the Daimyo, the other one is the head of the new village,” she added. There. Balance of power achieved. “You're both ancient and noble clans. Uh…” She looked at the four of them. Tobirama was as charming as a mamushi. Hashirama was too bouncy and scary. Okay, so an Uchiha Daimyo. She picked at random. “Make Izuna the new Daimyo, I say he's Heavenly ordained, make Hashirama the Hokage. Madara stays in Konoha as a counterbalance to Hashirama. Tobirama…” she looked at him. “Tobirama probably wouldn't thrive in the court.” 

He looked affronted. It was the first hint of expression he didn't manage to hide. 

Izuna stared at her with wide eyes. “...Daimyo,” he repeated. 

Aiko nodded at him. “Just think of the silk,” she said. 

He looked truly conflicted between his desire for bloodshed and his peacock nature. 

“I need a walk,” Hashirama wheezed out. “Won't you join me, Madara-san?” He jabbed his childhood friend with an elbow as he stood. “Please excuse me to my contemplations, Priestess.” He wrestled Marada away.