Fanfic / Unchained (Umei no Mai)

The story aims to explore consent and coercion. You Have Been Warned!

Unchained is a Naruto fanfic written by Umei no Mai from Compass of Thy Soul fame, in which the Self-Insert is reincarnated as Izuna instead of Original Character Kita. Now completed with sequel in progress.

Official summary: Where you are makes as much a difference as who you are, and changes in circumstances lead down surprising rabbit-holes.

(Or: Izuna decides the best way to establish peace is to abduct Tobirama and turn him into her concubine.)

The series is also available on AO3.

Since this story is a Spin-Off, only the tropes appearing for the first time will be listed here.

This fanfic contains the following tropes:

A — K

• After the End: Word of God is that her Naruto setting is a post-apocalyptic one, as the Judgement (as the Uchiha call the Kyuubi singlehandedly destroying the Empire by sinking half of the continent under the ocean) completely upended the societal dynamics, but since it happened nearly a millenium ago, it's not so visible. The most obvious sign are the steel-and-concrete skyscrapers in Ame and Sora-ku.
• All Women Are Lustful:
  • Izuna, Izuna, Izuna. She just won't stop flirting with every girl on her path, is credited with writing several very explicit Bawdy Song and enjoys her concubine servicing her to the point that she suggests about indulging into blatantly kinky behaviour — such as sex in a public location or while she's asleep.
  • Touka isn't much better, as she heckles her baby cousin about his marital life, gains a pillow book that she later refuses to relinquish and later muses to herself that she's very much into men with a sexy voice.
• Alternate Universe: Word of God has that her Naruto universe lacks the Otstustuki Clan being a race of Humanoid Aliens, Indra and Asura reincarnating, chakra only appearing with Kaguya, and Zetsu existing. Instead, Kaguya was a normal human (if the wife of an Emperor) born in an era where chakra was a topic of esoteric study who ate from the chakra tree and whose accidental release of the Juubi helped cause the end of her dynasty.
• Ambiguously Bi: Izuna is pretty comfortable in masculine clothing and has quite a (justified) reputation as The Casanova, but is very happy with her male concubine.
• And I Must Scream: The reason why the Uchiha are opposed to necromancy, since it binds the soul to the decaying body and force the deceased to obey the summoner without any hope to escape.
• And Now You Must Marry Me: Or I will kill your cousin! Needless to say, Tobirama quickly folds.
• Animal Motifs:
  • Kitsune for Izuna — her gender identity and sexual preferences are hopelessly blurred, she enjoys trickery and misdirection and is rather uncontrollable from her father's viewpoint.
  • Cats for Tobirama — he's quite standoffish until he warms up to someone, purrs when he's happy, enjoys eating fish and also can summon leopards.
  • After being introduced to falconry by Madara, Tobirama muses that Izuna treats him as Madara treats his hawks: cajoled into behaving with affection and bribes, but still untamed and liable to fly away and never return one day.
• Animalistic Abomination: There are hints that Cats are more than they seem, what with all of them being sapient, capable of using chakra and learning human languages. Case in point, the white cat who attached herself to Tobirama was able to kill a grown man and ate his body afterwards.
• Artifact of Doom: A downplayed example. During a mission, Izuna's squad needs to retrieve a lucky cat statue stolen from a temple. The mission is one disaster after another, for all that no Uchiha actually died, and the moment it's over the entire squad runs for the country border - just to be on the safe side.
• Bawdy Song: Izuna apparently "wrote" (read: translated) a lot of these, and enjoys singing them — to Touka's amusement and Tobirama's horror.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Tobirama decides to manipulate Izuna by asking her gifts that will show how much she cares about her concubine. He quickly realizes that the highborn Izuna doesn't have the same definition of expensive as him when she casually offers him a progressively more extravagant wardrobe, to the point his knee-jerk reaction is horror in front of the Conspicuous Consumption involved.
• Beneath Notice:
  • Cats. Nobody really pays attention to them or try to keep them away from settlements and buildings so they are everywhere. Which leaves the Uchiha with an enormous informant network in all places. Additionally, they use cats as discreet guards, such as the ones around Diplomatic Quarters, and sometimes request their support during missions.
  • Oiran. Nobody looks twice at the girls unless a client is besotted with one in particular. Which allows Izuna to regularly impersonate them during her information gathering missions, provided she doesn't let the girls' owners know about their arrangement.
• Bifauxnen and Lad-ette: Izuna is the Bifauxnen as she's noticeably cultured, very charming with other people and not afraid of being feminine by dressing up and marrying, while Touka is the Ladette who enjoys roasting her cousin for his sex life and actively scorns feminine hobbies. They get along rather well.
• Birds of a Feather: Both Tobirama and Izuna are younger siblings who show ruthless pragmatism on the battlefield and carefully hide their sweeter side. This is why Touka cannot forgive Izuna: the other woman knows Touka's cousin too well and is too much like him for Tobirama to not fall in love with her.
• Bling of War/Custom Uniform: Each warrior member of the main family of their lineage gets a custom armour. Downplayed, since it usually amounts to some relief-type decorations and colorful paint, and the entire thing is hidden beneath their coats during actual battle. The only time this armour is actually seen is during formal occasions.
• Broken Pedestal: Tobirama loses all the affection and respect he had for Butsuma once he realises his father doesn't care about him following the failed assassination attempt.
• Brought Down to Normal: In order to keep their Senju prisoners unable to escape and manageable, Izuna locks them up in the Diplomatic Quarters with the chakra draining seals up and running.
• The Casanova: Izuna, full stop. She will cheerfully flirt her way through missions if at all possible, spend time with geisha and oiran, patronise brothels and tea shops, sneak in to visit noblewomen and generally charm any woman around her. Subverted, because she only does it to hear latest gossip, confirm some piece of intelligence or distract from what the rest of her team is doing.
• Casual Kink: After hearing her cousin enthusiastically and vigorously servicing Izuna, Touka jokes she would have found a nice Uzumaki girl to tie Tobirama to his bedpost if she had known he was into abduction roleplay.
• Category Traitor: After learning of his second son's survival, Butsuma promptly decides Tobirama is this trope for daring to marry the Uchiha heiress instead of picking death for himself and his cousin.
• Central Theme:
  • Consent, especially Questionable Consent, and coercion.
  • Gender roles and how performative they are.
  • Redemption and forgiveness.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Uchiha work-clothes and Madara's spare coat that were given to Tobirama. Touka dresses in them for her escape so she won't be standing out from the Uchiha. She almost manages to leave the compound unnoticed.
  • Tobirama's seal. Izuna says it's partially to protect Tobirama and it reacts to the poisoning attempt. It saves Tobirama when his clansmen try to kill him by shattering the assassin's sword.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • Cats, especially the ones that attach themselves to Touka and Tobirama. The grey queen helps Touka with her escape by sanctioning her release before the Uchiha squad sent in pursuit. The white queen kills one of the men sent to assassinate Tobirama.
  • Snow leopards. Mentioned early but not actually seen until Tobirama summons Tounari so she can accompany Izuna to the Senju Compound.
  • The Aburame. Izuna offhandedly mentioned they are both kuge and on polite terms with the Uchiha, which Touka remembers when the Senju need a neutral arbitrator for their proposed negotiations.
  • Katsuma, the cousin whose family Tobirama killed in Frost Country. After he leaves on a trading trip, he passed through Hatake territory and makes sure to badmouth Izuna and Tobirama's marriage to them — while conveniently omitting that Izuna kidnapped Tobirama, Tobi is half-Hatake himself or that he adopted two kids he orphaned to make up for his mistakes.
• Chekhov's Skill: At one point, Tobirama tries walking on hands while Touka provides commentary. Turns out, it gave her idea how to get out of the Diplomatic Quarters quickly without moving on her broker legs.
• Chosen Conception Partner: Izuna picked Tobirama to sire her children for political (forcing the Senju clan into peace talks) and eugenic (integrating Tobirama's potent chakra, sensing and tactical skills into her bloodline) reasons. Being a highly pragmatical individual, Tobirama accepts this much better than if she had acted on pure lust.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: Apparently something of a specialty for Tajima:
  • Madara had to copy the entire scroll containing Uchiha Clan Law after being found meeting with Hashirama.
  • Izuna's punishment for experimenting with seals without training or supervision was getting banned from all of her favourite sweets for half-a-year.
  • The patrol which didn't spot the Senju assassins during their infiltration of the Compound is tasked with cleaning up and renovating the damaged Diplomatic Quarters.
• Conspicuous Consumption: Regarding the brand-new wardrobe Izuna grants to Tobirama. Gifting a purple nagajuban to your concubine is almost outrageously decadent.
• Convenient Miscarriage: Discussed and immediately Deconstructed. Madara thinks that it would be very convenient for Tajima if Izuna miscarried, since then he wouldn't have to inform anyone outside the clan about Tobirama. He also hopes that their father isn't actually trying to cause this by keeping Izuna in the field and sending her on a dangerous mission, because if his sister loses the child, she will murder their father for it.
• Costume Porn: Be prepared for a lot of lavish descriptions of beautiful kimono and obi.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Tobirama's exceptional sensing abilities turn out to be this twice.
  • First, he relies on them for building mental maps and keeping track of direction, so once Izuna blocks it he's severe difficulties.
  • Secondly, he uses them to detect people and judge their combat capability, which leaves him with no way of spotting incoming people once he's locked up and before that caused him to kill children because they had above-average reserves and he couldn't actually see them.
• Cruel and Unusual Death:
  • A particularly greedy priests that had the misfortune of angering an already annoyed Izuna - she uses her Mangekyou to convince him that his bones are on fire.
  • The last Senju assassin dies due to Izuna mind raping him to death, while she steals all of his knowledge about the attack and those responsible for it.
• Culture Clash: Happens between the Uchiha and the Senju due to different traditions and backgrounds.
  • Being a noble clan, the Uchiha have very high standards for the education of their children, in addition to being involved in politics on at least national scale, having working relationship with multiple other clans and staking a visible corner in market for certain craft goods. Contrast with the Senju who are both peasants and exclusively mercenary clan, and as such do not generally educate children outside of the main family, rarely cooperate or ally with other shinobi clans, and do not consider non-warrior carriers at all to the point of stripping the clan name from people who decide to become craftsmen.
  • The Uchiha practice kami worship with elements of ancestor worship thrown in, including Invocation of the patrons of their lineage. As such the only festival they really observe as the clan is Tanabata. Something that utterly confuses Tobirama and Touka who were raised in Buddhist tradition.
  • Building on the previous point, the Senju bury their dead and make sure to celebrate Obon so that the ghosts of their family members are laid to rest. Meanwhile, the Uchiha long ago decided on a very pragmatic solution of burning the bodies and preventing the ghosts from returning in the first place to the point some of them will even burn the bodies of the enemies killed during a battle.
  • Also between the Senju and the Hatake. What the Senju might consider to be brain damage or underdevelopment in toddlers, the Hatake would consider to be a trait inherited from a summon-contracted parent and a sign they are suitable for the contract. Tobirama being such a child led to five-year long feud between his parents.
  • The Uchiha and the Uzumaki both deal extensively with nobles and samurai, which means they naturally consider the political implication of their publicly known actions and how people are likely to respond, as well as keep informed of going-ons of various courts. The Senju do not have such experience or knowledge, so they can be blindsided by the consequences of their actions such as neither Butsuma nor Hashirama understanding the severity of situation after the assassination attempt on Tobirama.
• Cute, but Cacophonic: The black chickens bred by the Uchiha. While the hens are (presumably) not louder than any other breed, the cocks are notorious for their wailing calls, which they can maintain for far longer than seems possible. And they are so loud they can be heard from the Senju Compound several miles away.
• A Day in the Limelight: Every fifth chapter is not from Tobirama's perspective and usually involves something that he didn't witness during the previous four chapters.
  • In Unchained:
  • Chapter 5: Izuna and Hashirama;
  • Chapter 10: Madara, Izuna and Hashirama;
  • Chapter 15: Izuna;
  • Chapter 20: Madara and Touka;
  • Chapter 25: Hashirama, Touka and Senju Touma;
  • Chapter 30: Touka, Hashirama and Senju Tokonoma;
  • Chapter 35: Touka and Hashirama;
  • Chapter 40: Izuna, Tajima and Naka Two-Swords.
  • In Bondage:
  • Chapter 5: Hashirama, Touka, Senju Rinzouma and Senju Yagura.
  • Chapter 10: Uchiha Homusubi, Senju Keika, Touka and Senju Chigi.
  • Chapter 15: Ohabari, Uchiha Haruto, Uzumaki Kei, Uchiha Ikoma and Tajima.
  • Chapter 20: Touka, Madara and Izuna.
  • Chapter 25: Homusubi, Hashirama, Uchiha Hirokizuka, Kitami, Izuna and Tokonoma.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance:
  • Both concubinage and forced marriage are permitted across Elemental Nations for noble clans and families, though not all of them practice it.
  • Killing an entire clan down to the youngest children is a perfectly acceptable punishment for peasants getting uppity and attacking nobles - Izuna outright says that if her plot doesn't work out, she will convince Madara to take the Uchiha's greviances to the daimyo.
  • Social ranks and the differences in behaviour and treatment between them are explored as part of this story.
  • Sumptuary laws are very much a thing, dictating who is allowed to wear which colours and materials depending on their social status and the specific occasion.
  • Physically or mentally disabled people are considered a waste of resources and any infant born this way would be killed soon after.
  • While kinslaying is frowned upon, it is not a great taboo and people will do it if they think the individual in question is a threat to the well-being of wider family.
  • Actors and other performers have dubious reputation, and being seen with them is considered shameful.
• Didn't Think This Through: The only possible explanation for Katsuma deciding to badmouth Izuna's marriage to his Hatake in-laws. Izuna is understandably furious, his relatives aren't impressed either and Tajima outright sends an Outguard squad to drag him back to the clan lands.
• Divine Right of Kings: Justified. Any Uchiha who manages to Awaken their Mangekyou does it by Invoking and Connecting with the patron kami of their lineage. Therefore, they are elevated to the headship of their lineage due to the obvious sign of favour.
• Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Completely Averted. Tobirama's condition as a prisoner is fully acknowledged, and there are Uchiha laws establishing that no matter the gender, forcing someone into sexual intimacy is not okay.
• Dowry Dilemma: Invoked and Exploited. Izuna's demand for restitutions following the attempted assassination of Tobirama is that the Senju pay the Uchiha his dowry — one that will show exactly how much they value him. Now the Senju have to balance their rather limited means with a dowry suitably large for somebody marrying into a noble clan, all the while indirectly trying to convince Tobirama to support their interests before the Uchiha by providing him with means of establishing at least partial independence from Izuna.
• Dramatic Irony: Present at various points due to not everyone having the same information.
  • Tobirama and Touka don't pay any particular attention to cats around the Diplomatic Quarters and discuss plans in their presence. Those cats are allied with the Uchiha and tasked with keeping an eye on the prisoners.
  • Tobirama wonder if something is wrong with Maru due to the boy's behaviour. In reality, Maru is behaving in cat-like manner due to being raised by the summons — what makes it funnier is that Tobirama shares many of those same mannerisms. Becomes Harsher in Hindsight when Touka notes Butsuma tried to have Tobirama killed over such behaviour as a toddler.
  • Hashirama notes that what Izuna does to Tobirama is no different from how he himself cultivates his bonsai — limit opportunities for development, encourage to grow in particular way or direction, and cut away anything unwanted. The irony is that it's exactly how Butsuma raised both his surviving sons.
• Dude, She's Like in a Coma: Zig-zagged. Izuna asks Tobirama if he will have sex with her and indicates her willingness but since she's severely sleep-deprived and already half-asleep, he refuses. She later notes that she wouldn't mind being woken with sex. On another occasion, he does have sex with her while she's asleep but he himself isn't much more awake at the time, and later he feels rather guilty about the entire thing even if Izuna doesn't actually care.
• Embarrassing Superpower: Ame-no-Uzume, the Great Persuader, allows Izuna to entrance her targets into looking at her and making them believe every word she says... as long as she's undressing. She bursts into tears after understanding that, and her squad feels pretty awkward too.
• Entertainingly Wrong:
  • Since Izuna is widely to be believed a man, when "he" started talking about his pretty grey-eyed concubine, people obviously assumed said concubine is a woman.
  • From the Fire Daimyo and his court's viewpoint, there's already peace between the Senju and the Uchiha — after all, the Senju Head's younger son was taken as a spouse by the Uchiha Heiress and both clans have been lacking in mutual hostility since. Unfortunately, shinobi feuds aren't that clear cut and Izuna didn't exactly inform the Senju what she was planning beforehand.
• Everyone Has Standards: Tobirama's family is horrified and furious when they learn Butsuma ordered him killed. Even some of his senior lieutenants are angry with him.
• Exact Words: How Izuna deals with Tobirama's question when she's unwilling or unable to give a full answer.
• Failed a Spot Check:
  • Tobirama somehow doesn't notice the very intricate embroidered patchwork on the inside of his borrowed coat until Izuna literally turns it inside-out.
  • He also completely overlooked Izuna's reputation as The Casanova to the point he's unable to even recall any rumours about "him" when talking with Touka.
  • Hashirama completely missed the point of Butsuma inviting assassination specialists to the meeting about Tobirama's current situation.
• Fairy Tale Motifs: The more the story unfolds, the more it appears Tobirama was stuck in a Cinderella Plot — after losing his only loving parent, he had to shoulder burdens far too heavy for him and never was truly appreciated for himself (even the more well-intentioned of his relatives just couldn't see anything wrong with his general treatment). Then he gains the attention and affection of a wealthy, highborn spouse who promptly takes him away from the toxic environment and showers him with care and gifts.
  • He also gains shades of a changeling with The Reveal that Butsuma was disturbed by his behavioural oddities and believed he was some kind of oni that would bring misfortune to the Senju. It's hypothesised that Changeling Tale was inspired by developmentally impaired children, whom their parents would hate and mistreat for being "fey" — exactly the situation in which Tobirama was stuck.
• Family Theme Naming: Tajima named his children after sacred mountains to the Shugendo sect of Shinto or things related to said mountains (as his youngest Saburou is named after a tengu living on Mount Iizuna).
• Fetish:
  • Izuna really likes dressing Tobirama in silks.
  • In turn, Tobirama likes giving her hickeys.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Touka spends a lot of her time sitting on engawa, either playing or making baskets. She uses that time to observe how the Uchiha move around the Diplomatic Quarters, which allows her to figure out the best time for her escape. She's also rather forlorn for a few days leading up to it.
  • Butsuma inviting assassination specialists to the meeting about Tobirama's current situation should ring warning bells. Too bad Hashirama is oblivious.
  • At one point, Izuna, Tobirama and Touka play a game that was pretty much Cluedo. Come Butsuma's murder and the circumstances are just as much a riddle, with no obvious suspects, several simultaneous plots and everyone covering for each other.
• Founder of the Kingdom: Indra of the Fan for the Uchiha Clan. He was elevated by the Emperor to rank of fourth doujou kuge and married to a first-rank imperial princess Tokiwa Denka. The Amaterasu Lineage descends from him and other lineages have his blood as well, and considering that the Uchiha technically do not reside in the Fire Country, he's this literally and metaphorically.
• Genius Bonus: Izuna refers to the old Imperial order and rule as "the Chrysanthemum Throne". This is a Western way of refering to both the Japanese Emperor and the overall government rule. Which makes sense when you consider this is a post-apocalyptic world.
• Gilded Cage: The Diplomatic Quarters are well built and comfortably furnished, and Izuna will provide anything that is requested, within reason. It's still a prison that Tobirama and Touka plan to escape at the earliest convenience.
• Girl in the Tower: Tobirama and Touka are kept locked up in the Diplomatic Quarters of the Uchiha compound.
• Give Me a Sign: Apparently, Izuna spent some time praying and looking for a solution to the feud between the Uchiha and the Senju, and she interprets the inspiration she got from re-reading clan laws as a sign from God.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: An underlying fear regarding Tobirama's captivity. It's heavily implied that his ancestor Senju Kabema suffered this, and Izuna abducted Touka along with her cousin as she didn't want for Tobirama to be utterly broken by the lack of interaction with someone else than his captor and wife.
• Grail in the Garbage: Turns out, the Senju owns quite a lot of those, mostly due to stealing some obviously pricey stuff during missions and then having to wait before fencing it, due to it being too recognizable. A lot of it ends up being a part of Tobirama's dowry or finally sold to fund it.
  Maki: Is that a cut gemstone go set?
• Heel Realization: Downplayed example, but both Hashirama and Touka realize that Tobirama was not treated well by the Senju and he's really much happier as Izuna's prisoner than he was ever as part of their clan.
• Heinz Hybrid/Uneven Hybrid: Contemplated by Tobirama regarding the Uchiha Clan. Between Yori's very vulpine smile, the tradition of kitsune wedding, focus on Kami worship and the general weirdness of their bloodline limit, he wonders just what exactly can be found in their family tree.
  • Case in point, when Izuna shares a memory with Tobirama, he notes that her sight is something usually found in birds, even seeing in wider spectrum of colours than average humans. Without sharingan or any summons contract to account for this.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Kurama Sumi used to be an infiltration specialist before marrying into the Senju. She provided Touka and Hashirama with information on how a person might manipulate their higher-ranked spouse for their own ends — which they use to analyse Tobirama's situation and likely actions. She also has enough poison training to be one of the suspects for Butsuma's murder.
  • Hashirama, for all his faults, is very good at reading people's emotions and faces, even while they are trying to hide their thoughts.
  • Senju Tokonoma is much more reasonable than his brother and he takes over minding Hashirama after Tobirama's capture. He also immediately helps to cover up who really killed Butsuma and is ready to ascend as the Clan Head because Hashirama is definitely not ready.
• High-Class Call Girl: The oiran used to be this, catering exclusively to the Imperial Court. Then the Kyuubi happened and the entire class was wiped out. Modern oiran don't have much in common with their historical counterparts beside the very basics of clothing style and their reputation is suitably lower as a result.
• History Repeats:
  • So, there's an Uchiha Action Girl Head of Amaterasu line abducting a pretty male Senju warrior as her concubine — are we talking about Uchiha Biei-Fuji and Senju Kabema or Uchiha Izuna and Senju Tobirama?
  • Once again Senju Butsuma throws away a possibility of profitable peace by ordering an assassination of Uchiha clan members in the name of continuing the feud. This time by demanding Tobirama's death.
  • A condition to fully harness the Mangekyou without suffering backlash is to re-enact an episode of the summoned kami's life. Izuna entirely unlocks Susano-o when she rescues her concubine Tobirama from Senju assassins, just like the storm god protected his beloved Kushinada-hime from the great serpent bent on devouring her. Though, after that first full manifestation, the Mangekyou can be manifested at will.
• Holy Is Not Safe: Sunami-baa notes that Invocation is the most dangerous sealing speciality one can pursue. The practitioners have tendency to disappear without trace in mysterious circumstances or die from seals backfiring — even if those seals have been previously used hundred of times. And none of them dared to actually draw such a seal on people, unlike Izuna.
• Hypocrisy Nod: Both Touka and Tobirama are perfectly aware that shinobi are anathema to everything that Buddhism values, with Tobirama in particular having made various rants and lectures to that effect. It doesn't stop them from still holding those values and observing Buddhist holy days.
• I Choose to Stay: Tobirama decides that there's no way he will be able to ever escape and go back to fighting the Uchiha. Instead, he focuses on making the peace work for the Senju. Notable, because he doesn't do it for Izuna or their child, but for the little Kiso-kun he ended up taking care of.
• I Have Your Wife:
  • How Izuna coerces Tobirama into becoming her concubine, showing him that she also abducted his cousin Touka and as such, refusing her offer would also mean killing Touka.
  • More generally, it's her plan to force Hashirama to surrender to the Uchiha clan and accept their rule. By marrying Tobirama, she can hold Hashirama's brother and nephews against him.
• I See Dead People: Izuna implies that the sharingan is capable of doing this, which influenced Uchiha funerary traditions.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: After realising that Tobirama is happier with Izuna and the Uchiha Clan than he ever was with the Senju, both Hashirama and Touka decide to leave him be and do their best make peace between the two clans so Tobirama won't have to feel divided between his two families.
• Identical Stranger: Tobirama and Saburou look very much alike, thanks to the Uchiha having Kabema in his family tree. Which is rather unfortunate for the poor boy, all things considered.
• Insatiable Newlyweds: Justified. Both Izuna and Tobirama have reasons for wanting Izuna to get pregnant as soon as possible, so they both accept every advance the other makes. The fact that they find each other attractive and that the sex is enjoyable, however, makes it easier for them to swallow, until eventually it's about the sex in general instead of trying to conceive. Which is why they continue this behavior even after Izuna is certifiably pregnant.
• Internal Reveal:
  • Tobirama finally learns that his mother was Butsuma's second wife and Hashirama is his half-brother. He's also not impressed that they appear to be the only ones in the clan not to know it before.
  • Chapter 41 is one big internal reveal as Izuna and Tobirama confess their love to each other and Izuna explains the details of Sharingan and Mangekyou, and the meaning of Uchiha clan coats.
• Intimate Hair Brushing: Tobirama unexpectedly enjoys Izuna combing his hair, outright purring while she's untangling his locks.
• Kick the Dog: Butsuma, full stop.
  • First, he forces a clanswoman to send her summons to the Uchiha Compound to spy on them, despite it being against her contract. Then, when the summons was - predictably - killed during the infiltration and the girl lost her contract permanently, he demotes her and reassigns her to a desk job. Poor Kikyou is left in tears.
  • Similarly, when Hashirama is crying over Tobirama's perceived death, he berates his son for "showing weakness" before the clan.
• Kill It with Fire: Standard Uchiha approach to pretty much everything, but special mention goes to their treatment of necromancers and restless dead.
• Killed By The Adaptation:
  • Hijiri and Benten both die due to For Want Of A Nail nature of this fic.
  • Butsuma is murdered a few months before it happened in Compass.

L — Z

• Locked Out of the Loop:
  • By the virtue of their status as prisoners, Tobirama and Touka rarely are given the full information about current happenings in the Uchiha clan, or are flat out not told that something has occurred.
  • It seems that Butsuma is keeping Tobirama's exact status quiet, since Touma genuinely thinks Tobirama betrayed their clan. That or he does consider not dying pointlessly to be a betrayal. And they certainly don't seem to be aware of what will happen to them if they don't sue for peace with the Uchiha.
  • Not many people outside the clan know that the Uchiha allow only for male concubinage, so most of the outsiders think that Izuna's concubine is a woman, especially since she's publicly pretending to be a man. Similarly, the letter sent to the Fire Daimyo only said that she has taken a spouse so the Court thinks that Tobirama is her lawful husband.
  • Tajima attempted to keep Izuna uniformed of the fact that Butsuma was dead and the Senju are ready to negotiate. When Madara unintentionally clues her in, she's understandably furious.
  • Hashirama's relatives keep him away from the negotiations with the Uchiha — though how much of this is intentional and how much comes from the fact that he's no longer the heir and has nothing to contribute is up for the debate.
• Loophole Abuse: Since technically Uchiha lands are not part of the Land of Fire, but merely a Voluntary Vassal, there are certain privileges that they enjoy and they can get away with things that are not allowed in the rest of the country. One example is that Izuna is allowed to own a pillow book, which is forbidden by law in Fire.
  • At the same time, the Fire Daimyo does not have to intervene in their feud with the Senju since it's classified as a private dispute.
  • Similarly, the fact that the Senju are primarily mercenary clan and their farmers do not use the clan name means that they are considered a nomadic clan and not subject to any daimyo's oversight — nevermind that they've been squatting just off the Uchiha lands for the last five centuries. It ends up catching up to them — see Sins of Our Fathers and Morton's Fork.
• Maiden Aunt: Tobirama reflects on formidable aunties being an universal phenomenon after being introduced to Azumaya-ba — who will correct anyone on their posture and manners, and is an authority on cord-braiding.
• Maligned Mixed Marriage: Izuna — basically the Uchiha Clan's princess — taking the Senju Clan Head's second son Tobirama as her concubine ruffled a lot of feathers. Several Uchiha kinsmen are blatantly unhappy and wary in Tobirama's vicinity, and Butsuma would rather see his son dead than married to Tajima's daughter.
• Marital Rape License: Discussed.
  • Among peasant it generally doesn't happen, both because those matches are usually at least cordial and because the household that depends on the productivity of its members is better off if those members don't hate each other.
  • Among the merchant class, samurai and nobility it is much more common, since Arranged Marriage is the norm. As a result, the women are not asked their opinion and are treated as no more than chattel by their husbands.
  • The only exception to the above is if it is the woman who is heiress or clan head, as in that case she might be able to retain her autonomy.
  • Among shinobi it generally doesn't happen due to the women being perfectly willing to murder their husbands if they try anything. However, Tobirama notes that there exist cases when the line gets rather blurry, such as his own concubinage or if the woman is expected to provide heirs for her clan as is the case for Izuna. See also the example under Dude, She's Like in a Coma.
• Marriage Before Romance: Tobirama and Izuna, which is Justified due to the Questionable Consent of their relationship.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Izuna is very much an Action Girl who's not afraid of aggressively taking steps for her future plans and has a reputation as The Casanova, while Tobirama is forced to be passive and manipulative, letting his hair grow out and dressing up for Izuna as well as learning braiding cords - typically a feminine activity.
• A Match Made in Stockholm: What Izuna and Tobirama's arrangement is. She showers him with gifts and attention to keep him compliant and because she doesn't want to completely destroy his mind through isolation, and he goes along with it as he reasons it keeps her focused on him rather than his clan's destruction and he's a bit desperate for social interaction. It doesn't help that, despite being her prisoner, Izuna treats him better than his own family did.
• Morton's Fork: The Senju face a truly brutal one once Tajima proposes that they perhaps should move their compound a bit further away from the Uchiha lands:
  • If they end up moving, they will have to negotiate with daimyo for the right to settle somewhere. The daimyo is likely to move them close to the capital city, just so he can keep them under his thumb and to gain some favour with the Uchiha. And it will be only warriors and their families moving away — those farmers aren't Senju, after all; it's not their fault their homes have been imposed on and their sons drafted by the Senju.
  • The Senju could refuse to move on the grounds that they have been living there for several centuries — except their initial treaty with the daimyo specifically states that they are a nomadic clan i.e. consist only of warriors and their immediate dependants, and have no permanent settlement. To admit otherwise means admitting to centuries-long tax scam that will ruin the Senju — either through enormous debt or through mass executions.
• Moving the Goalposts: Tajima does it in regards to informing the daimyo of Izuna's marriage — first by demanding they wait for the Senju's reaction, then for Izuna getting pregnant, and then to make sure she's still pregnant after two months.
• Mundane Utility:
  • The Uchiha use their Sharingan for embroidery and weaving, and have jutsu to preserve colours from fading. The last one also doubles as Mundane Made Awesome since some of the shades are ridiculously expensive to dye.
  • Tobirama notes that Izuna used seals to child-proof her entire house.
  • Combined with Mundane Solution but when Izuna needs to arrange meeting with the Senju, she sends Taka to do it. The woman in question uses her Mangekyou, which calls on kami's power, to stroll into the Senju Compound and up to Touka, while letting her power protect her.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Once again, Tobirama has the consequences of the feud shoved into his face and doesn't take it well. Izuna blandly informs him that he the party he murdered in cold blood was composed entirely of civilians - and the four Uchiha he drowned without even seeing them were all children younger than 10. Oh, and he then left a newborn overnight in a mountain pass in winter.
• Mythology Gag: After learning from Touka that Izuna probably liked and was attracted to Tobirama long before she decided to make him her concubine, Hashirama notes that it's probably a good thing she managed to find a way to act on it before Tobirama figured out a way to kill her — since Madara most likely knew about Izuna's feelings for Tobirama and wouldn't have reacted well to his sister being killed by the man she had feelings for. All you need to do is take one look at canon to see that Hashirama's deduction is spot-on, to say the least.
• Never Learned to Read: Subverted. Tobirama did learn to read... katakana and the thousand common kanji plus an additional handful for his seals. Which is nowhere close to what is considered a basic education for high ranking nobles such as the Uchiha, meaning he has no hope of actually reading any of the books and scrolls that Izuna provides him with.
• Noodle Incident: Several get mentioned:
  • Tobirama's mission to Sea Country that he absolutely doesn't want to talk about.
  • That one time Izuna threw an oil bomb at Tobirama during a fight.
  • Touka mentions several to prove her identity to the Senju patrol she runs into.
  • Hikaku, Madara, Tobirama and Izuna share a lot of these while they're doing a drinking game.
• No Periods, Period: Averted. While nothing is outright said, Touka has one period while in the captivity, requiring a medical procedure from Yori to deal with it quickly and cleanly. She also uses another upcoming period to conceal from Tobirama that she's planning an escape.
• "Not Wearing Pants" Dream:
  • Tobirama has a nightmare in which he's taking part in a tea ceremony hosted by Uchiha Tajima, except he realizes in the middle of it that he's not wearing anything.
  • After learning more about courtly protocol, Touka starts to have nightmares about being introduced to the Daimyo in her Senju hakama and kimono — which are so completely under-dressed that being naked would be an improvement.
• Oh, Crap!: A very restrained one from Touka and Tobirama's grandmother Sunami once Touka tells her of the Uchiha's exact rank and Izuna's likely scheme. She outright says that if the Uzumaki knew this beforehand, she would not be married to a Senju and neither would be Mito.
• One Dose Fits All: Completely Averted. Touka cannot be given more painkillers for her broken legs because she would overdose, a mention is made that the stronger drugs need to be carefully measured because it's too easy to give a lethal amount and some painkillers can react unusually in people with bloodline limits.
• Parental Sexuality Squick: Zigzagged. Tajima looks pretty indifferent to his daughter stealing a man for herself, but Izuna's brothers would very much like avoid the topic of their sister's marriage, thank you very much. Touka also mercilessly teases Tobirama over his performance in bed.
• Place of Protection: Izuna turned the Clan Hall into one over the years, to safeguard against any other assassination attempts. She also taught Madara what each layer of protections does to as a way of helping him cope with his trauma.
  • Later it is revealed that some of those protections are layered over the entire compound.
• Poor Communication Kills: Consciously defied by Izuna who makes sure to explain herself clearly to Tobirama and Touka, and to answer any questions they present her.
• Purple Is Powerful: Only the very highest nobility gets to dress in purple, with certain shades being reserved for daimyo and his immediate family, mainly because it's expensive to produce and the colour quickly fades. Izuna casually wearing purple outdoors shows just how wealthy and noble her clan is.
• Red Baron: Since the Uchiha and the Senju don't actually know the names of each of their enemies, they usually give to the more notable ones an epithet to differentiate them.
• Religion is Magic: Seals can be used to call upon the powers of various gods and kami. For example, the seal that was put on Tobirama Invokes Yatagarasu, while the ones that protect the Uchiha Compound from ghosts and undead are referred to as "prayers". Of course, it's also noted that Holy Is Not Safe.
• Reveal: Butsuma's murder is Yagura, which was already hinted. But the one who poisoned him beforehand is Tokyouma — who was entirely Beneath Suspicion.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The Uchiha are infamous for this, especially where death of a loved one is concerned. One of the reasons Tobirama considers Butsuma an idiot for trying to assassinate him is because Izuna would massacre the Senju Clan in revenge and there would be noone capable of stopping her so long as Madara distracted Hashirama.
• Running Gag: Several.
  • Madara sleepwalking, leading to one of his teammates being on the hugging duty.
  • Izuna singing inappropriate songs at Tobirama.
  • Tobirama's love of fish.
  • Tounari advocating kinslaying.
• Serenade Your Lover: Izuna will happily do so, much to Tobirama's embarrassment considering her song choices.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: All the sex is only hinted at in the story, with author even tagging it as "Fade to Black sex".
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Both Tobirama and Izuna get to be dolled up in fancy kimono. The results are suitably impressive, though Tobirama is rather weirded out by how different he looks.
• Shotgun Wedding: Invoked. Izuna gets to force her father's hand in letting her marry Tobirama by sleeping with him before Tajima can come back to the Uchiha compound and kill the Senju.
• Shout-Out:
  • The many, many songs that Izuna translates and writes down for her clan.
  • "As you wish."
  • Izuna gifted Tobirama a fan with a scene from Dracula. Apparently, the story was popular enough with civilians to be made into a well-known play.
  • Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi exists under the title "Great Sage of Evil" and is rather unpopular among the Uchiha since the main character is a necromancer and not charbroiled on sight.
    • In fact, quite a lot of Chinese and Japanese literature exists in the setting — classics from the Imperial Era.
  • Izuna translated the songs from Hadestown, and her aunt convinces her to let her transcribe them into a proper play.
• Sibling Yin-Yang:
  • Madara is very much quiet and awkward to Izuna's flirty, shameless behaviour.
  • Hashirama is openly emotional while Tobirama is more pragmatic and subdued.
  • Touka is Tomboy Action Girl bent on becoming a respected warrior and scorning feminine pursuits, while Tokyouma is Non-Action Guy who panics at the sight of blood and would rather tend to medicinal herbs or learn sealing.
• Simple, yet Opulent: Anything dyed purple, especially murasaki purple - not only is the dye hard to produce, requiring a lot of flowers to make even small amount, it also fades quickly in light so it cannot be worn outdoors. The fact that Izuna not only has several outdoor hakama and kimono in various shades, but also gifts Tobirama with purple nagajuban — the equivalent of underwear — speaks volumes about Uchiha's wealth, status and the skills to use jutsu to preserve colours.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Turns out, the Senju has been scamming the rulers of Fire Country for centuries by pretending to be a purely mercenary clan and thus paying lower taxes than they should. Once Tokonoma learns this by reading his clan's original treaty, he basically admits that his clan is in even worse trouble than what Izuna has originally planned.
• Something Only They Would Say: This is how Touka proves her identity to the Senju patrol she runs into during her escape — by blurting out variously embarrassing stories from their past.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Naka Two-Swords. Saburou, one of Madara and Izuna's younger brothers. Uchiha Minami.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Izuna had to don male attire for her own protection following the Senju attack against Tajima's children. She was so convincing that Tobirama only pegged her true gender after she abducted him and made advances.
• Talking the Monster to Death: How Izuna lifted the Curse upon Sora-ku — by telling it how meaningless and short-lived it truly was when compared to the enormity of the world. Hikaku and Tobirama are definitely freaked out after seeing her do that.
• The Tease:
  • Izuna. She has absolutely on qualms about flirting with people and loves to fluster her new concubine.
  • Tobirama slowly develops into this, mostly because it's one of the only ways for him to extend some kind of control over his situation.
• Textile Work Is Feminine: Played with. While Uchiha silk industry is mostly composed of women of various age, there are also numerous men doing embroidery — mostly former Outguard warriors discharged due to crippling injuries.
• This Is Gonna Suck:
  • Izuna's reaction when she realises what exactly she will need to do to properly empower her Ame-no-Uzume Mangekyou.
  • Most of the Senju when they learn what Tajima demands as restitutions.
• Tomboy: Touka is quite emphatically a warrior and scorned learning any of the traditionally feminine skills to be able to remain one.
  • Unwillingly Girly Tomboy: Her current imprisonment forces her to prove her usefulness to her captors - but the only activities she's allowed are the traditionally feminine ones such as basket-weaving and music. She's not happy at all, both at being made to do it and at never learning in the first place.
• Touché: Izuna's reaction to learning that the Senju wrote to the Aburame with a request to arbitrate their negotiations is to mentally congratulate Touka on a well-executed plot.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Madara enjoys fried tofu;
  • Izuna has such fondness for red bean paste-filled sweets that Tajima punished her with six months without once;
  • Tobirama muses a good point of his captivity is getting to eat fish;
  • Saburou likes warabimochi, which is something he shares with his late mother. Tajima even makes some for him when the boy misses the festival.
• Unreliable Expositor: Katsuma complains about Izuna's decision to marry Tobirama while he's visiting his Hatake relatives (who are kin to the members of the Trading Branch Tobirama accidentally murdered a few months prior), while deliberately omitting how Tobirama is also of Hatake-descent and a Leopard Summoner to boot. He also omits the circumstances that led to Tobirama to killing the aforementioned kin, the fact that he didn't kill all of their children, and that Tobirama has adopted two of the children he orphaned.
• Unreliable Narrator:
  • Tobirama is an especially interesting example, since not only is he Locked Out of the Loop, he also deliberately practices Selective Obliviousness so he doesn't have to deal with various feelings concerning his imprisonment and the entire feud.
  • Similarly, various povs in interludes have their own biases and sometimes do not have all the relevant information.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight:
  • Uchiha Nukabira having an emotional meltdown and crying himself out over his lover leaving him is not even acknowledged by the other Uchiha present — it's certainly not worth delaying the lunch over. Subverted with Tobirama and Touka who are understandably feeling confused and awkward to witness this.
  • More of an uninteresting sound, but the Uchiha are accustomed to the wails of their black chickens so they don't even pay attention to it. Meanwhile, the Senju are rather creeped out by it, in part because they have no idea where the noise comes from.
  • The Uchiha consider Tobirama's fangs and cat-like mannerism to be not worth a mention due to a number of their fellow clansmen with Cat Contract behaving similarly. Contrast with the Senju who are seriously freaked out by this.
• The 'Verse: Technically speaking, it's an alternate reality to Compass of Thy Soul but it draws a lot from the background history and lore established by the author's previous story.
• Voice Changeling: One if the less known abilities of the Uchiha bloodline is that they can perfectly imitate other people's voices, intonations and the specific cadence of speaking. And be "perfectly" we mean "actually sounding like that person" to the point that Izuna routinely does all voices in songs or plays.
• Wham Episode:
  • In Unchained:
  • Chapter 19 which ends with Tobirama learning that Touka escaped from the Uchiha Compound while he was out with Izuna. Notable, because we don't actually see the events in question until the next chapter.
  • Chapter 25: Butsuma send assassins to murder Tobirama because he considers his actions to be a betrayal of the Senju.
  • Chapter 30: Butusma tried to have Tobirama killed as a toddler, which led to Kikuno moving out and keeping the children away for five year. At the end of the chapter, someone killed Butsuma and Tokonoma helped them by framing the also-killed Shitomi for it.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Tobirama's gets one from Uchiha Oshiki after he starts avoiding and ignoring Izuna, and inadvertently pushes her towards considering Tajima's ideology.
  • Touka gives Hashirama a vicious one for being unwilling to Challenge Butsuma when the entire clan was on the line, but almost Challenging her father when he's banned from going to the negotiations. Especially since he didn't even try to assume any responsibilities in the aftermath of Butsuma's murder.
• Who Murdered the Asshole: Ultimately the result of Butsuma's assassination right after his idiocy threatened to wipe out his entire clan, and even his close kin isn't in a hurry to learn the truth.
• Worf Had the Flu: Turns out, the reason that Tobirama matched Izuna on the battlefield despite her Sharingan is due to her metabolic issues that force her to limit her jutsu usage in combat. Otherwise, she likely would have eventually overpowered or outmanoeuvred him in short order. Tobirama is less than pleased when he learns this, since he prided himself on being so skilled as to match the fabled bloodline limit of the Uchiha.
• Xanatos Gambit: What Izuna's plan ultimately turns out to be:
  • If Tobirama refused her, she would have killed him and Touka. With two of their best warriors dead, the Senju would be overwhelmed and wiped out in short time;
  • After Tobirama agrees, then once Hashirama is the Head it is guaranteed that he would agree to a peace of the Uchiha's choosing;
  • If Tajima dies before Butsuma, then Madara will plead with the daimyo to intervene — resulting in the Senju being wiped out;
  • If Izuna's conceives and they inform the Senju of the marriage before Butsuma's death, then they can use the pressure from the daimyo to bring the Senju to the negotiation table;
  • Building on the previous point, if Butsuma insists on pursuing the feud, then the daimyo himself will demand that the Senju are wiped out unless his own clan kills him first.
• Young and in Charge: Izuna became the Head of Amaterasu at the age of nine after activating her Mangekyou.

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