Chapter Text
This story is set in the world of Escape & Evade, a world in which the village was formed quite differently to cannon.
There are reasons for the differences from cannon in this story and many of them are contained in The World Building of Courting Culture Confusion, but the main difference is that Izuna lived. The only other major change is that Naruto happens in Japan, solely because I didn't know that wasn't cannon when I wrote the first story. Everything else is part of the butterfly effect, and the world building necessary to make those two things happen.
This story, like Slither and Stalk, spans a number of years. It's beginnings take place before Kagami steps down as Hokage but it's ending takes place during World War One. Despite that, much of it takes place concurrently with Wild Wolves and UZUMAKI UNLEASHED!, and it references events that occur in both Slither and Stalk and Swimming with Sharks. As such, I've placed it in the series between Swimming with Sharks and Making a Move.
If you've been following the series up to Swimming with Sharks, many (but not all) of the events that occur in this story will be familiar to you. If you started with the sub-series of Courting Culture Confusion, Courting Culture Confusion - Meiji Era (Yondaime Kage / Pre-Canon), then you should be pretty well placed to jump right in as well.
However, just in case you're coming to this story cold, the basics are as follows:
Thanks to the way Konoha was founded, Zetsu realised that it did not have much of an opportunity to manipulate Madara. As such, it tried to kill Tobirama and convince Madara to activate the Rinnegan by manipulating various people in the Elemental Countries. Its plots were exposed. The First Shinobi World War was the armies of the Elemental Countries versus Zetsu, and Zetsu was killed.
Because of that war, the Shodai and Nidaime were occupied with building up their own villages rather than waging war on each other, and several of the other Kage were intimidated by the power that Konoha could bring to bear.
Over the course of the next two decades, the west increased pressure on Japan to abandon its policy of isolation. Seeing the gunboat diplomacy employed by the British against China, Japan grew increasingly divided on the topic. Combined with the long term economic problems and several natural disasters, the bakufu of the daimyo began to lose control of the Elemental Countries.
On July 8, 1853, US Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry's four-ship squadron appeared in Edo Bay. He delivered letters from US President Fillmore and sailed away but warned that he would be back. He returned on February 11, 1854 and the Convention of Kanagawa was signed between himself and the Daimyo of Tetsu no Kuni.
Knowing that the pressure was not going to let up, Madara handed the hat to Kagami and he became Sandaime Hokage.
Working together with the other Sandaime Kage, Kagami and his lover Koshamain, the Sandaime Mizukage, managed to hold the villages in a state of peace for nearly two decades while simultaneously fending off the efforts of the Western powers to invade their territories. Part of that was organising the equivalent of the Meiji Restoration - the Kōmei Restoration. It was the Kōmei Restoration because Hashirama saved Emperor Kōmei from dying of smallpox and introduced a widespread vaccination campaign. (The vaccine was available in Japan at that time in history, but was isolated to Hokkaido. I made it widely available through Hashirama's efforts.)
In 1871, Johan Hampus Furuhjelm, chief of the Russian seaports in the Pacific, sent seven ships to claim Kunashir Island. He thought it was an isolated island that was home to barbaric fishermen and hoped to overawe them into letting him claim a port for Russia that is open all year round, unlike Vladivostok which is iced over every winter.
What he didn't know was that Kunashir Island is the location of Kirigakure, and that the shinobi of Kiri do not take incursions into their territory well. With the assistance of shinobi from Uzushio and three of the Five Great Shinobi Nations (Suna was too far away to send anyone), Kiri fought off the Russians at great cost to themselves.
After the war, Kagami retired and handed off his responsibilities to the next Hokage - Sakumo.
It is during that time that Obito comes of age and into his own.
Warnings:
There will be descriptions of cannon typical violence throughout the story. In addition, the time period where this story is set covers the death of all the founders - their funerals will be seen. The canonical death of Obito's parents also occurs.
There will be frank discussions of politics - internal and external - including some of the more fraught decisions made by all parties.
This story is presented in a mix of writing styles, just as the first story in this series was. If such switches in tone bother you, then this story may not be for you. In addition, I’m posting this story and writing it at the same time, something I haven’t done since To Tempt a Target. Because of that, the final chapter count is undetermined and the writing is probably a little raw.
Many of the characters in this story are not actually original characters despite having unfamiliar names. Obito's family members were never named by Kishimoto, so I gave them some.
Additionally, please note that all the relationships that have been tagged for this story do appear but the focus will be on Obito's relationship with Rin. All the other relationships occur in the background, though Kakashi and Iruka are more visible than the rest.
Please, read with care for yourself and skip the story if any of this is not for you.