That winter, Madara turned eleven, and the twins celebrated their eight birthday. For both occasions, Haruka had managed to bake some cakes and invited the kids and younger shinobi to celebrate with them. She had decided that it was time to start working concretely on change. If they were going to achieve peace, they couldn't do it on their own, they needed the support of their clansmen. And the first step to getting that support was to start talking about change. Thanks to Izuna's large group of friends, and to Madara's charisma as a leader and visionary, things were starting to pick up.
Slowly, but surely a small society was building itself within the clan. Under Madara's leadership, they had started forming groups to talk and share their ideas. Peace wasn't brought out yet, but everybody was pushing for change. They weren't exactly revolutionary ideas, as everybody had thought about better living conditions at some point in their life. What was new was the fact that they were saying it out loud. Until then, children were just obeying the orders and walking in their parents footsteps. But now, once the clan head's kids started voicing their opinions, the others felt like they also could go to the path less traveled. Some voiced their ideas about how they didn't like shinobi life and wanted to try some of the stuff they saw civilians doing during missions, others talked about how they didn't like some of their clan's practices. Madara at one point even brought out the subject of child soldiers and his dead brothers, and every single person in the room could identify with his pain. They started questioning whether the clan's adults really knew what they were doing or were just going with the motions.
Their small society was gaining influence within the clan, with kids spreading their ideas to their parents and siblings. Not everybody was convinced, but as their generation was getting stronger, and their numbers were growing, everybody was starting to notice Madara's faction.
They also didn't make the mistake of ignoring the girls. Even the non-kunoichi were invited to their small gatherings. It had been Haruka's idea when she started noticing how much new jobs at the green house were sought after. They were now up to ten gardeners, and were thinking about expending to match with the new requirements for making the eye decoctions. She got that not everybody liked fighting, and even in a clan like the Uchiha were shinobi were revered, some might want to lead a civilian life. They just needed to figure out a way to make it happen. She still hadn't forgotten about the threat the Senju's dominance over agriculture made on their chances of survival.
A good moment to bring it up was when she presented both her brothers with birthday gifts, even if Madara's came over a month late. She gave them identical pendants in the form of the Uchiha crest on one side, and on the other side, a small list of names was engraved. Himiko's, theirs and the names of their dead siblings. She also had an identical one made for herself, but hers had an additional line that said "One, Thing." She had refused to explain its meaning to the boys.
The pendants were simple, but they were made out of gold (thank god she didn't spend much of her salary on candy like Izuna), and the craftsmanship was exquisite. Both loved them and promised to wear them all the time. When they asked where she had got them, they were taken by surprise when she told them that she had commissioned some of the Uchiha blacksmith to make them. They were not aware that their clansmen were capable of such delicate work, but she did because they had made all the tools for her laboratory.
That had gotten the three of them into a talk about the clan's craftsmen. So far they had a few seamstresses, whose best work was the mantles the shinobi wore for both battle and special occasions, and the blacksmiths who made the weapons. There were more of them ever since the Uchiha came to possess the mines and therefore raw materials, but it wasn't enough. The Uchiha were losing a lot of good opportunities. She had made the pendants especially to show them, that with the Uchiha's exceptional eyesight, maybe having some jewelers would be a better option than selling the gold in its raw state.
Haruka was now feeling comfortable enough with them to share her analysis of the current economic situation. She tried to make things sound less dramatic, but her point still stood. A great danger was looming over them, and they had to start taking action.
After a round of cursing the Senju as usual, Izuna, the social butterfly of their group, promised to start looking for people who might be interested in the job, as well as to use the time they got when they were out on missions in villages and towns to get more information on the state of the market. And Madara was in charge of handling the elder council, Tajima and the higher ups. His status as heir came in handy for such a job.
She had chosen to only include the boys in her plans for various reasons. First of all, if anyone was going to get credit for her ideas, it would be Madara. And the second reason was that their relationship with Tajima was deteriorating fast.
It was a tale as old as time. The alpha male births a heir, and for a while he is proud of him, teaching him how to be a leader and his successor. But as he ages, he starts understanding that he is not immortal, and that a day will come when he won't be the top dog anymore. He starts seeing everyone around him as a threat to his power and position. Especially the young seed that he is raising with his own hands.
After the time he tried to force Madara to betray his friend, things were never the same again between father and son. It wasn't obvious to the clan, but to them it was quite clear. Tajima started to side bench his son a lot, or dismiss his opinions when he couldn't keep him out of meetings. He was especially suspicious of the new group that was starting to idolize Madara instead of him. And at home, his comments always held a bit of venom in them.
It probably didn't help that the twins were on Madara's side on everything. It probably made him feel isolated in his own house, and so the hours he spent in his office started getting longer and he started avoiding meals with them as much as he could. Haruka wondered if things would have been different had Himiko been there. Clearly, her death had affected her husband more than he initially let on. But at the end of the day, she had reincarnated as his daughter and not his wife. There was only so much she could do to help such a petty adult.
Spring will be coming soon and bring with it the fighting and missions. It was a vicious cycle that just keeps repeating itself. She had arrived in this world in the beginning of autumn a little more than two years ago. This was her third winter, and so much had happened in such a short while. In her last life, she didn't have much to herself. In this one, even if the circumstances were less than ideal, she had everything she never even knew she wanted. Loving siblings, friends, a mentor, goals of her own and ambitions….the list never seemed to stop.
She planned on doing everything she could to keep them all safe.