My version of the Naruto map during the warring states era, broken into provinces each ruled by a daimyo. Some notes on the map:
- shinobi villages are approx. locations because they're typically hidden.
-The Naka river I think is the only river that's canon (the river Konohagakure is founded on).
-Owari river means 'the river of endings' lol. I'm sure it's no surprise that the valley of the end will eventually be on that river.
During this period the wiki states that the lands were all small and battling for dominance, and they hired shinobi clans to fight their battles...but personally I just don't think this makes sense with what we actually see in canon. What we see of the Senju and Uchiha for example: there are a LOT of them, and they seem to live bordering each other, which suggests they are not traveling clans but have roots in an area. Such a large clan would be difficult to maintain if they didn't have land/a village that was their own (like samurai).
So, if we have shinobi that own land like samurai, then that means they are beholden to the daimyo whose land they live on...which means that, although they could be hired by other daimyo's, they would obviously be chiefly loyal to the daimyo who rules the land they live on. So, instead of having the shinobi clans being entirely mercenary, I decided in my fic they would be more like samurai without a bushido code...which, let's be honest, that's kinda what the naruto ninja are. They rarely ever do actual ninja shit, most of the time they're battling each other on massive open fields, and the Kage is essentially just the Shogun by another name...I mean the Senju and the Uchiha making peace and building a village is enough to create an entire country, which seems to mirror what figures like Oda Nobunaga/Toyotomi Hideyoshi did in actual history (aka samurai lol) uniting the country.
So that's how I'm treating shinobi in this: larger clans have a fief, they can gather an army and tithe from their people, they owe loyalty and a portion of their tithe to their daimyo but can be hired (with his permission) to fight in other provinces wars. This is why the Uchiha and Senju have always been rivals: they were once traveling mercenary clans competing for work, but now they've settled in opposing daimyo's land and so the rivalry continues.


















