It is a curious phenomenon to observe; the most minor of moves, the smallest of changes, the slightest of detail adjustment, all can cause the most drastic of alterations to the woven threads of fate. Even the flap of a butterfly's wings can cause devastation half the world across.
But in this situation, regarding these people, it is not simply a small change that would impact the other side of the world. It is the actions of two boys that would shred the tapestry of death that entrapped Spira, and so render upon the whole world a new era of peace.
Perhaps 'boys' is an ill-fitting word for the two individuals. Young as they were when they arrived, children by the eye of you and I, they were raised in a warrior culture – born and bred as the generation in an ever present period of constant warfare. To their people they were weapons, trained to be pointed at whatever enemy lurked in the shadows. To their people they were shields, trained to be guardians for their masters until their destruction.
I do not think there is a single person in Spira that will refute the strength granted to the two by their people's training. On the open battlefield they wielded the strength of Behemoths and blades of finest steel, as many a written record will detail when discussing the journey of Lady Yuna's retinue. In the shadows, they practiced their stealth and assassination – skills that would directly lead to what is now called the Great Exodus.
Even in the simplest of arts such as camouflage the two would be proven efficiently trained beyond our reasoning. Their ability to infiltrate crowds most fervent and antagonistic with blatant casualty is as absurd as it is fascinating, and all the more incomprehensible for it. Or in arts long lost to Spira such as demolition and terrorism. The two were frightful individuals indeed, and in this long peace of ours must be admired and feared for what they truly are. We must never forget the Bevelle Tragedy, nor what lead to it.
Above all of this, however, what must be awed are their powerful magicks; magicks that were and to this day remain unfathomable to even the High Magus Enclave of Yevon. Magicks more than enough to match those of the oldest of Flans. Magicks that could rival the strength of Aeons. Magicks that could surpass even the mighty Sin.
It is truly no exaggeration when I state that the two changed fate. Their arrival in Spira is not something that should have been possible. And, by their own recount, the outcome that caused it was not something either had truly planned to do. Perhaps there is some deity in existence that altered the path of the world, but it is hard to believe in such an incorporeal being in the face of those two.
It will forever remain a mystery just how the Two found themselves in Spira. The divergent result of a battle between two immature warriors of immeasurable power is all that I will ever be able to declare truthfully. What is known is that we must thank and honour the two for their efforts in saving us. If ever there were such a thing as a deity, I would believe it only if it wore the face of either of those two.
They are figures of nightmares and dreams. Cruel and merciless, yet kind and merciful. With one hand they create peace, with the other they destroy order. They are heroes and villains of our people, and so I present to you the truth as I know it. An unaltered tale of their efforts in aiding Lady Yuna. An unaltered tale of the triumphs and tragedies they wrought upon Spira.
Know their names, and know their story. The story of Naruto and Sasuke. The story of Shinobi.
-Maechen the Scholar, "Eternal Shinobi, Eternal Calm." Foreword