Tagline: having a moral code can be so troublesome.
Author: Starapple/Martinique
Rating: NC-17 for gore, violence and foul language.
Pairings: None so far, possibly remain gen. If not, NaruSasu, SasuNaru with various het sub-pairings.
Summary: Naruto's disappointed, Orochimaru is in Sasuke's mind, Sakura's lost hope. So Naruto starts a war….
Prologue
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War is art.
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Naruto twirled the pen in his hand, allowing it to roll over scabbed knuckles that cracked open to show the pink of his wounds. And perhaps the white of his bones. He ignored the pain though, focused only on the page in front of him written in a code he had designed himself. Checking to see if his plan needed changes made to it. Whether he could still rely on one action to cause the other, to reach the end he desired. Whether his purse could afford to bribe his way into their presence, into their hearts and minds.
He'd become too good at this. Sometimes it scared him. It was going to come crashing down on him at one point, that much he knew. As long as he could delay it and reach his goal, all would be well.
Naruto stretched, bones clicking into place, the chakra in his body stirred in a brief eddy. He sagged back into the chair, breathing moving into place as it had before, the low stench of gutter from the side-street filtering in. The filth of a village at the fringes of civilization, taking its last gasps before falling into ruins, populace decimated by disease and forced conscription.
It was time to move on, move back.