A/N:

Man this chapter was difficult to write. But it's extremely important to the story. Please please please tell me what you think, and don't refrain from pointing out any inconsistencies or question me if you didn't understand something.

And then there was green. The most vivid crayon green Sasuke had ever seen, coming towards him at frightening speed. And there was screaming. He turned his face and saw Naruto's uvula swinging with the Uzumaki's terrified screams as he grabbed him for dear life, and raised his left arm on reflex to push him away.

And then, as he saw his left hand, his small, child-sized left hand pushing at a whiskered cheek, he started screaming himself.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

*THUMP*

*CRASH*

*BUMP*

*squeak*

*bounce*

*squeak*

*bounce*

*thump*

*thunk*

"It worked! It worked!" Menma and Inojin screamed, jumping up and down as Choumei squeaked away in complaint, having yet again been used as a landing cushion.

"Owwww…" Naruto complained, rubbing his head, and rolled into a sitting position, to see a pair of white-clad legs comically wriggling upside down next to him.

Menma and Inojin ran and started pulling on Sasuke's legs to detach him off the ground, where he had landed headfirst, and the three tumbled with the momentum.

Sasuke shook the green grass off his hair, and jumped up, looking around him in suspicion as the two boys laughed merrily.

"Where the *beep* am I?" he growled, searching for his sword, or a kunai, or anything, and finding himself weaponless. He then tried to concentrate his chakra to cast a Chidori, only to find he had no idea where his chakra was. "What did you do to me?"

"You're safe, don't worry. You're just grounded for now," Inojin said with a smug smile. "Menma and I will be going now, gotta take care of your bodies. Kurama's gonna explain, bye!" he yelled, and Menma waved them goodbye, before they disappeared.

"*beep* *beep*ing *beep* *beep*!" Sasuke yelled angrily, but stopped on his tracks at the laughing behind him. He turned around to see a five-year old Naruto, clad in green shorts and a white tee with the Uzumaki swirl in orange, rolling around the grass in mirth, tears welling in his eyes. "Stop laughing, you… you… aaarrrghhh!" he screamed, and kicked the other boy's ribs with his bare foot.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke, taking in the blue shirt and white shorts, the adorable pouty expression on his babyish face, and had another laughing fit.

"Agh! Die, die, die, you *beep beep beeeeeeep*!" Sasuke shouted again, stomping after him as he rolled away.

"Hey! Language, you *beep*ing brat!" another voice was heard, and Kurama's infant-form popped next to them.

"Kurama? Kurama!" Naruto yelled, and tackled the fox. "I missed you so much!" he cried out. "Where are we? Menma's mind?" he asked, after the fox bit his butt to get away, looking around curiously.

"A place in it, yes. Our safe place," Kurama answered, and licked his small paws while watching Naruto and Sasuke's wondering gaze around the place.

"What do you mean 'our' safe place, fleabag?" Sasuke growled.

"Our as in our mind, Uchiha. We and Menma are one now. The only reason we are all still self-aware is because he willingly adapted his mind to accommodate us as individual beings. We are all parts of him now, as he is part of us," the fox explained, pointing at his face.

Naruto's eyes widened. "You only have one eye," he said wonderingly.

"Yes," Kurama explained. "It happened at the final stage of our merging."

Sasuke quickly put his hands over his eyes, sighing in relief as he felt both of them. "Get us out of here," he demanded, and the fox laughed.

"Sorry, no can do, Godaime's orders," Kurama said with a toothy grin. "We and the other boys knew you'd try to kill Menma as soon as you saw him, and we also know that you two are too thick-headed to fix your bond without causing major destruction and calling everyone's attention, so we drafted this plan to get you out of commission… but then the kids decided to get Tsunade and Ino-chan in on it, and they made the plan even better," he explained. "It was her idea to pull you here, originally we were just gonna Izanami you two."

Sasuke's eye twitched. "You cannot use Izanami, it's -"

"An Uchiha technique? Guess what, boyo, we're Uchiha. And we are also the Juubi, everything that the Sharingan and the Rinnegan can do the Rinne-Sharingan can as well, but better, because the Rinnegan can't negate its effects. And guess who can't control us anymore? Sharingan don't work on blind people," the fox sang, and gave him a smug grin. "I think I'm having the best day of my life, hahahahahahahahahahaha!"

"But if you can use Izanami, why didn't you?" Naruto asked.

"Oh… you're gonna love this. If we used Izanami you'd be stuck inside yourselves and even though you'd be quiet, Tsunade says your bodies would still be subject to your minds. Can't have that, tho, because both your bodies are ill with the effects of your breaking your chakra bond, Naruto. This way, on the other hand, both your minds have been extracted and so your bodies can heal each other at will without your interference," he said. "You should've kept her at your side, you know, Tsunade is way more intelligent than the Nara boy."

"And while your bodies mend their connection, you're free to settle your differences here, without causing trouble for anyone. In here your mind's eye retreats to who you were as children, hence your appearance; and you won't be hungry, cold or thirsty, so be free to slap each other silly to your hearts content. And when you've come to your senses, the both of you, the Yamanakas will return you to your bodies," he continued. "Word of advice, though. Don't try to trick us, it won't work. See ya!" he finished, poofing out of existence.

Naruto and Sasuke stood frozen, mulling over the fox's words. After a while, Naruto gave Sasuke a shy look.

"Sasuke…"

"Get the *beep* away from me, this is your fault!" Sasuke screamed, and ran.

"I know…" Naruto whispered, following him with sad eyes, and then lowered his head.

"Owwww…" Suigetsu complained, leaning on Juugo for support as they stopped suddenly on their way up the ramp. "What…" he started, and rubbed his eyes. "How the hell did you knock them out like that?" he exclaimed, as Tsunade and Ino carried Sasuke's body inside, followed by the four kids, who were carrying Naruto's heavier frame.

"Let's dump them first, and then explain, shall we?" Ino said with a triumphant grin, and they hastily retreated to the lowest floor, opening the way for them.

"Damn they really trashed the place on their way up didn't they?" Inojin commented. "Be careful with the floor Menma, there's glass lying around," he warned the barefoot blind boy.

They reached Naruto's room and the kids dropped Naruto's body on the floor outside to clear the way for Ino and the Godaime to dump Sasuke's sleeping body on the bed. "At least the idiots didn't break the bed as well," Tsunade said while taking the Uchiha's cloak off. "Bolt, I'm going to move into Ino's room with Salad, you boys can all sleep together," she instructed.

"Awwwwwwwwww… but I like sleeping with Baa-chan!" Menma complained.

"No, you like sticking your foot in my ribs, you brat, even though you sleep on the floor and I'm on the bed," Tsunade replied, snickering.

"I get the bed then!" the boy said, and Inojin sputtered.

"Oh hell no, Bolt's feet stink!"

"My feet don't stink, you momma's boy!" Bolt complained, as they took the trash out.

"I wanna sleep with Aneki!"

"Shut up and hurry up, the three of you, or else you all will sleep with them!" Salad shouted, pointing at the bed, where Ino and Tsunade were arranging Naruto's body next to Sasuke's, and the three boys made disgusted faces. "No! Ew! That's creepy!" they said together, and hurried out as soon as the two men in the bed curled instinctively around each other.

They found the other adults waiting with equally displeased expressions in the refectory, both Suigetsu and Shikamaru holding bags of ice to their heads. "I assume," the Nara said, "you're ready to tell us that this was your plan all along."

"Oh yeah, it was," Inojin said, and moved to the kitchen area to make tea.

"We came up with it last week, I mean, Bolt did," Menma started, and hugged Salad, startling the girl. "You all can explain things to them, I'mma gonna cuddle with my Aneki," he said, and promptly pulled her to sit on the floor, curling down on her lap and nearly purring in contentment. Salad raised an eyebrow, but smiled at the cute pout he made as he hugged her tight, and pet his hair.

"Let me explain it," Tsunade said, and the kids went quiet. "The kids realized, while we were all worried about politics and such, that Sasuke's first move would be trying to kill Menma as soon as he knew the beasts had merged with him, because he saw how powerful Obito and then Madara became in possession of all of them in the war. That, and Sasuke already was wary of him because of his deformity. Besides, they knew that Sasuke isn't stupid, he obviously was feeling the effects of the break in their chakra bond in his body, and considering he never approached Naruto to rectify it they concluded that he was looking forward to dying."

"But if Sasuke dies, Naruto's brain will degenerate all over again, and he'll end up dying too," Ino completed.

Tsunade nodded. "So in order to have both of their bodies back in working order, and the two of them settle their differences without bothering everybody else and destroying the hideout, and avoid Menma being killed, the kids had decided that Menma would cast Izanami on each of them."

Suigetsu and Juugo stared at the boy in Salad's lap. "He can cast Izanami?" they asked together in a fearful tone.

"Yes, he can use all the Uchiha jutsu and any form of the Sharingan – and the Rinnegan – and because he's got the full Rinne-Sharingan the simple Rinnegan that Sasuke has can't negate his jutsu. And because he's also the ten-tails he won't lose his eye while casting those strong jutsu, either. But the amount of chakra he can use now is still very limited, most of it is being used to replace the material body mass to keep him at this size, because his physical body is still too small yet. With time, more and more chakra will be put at his disposal because his physical body will grow," Tsunade explained, and, as if on cue, the boy snored and curled up more comfortably on Salad's lap.

"But then while Bolt was out Menma decided to ask for the Godaime and mom's help, because they're adults," Inojin said, bringing a pot of tea to the table.

"Why didn't you talk to me and Naruto too? We got all beat up!" Shikamaru complained.

"Because you men have been proven inadequate for the sort of support the kids needed," Ino said, and raised an eyebrow at Shikamaru's scowl. "Don't you give me that look, Mr. 'I'm a genius', you're the first to brush off the kids as too young to understand anything. Besides, you wouldn't have been so convincing if you knew what was going on, Naruto would've never agreed to it, you wouldn't have agreed with putting Naruto out of commission, so it was all for the best in the end."

"Anyway, Menma let me examine him and his available chakra reserves were less than what would be needed for him to cast Izanami on both of them without hurting his unique physiology, so Ino asked to look into Menma's mind in order to see if talking to the beasts we could get a better idea going. Turns out Menma developed a safe partition in his mind that is separated from the rest so he could hide in there from the pain, during the time Naruto's body was leeching off his chakra. Ino then came up with the idea to pull both Naruto and Sasuke's minds there, so they could learn how to get along again together, which would be much better for them than being stuck inside themselves by Izanami," Tsunade explained.

"The only glitch was that in order for the jutsu to work, we needed both of them to deplete their chakra, so that's why we let Uchiha-san chase after Menma, we knew the Nanadaime and you guys would fight to stop him. It worked really well in the end," Inojin completed.

"So both of them are inside the kid's head then?" Shikamaru asked, looking over to the sleeping boy. "For how long?"

"As long as their bodies need to recuperate and their minds take to settle their differences," Bolt said. "Meanwhile, now that that problem is out of the way, we begin to build a strategy to deal with the people responsible for all this mess. Juugo and Suigetsu brought a lot of material that Stump gathered while investigating the Scumbag and the other Kage, you adults can see it tomorrow."

With that, Ino and the kids got up to get a meal going. Salad asked Bolt to bring them the supplies they had brought from the farm, stuck as she was with her sleeping brother curled up around her like an octopus.

After dinner, they all bathed – with Menma being unceremoniously tossed inside one of the full bathtubs while he slept by Juugo, who was convinced by both Inojin and Bolt that the boy wouldn't even wake up during the process – and retired to their rooms to rest.

"Salad?" Ino asked as the women prepared to sleep. "What do you think of all this?"

Salad turned and gave her a bright smile. "I think for the first time in my life I feel that I have a family, Ino-san."

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked softly, looking over some bright blue-green shrubbery, in a jungle-like (as like as a jungle drawn and colored with crayons could be) part of Menma's safe place.

Naruto wondered if this place had been inspired or made by Son Goku, who actually did live in a jungle much like this one. Once in a while, huge butterflies or other bugs flew by, and he could hear running water.

"Go away," he heard the Uchiha's sad voice, and faltered for a moment, but then walked towards the sound.

Sasuke was huddling dejectedly, hugging his own knees close to his chest, on a rock by a small gurgling blue stream.

"Sasuke, I," he started, approaching him.

"I said go away!" Sasuke screamed, kicking at him.

"Sasuke, I'm sorry…" Naruto tried again, and the other boy turned away from him.

"Why are you sorry? This is what you wanted, wasn't it? I was in the way of your dream of becoming Hokage, you beat me, lied to me that you wanted me by your side, and then abandoned me just like everyone else did. And now I can't even die in peace because stupid Hagoromo tied our chakra and because of that you 'need' me again," Sasuke said, bitterly.

"I didn't want to abandon you, Sasuke. I… I only wanted… I wanted to play nice because Kakashi told me that the Council was still powerful and that he didn't want to deal with it right after the war to let things settle down, so when you said you were going to travel I couldn't go with you and-"

"You couldn't go with me? You didn't want to go with me! Even while the army was going back to Konoha you started pushing me away! When Karin and Orochimaru died-"

"Orochimaru and Karin were enemies of Konoha, damn it! What did you want me to do? Have you got an idea how many Konoha ninja died when Orochimaru killed the Sandaime? Do you know how many people in the army wanted to see him dead? Almost everyone! *Beep*, it was hard enough for me to avoid you from being executed on the spot!" Naruto cried out.

"STOP LYING!" Sasuke screamed, and launched himself off the rock, dropping Naruto on the ground and beginning to punch the living daylights out of him. "STOP LYING TO ME YOU *BEEP*, YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN'T LET ME BE ALONE AGAIN! YOU PROMISED ITACHI, YOU PROMISED ME, YOU SAID YOU COULDN'T LEAVE ME AND AS SOON AS I SAID I WOULDN'T FIGHT ANYMORE YOU WERE DONE WITH ME AND THREW ME AWAY LIKE I WAS A *BEEP*ING TOY YOU GOT TIRED OF!" he grabbed Naruto's neck and started choking him, shaking him back and forth. Naruto's vision began to blacken at the edges.

"YOU *BEEP*ING LIAR, ALL YOU WANTED ALL THIS TIME WAS TO SHUT ME UP SO I WOULDN'T BE ON YOUR WAY TO BE *BEEP*ING HOKAGE! YOU *BEEP**BEEP*, *BEEP*ING KONOHA TOOK EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING AWAY FROM ME! YOU SAID YOU *BEEP*ING UNDERSTOOD WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO LOSE YOUR FAMILY, YOU. DAMN. LYING. MOTHER. *BEEP*ING. PIECE. OF. *BEEP*!" he yelled, bashing Naruto's head on the ground repeatedly.

Memories began forming in Naruto's mind at the same time as the world around him became fuzzier and fuzzier; Sasuke's insults and screams and blows fading along with his consciousness.

A new-born baby Himawari in his arms, looking up at him while he cried; Bolt's amazed first look at his sister, when they got home from the hospital; the day he got home to see her crawl to him for the first time, Hinata smiling at him while she knitted; her first toddling steps in the kitchen, while he was heating up some ramen; the first time she said "Papa," and how she used to call Bolt "Bo-bo," following him up and down dragging a rag doll after her.

He remembered, then, when the other Kage had pushed Tsunade to find a replacement until he was ready to take the mantle, citing her old age, the wounds she had received in the war and Naruto's youth as impediments, still in the battlefield, in the first couple of days after the war. The Council had also pressured the daimyo directly, and she had chosen Kakashi as the best choice that was close enough to Naruto to make his transition smoother. And he remembered talking to Kakashi, then, how they should keep the Council and the Sandaime's involvement in the Uchiha massacre under wraps so not to stir up trouble; how Sasuke's presence in the village was already causing issues amongst the ranks, and how Kakashi and everyone expected Naruto to "make Sasuke behave for the greater good," not a fortnight after they had arrived back in Konoha.

He remembered how everyone had treated him as a hero, how they had accepted, admired, loved him… except when it came to his bond with Sasuke. How whenever anyone saw him going to visit the Uchiha, who hardly ever left the rooms allotted to him in the Hokage Tower, they would scowl, or shake their heads.

He remembered how Sasuke had told him he wouldn't accept anyone else but Naruto, and how he had felt his confidence falter at that moment, where they were both dying, that he would ever turn everyone's opinions around. And how he realized later that to make Sasuke acceptable to Konoha while leaving the path to become Hokage open he'd have to, really have to break their bond, just as Hashirama had forsaken Madara so the rest of the Uchiha clan could stay.

And how he realized he actually had no plan in how to make the world achieve true peace, he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life except that he needed to be Hokage, everyone expected that of him, they would all turn their backs on him if he didn't.

He remembered the day Sasuke had asked him to go along on his trip, how the Uchiha had decided to tell everyone he was going to atone for his sins and leave so that when he came back he'd have understood and seen what was wrong in the world for himself, and Konoha would've had time to deal with having him by Naruto's side.

He remembered telling Sasuke he couldn't, wouldn't leave, asking him to stay, that he would find a way… and Sasuke's hurt look when telling him he wasn't doing that just for Naruto, because even if he had given up on the idea of becoming a focus of hatred he wouldn't just let the shinobi system with all its flaws continue. That with or without Naruto he would leave, for it wasn't enough to become Hokage, the problems wouldn't just go away just because the villages were friendly now, didn't Naruto remember the Uchiha had been massacred in times of peace? Wasn't their bond, their pact to work together, to be together, more important than what people would say?

"I can't," Naruto had said, recognizing the promise in Sasuke's eyes for what it was, and shying away from it. "I can't do this, Sasuke," he had said, trying to convey in one phrase the terror of losing everything he had coveted and earned with so much effort in a lifetime. "Maybe… maybe someday, when… when it's not as risky… when people don't fear you so much anymore…" he had put his hand over his heart, hearing the blood pounding on his ears.

"What are you afraid of?" Sasuke had said then. "Now is the time to show them your independence, your commitment to true peace for everyone, not only Konoha. Your commitment to change, real change, to-" he had stopped, lowered his head, and Naruto had felt his heart rip apart at seeing tears drop to the floor under him. Sasuke had then begun to chuckle, a dark, sad sound. "As it was to be expected from the hero of Konoha; it is all that matters to you."

"That's… that's not true. Sasuke please, please give me some time…" Naruto had said. 'Please don't make me lose everything for you, please don't, I don't think I can live having only you, I'm not as strong as you are,' he had thought.

He remembered that even as they parted, Sasuke had promised to come back, had not given up on him, just as Naruto hadn't given up on Sasuke before, even with them agreeing to break their chakra bond, at least temporarily, so they could feel apart from each other and not go mad if anything happened to one of them in the meantime. And so he had stayed in Konoha, living like a good little village hero, doing the jobs that would make him even more popular, keeping his mouth shut and his head down, feeling more and more as if he couldn't keep things in his head, even more than back when he was at the Academy and his sadness prevented him from paying attention to his studies.

He remembered the sadness, the pain he couldn't share with anyone, the teeny tiny hope that maybe Sasuke coming back and they staying together would be something Konoha would accept.

He remembered turning down hundreds of confessions and courtship offers from girls of all places and social status, being nice to his new fangirls, but never egging them on, and how he had finally understood why the hell Sasuke was so set in not running into Sakura, so annoyed by her presence even if he tried to keep his cool for Naruto's sake.

Because he couldn't be with anyone as long as Sasuke was his most important person, for he had really been in love with Sakura for almost all his life, yes, but he couldn't compare his unrequited love for her with what he had with Sasuke. Sakura lived in his heart and because of that he never told her to give up on their friend even though he would've liked to be more than just that, a friend, to her.

In the best of worlds he wouldn't have to ever, ever choose, would be able to have both, knowing that even if Sasuke's place in his heart was bigger than Sakura's she wouldn't mind because Sasuke was present in her heart as well. But Sakura was a woman, she wanted to have and own Sasuke as much as, or even more than she wanted to belong to Sasuke.

Naruto didn't want to own Sasuke. His love for him was the one of an equal, where neither owned the other but both belonged to each other. Where they could be both free, free to stay together or apart whenever they wanted, because he needed Sasuke like he needed air, but he needed to find out who the hell he was like he needed air, too.

And then that damn mission came, and his mind had been smothered, and now he had lost, had lost his most important person in all his life, his best friend, his soulmate; he had also lost the wife that had never been his most important person like his mother had been to his father, but who had given him love and a family, and had lost the little girl he had made, had loved to take in his arms, her blue eyes and black hair, so dark, pulling on his heart as if an echo of a forgotten past... had lost the son he had never understood, the boy that looked so much like him it was eerie, it reminded him of his own childhood, the fears he had gone through and the unhappiness he had lived in…

'I threw them away… I threw them all away… I lost them and it's all my fault, oh gods I hurt them so much, I never wanted to hurt anyone, if I hadn't been such a coward… if I had gone with Sasuke… if I hadn't broken our bond… if I weren't so fucking stupid, if I hadn't… if I hadn't…'

The pain in his heart was so great, it pulled Naruto awake, and he found himself in Sasuke's shaking arms, the Uchiha boy sobbing desperately, hugging him. "Don't die, don't die, don't die," Sasuke blabbered incoherently.

Naruto weakly raised a hand and touched his friend's face. "Why?" he croaked softly, and Sasuke opened huge eyes at him. "I was weak… I hurt you… so much… I was weak… and they died…" he whispered, and something of the pain must have shown on his face, because Sasuke pulled him closer, touching their foreheads together.

"Shut. Up!" the boy screamed fearfully at his face. "Snap out of it, say you're sorry and don't *beep*ing be stupid again, but don't you dare give me that stupid "weakness" talk, that's my line, baka usuratonkachi!"

Naruto was shocked numb by that outburst, his mouth gaping open.

They stayed in that tableau for a few minutes, and then Sasuke did something completely unpredictable – and unbelievable, for anyone who wasn't privy of their unique relationship.

He started chuckling, soon followed by the blond, and then they were laughing and crying, hanging on each other.

Sasuke wasn't very keen on listening to Naruto's recollection of his metaphorical oxygen-deprived epiphany, having recognized all the pain, realization and regret into his eyes already, but he knew it was important that the idiot actually verbalized it, not only to acknowledge that he wasn't the perfect man he had tried so desperately to be, but also so he could rationalize it and understand what Sasuke had understood from the start, that it wasn't just his fault that he had fucked up, just as it wasn't just Sasuke's fault that they had ended up armless at the end of the war.

"Can you ever forgive me?" Naruto asked quietly, afterwards.

Sasuke sighed, and hugged his knees, wondering about that himself. "I don't have much choice, do I? I mean, you forgave me for all the shit I did, and understood my motives back then. I'm not going to say I can do it all the same, I'll never understand where you're coming from… I mean, fine, I know what it is to lose my family, to lose those I love the most, but I'll never know what it is to have never even had anyone to begin with or to need acceptance from the village as much as you did," he said carefully, and stopped, wondering if he was able to see things this clearly because he wasn't inside his own body. He certainly didn't feel the weight of his past as much here as usual, for once.

He looked at the blond and realized that maybe the same happened to Naruto, but in a strange way it made him able to extract himself from the cocoon he had woven to protect himself from rejection. Maybe without the emotional weight from his past, Naruto was now able to finally see himself as he was, not as he pretended to be for the sake of everyone else. And that was definitely an improvement.

He snorted, realizing he was, in a very roundabout way, agreeing with the damn fox that Tsunade's idea had been spot on. After all, they were in a way in a brand new mind, which had no time to have built a past.

"I… I don't know how we'll feel when we are back on our own bodies," he started again just as carefully, "maybe when I'm back in my own head, subject to my own brain, I won't be able to fully forgive you. Not for a time at least. You took the only thing that was important in my life from me. But… if you can stay true to yourself, and win my trust back, maybe that might be enough. After all, we'll probably be stuck together like we were before you broke our bond."

Naruto nodded quietly.

"But in order for you to stay true to yourself, you have to understand that what happened to make you do all the stupid things you did began with the way the system was made," Sasuke continued, and scowled. "What I'm going to say now stays between us, if you ever say it to anyone I will rip your head off," he warned, and Naruto gave him a shy look before nodding.

"Before we arrived at the hideout I heard Bolt and Salad talking. And she asked Bolt why ninja didn't use their abilities for other things besides battle. I mean, other uses than just military," he started, and Naruto's eyes widened. "Your son basically told her it was because we ninja were so busy orbiting around ourselves we never paid attention to civilians except to get money from them to do what we wanted, not what was best for everyone."

Naruto slowly nodded. It was one thing he had begun thinking himself after coming out of the jutsu, how he had been simply unmindful of anyone who wasn't ninja. Shikamaru had gone through that as well, and they had talked with each other about it a few times in the hideout, but hadn't reached such a conclusion yet.

"He said that there would never be any peace as long as we ninja saw civilians as a resource instead of people like us. And he's right. I learned the same thing in my traveling, conflict always arises between clans and villages because they see each other as resource competitors, and they see everything around the villages as resources, including the civilians. We ninja consume what those people produce, but we give them nothing back except protection from ourselves. As long as we do that, there can be no peace because there will always be someone who will get fed up with that and seek power to destroy or overtake us," Sasuke explained, and looked pointedly at Naruto. "The Yakuza organization is exactly that, they are actually civilian technicians from Ame that got tired of producing knowledge and technology but never benefitting from anything because ninja keep them in check under orders from the daimyo courtesans, who don't really do anything except pander to us by giving us territories, the villages, and part of the resources from their countries, so we'll force the civilians to work and support everyone who, well, doesn't do anything actually productive, like us and the court."

"And if we don't change that, the cycle of hatred will never be broken," Naruto agreed. "What do those guys do to get what they want?"

"They began by monopolizing the markets and creating dependence of their own country over their technology, and spread out from there to influence the courts and the Kage, promising to maintain the status quo, with the nobles and the ninja at the top, without the necessity of wars and military action. They basically took over our job of intimidating the civilians, and at the same time tied the villages to the daimyo by 'convincing' the Kage and clan heads to live on government pensions, and tied the villages to their own financial system by making the villages take loans backed by the government to support all those pensions. In this way, they have both the daimyo and the ninja in their hands; the daimyo because they took over tax collection and basically control us by the villages debts, and us because they control the daimyo and the villages have grown slack in maintaining their military power by training new ninja properly."

Naruto took a while to digest the news. "*beep*," he finally said. "We are completely at their hands, aren't we?"

Sasuke nodded. "There were only a few clans we haven't been able to link to the scheme, and of all the Kage only you and Gaara have remained clean. Gaara's councilors are all dirty, and in Konoha the main man in charge of the scheme is-"

"Hiashi," Naruto growled, frowning, and Sasuke nodded.

"Yes."