"How are things going with what I asked you." the Third Hokage asks his guards.
Aninja falls from above the ceiling before kneeling in front of him. "Lord Hokage Naruto along with several of the other children have completely forgotten what they experienced."
"It's still unknown if the earth used a weapon or spell but both Naruto and all of the other genin have no memory of the war." the ninja answers him
The Third does not say anything and just closes his eyes signaling to the ninja that he could go away.
"Maybe it's for the best." he says to himself.
The village as well as all of the others were now being changed from the ground up, it was nearly impossible to interrogate one of Earth's soldiers because they were as frail as untrained children.
If only the same could be said about their minds, it was understood that someone or a group of people had cast a spell that targeted the people of Earth, and as a result, they all received some kind of protection.
It's still unknown what the spell does because everyone that even tries to enter one of the prisoner's minds either dies or their bodies mutate in such a way that they are unable to maintain themselves anymore.
The Third looked at the list that showed how many soldiers and civilians the leaf still had as prisoners, next to it was how many of those prisoners had died and unfortunately, one list was growing faster than the other.
"Maybe it's for the best." he repeated as he began to wonder how the earth would react if it ever discovered how the Leaf's interrogators tortured the civilians they captured before the spell was cast over them.
He knew that no matter how much he tried to justify his men's actions no matter what he said would fall on deaf ears and there was a chance that by the time the earth was done retaliating, there would be nothing left of their world.
he didn't put it over the rulers of the earth to simply destroy the planet, not leave a hellish wasteland where they would struggle to survive.
"Knowing those mad men they would kill the planet and everything in it, if it meant that they could get their revenge." he says to himself.
He was aware that the other villages were starting to release their prisoners, but instead of returning them to the earth and letting the truth about their treatment reach their people, they were releasing them in isolated areas where no one would ever find them again.
It was easier to simply kill them, but no one knew what would happen if they did that.
He felt the wind blowing on his face, everything had changed and yet nothing had truly changed, the Hidden Villages still existed and everyone was keeping an eye on everyone else while trying to hide their actions during the last war.
the only difference was that there were parts of the world that were now ruled by people who came from another world.
...Change...
Hinata felt her mind freeze when the elders stormed into her house and grabbed her by the arm, she didn't say anything when the servants bathed her.
She asked what was going on, only for her words to become meaningless the moment that she laid eyes on the white silk wedding dress that she had been placed in the week before.
There were no heart-felt goodbyes this time, as the guards carried her away.
The last thing that she heard was the elders asking themselves if they could just leave the Leaf, before realizing that doing so would put them in an even worse position.
The wall that she had placed over her feelings broke when she saw Hanabi running after her with her hand stretched, but she was stopped by their father who even now didn't bother to look at her.
He just forced Hanabi to go back home.
Hinata was about to ask her guards where they were going, but before she was able to say or do anything one of the guards placed a thumb on her forehead and the world around her vanished as she fell asleep.
...Elsewhere...
The Hidden Village in the Sand did not know how to react to the news that they had just received, on one side they were excited to know that a river now existed within their territory.
On the other hand that same river along with everything that came with it was under the control of several Earth soldiers.
The river offered an opportunity to change their current situation if only lightly, no longer would their people be trapped within the desert where they were dependent on the imports from other villages.
On the other hand, they had just fought a war against an enemy that didn't know what limits were and whose people they had tortured and were in the process of hiding.
"Tell them that we will act as a buffer between them and the rest of the villages." the Kazekage said to his men.
"They will need something else, trade something that we can offer that will give them a reason to trust us." one of the elders said.
"We know that the earth wants their men to receive wives and Polygamy isn't looked down upon by them, perhaps we could offer one of our girls?' another of the elders says.
"We could offer to train them in our Jutsu." he said to the elders who immediately protested.
'It's no mystery that the earth has several of our Ninjas as prisoners so it's only a matter of time before they figure out how to do what we do."
"They don't gain anything that they wouldn't have gotten anyway, as long as we don't give them anything beyond the jutsu that anyone can use even if they don't have any training." he says to them.
"This could offer us a chance to open trade." the elders began to murmur, but the Kazekage ignored the elders as they talked amongst themselves.
the truth was that the earth had several spells that could challenge even their strongest Jutsu, so offering to train the people living in that mountain was a gamble.
Still, he couldn't risk making earth soldiers any stronger, so by offering them the lowest of skills kept them on a playing field that was still manageable for his men.