#When Yamato visits Sasukes makes point of staying in his room or being civil but nothing more

[team7-headquarter]

I'm here to gift you with the unexpected but yet functional idea of Sai and Sasuke as roommates.

Of course the beginning would be super awkward, with all the stuff about Sai being a "replacement" and Sasuke being a "traitor" and the fact Sasuke doesn't know him, neither feels comfortable living under the same roof as him because he does not trust him.

And yet I feel like they both would find little to complain about in terms of keeping the space, because both are constantly out doing stuff and they keep their rooms and the shared rooms clean and free of obstructions. They only acknowledge each other with a nod or something and go to their personal tasks, like clockwork.

Also both are used to that, you know. The trauma of the ways they had lived until then makes it easy to tolerate a roommate that keeps minding his own business and leaving you be.

And when they finally gain some trust, I think their conversations would be comically short and brutal to the point. Sasuke disliked Sai at first for his rudeness but he is also thankful Sai is honest with him. He loves Naruto and Sakura, but it hits his nerves sometimes because he's unsure about what they think of him. And Sai is curious. He can tell Sasuke is not unkind, so he asks questions and knows where not to push.

Also crash at their place often enough for them to appreciate the calmness that they share. It's not like they are friends or anything, but they know how to be civil and they are both respectful (with time) and it's easier that way.

⠀⠀⠀

Also I think I'd be the funniest to see Sai telling Sasuke that Ino said that someone else said because they both like some brand of gossip. Sasuke can trust Sai to give him just the relevant details and not the eternal rambling of Ino, and Sai enjoys practicing his socialize skills with him, since they both need it.

[keepyourpantsongohan]

I’ve been really possessed of the idea of a post-Kaguya no chakra AU lately, so here’s an unnecessarily long ramble about what it might look like:

Since Kaguya is the originator of chakra in the Naruto universe, sealing her and Zetsu also subsequently affects the ability of all ninja to mould chakra. Kaguya wanted to take all chakra back, and inadvertently, her sealing does just that. 

Perhaps the continued existence of Black Zetsu and the God Tree in the world was the only reason ninja could combine energies in the first place - a spiritual link between humanity and chakra.

This has a lot of immediate fallout. For one thing, Sasuke has no reason to fight Naruto any longer. If no one is able to use chakra, then Sasuke no longer has enough power to tilt the axis of the world, and the world itself has already tipped - the shinobi system he wanted to challenge is crumbling at its foundation.

So Team 7 doesn’t fight. Perhaps without that fight, Sasuke would be unable to have an epiphany about relying on others, but the outcome remains the same: Sasuke doesn’t attack his comrades.

It’s possible that, as jinchuuriki, Bee and Naruto would be exempt from this circumstance. But even then, they’d only have access to the power in a transformed state, where their bijuu can act as the link between them and chakra. On the day-to-day, they’re the same as the others around them. It’s likely that every other shinobi loses their chakra-based techniques entirely. Even doujutsu would require infusing chakra into the eyes, so regardless of an eye’s appearance, there are no longer any accompanying abilities.

Without moulding chakra, there’s no medical ninjutsu, so even in the days that follow, more people are lost as they succumb to their wounds. There are plenty that do survive though, albeit much weaker than they would’ve been if they could be healed. 

Each shinobi is eager to return home, even the wake of all the confusion. There’s some uncertainty about leadership now. The Kage are most often chosen by their power. They no longer have access to their bloodline limits. Onoki and Tsunade, whose bodies have suffered the most, immediately feel its effects. (A reasonable explanation for why Tsunade would so hastily abandon her post.)

The villages still need leaders, so Kakashi still ends up becoming the Rokudaime Hokage. But for the first time, his strength is irrelevant - he’s chosen entirely because he has the trust of the village (particularly Tsunade) and a sharp mind. Konoha needs someone to lead them into a new age.

The daimyo are greatly concerned. Their military strength has relied almost entirely on the ability to infuse chakra. One thing agreed by both Kage and daimyo is that, for the sake of preventing further calamity, Bee and Naruto will be the last jinchuuriki.

They rebuild. By hand, this time, since Yamato’s mokuton is gone. It’s a slow and arduous process. They’ve organized themselves around being shinobi for so long, it’s hard to figure out where they’ll go from here. The academy is a defunct structure. Many people whose jobs relied on their abilities lack a clear source of income.

Kakashi appeals to the daimyo for this. He secures enough funding to open several new research facilities, not focused on ninja techniques, but on other things. Technological advancement. Agricultural production. Sustainable energy sources. Medicine.

It’s not just the sciences which advance. Now that the shinobi system has fallen apart, there’s a great interest in examining its history in detail. The other nations are less reluctant to share intel, since they’ve fought a war together, and all the secrecy behind their techniques is irrelevant now. So in Konoha, and every other village, historians gather, creating previously unexamined and wildly conflicting accounts of the world from chakra’s beginning to end. 

There’s an interest in opening up a university, in the years that follow, so that the knowledge produced by these fields isn’t available to researchers alone. The money once used to maintain their supply of weapons is re-purposed, and there’s an opportunity for all citizens to be educated for free. The curriculum changes each year as new advances are made. There’s greater demand for teachers, because many people have wanted to spend more time learning, but never had a place to do so. There are all new kinds of cultural and technological production driving their economy now.

Clans become far less important, and far less politicized. There’s no point in worrying about keeping secrets if you no longer have a family technique. The Hyuga, especially, are forced to change. Even if the war hadn’t changed their perspective, there is little point in concerning themselves so heavily with main and branch families if they can no longer use the Byakugan.

Sakura focuses her energies on learning new medical techniques that don’t require chakra. She pulls research from any recorded history she can find about early medicine used when chakra wasn’t so common. She is at the forefront of her field, and Tsunade and Kakashi lend their support to her as she restructures the hospital.

Sasuke’s situation is unclear, for a while. The military he defected from technically no longer exists. He killed an acting Hokage, but on the edge of a war, and one who’d been responsible for the deaths of countless Konoha citizens. He’d never actually attacked the Leaf, but he’d certainly harmed a lot of people. People don’t know whether to jail him or call him a hero for his actions in the war. He himself isn’t sure how he feels about Konoha. Team 7 helps. They advocate strongly for Sasuke, and continuously pester him while he’s on house arrest. He feels a bit like he did when he was 13. Not exactly bound to the village, but bound to his team at least. He even ends up becoming better acquainted with Sai and Yamato, because Sai is wary of him hurting Sakura and Naruto, and Yamato will sometimes accompany the others on their visits.

When he’s pardoned again, he does still think about leaving. Sakura and Naruto tell him that he’s an idiot, and they physically hold onto him until he says he’ll think about staying, even when that takes a day and a half. “This hug is getting really sweaty,” he says, as they cling to him in his kitchen. “Don’t you have places to be?” They both shrug.

Kakashi offers him a job. He thinks part of the reason that Sasuke was so obsessed with vengeance is that he could never find any justice. So he asks Sasuke to think about what their new civil and criminal justice systems should look like. Less subjective to the whims of whichever Hokage or councilman is doling it out, and instead relying on due process. Systems where people like Danzo would be held accountable for their actions. And systems where people could arbitrate their problems, so that discrimination like that which spurred the Uchiha clan to coup could not happen. The appeal of being able to prevent another Itachi from occurring is too great, so Sasuke stays. 

Naruto’s a little lost in the wake of all this too. Most of his plans for the future had always assumed that the shinobi system would still be in place. He’s not sure he knows what to strive for anymore in this new world. Kakashi asks him to help Sasuke work on the justice system reforms. He thinks Naruto would be a moderating influence, and that their combined pessimism and optimism might just create something functional. When it comes to the subject of the laws and procedures that affect children, Naruto finds himself particularly driven. He thinks he’d like to ensure that no child would ever grow up as lonely as him or Sasuke again. So, with Kakashi’s guidance, he helps to draft procedures which protect the children of their village from abandonment, endangerment or abuse. 

Naruto doesn’t stop there. It’s one thing to put it in the law, but he’s always been more of a doer than a thinker, so he wants to create actual programs where children might have better resources available to them. A functional foster system. Social programs which allow for education and socialization even for children who haven’t found homes yet. Charities which specifically collect resources to make sure these kids are looked after, both physically and emotionally. He’s a force of change in a different way than he ever imagined.

There’s a recognition that the people who’ve been shinobi to date need different accommodations, and that job falls to Sai. Having grown up taught to separate himself from his emotions, he understands how hard it is in the aftermath to have to confront them. So with Sakura’s help, he becomes in charge of a counseling centre for veterans. He isn’t a counselor (he’s still got some healing to do, himself) but he administers the place so it functions effectively, and makes certain that anyone who needs a place to deal with their emotions has it.

Orochimaru would’ve been one of the first people held accountable to the new reforms on child protection, but as it is, it soon becomes irrelevant. Orochimaru’s body decays. The experiments he’s performed on his body cannot be sustained without the continuous moulding of chakra, and so he falls apart. They give his body to Otogakure, and one of his former subordinates buries him in an unmarked grave.

So, Yamato stays in the village too. He still feels guilty about what happened to him in the war, and is confused about who exactly he is without mokuton, but part of him is glad he can never be used as a weapon again. Even without his mokuton, he’s still the best at designing buildings in the village, so as the village not only rebuilds, but expands, he becomes the most sought-after architect in all of Konohagakure. Sometimes he’ll even receive requests from the other villages, but he always returns. He spends weeks building himself a home on the edge of the village, exactly to his liking, and with enough room to host all of the kids of Team 7, when they come by. He claims he lives alone, but Kakashi’s most often found there too, complaining that the Hokage residence is too stuffy for him to be comfortable. 

As in the days of Hashirama, the other villages follow suit with the changes of Konohagakure. This time, it is less about maintaining a balance of power and mostly just because the reforms are working. People are happier. Fewer people die. Children are cared for. And while their system isn’t perfect - they’re under a feudal lord, after all, and there are concerns about the future of their military - it’s better. And that’s the optimistic world we’re left with when Naruto finally becomes Hokage.