the erroneous complexity of narutoās politics is explained by the dysfunction between kishimotoās conception of konoha as the Imperial Japanese military vs his conception of konoha as a historical shinobi alliance against an exploitative power. as the Imperial Japanese military, we see that konoha is separate from and equal with its host country. it also operates as a military state itself, supposedly waging wars of its own volition and enforcing its statehood on its citizens through generational propaganda and mass violence, i.e. uchiha massacre. this matches well with the Imperial Japanese military post Meiji-restoration; it also explains why kishimoto portrays these aspects of konoha as ultimately ethical, because the former Imperial military is still cast in this light nationwide. on the other hand, when kishimoto investigates the sources of suffering and violence, he ends up leaning heavily on shinobi as they are historically: a social minority, subordinate to the leaders of economically-driven states who force them to commit mass violence in order to survive physically and economically (land of waves, pain arc, founders era). furthermore, konoha was canonically founded in historical reasoning; that is, in canon it is founded almost as a workerās union with the goal of gradual demilitarization, not as the Imperial Japanese Military. in the end, however, kishiās nationalism wins out. he ignores the historical systemic suffering of shinobi, which he wrote in expressly for konohaās redemption, and chooses to portray it as a āsinlessā military state⦠while still leaving in the historical basis upon which konoha could be condemned and reworked. crazy!