"Yeaaahhhh..."

"Yeah. Especially since there's probably inferential gaps I don't even know to cover."

"So we just poofed out of the air on top of you while nothing especially interesting was going on and you decided to bring us home?"

"I'll probably claim I was experimenting with space-time ninjutsu, that has weird side effects sometimes, but haven't been able to replicate the results. It being something I did makes you two sound less suspicious."

"Less suspicion is good."

"Definitely. Is there anything else about your world that might be relevant? I - don't fully know where to start asking, we haven't contacted new cultures in anywhere close to memory."

"There are two major political entities: the Compact, my home; and the Domain, hers." She gestures at Anneia. "The Compact extends primarily over the western and southern regions of the galaxy and is led by our Polemarch, while the Domain is concentrated in the east and is ruled by the Imperatrix. The Polemarch and Imperatrix are both ancient, powerful magical girls. They keep the precise details of their history to themselves, but most believe that they were the first."

"This continent is controlled by the Elemental Nations. There's five big ones - we're in Fire. To our north-east is Lightning, to our northwest is Earth, to our west is Wind, and to our east is Water. There's also an assortment of smaller nations, who mostly are relevant when they ally with the bigger ones. The nations are each ruled by a daimyo, who is a hereditary ruler. Each of the five big nations and many of the smaller ones have Hidden Villages, where shinobi train and mostly live. The Hidden Villages serve the daimyo, alongside assorted other players. The Hidden Villages are each ruled by a village chief; the chief of the five big ones is called a Kage. The Fire Hidden Village is Konoha, led by the Hokage. The local political scene - okay, so, the Hidden Villages only started existing about sixty years ago. Before that, shinobi lived in clans, which were in a constant state of warfare. Two of the larger and most vehemently opposed clans, the Uchiha and the Senju, decided to set aside their differences, ally, and form a village together; they were joined by more and more other clans once the peace looked like it'd last. Other nations formed their villages in response. In Konoha specifically, the first two Hokage were from the Senju clan. The Third is from an ally of the Senju. The Fourth was a clanless orphan, who was taught by the Third's student and so while not in the Senju bloc he was only sort-of neutral, and he didn't live long. There's been some tension in the village the last few years, which kicked up old grievances, and the disagreements between the Senju and Uchiha blocs have widened, which threatens political and eventually social and potentially military instability. Danzo was one of the major drivers, I can't be positive but I think he was intentionally spreading rumors to worsen perception on both sides, and he's firmly in the Senju bloc. My family is the Uchiha, but I'm considered politically more-or-less in the middle, since I've been trying to stop the two sides from forming a schism. Danzo attacked me when I refused to ally with him, he was planning to preemptively kill at a minimum the leaders of the Uchiha, to head off even a possibility of conflict."

"Quite frankly, you two being simply new will shift the landscape dramatically. I can't be entirely sure how, but it's unlikely to be worse than a war that slowly spirals across the continent."

A war that only spans a single continent doesn't seem that bad but she should probably not say that given the thing about Eliese so she won't. Look at her, learning from her mistakes already, isn't she clever.

"Why would an, um, internal dispute in Konoha spread to the rest of the villages?"

"Currently the peace is mostly maintained because everyone ran out of a field-able army in the last great war, and there's a balance of power that a coup, feud, or civil war would disrupt - Cloud, Lightning's village, would probably pounce first, they've been being increasingly antagonistic, especially since they had the fewest casualties last time and we're between them and any easy land routes to other nations. Stone, Earth's village, has an ongoing glaring contest with us that can easily turn hot. Mist, Water's village, is currently run by a blood-thirsty dictator who'd hopefully be too busy with his own nation imploding but might decide a foreign war is exactly what he needs to rally his people. Sand, Wind's village, would probably side with us, but who knows which faction, and they might decide to be opportunistic instead. Several of the smaller nations are also constantly jockeying for power, which taking a bite out of us would get them. Then there's non-village actors, like Orochimaru, who'd probably love to take advantage of any chaos to make a grab for any vulnerable bloodlines. ...And bloodlines are another factor, if the Leaf isn't able to maintain its own integrity, there are many, many valuable bloodlines here that'd be vulnerable to bloodline thieves. There's already been attempts on the Hyuuga clan head's daughter in the last few years."

"Bloodlines are things like your eyes, right?"

"Yes. Inborn abilities, of varying power. Some are accessible from birth, many require some sort of stress-trigger or training. Eyes are easy to steal outright, and that's happened before, but a real prize for a foreign power would be someone living with the bloodline. Multiple someones, if they can manage."

"Are we likely to be targets of these bloodline thieves?"

"Your powers are - beyond what's typical for bloodlines. Claim it's something learned, and that it has no genetic component, and that'll discourage most people, even those stupid enough to go after an adult of unknown or high capability. Bloodline thieves usually target children, or at least fresh genin. The only person who might go after you anyways is Orochimaru, he's rumored to be able to change bodies, but I don't know how credible that is."

"That at least one less likely complication while we focus on preventing those already in Konoha from fighting over us."

"Yes. Power games are unfortunately a possibility. With Danzo gone, the most militant elements should be more wary, but..."

Worse comes to worse he can use kotoamatsukami - on the Uchiha leaders or with any luck the girls - but that's an extreme measure he'd strongly rather not rely on.

"People are hard."

"That they are, I might also want to summarize specific people if you guys are going to be helping me..."

"That would be useful."

"Okay, so, probably non-exhaustive list:

"The Third Hokage is Sarutobi Hiruzen. He's been in power a few decades. He's generally considered soft, and was prone to leaving unsavory business to Danzo. He used to be a lot more warlike, the Second War is generally blamed on him."

"His living advisers are his old teammates, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura. Koharu is - very traditional, but that probably doesn't mean much to you. Stern, strong-willed, believes in the importance of the group over the individual, militant. Homura is prudent, efficient, composed - very well thought of in general - and also more militant. He's more likely to interfere if he dislikes the Hokage's direction than Koharu is.

"On the Uchiha side, most notably is the clan head, Uchiha Fugaku. He's stern, proud, willful, but cares a lot about his sons. His name had been proposed a few times when the Fourth Hokage was being chosen, and he wound up on a shortlist of three. When the Fourth died and the other of those three defected, Fugaku not being appointed as Fifth was seen as a slight by some. 

"There's also his wife, Mikoto. Mikoto's ruthless in a way he isn't? She's - calm and gentle when you talk to her, liable to stab someone with a smile if they get in her way. She maintains a united front with her husband in public, though.

"Fugaku's great-aunt Miyama is one of the most vocal drivers against compromise. She might hold an initial grudge because the Second Hokage killed her father during the Warring States period, and her uncle - who raised her - wound up defecting after a disagreement with Konoha's leadership. She's generally considered level-headed, though, and a clan loyalist. Not one for forgiveness.

"There's a few others, especially among my generation. Fugaku's daughter Itachi has been a major voice, but she's... Incredibly bad at people. She's firmly in favor of peace, though. There's also a few hotheads among the chunin, unfortunately.

"There's also some other political shenanigans going on - a monster attacked the village seven years ago, which some rumors blame the Uchiha for despite all of us being accounted for. We were assigned to help with evacuations, so weren't on the front, which is another thing some people are resentful about. Someone - I'm almost entirely sure Danzo - pushed through a law restricting the Uchiha to living in our compound. Theoretically because of threats against the bloodline, the justification was that Cloud was making a series of attempts, but that doesn't hold up well, and is a massive source of resentment."

"Why did the Third Hokage return intstead of a Fifth being appointed?"

"Complicated reasons, I'd figure. He probably wants one of his own students to take the position, but the two eligible refused reportedly. He also stepped back up in a time of minor turmoil, might have thought it best not to rock the boat - then simply stayed where he was."

"So he is at least in favor of stability. With Danzo gone he may not seek to immediately pit us against the Uchiha."

"That'd be the hope. He isn't as stubbornly in favor of peace as he currently claims, but - that's at least the rhetoric he supports."

"All right." There's not much point in her making plans now, so she'll just bear this information in mind when they get to the village.