A little bit of history - Key events and information.

25 years before the Emperor's reign – A small group is founded in opposition of the supposedly wishy-washy principles of the current ruler the Hokage Harashima Senju. Calling themselves ROOT, they believe that the rot in the country have to be cut out at its source, and have a rather interesting analogy about a tree and root decay. ROOT are largely ignored by the population as Fire Country is currently enjoying its tenth year of prosperity and as far as everyone is concerned things have never been better.

20 years prior – Problems within Fire Country as unemployment begins to increase and, despite new initiatives brought in by Senju, unemployment and discontent only increases. By the end of the year one in five people are unemployed.

18 years – Death of Harashima Senju and is succeeded by his brother, Tobirama, this fuels recent accusations that the current leadership is not as democratic as they claim as the title of Hokage was passed through a family line rather than "the correct person". ROOT are one of the leading protest groups and gain widespread attention. A young man by the name of Danzo joins during the heat of these protests.

17 years - Danzo impresses the leadership of ROOT and gains a position of authority within the party. He is respected, looked up to and this first taste of power makes him aware of how 'weak' the current leadership is in Fire Country and in ROOT itself. Danzo is able to create his own powerbase within ROOT away from the real party leadership, they are loyal to him alone out of ROOT.

14 years – Under much external pressure the second Hokage resigns his role, leaving the governing of Fire Country to a select committee, this is meant to be a temporary measure but no real leader is found. There are a number of small groups, including ROOT, that are gaining popularity but none of them are considered suitable, or have enough support to have a majority government while arguments amongst these groups mean that a coalition would be impossible.

12 years – Danzo is elected leader of ROOT and successfully gets rid of his competition within the party. He is left with a large group who are loyal to his ideas with no internal opposition so he is able to assert his authority within ROOT and starts trying to recruit more members, using the ineffectiveness of the Senju family and promises of a better life with ROOT to almost double membership within the year.

9 years –Widespread belief that the Committee are unable to govern properly. Mass protests in the street calling for proper leadership as conditions within Fire Country deteriorates. Shortages of food, clothing, and mass unemployment lead to more discontent.

A mass protest in October forces the Government to order the army to step in and crush the protests. Although they have been used before to prevent these kinds of uprisings in the past two years this time the army refuses to take action and say they no longer recognise the Committee as in charge. Fire Country begins to fall apart and a small area under the leadership of a prominent rebel figure Gato cedes from Fire Country and call themselves the Land of Waves due to its ties to the coast.

8 Years – Attempts to negotiate and recapture Wave ultimately fail over the course of this year and on the boarder of the two countries there is a blockade set up so no one can pass from Wave into Fire Country and visa versa, those unfortunate enough to have family trapped on either side of the barricades lose all contact with each other as no communication is allowed. Guard posts are built and small skirmishes happen either side of the boarder to prevent either side from gaining any ground.

7 Years – Fire Country is facing much external threat from its neighbours who are expanding their armies and 'practising' military manoeuvres near their borders.

5 Years – Danzo militarises ROOT, all members swear an oath of loyalty to him, breaking it is punishable within the "laws" the party holds.

4 Years- ROOT begins mass protests against the Committee which are positively received across the country, they gain wide support across the towns and country.

2 Years - Mounting pressure from ROOT and other extremist groups causes the current leader of the Committee (name) to resign. Due to much disagreement within the Committee about whether to invite the more radical groups within Fire Country to help govern a weak leader is appointed. He is effectively a puppet for the rest of the Committee and does not offer any direction or leadership to help shape the group. He is in charge by name alone and hold no real power.

1 Year – Under much stress and both internal and external pressure on the country the Committee invite Danzo to join their group in joint leadership of Fire Country. Danzo refuses, seeing it as a sinking ship he refuses to go down with.

By the end of the year Danzo is calling for the Committee to be dissolved and for Konoha to be governed by a single, strong leader. This idea had mass appeal across the country and ROOT is widely supported across the country believing that they will bring a better life so Danzo is considered the ideal leader in the minds of many.

Ascension of Danzo as leader of Fire Country. There is widespread panic in the capital as ROOT members stage a march through the city in celebration of Danzo's appointment. 14 people die are crushed as people flee the demonstrations.

Danzo stages an enquiry into the event and makes a statement that this was not the result of ROOT members but their opposition who tried to overthrow him. He publically executes a group of 4 people who he claims are the ringleaders. None of them were actual members of ROOT. Those that did march on that day were in fact rewarded for their loyalty.

Rearmament programs begin.

2nd Year – After an attack on the Land of Waves the land if annexed back into Fire Country after a plebiscite is held with the majority voting in favour of being part of Fire Country again. Details of Gato's oppressive reign is widely spread amongst the population of Fire Country painting Danzo as someone who freed these people from his tyranny. Public support in Fire Country is still widely behind Danzo and ROOT.

3rd Year – ANBU are formed as a special police body to protect the citizens of Fire Country and there is a crack down on civil rights and liberties for the "protection" of the citizens of Fire Country. Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Expression and the right to assembly is suspended to prevent any organised opposition. Any discontent is well hidden as no one openly objects to these measures, there is still a belief that this is all for the best and once the rebels are defeated these measures would be lifted.

Four months later privacy of correspondence ends as the government enables itself to open people private mail, the reason for this given is to intercept any rebel communication.

After a small printer spreads leaflets joking about a new act suppressing "Freedom of Thought" and a caricature of Danzo arresting a child for not thinking in the proper manner. Freedom of Press is suspended those associated with that press were rounded up and arrested. After two years their names disappear from the records of prison logs. They are presumed dead but no body or evidence to support this is ever found.

These measures are harder to enforce in areas away from the capital where resources are spread too thinly and as a response to the Printer's Crisis, the Resistance is born as a small group who started off leafleting against Danzo's regime, their opposition only grows bolder from there.

4th Year – Fearing for their lives Harashima and Tobirama Senju's relations flee to the country where Danzo has not fully seized absolute control. Among them is his 17 year old niece.

ANBU now are charged with protecting the country from interior elements, such as the threat or revolution or civil war. Any remaining opposition to ROOT are crushed in the first 4 months or forced to move underground, severely restricting their movements.

5th Year – Due to the increasing responsibilities of ANBU smaller policing bodies are formed in Akatsuki ,who are official in charge of suppressing unwanted elements in the regime and unofficially in charge of torture and interrogation , and the new Police Corp, who are in charge of the new prisons.

6th Year – The Resistance stage a raid against a prison in Tanzaku this attempt fails and all members of the Resistance are either shot or imprisoned. This is held up as an example of anarchy and as a real life threat to the people, justifying the measures Danzo has put in place.

7th Year – Amendments made to Fire Country's protection laws so citizens no longer have the right to know the reason for their arrests and no longer have the right to be freed if arrested unjustly, any government official can enter a person's home even without probable cause.

Normal trials are suspended die to the sudden surge of "rebel activity", which was a response to the loss of their comrades at Tanzaku. People are no longer entitles to a defence and sedition and even the smallest acts of rebellion are punishable by death or life imprisonment. Those arrested are judged by a specially assembled court of ROOT members. This leads to over 5000 arrests in this year alone. Over half of those detained never returned.

9th Year – Mass increase in industrial output with a focus on weaponry being churned out of factories in Konoha, this creates full employment for the first time in over fifteen years so people are happy to look the other way and ignore rumours of the darker parts of Danzo's reign.

10th Year – Rumours of the Senju family planning a coup which would lead to them reclaimingpower in Fire Country and overthrowing Danzo. People loudly proclaim their support of this but any overt support of the Senju's return to power ends when Sarutobi, the Senju's protégé, is murdered and his body is displayed in the central plaza of the capital.

11th Year – Naruto is born. Fire Country declared war on Sand, in a completely unpredicted turn of events Sand is overrun by Fire Country's armies and are pushed back into defensive positions within the first few months. By the end of the year all loyal forces in Sand are trapped in the capital which acts as a good stronghold. Neither side gains any ground either way.

12th Year – Sakura is born. Despite multiple rumours of an extensive uprising across the country the Resistance is quiet, it is assumed that their efforts have moved completely underground and leaflets are found scattered and slogans painted on the wall that are attributed to its members but there are no prominent victories on the side of ANBU or the Resistance.

13th Year- Naruto's parents disappear one night, he is left with an older couple with no children who raise him over the years. There had been no sightings of ANBU or visible reason for why they vanished. No one knows what happened to them.

15th Year – A sudden mass of ANBU reports claim that the Resistance is spreading at an alarming rate. In July the Resistance manages to successfully kill an ANBU team, despite attempts to quash the rumours the Resistance gains more credence and ANBU are given a special directive to suppress all rebellion by any means necessary.

17th Year – Under new orders ANBU conducts a vicious purging of all towns and cities, whole families disappear under suspicion of Resistance involvement and the number of political prisoners double. This dramatically curbs and efforts the Resistance can make to recruit and take action against Danzo as more and more people are persuaded to be informants to gain momentary protection.

21st Year – The Village of Konoha faces its first official raid as ANBU spend a few days investigating the villages loyalty to the Emperor and interrogating the villagers. One family disappears in the night and everyone is guiltily relieved that more damage wasn't done.

25th Year –A prominent member of the Resistance, known as Anko, manages to find work in one on Fire Country's factories and sabotages the machinery used to manufacture armaments. This leads to an ANBU raid on the factory and Anko destroys one of the boilers, creating an explosion that kills her and the entire ANBU troop. She is held up as a hero and martyr by the Resistance, reportedly laughing all the way to her death, and she is celebrated and mourned every year on the anniversary of her death.

28h Year – Movement between towns and the country becomes limited. Work visas are introduced in factories to monitor workers and to prevent the Resistance from entering as workers and sabotaging factory work.

31st Year - Our story begins.