I have a fascination with the darker underside of Kishimoto's world and ninja societies -- it doesn't come out all that much in canon, but it's definitely there underneath a lot of the more overt action. In addition to all the action-type plot threads of this story, and the "let's see if Sasuke is fixable at this stage" plot/theme, I'm also exploring potential flaws in the system of hidden villages, via Amane Eiji and his goals. Now, this is not to say that Eiji doesn't have his own flaws, but I wanted to make sure he came off as a real person instead of just 'generic evil target guy #1.'

And it seems that a lot of high-level ninja have some very odd coping mechanisms, which I wanted to play with a little. :-)