In the surging undercurrents of the entire shinobi world—
Among the Five Great Villages, Konoha had suffered the most devastating losses, with more than half the village destroyed, yet it had instead become the quietest place of all.
To withstand the combined assault of four great villages with the power of a single village—this alone was enough to shake the entire shinobi world.
Even though Konoha now looked like the easiest target to invade, no one dared to make a move. No one could be sure whether the Leaf still possessed the ninjutsu left behind by the First Hokage.
Everyone was waiting—waiting for some reckless idiot to test Konoha's depths.
If Konoha no longer had those techniques, then the village that Hashirama had founded would be crushed by the shinobi world in the shortest possible time.
Right now, Konoha was like a slab of fatty meat laid out in front of everyone's eyes—but no one knew whether the road leading to that meat was filled with traps or bottomless chasms.
Every village could feel that the impact this war had brought upon the shinobi world had only just begun.
Land of Wind, Sand Village.
Surrounded year-round by desert, with sandstorms constantly dancing across the harsh landscape, a shinobi village built here naturally chose to settle only where life was possible.
And in the desert, the most important thing was water. That meant that for a village like Suna, built amid sand, rivers were just as important.
By the banks of a river flowing past the Sand Village, two elderly figures sat side by side on small stools, each holding a fishing rod as they quietly watched the surface of the water.
These two were Chiyo, advisor of the Sand Village, and Ebizō, who had once been in charge of the entire village's intelligence network.
Even though Ebizō was old now and had stepped away from the front lines, he still maintained a great many covert lines in the major countries.
"The outside world must be in chaos by now," Ebizō said calmly, giving his fishing rod a slight twitch.
"I'm just a useless old woman now. The affairs of the Sand Village are no concern of mine anymore—and I couldn't handle them even if I wanted to," Chiyo replied blandly, her eyes half-closed as if she might drift off to sleep at any moment.
Hearing that, Ebizō couldn't help but show a wry smile.
If anyone else in the Sand Village claimed they didn't care about the village, Ebizō might believe them. But if his sister in front of him said she didn't care, he absolutely did not.
Born and raised in chaotic times, fighting her way through war after war, his sister had practically devoted her entire life to the Sand Village.
But her hatred for Konoha, coupled with her anxiety over Suna's frailty, had left her with a deep sense of helplessness.
Especially when the Sand Village shook hands and made peace with Konoha—this had been a crushing blow for Chiyo, who had always harbored a grudge against the Leaf.
That was the main reason she had stepped into the background.
After a silent pause, Ebizō turned slightly to glance at Maki, who was kneeling a short distance behind them, and sighed.
"That brat Maki has been kneeling there since this morning."
Chiyo still said nothing, as if she really had fallen asleep.
Only after a long time did she finally open her eyes and ask slowly, "Where is Rasa?"
Ebizō's lowered eyelids twitched slightly, a sharp light flashing through his gaze as he answered softly, "He's dead."
Rasa… dead?
Chiyo's hand, which had been gripping her fishing rod, trembled sharply. After a while, she raised her head to look at Ebizō and asked in a somewhat hoarse voice, "Who killed him?"
"A rogue from the Leaf—Orochimaru," Ebizō replied honestly.
"Konoha again, is it?" Chiyo murmured, a glint of icy light flashing in her eyes. "Ebizō, how's your old line of work? You haven't gone soft, have you?"
The wrinkles on Ebizō's face bunched into a faint smile.
"I've been doing it my whole life. Even if I wanted to slack off, I couldn't."
Chiyo lifted her fishing rod, then slowly rose to her feet. Smiling, she turned and started walking back as she said,
"Then tell me everything that's happened recently."
Ebizō stood up as well and hurried to follow her.
Seeing the two of them walking toward him, Maki couldn't help the look of joy that appeared on his face.
With the Kazekage dead, in the current Sand Village, the only ones with both the strength to steady the village and the prestige to do so were these two.
Especially Chiyo—she had once single-handedly taken down an entire fortress.
Chiyo stopped in front of Maki and said calmly,
"Come on, what do you think you're doing kneeling here?"
With that, she and Ebizō walked straight past him toward the village.
Maki, face full of relief, quickly got to his feet and followed behind them.
On the way, Maki and Ebizō roughly went over everything that had happened.
"The four great villages joining forces to attack Konoha is indeed something unprecedented in the shinobi world," Chiyo said. "But for the Leaf to still have such a technique hidden away… looks like everyone somewhat underestimated them."
"As for the Mist suddenly turning on its allies, that alone shows the person leading them not only has a sharp eye, but also looks far enough ahead."
Chiyo let out a sigh, then continued,
"If the Mist were only after the Tailed Beasts, they wouldn't need to take Temari and Kankuro as well. Clearly, the Mist has other designs on our Sand Village."
Ebizō nodded, his expression grave.
"Exactly what I was thinking. Even if we set aside the fact that Gaara is the Ichibi jinchūriki, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro are all children of the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa."
"On the strength of that alone, we in the Sand Village must bring all three of them back safely. Otherwise, our village will become the shinobi world's laughingstock."
Ebizō's voice rang in their ears, and both Chiyo and Maki's expressions grew heavy.
——
On a rocky outcrop by the sea near the Mist Village—
Yuto lay sprawled lazily on the stone, basking in one of the Mist's rare days of bright, sunny weather.
A palm-sized turtle was likewise sprawled lazily beside him, its tail on its shell occasionally twitching up and then flopping back down again.
Before long, the sound of light footsteps came from another direction. The Three-Tails Isobu lifted his head, glanced at the approaching figure, then lowered it again and lay back down.
The figure walked up beside Yuto, took one look at his lazy posture, and couldn't help but show a helpless smile.
A moment later, she sat down next to him.
Yuto didn't open his eyes, but he already knew who it was.
"You're awfully relaxed. The whole shinobi world is just about falling apart right now," Mei said, giving Yuto a sideways look, her tone carrying a trace of exasperation.
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