Sunagakure.
The yellow sand remained, and so did the poverty.
It was already late, but Kazekage Pakura was still working.
"Lord Kazekage!"
An Anbu slammed the door open with a bang, panic filling his voice.
"Elder Fuji's entire force has been captured by Konoha!"
"What!?" Pakura shot to her feet, shock and confusion on her face.
"What happened!?"
"Weren't things fine just yesterday?"
Although the formation led by Elder Fuji did not have high rank requirements for its ninja, consisting mostly of Genin and Chunin,
Elder Fuji had numbers—two whole thousand people.
Sunagakure could be defeated, but unless they had been surrounded by a massive force, it was impossible that not a single person had escaped.
Sunagakure personnel in the nearby cities had received no bad news. Yet when news finally came, it was that they had all been captured.
"What happened? Tell us in detail," Baki, who was helping Pakura deal with documents in the office, asked.
"It's true. Konoha specifically sent someone to our Suna City to notify us."
"The place where we previously set up the Wind Prison Sandstorm Great Formation has already been turned into a Konoha stronghold."
"Of our two thousand people, one thousand have already been killed. Their bodies have been piled outside that stronghold, and they're being burned right now."
"The other thousand have been imprisoned there."
"Konoha wants us to pay to ransom them."
Pakura was somewhat stunned upon hearing this. "Pay to ransom them?"
Baki immediately reminded her, "Lord Kazekage, Konoha intends to use this to drain Sunagakure."
When two villages went to war, it was not unusual for prisoners and hostages to be ransomed with money in the end.
But that happened after the fighting was over.
Demanding ransom at a time like this clearly meant they had ill intentions.