Deep in the desert.
"Knock... knock... knock..."
The sound of the wooden fish still drifted through Chisunaji Temple at an unhurried pace.
After passing through a long corridor, a young man in monk's robes arrived outside the innermost courtyard.
"Patriarch, I've returned."
The wooden fish fell silent. "Come in."
Only then did the young monk enter.
"Patriarch, Sunagakure has surrendered completely, and the entire Land of Wind has been incorporated into the Land of Fire."
Master Jiyuan gave a soft acknowledgment but said nothing.
Chisunaji Temple had been founded a thousand years before Sunagakure. To them, Sunagakure was merely a regime established a few decades ago.
It was nothing remarkable. Even any random object within Chisunaji Temple was over a hundred years old.
Sunagakure simply could not compare.
The two sides had never had much contact, and because of their differing ideals, Sunagakure's regime had never paid much attention to Chisunaji Temple.
But all that was now water under the bridge. Sunagakure had vanished.
The young monk continued, "Konoha's offensive this time has caused almost no casualties."
"Everywhere they went, they had Iwagakure lay underground pipelines."
"They purified seawater from facilities set up along the coast into fresh water and transported it into the desert."
"Then Konoha's Wood Release experts used Wood Release to accelerate the growth of trees in the desert."
"Now, more than half of the desert has been greened."
"I specifically investigated the outer regions. In the areas that were greened first, eighty percent of the trees have survived."
"In the future, the desert will gradually disappear, and the land will become full of life."
Jiyuan rose from his cross-legged position. He gazed at the lush tree in the courtyard without speaking.
But the young monk knew that his patriarch had taken it in. His silence meant