Land of Grass.
A village near Kusagakure.
"I had long heard of Earth Fist Kitsuchi's great reputation. Today, I finally get to meet the real man," the Kusagakure leader said flatteringly upon seeing Kitsuchi.
On the surface, he was the leader of a ninja village, while Kitsuchi was merely the son of Iwagakure's leader, so his status ought to have been higher.
But that was not how things actually worked. He was only the leader of an ordinary ninja village, while Kitsuchi was the son of one of the Five Great Ninja Villages' leaders and a renowned powerhouse in the ninja world. In truth, their statuses were roughly equal.
Kitsuchi gave a slight nod in response. Rather than waste time on pleasantries, he went straight to the point.
"Now that Konoha's ninja are waging war without restraint in the Land of Grass, I'm sure you have long accumulated much anger. Iwagakure has already prepared a perfect battle plan to defeat Konoha."
"As long as the plan proceeds smoothly, Kusagakure will not only avoid being discovered by Konoha as having participated in the war, but Iwagakure will also be able to deal Konoha a crushing defeat and rescue the Land of Grass from its misery."
The Land of Grass bordered the Land of Fire. To ease Kusagakure's concerns, Iwagakure's ninja would help Kusagakure's ninja disguise themselves as Iwagakure ninja. They needed Kusagakure's strength, but did not require Kusagakure to openly stand alongside Iwagakure and wage war against Konoha.
The Kusagakure leader put on a thoughtful expression.
It had to be said that Iwagakure's plan sounded wonderful, both for Kusagakure and Iwagakure.
For Kusagakure, if the plan succeeded, the war being fought on the Land of Grass's territory would disappear, and the Land of Grass would not offend the colossal force that