Hokage Building, rooftop.
"Whew..."
The evening wind, already carrying the chill of winter, howled past, blowing the boy's hair straight back and lightly brushing against his cheek, making the solemnity on his face seem even heavier.
In his eyes was reflected the tiny black speck in the distance as it flew into the low-hanging dark clouds.
"Lord Chiba."
Just then, a ninja clad in a black cloak and wearing a fox mask suddenly appeared behind the boy. He dropped to one knee and called out.
"Have they finally made a move?"
Chiba did not turn around. He remained leaning against the railing, staring into the distance with his brows tightly furrowed.
"Yes. The Land of Earth's envoy released a hawk to carry a message. Judging from its size, it should be a hawk bred in Iwagakure in the Land of Earth—the kind commonly used by the Iwa forces as messenger hawks."
The Anbu Ninja who had suddenly appeared answered.
As an Anbu Ninja who had participated in the war and was responsible for intelligence, he had no doubt that the hawk the Iwa envoy had just released was a special hawk from Iwagakure.
Communications between ninja villages did not rely solely on Sunagakure's use of hawks. Other ninja villages, including Konoha, Iwa, Kumogakure, and even Kirigakure, all used their own hawks as messengers.
Compared to carrier pigeons, Ninja Hawks were actually more reliable for communication between ninja villages. Regardless of breed, Ninja Hawks could fly extremely long distances, making them ideal for transmitting information across great distances. They were also more capable of fighting back than ninja pigeons if attacked. Their flight altitude was even far higher than that of ninja pigeons, making them generally difficult to intercept and kill.
Because of these advantages, nearly every ninja village raised Ninja