Meanwhile, in the Raikage's Office of Kumogakure.
The Raikage, who looked wild and irritable, like a golden-haired lion, sat upright behind his desk. Looking over the reports arriving from every direction, he let out a heartfelt sigh.
In truth, Third Raikage, A was not the frenzied and wrathful Raikage people imagined him to be. He was a kind and gentle man, and he had considerable faith in the next generation. His son, in particular, was being groomed as the next Raikage.
Originally, Kumogakure had been extremely confident. As the holder of both the strongest spear and the strongest shield, the Raikage was renowned throughout the Ninja World, standing alongside Konoha's Professor of Ninjutsu. Kumogakure often took pride in being the second strongest shinobi village and had even considered taking Konoha outright.
Compared with the conflict-ridden Konoha, Kumogakure truly had grounds for its pride.
Cloud Ninja had long possessed a strong tradition of developing secret techniques, and there were no major internal conflicts. They had dabbled in all kinds of facilities and technologies. If they had not appeared so excessively hot-tempered, Kumogakure's strength could, in some respects, have made it the main force against Konoha.
A had once firmly believed this. He believed that his village and his descendants could not live forever amid barren, empty mountains. Though the scenery looked ethereal and immortal, they still lived among mountains. Only the people of Kumogakure understood the difficulties of transportation and daily life there.
That was why the Raikage had always maintained ample hostility toward Konoha. For the sake of survival, every one of them had reason to seek a better life. Their hostility was only natural.
But as Konoha developed over the past few years, Kumogakure's temper had been increasingly suppressed. They could not break through Konoha's defenses and instead lost