The Land of Rivers was a country located in the central part of the shinobi world, with most of its territory lying in tropical and subtropical regions.
Its territory was second only to the Five Great Nations, and it sat between the Land of Fire and the Land of Stars, making it an important strategic buffer zone between the two countries.
But strangely enough, a country with territory this sizable actually had no shinobi village of its own.
Having no shinobi village meant having no organized ninja military force, so when the three-thousand-strong Star Ninja Army led by Menma entered the country, they met no resistance at all and pushed brazenly deep into the tropical rainforests of southern Land of Rivers.
This place was forbidden territory for humans. Dense forests that blotted out the sky were everywhere, the air humid and stifling, enormous vines coiling around tree trunks, while all kinds of parasitic plants grew wildly among the branches.
Countless rivers, carrying silt and dead branches washed down from upstream, crisscrossed through the rainforest and surged on without end.
This was also the origin of the Land of Rivers' name—a land of a hundred rivers.
After a day's march, Menma landed beside a great river.
It was a broad river, its surface over a thousand meters wide. The swift current was a muddy brownish yellow, and dense tropical rainforest lined both banks.
Behind him, several figures followed closely after and landed steadily.
Uchiha Hikari, Uchiha Shisui, Hizashi Hyuga, Kisame Hoshigaki, Kakuzu.
Then Haku, Yukimi, Otsutsuki Toneri, Oyashiro Chino, Morishita Shun-jin, Murahashi Hazuki, and the other jonin of the Land of Stars arrived one after another.
And behind them came as many as three thousand elite shinobi troops from the Land of Stars.
A ninja force like this could easily sweep