Selfish Motives Arise!

Shinobi World.

Just as Crocodile was causing trouble in the Land of Wind.

The Cloud-Hidden Village of the Land of lightning and Iwagakure of the Land of Earth.

Had already secretly reached an alliance agreement, though they had yet to announce it publicly.

At the same time.

Cloud Village's five-thousand-man shinobi force marched aggressively through the Land of the Moon and set up camp at the northernmost edge of the Land of Hot Water, adjacent to the Land of Fire's border.

This put Konoha on high alert.

Taking the forested terrain along the Land of Hot Water's border into account, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Ordered Shibi Aburame, the newly appointed head of the Aburame Clan, to lead three thousand shinobi there to confront them.

Together with the several hundred patrol shinobi near the border, it was enough.

Besides.

Both sides understood perfectly well.

Their primary target was the unknown powerhouse in the Land of Wind, so this battle was certainly not going to happen.

Still, necessary precautions had to be taken.

During this process, Konoha clearly informed Cloud Village that it had never dispatched any shinobi to Loulan.

To prove it.

Hiruzen Sarutobi even told Cloud Village that Root shinobi all had the "Tongue Curse mark: Root Severance" on their tongues.

The implication was that if they truly were Root shinobi, they absolutely could not have revealed anything about Danzo.

The reason he was so eager to clear himself of suspicion was because he sensed a powerful unease from that unknown powerhouse.

Capturing the Third Raikage alive and crushing more than three thousand Cloud Village shinobi in one stroke.

That had already surpassed the level of strength possessed by Shadows like them.

If he had to describe it, only Madara Uchiha of the generation before last and the First