The Third Hokage stood quietly beside the window of his office. Beneath his silence, his figure seemed to hunch slightly. After a long while, he finally looked as if he had come back to life, took a deep puff from the pipe between his lips, and spoke:
"What's the situation in the Sand Village? Have there been any changes lately?"
Enemies were troublesome, but more often than not, unreliable allies were even more troublesome than straightforward enemies. That was why the Hokage had always paid close attention to the Sand Village's situation. For Konoha's sake, he neither wanted the Sand Village to become too united nor wanted it to completely fall apart... A half-dead ally was the best kind of ally.
Without the slightest hesitation, Kushina Uzumaki, standing behind the Third Hokage, replied, "I haven't observed any changes. Since the end of the Ninja World War, the Sand Village has been tightening its information channels more and more, especially those concerning Konoha."
The Sand Village seemed determined to learn from the Hidden Mist. It might not have implemented a complete isolationist policy, but it was at least keeping itself closed off... This low profile could be considered biding its time. It was completely different from the exuberant state they had shown during the Second Ninja World War and the beginning of the Third Ninja World War.
There was no helping it. They had suffered too many losses in the previous war.
As for why the Sand Village was blocking information from its ally Konoha, on one hand, a ninja village ought to seal off information from anyone outside it. That was politically correct and strategically correct. On the other hand, why not ask Konoha? For example, Konoha could answer the question of why the Fourth Kazekage had turned into a