As Naruto Uzumaki reclaimed the complete power of the Nine-Tails and set off for the Land of Iron...
Kumogakure, Raikage's Office.
Bang!
The Fourth Raikage A smashed the solid wooden desk before him to pieces with a single punch.
"Bastard! That Konoha brat—how dare he?!" The Raikage's roar nearly echoed through the entire Raikage Building.
He had just received successive reports that the Daimyo residences of the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind, and several surrounding minor nations had been destroyed and taken over by Konoha or other mysterious ninja.
Immediately afterward, he received an official letter from Konoha inviting him to the "Five Kage Summit" in the Land of Iron.
Though the letter's wording appeared polite enough, in light of those reports, its threat was unmistakable.
In fact, Kumogakure had been the first ninja village to sense that something was wrong. Unfortunately, Naruto's defenses had been thorough at the time, leaving them with little intelligence regarding Konoha itself, or even the Lands of Waves and Sea.
Naturally, they had lost the initiative.
Later, after Uchiha Madara contacted the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning, Kumogakure had entered a state of war readiness, prepared to launch an attack at any time.
But the exact situation still depended on the outcome of the Daimyo's meeting.
Who would have thought that, on the very day of the Daimyo's meeting, they would receive one horrifying report after another? Most absurdly, those reports had not come through Kumogakure's intelligence network scattered across the lands, but from the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning.
After careful investigation, they learned that the Lands of Rice Fields and Hot Water had already been directly controlled by a mysterious force—or rather, by Konoha and Otogakure.
In other words, their enemies were not limited to Sunagakure and Konoha.