Pleading for Help and a Meeting

Swish, swish, swish.

Amid a rush of wind, squads of shinobi wearing Iwagakure Forehead Protectors landed in the ravaged valley.

Leading them was none other than Kitsuchi, son of Iwagakure's Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki.

After receiving reports that Akatsuki Organization members had secretly infiltrated Earth Country, Iwagakure had acted at once, dispatching a large force of shinobi to support Rōshi, the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, and Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki.

Akatsuki Organization's plan to hunt the Tailed Beasts was no secret.

So it didn't take much guessing to realize that its members had almost certainly infiltrated Earth Country to target the Four-Tails and Five-Tails.

Surveying the wreckage across the battlefield, Kitsuchi's expression darkened. "We're still too late."

Swish.

Just then, an Iwagakure ANBU landed beside Kitsuchi and reported, "Sir, the Intelligence Squad has finished analyzing the battlefield. Three people fought here. Besides Lord Rōshi, there were likely two Akatsuki Organization members!"

"Have you found Rōshi?" Kitsuchi asked.

The Iwagakure ANBU shook his head. "There's no sign of Lord Rōshi at the scene. The Intelligence Squad suspects Akatsuki Organization defeated and abducted him."

Kitsuchi's eye twitched.

What he'd most hoped to avoid had happened after all.

When the war in Grass Country had first broken out, Iwagakure had placed Rōshi, the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, and Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, under tight protection.

But after the war in Grass Country ended, Akatsuki Organization had gone dormant and stopped making any moves. The two Jinchuriki, both stubborn and at odds with Ōnoki, gradually slipped free of the restrictions and tight protection Iwagakure had imposed.

Iwagakure still assigned guards to keep the two Jinchuriki safe. But as time passed and Akatsuki Organization remained unusually quiet, Rōshi and Han—two powerful shinobi who had been striving to become Perfect Jinchuriki—willfully shook off Iwagakure's surveillance and went off to train on