Two Letters and One Piece of Intelligence (Please Subscribe)

Land of Fire.

Konoha.

The Hokage Office in the Hokage Building received two letters today. One came from Kirigakure in the Land of Water, and the other from Sunagakure in the Land of Wind.

After arriving at work, Namikaze Minato opened the letter from Kirigakure first.

It had been written by Genji, the elder who held the real power in Kirigakure.

Genji was old, and the letter was long-winded, full of empty pleasantries. It wasn't until the final paragraph that he sharply accused Konoha of shamelessly harboring the killer of Fourth Mizukage Karatachi Yagura and lodged a strong protest. He also hoped that Konoha would take responsibility as the Shinobi World's foremost hidden village, admit its mistake, hand over the killer, a member of the Hyuga Clan, and compensate Kirigakure for its massive losses!

It was obvious someone else had written that paragraph for him.

Namikaze Minato shook his head slightly.

After Fourth Mizukage's death, Kirigakure had broken free of the Bloody Mist and resumed diplomatic relations with the other hidden villages, but its corrupt leadership...

Minato casually set the letter aside, then opened the one from Sunagakure.

It had been written by Fourth Kazekage Rasa.

The contents were strange. First, Rasa mentioned Akatsuki, saying that Sunagakure would take the Rogue Ninja Organization seriously and actively cooperate with Konoha to eliminate this scourge of the Shinobi World. He emphasized that the friendship between Sunagakure and Konoha would last forever.

Then Rasa spoke of how Sunagakure and Konoha had exchanged resources, supported one another, and enjoyed mutual benefits over the years. He believed their alliance should endure for all time.

Finally, there was another long string of flattery.

It looked like he'd used a ghostwriter, too.

Namikaze Minato couldn't help but smile wryly, then his expression turned serious.

Something was wrong!