The Entire Shinobi World Descended into Chaos

Iwagakure stands amidst a vast wilderness of mountains, where every building in the village is dominated by an earthy yellow hue. In a village that prizes collectivism, even the houses where the residents live remain largely uniform in appearance.

Among these, the most magnificent is undoubtedly the core of the village: the Tsuchikage Building.

Inside this structure, which stands ten times taller than the average villager's home, the current Tsuchikage, Onoki, is lecturing his eldest son, Kitsuchi, with a look of exasperated disappointment.

"Tell me, what exactly have you managed to glean from this letter!"

Facing his old father's interrogation, Kitsuchi thought for a moment and smiled sheepishly, "Well, this Hozuki Shingetsu... his handwriting is quite good?"

"You unfilial son! Do you think I asked you to look at his penmanship!"

Onoki was so angry he nearly choked on his own breath.

"Oh, Father, please don't get so worked up. I'll do whatever you say."

Seeing this, Kitsuchi quickly stepped forward to gently pat his father's back, still wearing that same simple-minded grin.

"Cough, cough... Sigh, forget it. Perhaps I should have given up on this long ago; I shouldn't have called you here in the first place. Honestly, what was I thinking, trying to test you! With your brain, you probably couldn't fathom the mysteries within even if you spent a lifetime on it. Forget it, just go stand to the side!"

After catching his breath, Onoki looked at his simple, honest son and helplessly abandoned certain obsessions he had held in his heart.

However, when he lowered his head to look at the letter in his hand, he still let out the same sigh as the Third Hokage and the Third Raikage.

"Truly, the younger generation is to be feared!"

As the Third Tsuchikage of Iwagakure and the only master of the "Kekkei Tōta" Dust Release in the shinobi world, Onoki bears the prestigious title of "Ryotenbin."

Yet, for several years, this Tsuchikage has found that his own "scales" seem unable to balance Iwagakure properly.

The reason is simple: there is no successor!

Although Onoki is not yet forty and remains in the golden prime of a shinobi's strength, the entire village of Iwagakure, aside from him, lacks any decent talent.

His own generation is not even worth mentioning; the few geniuses left behind all perished while learning the "Kekkei Tōta" Dust Release from the Second Tsuchikage, leaving only a few mediocre old men to hold down the fort.

According to the shinobi world's ten-year generational cycle, now is the time for Iwagakure's younger generation to emerge.

Unfortunately, aside from a mere handful, there is basically nothing to look at. Even those few, including his son Kitsuchi, lack the talent to learn his Dust Release. At best, this group will grow to the level of Elite Jonin, which is nowhere near enough to lead Iwagakure forward in this treacherous shinobi world.

Setting aside the few remaining veterans of the Warring States period, he feels as though his massive Iwagakure lacks any real foundation!

Whenever this happens, he feels immense envy toward the other villages.

Konoha goes without saying: the older generation includes Sarutobi Hiruzen, Danzo, Utatane Koharu, and the heads of the great Kekkei Genkai clans like the Uchiha and Hyuga, along with the older Ino-Shika-Cho. As for the younger generation, the heirs of the various Kekkei Genkai clans possess innate abilities that ensure they reach great heights. Beyond them, young talents like Hatake Sakumo, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru are beginning to make a name for themselves, all of whom are guaranteed to reach at least the level of Elite Jonin.

Over in Kumogakure, the older AB Combo are in their prime, and the Yotsuki Clan, which has unified the village, has abundant resources to cultivate their own geniuses. It is said that the child of the Yotsuki family is highly gifted in practicing the Lightning Release Chakra Mode and has already been designated as the next Raikage, waiting only for the right age to take over.

Sunagakure has genius puppeteers like Monzaemon and Chiyo, not to mention that the Sand Secret Technique invented by Shamon has already found its successor—that fellow has even managed to innovate, creating the "Magnet Release" ninjutsu.

Even Kirigakure, tucked away on its island and plagued by internal strife, has produced a figure like Hozuki Shingetsu.

How could all of this not fill Onoki with deep emotion?

Pulling his wandering thoughts back, Onoki refocused on the letter, pondering in his heart what kind of opportunities this might bring to Iwagakure.

"Earth Emperor... Hmph, he underestimates me far too much!"

In the letter, Hozuki Shingetsu mentioned establishing a Four-Nation Alliance, but unlike the proposal for Kumogakure, the position of leader naturally fell to the steady and experienced Onoki. Naturally, the title of this leader would have to be "Earth Emperor."

Of course, this was also a bit of Hozuki Shingetsu's dark humor.

Because when he wrote "Earth Emperor," he inexplicably thought of "dirt," and Onoki's physique—well, one couldn't say it was entirely different from a mound of dirt; it was practically identical.

However, this bit of dark humor was not something to be shared with outsiders, and Onoki, of course, had no idea that Hozuki Shingetsu was secretly mocking him.

As a man who had lived through the Warring States period and faced Uchiha Madara head-on, he certainly saw the dangers behind Hozuki Shingetsu's suggestion. Therefore, after a brief deliberation, he made the same decision as the Third Raikage: while continuing to fan the flames by spreading rhetoric about military expansion and impending war among the nations, he would also use the banner of humanitarian aid to lead the surrounding small nations and establish a "Shinobi World Peace Alliance," declaring himself the leader.

However, he was in no rush regarding the latter part—establishing the alliance.

He planned to wait for that brainless, muscle-bound brute, the Raikage, to make the first move. He was certain that the fool would be unable to suppress his own ambition and would strike first. With Kumogakure as a precedent, Iwagakure's path to forming an alliance would surely be much smoother.

The same went for Sunagakure.

Although he had no ambition for the title of "Wind Emperor," the excuse had been handed to him on a silver platter. Even Shamon, who had been thinking of quietly farming and developing, was spurred on by Chiyo, Monzaemon, and others to begin the process of integrating the small nations surrounding Sunagakure.

I fear the various small ninja villages watching from the sidelines never dreamed that this "Konoha Threat Theory," which had been hyped up, would end up with these great powers not stopping Konoha, but instead coming to annex them.

Even though they had secretly fanned the flames while the rumors were circulating, thinking it was all just a spectacle, they never expected the fire to eventually burn them.

In a sense, this could be considered a case of "the city gate catching fire, and the fish in the moat suffering."

Soon, driven by the four nations of Water, Lightning, Wind, and Earth, as well as various opportunists, rumors began to fly everywhere.

One day it was that Kumogakure was going to use a Genin getting lost in Konoha as an excuse to send a hundred thousand troops to steamroll the village; the next it was that Iwagakure's Tsuchikage, Onoki, had mastered all seven chakra natures, reaching the unprecedented realm of "Kekkei Mōra," capable of killing the other four Kage with a single breath, a true immortal in the shinobi world; the day after that, rumors claimed Kirigakure had closed its borders because they discovered a new type of fruit that granted ordinary people abilities comparable to Kekkei Genkai users, and that they now had a hundred thousand Kekkei Genkai shinobi sharpening their blades, waiting for the right moment to march west.

In short, it was a scene of chaotic, alarmist disorder. It reached the point where the Kage of every village were considering establishing a new "Strategic Deception Department" specifically to deal with these rumors.

Otherwise, it was becoming truly unbearable. According to the current trend, the shinobi world was currently facing situations including, but not limited to, the resurrection of the Sage of Six Paths, the reincarnation of the Rabbit Goddess, and the arrival of aliens.

If things continued to develop this way, the shinobi world would likely collapse soon.

The small nations of the shinobi world, however, did not have such worries, because they discovered that under this insane public opinion, war had truly arrived.

Just as they were still sitting on the sidelines, guessing which unlucky soul among Fire, Lightning, Earth, Wind, or Water would be ganged up on by the others, they suddenly realized something was wrong.

In particular, the Frost Village stared at the Kumogakure envoys at their doorstep and fell into deep contemplation.

Good news: the fighting has started!

Bad news: it's aimed at me.

Once Kumogakure successfully fired the first shot, the major ninja villages also began their own steps toward establishing regional alliances.

Except for the isolationist Kirigakure, even Konoha, out of a desire for defense and the feeling that they would be at a loss if they didn't annex the small nations now, began to establish its own exclusive regional alliance.

And so, the shinobi world was instantly thrown into a state of total chaos.