Three months later.
Iwagakure finally failed to withstand the siege of over a hundred Kage-level warriors and was utterly crushed.
Even those Exploding Ninjas ultimately only inflicted a dozen or so casualties among Kirigakure's Artificial Human Ninjas.
But at the end of the battle, Kitsuchi detonated the Sealing Jutsu Formula buried deep beneath Iwagakure's mountain, causing the entire village to collapse completely. It took out another dozen or so Artificial Human Ninjas and could be considered the Fourth Tsuchikage's final swan song.
Fortunately, Iwagakure's last embers and its young ninjas had already been transported to the Konoha Stronghold in the northern Land of Earth, preserving the strength needed for its eventual revival.
At the same time, Kumogakure in the Land of Lightning was thoroughly breached by Uchiha Shisui.
Kumogakure's Chakra Cannons were even more powerful than Exploding Ninjas. If one truly hit its target, even a Kage-level warrior would have no chance of survival.
Unfortunately, the greatest problem with these Chakra Cannons was their enormous size. They required prolonged Chakra charging before use, which took far too long.
Uchiha Shisui's Clone did not immediately besiege Kumogakure. Instead, he relied on his genjutsu and the White Zetsu at his disposal to secretly infiltrate the village and discover the Chakra Cannons' locations. Then, relying on his formidable personal strength, he launched a surprise attack and destroyed Kumogakure's superweapon.
Although Kumogakure was heavily guarded, it had never expected Uchiha Shisui to already know about its trump card. After the Chakra Cannons were destroyed, Uchiha Shisui and the Kirigakure ninjas attacked from within and without, leaving Kumogakure utterly defeated and facing the calamity of village annihilation.
Fortunately, Uchiha Shisui deliberately held back, allowing quite a few Kumogakure ninjas to escape and leaving behind some seeds for revival.
Naturally, those survivors ultimately headed to Konoha