The Daimyo of the Land of Fire was dead.
The news swept across the entire Shinobi World like a terrifying storm.
He was the second Daimyo to die in this war, and his death carried far more weight than that of the Daimyo of the Land of Wind.
The only difference was that the Daimyo of the Land of Wind had died at the hands of mercenaries from the underground Bounty Exchange.
The Daimyo of the Land of Fire, however, had died at the hands of his own general.
Rumor had it that numerous secrets concerning ghouls were involved.
Regardless, the collective deaths of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire and the capital's nobles dealt another tremendous blow to the already fragile relationship between the ninja villages and the nobility.
Not only had the Daimyo of the Land of Earth become deeply wary of Ōnoki, but even the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning, whose cooperation with his village had always been seamless, had grown uneasy.
As for the Daimyo of the Land of Water, no one had seen any sign of him since the war began, which only made the two remaining Daimyo more anxious.
They even sent several delegations to the capital of the Land of Water to investigate.
But before any news came back, the flames of war blazed up once more in the Land of Fire.
After this incident, a disheartened Arima left the capital outright.
Having lost both Arima and its Daimyo, the capital of the Land of Fire naturally descended into utter chaos.
The thousands of Quinque Users were left leaderless. Although they fought the invading Sand Shinobi under the leadership of several other special-class fighters, their defeat came as no surprise.
That overwhelming Insect Tide was simply beyond human power to stop.