The turbulent Battle of Red Pine Ridge ultimately ended with the main Rock Ninja force fleeing into the Land of Frost.
Although the overaggressive Rock Ninja troops had paid a grievous price in the process, the core strength of the Land of Earth—including Kitsuchi, who had just developed a new application for Dust Release—had still been preserved.
This meant the Rock Ninja would not have to languish in obscurity through a long reconstruction period like the Sand Ninja had several years earlier... As long as they replenished their forces in time, they would still be qualified to make their push in the middle and later stages of the Second Shinobi World War.
But from another perspective, while the ending had been somewhat imperfect, the Uchiha clan's feat of crushing the main force of an entire nation with inferior numbers began to spread throughout the shinobi world, and the title of strongest Ninshu spread like wildfire!
Especially the Susanoo that had once driven the Rock Ninja into a desperate corner...
The leaders of every nation had clearly never expected that, barely more than a decade after Uchiha Madara's death, the Uchiha clan would produce so many outstanding talents who had developed similar abilities!
Though all sides rationally believed that these people could not possibly all grow to Madara's level of overwhelming power, the immense psychological burden this created still pushed them toward resolving the threat beyond the battlefield.
Thus, the intelligence agencies of the Lands of Earth, Lightning, and Water began to exert themselves.
With the nearly public conflict between the Uchiha and the Hokage Faction as the fuse, a war without smoke or fire began on the hidden front!
All kinds of schemes meant to stir up trouble and fan the flames spread unchecked within Konoha, muddying the waters!
Fortunately...