Just as Obito was following the new script and encountering Nagato, Araki and Kaguya Black Bone had completed their journey across the Land of Fire and entered the Land of Rivers.
It was a medium-sized country wedged between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind.
In terms of land area alone, it rivaled the combined size of the Land of Rain, the Land of Grass, and the Land of Waterfalls. In fact, if the waters and scattered islands surrounding the Land of Water were excluded, its mainland was not much larger than the Land of Rivers.
Moreover, the Land of Rivers had an excellent climate and abundant natural resources. It had grasslands, forests, mines, and valleys. It possessed every condition needed to become a great nation.
At the very least, it had greater potential for development than the Land of Rain, the Land of Grass, and the Land of Waterfalls.
Unfortunately, its location was the problem.
How could one allow another to snore beside one's bed? Caught between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire, it not only had no opportunity to expand outward, but also suffered extremely strict blockades and control from both nations.
As a result, it had neither a ninja village nor even a unified government.
The Land of Wind and the Land of Fire had each supported a puppet government, with each controlling half of the Land of Rivers.
Yet even this less-than-half of the country provided natural resources, aside from minerals, that accounted for a large portion of all the Land of Wind's resources. Their covetousness of the Land of Rivers was nearly impossible to restrain. If the Land of Fire had not kept doing its utmost to obstruct them, the Land of Rivers would have ceased to exist long ago.