Across the entire Shinobi World, there were no fewer than several dozen countries of varying sizes. Beyond the Five Great Nations of Fire, Lightning, Water, Earth, and Wind in the first tier, there were countless small nations in the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth tiers.
Among so many countries, quite a few had remained neutral.
For example, the Land of Demons, the Land of Snow, and even the Land of Hot Water from the Forgotten War could barely be counted among them.
The main reason they could remain neutral was their advantageous locations. They neither stood on the necessary routes where the Five Great Nations clashed and became buffer zones, nor were they too close to any one great nation and directly turned into vassals.
Coupled with their weak military forces and scarce resources, they had managed to preserve their independence.
But the Land of Iron was different.
Although its location was somewhat remote, its domestic armed forces were extremely strong, with a claimed force of over ten thousand samurai. While its climate was frigid, its mineral resources were exceptionally abundant—enough to outfit its samurai troops in full heavy armor.
If other countries could remain neutral merely because the Five Great Nations did not care about some remote patch of land, then the Land of Iron's neutrality relied half on its geographical location and half on the threat of its own military strength.
Even for the Five Great Nations of the shinobi, conquering the Land of Iron alone would be no easy task. Things could easily go wrong if another great nation took the opportunity to launch a surprise attack midway.
It was precisely because of this that the Land of Iron qualified to host the Five Kage Summit and mediate disputes between the Five Great Nations.
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