The evening gloom was swept away by a gentle breeze. When the first rays of morning sunlight fell upon the ground, all things began to stir back to life.
In the Hokage's office, Minato Namikaze was slumped over his desk. Feeling the light shining in through the window, he slowly opened his eyes.
He had spent the past few days in the office and hadn't even gone home. After Hiruzen Sarutobi led his team toward Wufang City, reports had been coming in from the front lines one after another.
One report would tell of another Ghost sighting. The next would say how many Ghosts had been slain.
As more was learned about these creatures called Ghosts, Konoha's store of information about them had grown.
According to what they knew so far, a Ghost King stood behind these Ghosts. However, Konoha still hadn't learned the Ghost King's name.
Konoha had also learned much more about Ghosts themselves.
All Ghosts came from the Ghost King. When ordinary people were injected with the Ghost King's blood, they became Ghosts. The more blood they received, the stronger they became. Ghosts had a clear ranking system: the six strongest were called Upper Moon Ghosts, ranked from "One" to "Six." Below them were the six strongest Lower Moon Ghosts, ranked from "One" to "Six" as well.
These twelve Ghosts made up the most elite force under the Ghost King.
The remaining Ghosts, aside from the Upper and Lower Moons, had no clearly defined ranks. Their strength was judged roughly by how many people they had eaten. Konoha had divided the unranked Ghosts into several simple categories: those that had devoured fewer than ten people were called "Inferior"; those that had eaten more than ten but fewer than fifty were called "Evil"; those that had eaten more