Near the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Fire, at Konoha's temporary camp.
Inaba Uchiha sneered in disdain.
"The Amegakure are so stubborn because their leader, Hanzo of the Salamander, is capable of driving back a large force of Stone Ninja all by himself."
"But what is Kusagakure? How dare they join the Stone Ninja and invade Konoha?"
Kagami Uchiha hesitated. "Could Kusagakure have been threatened by Iwagakure?"
Inaba Uchiha immediately shook his head. "No. Kusagakure lies in the easternmost part of the Land of Grass. If Iwagakure wanted to use the Land of Grass as a route to invade the Land of Fire, Kusagakure wouldn't be involved at all. They can only be trying to take advantage of the situation."
Uchiha Setsuna said darkly,
"On top of that, Kusagakure killed the negotiators we sent there. Among them were Miya Hyuga of the Hyuga Clan and Liu Uchiha of the Uchiha Clan."
"And the Stone Ninja forces in the rear seem to be retreating to the Land of Earth via the Land of Grass."
Smack! Someone slammed a hand down on the conference table.
Kaku Uchiha said furiously, "Unforgivable! We have to destroy Kusagakure and avenge our comrades!"
The Uchiha present all nodded silently.
The great nations were locked in a power struggle. How dare a mere Kusagakure interfere—and even take the initiative to kill their people?
Killing their people was bad enough, but they'd even dared to kill someone from the Hyuga Clan. Didn't they know that the Hyuga had a monster who'd protect his own?
At that moment, Inaba Uchiha, commander of the Iwagakure front, turned to Uchiha Setsuna and asked, "How much longer until Hyuga Hoshishaku arrives?"
Ever since their main force had become locked in a stalemate with Amegakure in the Land