In the eighth year of Konoha, in July, at Kumogakure in the Land of Lightning, inside the Raikage's Office.
A brown-skinned secretary hurried into the Raikage's Office and handed a report to Raikage A.
"Lord Raikage, our spies in Iwagakure have sent back an important report."
Raikage A set aside his work, took the report, and read through it carefully. His face immediately filled with astonishment.
"That slippery bastard Ishikawa is dead?"
"Mu became the Second Tsuchikage?"
"A great battle took place outside Iwagakure that day, but the fighting never reached the ground..."
When he finished reading, he asked without thinking, "Can't they find out how Ishikawa died?"
"They can't," the secretary replied with a shake of her head. "Apparently, Iwagakure has sealed off information about the battle. Only Iwagakure's jonin were involved, so for now, all we can do is hand the report to the analysis department."
"What is there to analyze?" Raikage A mused for a moment, then continued:
"Ishikawa and his disciple could both fly, and his disciple even developed a terrifying ninjutsu called Dust Release."
"I can't think of anyone who could fly and wasn't vulnerable to that kind of attack."
As he spoke, he picked up another report, one that had arrived a little earlier.
"We should plant some spies in Sunagakure, too. If it weren't for the merchants, I wouldn't have known that Konoha and Sunagakure had clashed."
"There's a whole oasis outside Sunagakure now. That's obviously Senju Hashirama's work. Poor Sunagakure got slapped in the face and still can't bring themselves to erase the oasis. Heh."
The secretary ignored her Kage's mockery and said anxiously, "It's only been a few years since the Ninja World found peace, and already there are signs of unrest again."
Raikage A replied irritably, "Don't worry. As long