Yellow sand, an endless expanse of yellow sand.
The dry climate made the surroundings unbearably hot. The grains of sand beneath the blazing sunlight were scorching, and even the light itself twisted unnaturally in the heat.
The wind rose, still carrying a chill. Sand filled the sky, obscuring vision as a yellow haze swallowed everything in the desert.
Such a not particularly powerful Sandstorm was common in this country perpetually shrouded in wind and sand.
The crisp chime of wind bells rang out, carrying far across the empty desert. Black robes patterned with red clouds flickered in and out of sight amid the yellow sand.
"What's that?" On a towering wind-carved rock in the distance, a Sunagakure ninja spoke in confusion. Many other Sunagakure ninjas stood beside and behind him.
Sunagakure lay deep in the desert, and its geographic location was highly unusual. Back then, First Kazekage Retto had put considerable thought into finding this place, even using ninjutsu to reshape the terrain.
Towering rocks surrounded the village. Not only could they block the Land of Wind's distinctive Sandstorms, but they could also serve as a barrier against enemy ninja attacks. There was only one narrow path into the village, like a slit between the heavens.
As long as Sunagakure's ninja set up an ambush in advance, even enemies with several times their numbers would find it extremely difficult to break in.
Since the successive Ninja World Wars, Sunagakure had been renowned for being easy to defend and difficult to attack.
"Is that the organization Lord Yura mentioned?" asked a Sunagakure ninja. The ninja around him all turned serious.
The ninja who had spoken first turned around and hurriedly asked, "Lord Yura, what should we do now?"
Beside him stood Yura, one of Sunagakure's higher-ups and the man responsible for