The Big Turn

News that Skywalker had persuaded Kusagakure to send troops to surround ten thousand Rock Ninja and had successfully convinced them to surrender quickly spread throughout every nation of the Shinobi World.

After learning that Skywalker had personally taken part in this war, the leaders of every nation were not the least bit surprised, just like Konoha's civilians. They had already grown numb to Skywalker's achievements.

Even the Tsuchikage, one of the parties involved, was not surprised. Instead, he secretly rejoiced that he had only sent ten thousand ninja as a test.

However, that did not stop the nations from laughing at Iwagakure's misfortune. Everyone knew that Konoha would inevitably retaliate against the Land of Earth for launching the unprovoked attack.

None of the major ninja villages had any intention of supporting Iwagakure. First, the Land of Wind, which was also in the west, had been badly weakened and would be fortunate just to protect itself. Then there was Kumogakure to the north, which had fought Iwagakure fiercely last time and could never help them. Finally, the Second Mizukage and the Second Tsuchikage had perished together, making Kirigakure and Iwagakure sworn enemies; Kirigakure would not send troops to assist them either. Strictly speaking, Iwagakure's international relations were not much better than Konoha's, so it could only face Konoha's counteroffensive alone.

After the war ended, the several thousand victorious Konoha Shinobi Army troops did not withdraw. Instead, they escorted the ten thousand Rock Ninja, along with the Kusagakure ninja, into the Land of Grass. Meanwhile, the neighboring Land of Rain also began moving troops toward its border with the Land of Earth, looking ready to cooperate with Konoha's offensive at any moment.

After receiving the intelligence, Iwagakure believed that Konoha would likely press its victory and launch a direct counterattack. It therefore