Bustling.
No word could have described Konoha more aptly.
With the Chunin Exams approaching, the airspace above Konoha had been placed under control. Every day, massive flight formations from various hidden villages filled the air routes.
The Otsutsuki Clan's Puppet Flying Bird technology had long since spread throughout the Shinobi World.
The wisdom of the masses was limitless.
Using Puppet Flying Birds as a prototype, countless different models of flying mounts had been developed to suit the local environments of different countries.
The round, down-covered Puppet Flying Bird that slowly descended into the plaza belonged to Yukigakure.
The blizzard-filled environment had forced them to sacrifice the Flying Bird's speed. Their specially made goggles allowed them to locate targets amid the vast snowfields, while the down wrapping prevented hypothermia at high altitudes.
"Yukigakure. No Jinchuriki. No threat."
Not far from the plaza, Rikusei sensed the people jumping from the Flying Bird's back and added another note to his little notebook filled with writing.
The threat did not refer to their team.
It referred to the plan they had discussed in secret beforehand.
"Kumogakure is here!"
The cry from among the surrounding crowd made him set down his pen and look up at the flying formation circling against the Sky Curtain.
Kumogakure's aircraft were four-winged Flying Birds. Apart from the flapping wings, they had a pair of rigidly extended flight wings, with conspicuous metal discharge brushes installed at their tips.
Rikusei knew that the violent thunderstorms of the Land of Lightning had worsened the conditions in the skies, prompting them to make such changes.
The burly A was the first to jump down. Looking over Konoha, he said to the people behind him, "Konoha really changes by the day. Look over there—that used to be wasteland when we last came, and now