The wind began to blow again.
Within Kumogakure, the deathly silence was broken by the first anguished wail, then a second, a third... spreading like a plague.
Despair, fear, bewilderment, grief... a flood of emotions burst through the dam.
In an instant, they engulfed the shinobi village renowned for its toughness and tenacity.
The Raikage had fallen.
The divine artifact had been destroyed.
Their mighty enemy had swept away without a backward glance.
The sky over Kumogakure had collapsed.
A year slipped quietly by amid the continuing upheaval in the shinobi world and the aftershocks of its drastically altered balance of power.
Following the death of Fourth Raikage A-officially reported as a mysterious disappearance-Kumogakure sank into prolonged internal strife and decline.
Unable to recover, it fell out of the top ranks of the Five Great Nations entirely, reduced to a second-rate power dependent on the goodwill of other nations.
Konoha, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure frantically prepared for war in terror.
They intensified their research into the "Hōgyoku remnants" and any power that might counter Las Noches, but mostly, they felt profound helplessness and fear.
The names Las Noches and Uchiha Ryūha became the deepest nightmare looming over the shinobi world, something no one dared mention yet which weighed on every heart at every moment.
And Konoha, after enduring the agony of the Uchiha Clan Massacre, infighting among its leaders, and its overwhelming fear of Las Noches...
Finally managed to maintain a semblance of stability, redirecting some of its warped hopes toward the new generation.
Year 63 of Konoha, graduation season at the Ninja Academy.
Sunlight filtered through gaps in the leaves, casting dappled light and shadow over the training grounds.
A group of graduates who had just received their forehead protectors, their faces still youthful and excited...
Were taking the