"There's no point talking about this now. We should figure out what to do."
"What else can we do? Send more people to bring her back, of course!"
Tsunade replied irritably.
Her subordinates had been disappearing one after another, kidnapped by an enemy village. If she didn't bring them back, what would become of her authority as Hokage?
Besides, when had the battered Kirigakure ever been allowed to walk all over Konoha?
"Lord Hokage... there's something else."
"What else? Just say it all at once!"
"Kirigakure has gathered a large force along the border of the Land of Whirlpools. They seem to be heading toward Mount Kikyo..."
"What?"
Tsunade's expression changed. The good mood she'd been in while eating barbecue vanished in an instant.
"What is Kirigakure trying to do?"
Tsunade was utterly baffled.
Ever since the Third had single-handedly turned the Seven Ninja Swordsmen into the Heng and Ha Generals in the Land of Whirlpools, then killed more than a hundred Kirigakure Ninja, Kirigakure had kept a much lower profile. Clashes still broke out now and then, leading to localized fighting, but the conflict had never escalated again.
On top of that, Iwagakure and Kumogakure had both withdrawn their forces. With no worries about fighting on two other fronts, Konoha had seen no action from Kirigakure for a long time.
By any measure, Kirigakure should have been withdrawing its troops at this point, not pressing forward!
A moment ago, Tsunade had only thought that the Third Mizukage had lost his mind. Now she was certain he'd gone completely mad!
Anyone with any sense could see that if Kirigakure went to war with Konoha now, it was bound to lose!
But Ye Ning, who knew how the story unfolded, knew that the madman wasn't the Third Mizukage.
Or rather, the