Over the following days, a major event shook the entire Ninja World.
The Land of Rain, once tucked away in a remote corner, suddenly announced that it was formally joining the Hollow Spirit Empire.
Just as countless ninjas were still puzzled by the sudden emergence of this mysterious Hollow Spirit Empire, someone revealed the details of the battle that had taken place in Konoha Forest.
The Fifth Hokage had died outright in that battle, while the other four Kage had all suffered severe injuries. And the cause of it all had been the so-called Emperor of the Hollow Spirit Empire.
When they learned the Hollow Spirit Emperor's true name, they were all utterly shocked.
A name that had once existed only as a taboo within the Ninja World had finally been fully exposed to the public eye.
Whether it was the dark and filthy trading houses or the various groups of rogue ninjas that had formed on their own, after learning of the power the Hollow Spirit Empire could grant them, they secretly made their way to the Land of Rain in large numbers, hoping to become part of the Hollow Spirit Empire.
However, this also gave severely damaged Konoha a bit of time to recover.
At this moment, in Konoha, the streets that had once been bustling now had few pedestrians.
At the center of the village, where the Hokage Building had once stood, a massive crater lay eerily exposed, while the debris from the surrounding buildings had already been cleared away.
At that moment, groups of Konoha ninjas stood around the edge of the enormous crater, forming hand seals in unison.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Rampart!"
As the ninjas unleashed their jutsu, the soil within the huge crater began to churn before rapidly surging upward. Before long,