Compared to Sora's warm family dinner.
The village higher-ups were already frowning deeply, overwhelmed with work.
The entire Raikage's office was shrouded in smoke, the heavy scent of tobacco creating an inescapable, suffocating anxiety.
Moloi sat in the seat of honor.
His once-shrewd old eyes were now bloodshot and deeply sunken into their sockets.
The mountain of dossiers and reports before him nearly buried him, every single one weighing heavily on his heart.
He kept refilling the pipe in his hand, with no idea how much tobacco he had already burned through.
Dodai sat below him, his expression equally exhausted.
The head of the jonin division was rapidly flipping through a list of casualty compensation payments, his brows tightly furrowed.
From time to time, he marked it with his pen.
Calculating the staggering amount of compensation required.
An elder advisor also sat to one side, using his thick fingers to point at the directions of the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Waterfalls on the sand-table map. In a hoarse voice, he reported the latest developments at the front and proposed adjustments to troop deployments.
"Hidden Stone doesn't need much attention for the time being because of Sora, but Konoha has been making moves one after another."
"They've continuously pulled back their defenses and constructed stronger fortifications. A large number of shinobi have already appeared along the Land of Hot Water's border. According to intelligence gathered by the Intelligence Division, even the forces that should have been guarding against Hidden Mist have gradually begun appearing along the Hot Water-Waterfalls border."
"Lord A has already returned to the village. If Konoha makes a move now, Lord Killer B's side may not be able to hold them off. I recommend immediately sending reinforcements to the front line to stabilize the