Amegakure lay at the intersection of the borders of the three great nations—the Land of Earth, Land of Wind, and Land of Fire—so it often became a battlefield whenever the surrounding great nations went to war. A classic case of "when the city gate catches fire, the fish in the moat suffer."
In fact, the situations of small countries and villages such as the Land of Grass, Land of Rivers, Land of Stone, Takigakure... were similar to Amegakure's. But only Amegakure had been shattered so thoroughly by this tragedy.
Why?
Because Amegakure had produced Hanzō of the Salamander, the "Demigod of the Shinobi World."
By all rights, Amegakure was the victim, while the three great nations were bullies who preyed on the weak. Yet the reality of the Shinobi World was "the strong devour the weak."
Weakness was the original sin.
What had Kusagakure, fellow sufferers in the same predicament, done?
They played both sides, kissing the boots of whoever was strongest. It was a little shameful, but at least they survived. How did that saying go—so long as the green hills remained, there would be no shortage of firewood. Kusagakure, which had always acted like a mangy dog, had never truly regarded itself as one. Judging from its research into the Box of Ultimate Bliss, it had never abandoned its ambition to rise again.
From that perspective, Hayato rather admired Kusagakure's higher-ups. Unfortunately, the Box of Ultimate Bliss was not what they imagined it to be. Failure had been inevitable—pitiful, tragic, and sad.
Hanzō of the Salamander, on the other hand, was much simpler. One word: defiant!
Perhaps the title "Demigod of the Shinobi World" had gone to his head. He wanted to replicate Hashirama Senju Clan's great feat of single-handedly "winning people over with virtue" and "persuading" the