Sunagakure's surrender and the news that the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, had been slapped into the ground at the border spread through every corner of the ninja world as though it had grown wings.
Konoha, Hokage Building.
In the office with its newly replaced desk, the atmosphere was so oppressive it seemed possible to wring water from it.
"Ōnoki recruited Sasori of the Red Sands and even beat up Rasa?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi clenched his pipe between his teeth, his hand trembling as if he had Parkinson's.
"Is... is the information confirmed?"
"Without a doubt, Lord Hokage."
The Anbu kneeling on one knee did not even dare raise his head, his voice carrying a sobbing tone.
"Our informants in the Land of Wind saw it with their own eyes. Rasa was carried back to the village on a stretcher. They say more than a dozen bones were broken, and he still can't get out of bed."
Bang!
The pipe in Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand fell straight to the floor and shattered.
A bone-chilling cold crept from his tailbone all the way to the top of his head.
The sleeping lion of Iwagakure had completely awakened.
No, it was no longer a lion. It had become a greedy prehistoric crocodile!
First it swallowed the Uchiha, then it recruited the Three Sannin, and now it even dared to snatch an S-rank rogue ninja from the Akatsuki Organization.
It had opened its bloody maw, ready to swallow the entire ninja world whole!
"No... We absolutely cannot sit around and wait for death any longer!"
In the corner, Shimura Danzō, wrapped in bandages, slammed his cane against the floor. His hoarse voice echoed through the office.
"Hiruzen! Iwagakure's rise has been far too strange!"
A sickly obsession flickered in Danzo's single eye.
"They must have mastered some