But when Iwagakure and Kumogakure received the intelligence on the Akatsuki—good lord.
The Akatsuki controlled six of the nine tailed beasts and had a full ten Kage-level fighters, counting Itachi, the undercover agent Konoha had not disclosed. One of them even possessed the Sage's eyes, and his strength was reportedly far beyond Kage level.
Konoha, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure secretly contacted one another and deliberated at length, only to discover, to their dismay, that even their combined strength might not be enough to defeat the Akatsuki.
Sensing serious trouble, the three had no choice but to reach out to Sunagakure, Kirigakure, and the Land of Whirlpools as well. Naturally, their main objective was to bring in the Lord of the Land of Whirlpools—Uchiha Feng.
In their eyes, given Feng's ambitions, he could not possibly stay out of something that concerned the future of the entire Ninja World.
After all, stopping and defeating the Akatsuki together would also eliminate a powerful enemy for Feng.
As for Sunagakure and Kirigakure, Sunagakure barely had anyone left and could not be counted on at all. The three villages were only bringing it in to bolster their numbers;
Kirigakure, meanwhile, had never communicated much with them, so how much effective fighting strength it could provide remained unknown.
Still, Sunagakure and Kirigakure were counted among the Five Great Shinobi Villages alongside the other three. Whatever their actual strength, bringing them along would at least make for an impressive, intimidating show of force.
Of course, what the three villages really wanted was to bring in some cannon fodder to reduce their own casualties, then send Uchiha Feng, another troublesome fellow, up against the Akatsuki leader whose strength far exceeded Kage level.
That way, no matter who won or lost, they would have one less powerful enemy.
Unfortunately, while