The wind swept sand reeking of rust across the cracked earth.
On the wasteland, charred dead trees jutted toward the lead-gray sky like twisted skeletons. A few remaining withered leaves trembled on the branches, letting out faint whimpers.
At the horizon, gray-yellow mist tangled with the low-hanging clouds, as though nothing remained between heaven and earth but suffocating desolation.
Hashirama Senju stood at the very front of Konoha's allied army, the muscles beneath his Crimson Armor tensing slightly.
He could feel the unrest in the soil beneath his feet—the Explosion Release traps the Sand Village and Tsuchikage allied shinobi had planted underground.
"The tremors in the earth veins have weakened considerably. Sand Shinobi, are you trying to dig up the very foundations of the Ninja World?"
He raised his eyes toward the white-cloaked figure atop the opposing dune, and his pupils abruptly contracted.
Sand Village's First Kazekage, Reto, was wiping an odd long blade, neither metal nor jade, with mechanical precision.
Behind him, two squads of shinobi in standardized dark-green uniforms stood silently in formation, metal cases gleaming coldly on their backs.
Farther behind them stood the densely packed Allied Shinobi Forces.
"The forests of the Land of Fire smell so sweet, even the wind."
Reto suddenly spoke, his voice like sandpaper grinding against metal. "What a pity that such abundance has never belonged to the people of the Land of Wind."
Hashirama frowned. "Using plunder to fill barrenness will only breed new hatred."
"Ha ha ha!"
Reto's wild laughter shook grains of sand loose. "Clan Head Senju, plunder is the norm in the Ninja World. It is not something you can end just because you want to. Peace? I want it too. But only if the people of my Land of Wind can stand upon fertile land as well,