On the outskirts of Sunagakure, inside an underground base.
Candlelight cast wavering shadows on the walls, flickering in the faint drafts seeping through the vents and stretching and compressing everyone's silhouettes.
The secret base lay beneath a dune roughly thirty kilometers west of Sunagakure, its entrance concealed in a fissure in a wind-eroded rock formation.
Three secured doors had to be passed to reach the interior. The first was a pivoting stone door disguised as a rock wall, the second had a chakra-sensing lock, and the third was an iron gate inscribed with sealing formulas.
Oil lamps were set into both sides of the passage every few meters. The light was dim, and the smell of dust mingled with the tarry odor of burning candles, creating a stifling sense of oppression in the enclosed space.
The conference room was small, with room for around twenty people. Sealing formulas covered its walls to block chakra detection, ensuring that no one outside could pick up the conversations within.
A detailed topographical map of the Land of Wind lay spread across the table. Several areas had already been circled in red and marked "evacuated" or "do not approach."
All the Hidden Sand Village's senior leaders sat around the table, their expressions grave. The latest intelligence scroll had already made the rounds and now lay open in the center of the table.
The report was brief, but every entry was enough to leave everyone present silent for a moment.
Hyuga Tianyi and Jiraiya had fought a great battle deep in the desert. Jiraiya had been defeated and escorted back to the Hidden Leaf Camp as a prisoner.
Meanwhile, in the once-deserted wastes deep within the Land of Wind, a stretch of dunes had been completely transformed into an enormous crater more than a meter