The Fall of Thunder

The war across the Ninja World shifted as swiftly as a sandstorm in the desert. Any spark could ignite an unforeseen blaze. Third Raikage A's decision to personally lead a surprise attack on the Land of Earth had been intended to break the deadlock and restore Kumogakure's prestige. Yet before this spear of lightning could strike, its edge had already been noticed by eyes lurking in the darkness.

Within the gloomy underground base of Konoha's Root, Shimura Danzō toyed with an intelligence scroll in his hand, his single eye gleaming with cold calculation. Almost simultaneously, he received reports of Kumogakure's unusual movements and Iwagakure's main force redeploying westward toward the Land of Wind. A vicious scheme to set tiger against wolf and reap the rewards took shape in his mind at once.

He did not share the intelligence with the Third Hokage. Instead, through Root's secret channels, he cleverly "leaked" the news that "the Third Raikage intends to personally lead elite forces in a surprise assault on the Land of Earth" to Ōnoki, far away in the Land of Earth.

Almost at the same time, an order from the "Hokage"—in truth forged or influenced by Danzō—reached Minato Namikaze at the northeastern border. It ordered his unit to intensify its containment and pressure against the Kumogakure A-B Duo at the border of the Land of Hot Water, ensuring they could not easily break away.

When the shrewd Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki received this suspicious yet impossible-to-ignore intelligence, he was fretting over the stalemate on the northwestern front, in the direction of the Land of Wind. He made his judgment almost immediately: even if the information was a trap, it was worth the gamble! Without hesitation, he secretly pulled a large number of elite troops back from the forces attacking the Land of