"The Land of Lightning has fallen!"
In the central command tent of the Land of Wind's army in southern Land of Fire, Reto grimly tossed the intelligence report in his hand onto the center of the conference table and said in a deep voice,
"By now, the entire Land of Lightning has fallen into the hands of the Land of Flame. Uchiha Izuna has gone to the Water Country, while Uchiha Enkō is handling the aftermath in the Land of Lightning. He will likely arrive at the Land of Fire battlefield soon."
Those below wore varying expressions. A relatively young junior looked at the grave faces of several elders and could not help asking in confusion,
"Isn't that good for us? The Land of Flame is our ally. If Uchiha Enkō can bring Flame Hidden Village's ninja into the battle, won't that take a great deal of pressure off us?"
"Idiot!"
As Sunagakure's second-in-command, Shamon spoke without mercy,
"Do you think everyone else is as stupid as you? If our ally grows stronger, the pressure on us will indeed lessen, but the benefits we receive in the end will also shrink. We've already paid so much for this war. If all we get in the end are scraps, then what are we fighting for? To work for them?"
"Th-This..."
The young junior turned red from the reprimand. His lips moved, but no words came out. Ashamed, he lowered his head.
"Enough, Shamon."
Reto was the one who finally eased the tense atmosphere. "Now that a problem has arisen, what we need to do is not blame one another, but figure out how to solve it. Tell me what you think."
The tent immediately fell silent. Everyone furrowed their brows, as though contemplating some century-old riddle. Seeing this, Reto could not