After receiving the Land of Earth's request for aid, the Land of Flame held a meeting to discuss the matter.
As allies, helping guard their rear line was not unreasonable. Besides, being willing to entrust their rear line to them was, in a sense, a sign of trust in their allies. Thus, quite a few people supported sending reinforcements to the Land of Earth.
However, although many people voiced their agreement, it was of little use, because Uchiha Madara, the one who could truly make the decision, was displeased.
In Madara's eyes, the Land of Earth had some value, but it was not irreplaceable. In other words, they thought far too highly of themselves. They wanted to borrow the Land of Flame's military strength without offering anything in return. Trying to take advantage of Madara like that? They were dreaming.
Thus, Madara directly stated that the Land of Earth had to trade the Lonely Mountain Wasteland—the Land of Earth's territory that the two sides had temporarily exchanged before the war—for it. Otherwise, there would be no discussion.
After receiving the reply, many people in the Land of Earth were naturally dissatisfied. Yet for some reason, Ishikawa, the Tsuchikage, overrode all objections and directly agreed to Madara's terms, readily handing over the land.
Now that they had obtained the territory, the Land of Flame naturally had no excuse to refuse. To show goodwill, they dispatched two teams to take turns assisting in the defense. However, half the members of those teams were newcomers, clearly intending to use this opportunity to temper the younger generation.
Outstanding young talents like Kagami Uchiha naturally took part as well. He and Might Yuan formed a team and were responsible for that day's daytime patrol.
Although guarding the rear line was important, it was not particularly