Iwagakure, Tsuchikage Building.
The rocky towers outside the window looked especially oppressive beneath the gloomy sky.
In truth, how one interpreted such a view depended entirely on one's mood and state of mind.
The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, floated in midair with his hands behind his back.
In his youth, those heavy, unyielding rocks had represented the indomitable will passed down through generations in the Land of Earth.
When faced with a mountain, carve through the mountain. There was nowhere that will could not chisel its way through.
Konoha had the Will of Fire, and Iwagakure had the Will of Stone.
But today, his back pain was especially severe. More suffocating than the pain in his body, however, was the unease in his heart.
He was old. Whenever he looked at those huge stones outside, he could not help thinking of the gravestones of his departed friends.
A top-secret report that had just arrived lay on his desk—the Three-Tails Jinchūriki, Yagura, had been confirmed captured at the border of the Land of Water.
Akatsuki had made the move.
"Damn it... those rabid dogs." Ōnoki cursed under his breath.
In the past, he would have denounced Akatsuki's ambitions without hesitation and perhaps even dispatched troops to wipe them out. But now, as he looked at the blood-red region representing the Land of Fire on the map, the shadow called Naruto Uzumaki was spreading outward like ink. Strangely, he actually felt a flicker of relief at the Three-Tails falling into enemy hands.
At least the Tailed Beast had not fallen into that blond madman's hands.
"Looks like the air in the Tsuchikage Building isn't very good. It's left even you, 'Two Scales,' gasping for breath?"
A deep, hoarse voice, laced with obvious mockery, suddenly sounded from the corner of the room.
Ōnoki spun