In Iwagakure, the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, had just finished hosting the Konoha delegation when a jonin hurried into his office.
"Lord Tsuchikage! We have urgent intelligence. Something has happened to Lord Roshi!"
"Roshi? What happened to him? Wasn't he training outside the village?"
Although he and Roshi disagreed on their ideals, they were still from the same shinobi village. Moreover, Roshi was one of the village's important jinchūriki, so Ōnoki had always assigned people to keep track of his movements.
"Lord Tsuchikage, Lord Roshi was attacked by members of the Akatsuki. They took him away."
"What? The Akatsuki!"
Ōnoki slapped the desk and stood up, though there wasn't much difference between his standing and sitting heights.
"How dare those bastards come into our Land of Earth and stir up trouble!"
He knew a little about the Akatsuki, but at first, he hadn't cared.
After all, the Akatsuki had always operated within those small nations. As long as they stayed out of the Land of Earth, they posed no threat.
Besides, he himself was one of the Akatsuki's biggest clients.
There were many missions his village couldn't conveniently handle itself, and he had commissioned the Akatsuki to take care of all of them under various identities.
In a way, he had been quite generous to the Akatsuki. After all, Deidara, the student he was proudest of and whose loss he regretted most, had joined that organization too.
But now the Akatsuki had actually come after him. Damn them.
Still, Ōnoki had never been an impulsive man. He knew very well how to weigh the pros and cons.
Although the Akatsuki was merely an organization made up of rogue ninja, its fighting strength was formidable. Every core member was an S-rank rogue ninja.
"Do we have any more information? Have we figured