Months passed, and the conflict began.
"Begin the blitz on Cloud Shadow Village!"
The three forces were led by Baki, Akatsuchi, and Kakashi, respectively.
The stronger fighters remained inside the tent, which stood in a small rest camp built a month earlier when the three forces had joined up thirty kilometers from Cloud Shadow Village.
Any closer, and they would have risked discovery. However battered their enemy was, it was still a major village with reconnaissance capabilities. Closing the distance further would have made them easy to detect.
They had only managed to get this close because Zhenquan had deliberately pulled back his sphere of influence, preparing to muster a force at any moment for a civil war within the village.
That was why he had withdrawn. Otherwise, with the Kage dead, they would certainly have sent scouts farther afield to prevent the news from spreading or guard against unexpected developments.
But sometimes, the future could not be rehearsed, and no one could see beyond their own field of vision.
This time had all but confirmed that failure.
Inside the large tent erected when the three forces joined up, Jiraiya sat at the head.
Since Konoha was leading the operation, someone from Konoha naturally had to take command, and that person needed clout. As one of the Sannin, renowned throughout the Shinobi World, Jiraiya was the obvious choice.
The other two were Kitsuchi from Rock Shadow Village and Baki from the Sand Village.
There were also leaders from several smaller villages, while Amegakure had sent Konan.
Other villages whose names were hardly known had sent a few Elite Jonin.
But in terms of actual strength, the standards for Elite Jonin in the major villages were higher than those in smaller villages.
All in all, these were hired fighters risking their