While the Peace Treaty was in effect, the troops stationed along the border did not let down their guard.
Besides guarding against Cloud Ninja raids, they also had to watch out for rogue ninja. In this place where all sorts mingled, it was hard to tell whether someone was a rogue ninja or an ANBU operative from another country.
Apart from the Cloud Ninja posing as rogue ninja, Iwagakure also seemed intent on getting involved in the war between the two nations.
Konoha's main camp lay in a forest near the border, not far from the small countries caught between the two great powers. Their lands had become a battlefield, and their fates rested in the hands of Kumogakure and Konoha.
Before reaching the camp, the ANBU squad passed through an abandoned village. Apparently, quite a few families had lived there just a few years earlier, but years of war had driven them away or killed them.
In peacetime, it had been a stopping point for traveling merchant caravans. Its people had not been wealthy, but they had managed to get by.
Zou Hyuga and the others had already seen dozens of villages like it, yet every one still left them with a sense of desolation.
After reaching the camp, the ANBU squad met the commander, a Jonin from the Nara Clan.
Previously, Jiraiya of the Sannin had been responsible for guarding the border with Kumogakure. He had also been the only member of the Sannin still in the village, but he, too, had left not long ago.
"What's the situation at the border?" Oto Uchiha asked the Nara Jonin.
The Nara Jonin glanced at Oto Uchiha. "It doesn't look good. The Cloud Ninja keep harassing our supply lines, though things should improve considerably now that you're here..."
Not long