Outside Konoha.
An ANBU Squad stood at the edge of a cliff, admiring the village's distant nightscape.
Even in the darkness, they continued to watch over the village's peace. Although the village had signed ceasefire agreements with the other shinobi villages, the fighting in the shadows had never stopped.
After taking a bite of a reheated rice ball, an ANBU ninja suddenly focused his gaze. He leaped into the treetops, took out a pair of binoculars, and looked toward the distant sky.
The other ANBU members leaped up as well, all staring in the same direction.
Before long, the ANBU Squad spotted a point of light in the distance. At first, it was only a speck, but then it rapidly expanded into a flash that lit up the night as brightly as the midnight sun.
The flash lasted only a few seconds, but it left the ANBU members stunned.
Once they recovered from their brief blindness, the ANBU members exchanged glances and launched a signal flare. Then they scattered, heading toward the source of the flash and the village.
Having lived through the Nine-Tails' Rampage, they could not simply dismiss it as fireworks.
And since there had been no sign of a meteor falling through the sky, the only possibility was that ninjas were fighting.
But in their memories, the only ninjas capable of producing such a massive disturbance and such brilliant light were those who stood at the pinnacle of the shinobi world-the Kage.
In this era of peace, who would wage such a fierce battle near Konoha?
The Anbu Squad Leader was baffled, but all he could do was report the incident to Lord Hokage.
The signal flare's fiery trail streaked across the sky.
Inside his office, Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned. That flare belonged to the ANBU under