The Land of Earth, Iwagakure.
Surrounded by rocky mountains, the village had solid defenses that made it difficult for enemies to penetrate.
Throughout all the Shinobi World Wars, its defenses had never been breached.
But for some reason, as Ōnoki handled government affairs that day, he suddenly felt uneasy, as though something was about to happen.
Before long, his intuition proved correct.
The members of Kurotsuchi's squad successfully brought back their intelligence.
After reading it, Ōnoki's expression immediately darkened.
Someone actually had the gall to abduct Iwagakure's Jinchūriki within the Land of Earth?!
Who dared commit such an outrage? Were they trying to start another Shinobi World War?
Ōnoki could hardly be blamed for thinking that way, because those so-called Ninja Beasts had originally been given to them at the first Five Kage Summit by the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, in the name of peace in the Shinobi World. He had called it a "sale," but it had effectively been a gift.
Although every Shinobi Village with a Tailed Beast later treated it as a devastating weapon of war, making the wars even more brutal instead.
Still, few dared set their sights on another village's Ninja Beast, because everyone understood that the balance of Tailed Beasts did provide a foundation of sorts for their hard-won peace.
Once that balance was upset and large numbers of Tailed Beasts became concentrated in the hands of a single force, no one would be able to sleep soundly.
It would inevitably trigger another war, one that would not end until one side was destroyed.
That was also why no one had stepped forward to object when Kirigakure had previously "leased" the One-Tail Jinchuriki from Sunagakure.
If Konoha had wanted the One-Tail Jinchuriki, Iwagakure and Kumogakure would have been the first to object.
But Kirigakure