Iwagakure.
In the Fourth Shinobi World War, Iwagakure had lost many outstanding ninja, foremost among them the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki.
It could even be said that Iwagakure had truly suffered a crippling blow.
After the war, Kurotsuchi had taken over as Tsuchikage and barely managed to get the village running normally again.
But all sorts of trouble had followed close behind.
Leaving aside Kurotsuchi's tenuous hold on the Tsuchikage position, Otsutsuki Toneri's recent attack on the shinobi world alone had caused enormous losses for Iwagakure.
The meteor shower falling from the sky had nearly destroyed the entire village outright.
Fortunately, Iwagakure had been lucky enough to avoid truly being driven into a corner.
Even so, the severely damaged village had left Kurotsuchi struggling to keep up.
With no other choice, she had even asked Konoha for help.
Although it had come at a price, with the help of the ninja Konoha sent under Kakashi Hatake's command, Iwagakure had begun rapidly restoring its former order.
Just then, a messenger ninja hawk from Konoha arrived in Iwagakure.
Kurotsuchi sat in her office reading the letter, her ankles resting on the edge of the desk, her posture casual but her gaze focused.
She read the letter from beginning to end, then slapped the scroll onto the desk.
"Tch."
Sitting across from her was Akatsuchi, cradling a teacup as round as his face and taking small sips of water. "What's wrong?"
"Is Konoha urging us to have Kakashi take his team back as soon as possible?"
It made sense. Kakashi was a senior figure in Konoha to begin with, and he had brought a large number of Konoha's outstanding ninja to help Iwagakure for so long.
By rights, it was time to let them leave.
"No."
"That Shihōin Naraku wants to hold another Five