"Tch." Nawaki curled his lip in disdain and muttered, "Enjoy your little moment while it lasts."
"Rin, stop tidying up."
Xuan Zhe called Rin Nohara over, his gaze settling on the map on the table. He sneered. "Who would've thought we'd actually get pushed right back to our doorstep?"
Xuan Zhe had brought his troops up from the south to meet Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others.
The journey alone had taken ten days or so.
Kirigakure hadn't been sitting idle, either.
They had launched another offensive.
And the result?
Konoha's army had been routed just as badly.
All they could do was keep retreating.
The southern Land of Fire had practically become hell on earth.
The Kirigakure Ninja were vicious and ruthless.
The name "Bloody Mist Village"-
Kirigakure was already beginning to show signs of it at that stage.
There was no counting how many people the Land of Fire had lost or how much property had been destroyed.
Hiruzen Sarutobi himself had lost track of how many letters the daimyo had sent him, each one tearing him a new one.
Looking at the map again-
Kirigakure's army had advanced to a point just over two hundred li from the daimyo's residence, and only about three hundred li from Konoha.
That might sound like a long way.
But it was close enough for a Jonin skilled in stealth to slip over without anyone noticing.
The situation at the daimyo's residence was already desperate.
Xuan Zhe and the others could practically picture the Land of Fire's daimyo stamping his feet in fury.
"I really don't get it. How do some people keep losing when they have twice as many troops?" Nawaki cast a pointed glance at the F4.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other three looked thunderous.
Mitokado Homura gritted his teeth.