Konoha.
More than a month had passed since Uchiha Gen declared war on the entire Shinobi World at the daimyo's estate.
Over that month, considerable unrest had broken out across the nations of the Shinobi World, all of it connected to Konoha's declaration.
The moment word spread that Uchiha Gen had issued his declaration and launched a war of unification, the bandits targeted by D-rank missions and the small fry who had deserted their villages during the last war for various reasons all went mad.
Everyone wanted to take advantage of Konoha's move to secure a share of the profits for themselves.
The moment the nations' daimyo received the news, they contacted their respective shinobi villages. And then... nothing followed.
Aside from Kirigakure, which gave a definite reply, the other shinobi villages all gave ambiguous answers.
Their contents roughly amounted to...
"Mm, we know."
It was very perfunctory, but even so, the daimyo saw nothing wrong with it. After all, in their eyes, the shinobi villages were merely their tools.
And why would tools ever disobey?
Konoha's offensive had not made them realize that times had changed.
Meanwhile, under Uchiha Gen's orders, Konoha fully revealed its nature as a war machine, with every shinobi clan and department springing into action.
Naturally, there were voices of confusion among them, as well as those unwilling to follow Uchiha Gen into this war of political upheaval that would sweep across the entire Shinobi World.
But they soon agreed. As for how they came to agree, never mind that.
In this war between Konoha and the Shinobi World, no one dared relax, and everyone was actively preparing, except... Uchiha Gen.
That was only natural, though. After all, the others did not yet know that he alone controlled four of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.