The suffocating silence and standoff in the square before the Hokage Building were broken by frantic, stumbling footsteps and shouts, carrying the reek of blood.
"Report!!!"
A jonin drenched in blood, his chakra fluctuations feeble, scrambled into the edge of the square. His voice cracked into a piercing cry, instantly tearing through the heavy air.
"Land of Rivers... urgent report from the Land of Rivers! The fifteen-hundred-strong garrison... wiped out! The Sunagakure monster... unstoppable! Three days! They only held out for three days!"
Boom!
It was as though thunder had exploded among the crowd! Though they had already braced themselves, the combination of "wiped out" and "three days" still sent their scalps tingling and left their hands and feet icy.
Those had been fifteen hundred experienced Konoha border ninja! They were not made of paper!
"There's more!" the messenger roared, seemingly spending the last of his strength. "Urgent report from the northern front! Kumogakure is massing troops along the Land of Hot Water's border! Their vanguard has already clashed with our patrols! Their numbers... no fewer than five thousand!"
Kumogakure watched hungrily from the north, while Sunagakure breached their defenses and slaughtered in the south!
Their internal strife had yet to end, and foreign enemies had already arrived! And they were attacking from both sides with overwhelming force!
The deathly silence in the square was shattered completely, replaced by near-desperate panic and commotion. The clan representatives and jonin went pale in an instant. Even the Sarutobi chunin standing silently at attention showed a flicker of unease in their eyes.
"You all heard that?!" Danzo spun around, his lone eye sweeping over the clan heads and ninja following him. His voice was hoarse but ruthless.
"The men in the Land of Rivers didn't even last three days! Kumogakure's Raikage is already