The Kazekage sighed. "Sigh. I originally wanted to send a letter that day, but the reconstruction in the village was just too busy. I couldn't care about anything else." Whether this sentence was true or false, Torifu didn't care. After all, it wasn't his village that was bombed.
"It doesn't make any sense to talk about this now. We'll just have to see if their next target will be Konoha."
The Kazekage paused when he heard this. "If they really come to attack Konoha, with your strength, Hokage-sama, they'll probably never make it back. It's a pity that I have to leave tomorrow and won't be able to witness your heroic appearance."
Torifu smiled and waved his hand. "You're joking, Kazekage-sama. You and I are both Kage-level. Our strengths are about the same. My Sensei is the one who's mainly in charge of the village's defenses. I'm just here to handle official business."
The Kazekage also chuckled and didn't say anything. Any fool could tell that this was just a humble statement. If you really thought the Hokage didn't have any strength, you'd probably die very quickly.
"Kazekage-sama has been away for many days. Is there anyone in the village who can hold down the fort?"
"Of course. Chiyo-sama and Second Kazekage-sama are more than enough. I'll also speed up my pace on the way back and should be able to make it in a little over a day."
Torifu nodded when he heard this. Although the Hidden Sand Village had far fewer Kage-level ninjas than Konoha, they were all veteran ninjas. Their strength was very solid and they were quite reliable. Otherwise, if you went on a long journey to negotiate cooperation, only to find that your home had been robbed when you got back, it would be a huge loss.
The Kazekage was going to leave early tomorrow morning, so the two of them confirmed the areas of cooperation once more. After that, they ended the meeting. The Hidden Sand Village and the Hidden Stone Village had both been attacked. The attacks were only about three days apart. He wondered if Konoha would be attacked in three days. If they were safe, that would be great. But if they were foolish enough to attack Konoha, it would be as the Kazekage had said: they wouldn't be able to leave alive.
After the meeting ended, Torifu chatted with the Kazekage all the way to his lodging. After they said their goodbyes, he left. But Torifu didn't go home. Instead, he turned and went to his office. When he opened the door, Dan had already been waiting inside for a long time.
"Hokage-sama."
"It's been a whole day. Is there any new information?" Dan took a step forward. "I was just about to report to you. When that mysterious group attacked the Hidden Stone Village, they suffered casualties because of the Second and Third Tsuchikage's strength. Two of the ten people died."
"But because of Dust Release, there were no bodies left behind. However, according to the intelligence, these people don't have any special abilities. They only use normal ninjutsu. There are no secret jutsus or kekkei genkai among them."
When Torifu heard this information, he pondered for a moment. They didn't have any special abilities, yet they were able to cultivate to Kage-level strength and even reach a level comparable to the Five Kage! There were a total of ten of these people, or possibly more, but why had he never heard of them? It was as if they had appeared overnight. Without any special bloodline, it would take at least thirty to forty years or even longer to cultivate to this level. But they hadn't made a sound in the shinobi world and had been hiding and cultivating until now, just to cause destruction in the great shinobi villages. Was this normal?
"Is there any other information?"
Dan shook his head when he heard this. "There is no other information. The Third Tsuchikage has ordered the entire village to be locked down, and no one is allowed to enter or leave. This is all the information that has come out of the Hidden Stone Village."
Torifu nodded when he heard this, his right hand constantly tapping the table. "These people appeared out of nowhere, and their motives are unclear. I don't know why they attacked the great shinobi villages, and I don't know why they didn't kill anyone and just destroyed buildings." Now, Torifu was actually hoping that they would come to Konoha. He absolutely had to capture a few of them and have a good chat with them.
Chaos was coming again. This time, Torifu would not act blindly like he did in the Land of Whirlpools. Kage-level strength was plentiful in Konoha, so he wasn't afraid of being attacked by ten Kage-level ninjas. What he was afraid of was them coming out in full force and leaving Konoha powerless to resist, but Torifu thought that was unlikely. Otherwise, why would they only send ten people when they knew that the two Kage of the Hidden Stone Village were extraordinarily strong?
"Since there's no more information, don't leave the village yourself either. Stay in the village, and have your subordinates also stay in Konoha. Except for the ninjas who are on missions outside, all ninjas will temporarily stop taking missions. The Kumotsuru Clan will provide a subsidy."
Dan was originally thinking that if the ninjas didn't take missions, they wouldn't have any income, and he didn't know how long this would last. But when he heard that the Kumotsuru Clan would provide a subsidy, he stopped worrying. Sure enough, the Hokage was more thoughtful.
"Okay. I'll go and release the message now." After he said that, he turned and left. And on the mission bulletin board at the mission guild, a new notice was quickly posted. The ninjas gathered around to look and found that all of them were not allowed to take missions. This had never happened in Konoha before. A curfew was also announced yesterday. It was hard not to connect the two things.
"Is something going to happen?"
"Who knows? Hokage-sama might be worried about our safety. Anyway, we'll have a subsidy, so we'll just follow the orders." The ninjas chattered about the news on the notice, and it quickly spread throughout Konoha. The great clans also received the news and began to inquire about recent events. This kind of thing naturally couldn't be hidden from the ordinary villagers either. First, they were forbidden from leaving the village, and then they were forbidden from going out at night. Was something really going to happen?
However, they weren't scared. This was Konoha, the safest place in the entire shinobi world. If even the Hokage couldn't protect them, they would die no matter where they ran. All of these notices were conveying the Hokage's commands. As long as they followed the Hokage, nothing would go wrong. The villagers of Konoha had always trusted the Hokage. No matter if it was the First, Second, or now Torifu, as long as any law or notice was issued, the villagers would happily carry it out. This naturally saved Torifu a lot of time and effort.
After Dan left, Torifu also got up to leave. It was already dusk outside, but Torifu didn't have time to appreciate the scenery.
"We'll see. In two or three days, will these guys come to Konoha?" Torifu wanted to see who these people were who could cause two great shinobi villages to suffer such losses. Konoha was never afraid of them.