Konoha and Suna were also greatly alarmed when they received this news. They had never imagined that the Grass Village could actually unite with the Hidden Stone Village to deal with the Cloud Village. This was previously unimaginable.
After all, the Hidden Stone Village had only recently allied with the Cloud Village to invade the Land of Cherry Blossoms. In their view, the Cloud Village and the Hidden Stone Village should have had a grudge against the Grass Village, and then the Hidden Stone Village and the Cloud Village should have joined forces to suppress the Grass Village, or even triggered a second war.
Indeed, it later triggered a second war as they expected, but things did not develop as they had envisioned. The alliance between the Hidden Stone Village and the Grass Village was something not only they but everyone else had not expected.
Afterward, Konoha immediately convened an emergency meeting. Not only the Konoha high-ranking officials, but all Jonin and other elite ninjas in the village, except for Jonin on missions outside the village, participated in this meeting.
It wasn't just Konoha; even Suna, which had just elected a new Kazekage, and some other major powers also convened emergency meetings to discuss how to respond to this war.
The great war completely erupted. The Grass ninjas, during their standoff with the Hidden Stone ninjas and Cloud ninjas, suddenly broke through the defense line from the southern border of the Land of Lightning and killed their way into the Land of Lightning.
Their momentum was like breaking bamboo. The Cloud ninjas patrolling along the way in the Land of Lightning were all swept away by the Grass ninja troops with overwhelming force. Their target was directly the Cloud Village, the Cloud ninja's main base.
"You, you won't have a good end!!!!!!" Several Cloud ninjas, their mouths bloody, glared furiously at the Grass ninjas opposite them, who were charging like mad demons.
"Less talk, go to hell!!!!" More than ten Grass ninjas, expressionless and merciless, stabbed kunai into the Cloud ninjas' hearts, or used kunai to cut their throats. Fresh blood stained the ground covered with tree leaves red.
"Let's go, keep advancing!!!!" With the sound of breaking air, over ten Grass ninjas instantly disappeared from their original spots. Behind them, more Grass ninjas followed from behind, team after team, their target precisely the Cloud Village.
Such a huge commotion happened within the Land of Lightning. If the Cloud Village still didn't notice, then all the high-ranking officials of the Cloud Village were pigs. In this situation, even if the Grass ninja troops wanted to hide, they couldn't.
Looking at the intelligence in his hand, the Raikage, who was currently in a standoff with the Hidden Stone ninjas at the northern border of the Land of Lightning, had a dark face, his forehead veins bulging, and his whole body trembling slightly.
"Raikage-sama." The elite ninjas who accompanied the Raikage on the expedition all looked very grim, all looking worriedly at the Raikage's extremely grim face. The Raikage tremblingly closed his eyes, then took several deep breaths.
The trembling on his body gradually stopped. At this moment, he slowly opened his eyes and had returned to calmness. At this moment, as the Raikage, he was very clear that he must be calm. This was not something that could be solved by simply losing his temper.
"So that's how it is. I was wondering why the Hidden Stone Village surprisingly invaded the Land of Lightning without warning. It turns out that Oonoki had already colluded with the Grass Village." The Raikage said faintly. Although his tone was not as violent as before, everyone here clearly knew that at this moment, an unimaginable monstrous rage was hidden deep within his heart.
"Raikage-sama, what should we do now? It seems the Hidden Stone Village is just a decoy. Oonoki deliberately lured us to the border to confront him and delay us." C said with some hesitation.
The Raikage took a few deep breaths and remained silent for a moment. His eyes gradually grew cold, and he said coldly, "First, retreat back to the village to deal with those bastards from the Grass Village. There's no point in wasting time here with them now. If anything happens to the Cloud Village, it would be terrible. That is our root, and absolutely cannot be lost."
"But Raikage-sama, what about those guys from the Hidden Stone Village? If we retreat, it's like leaving our backs to them. If the Hidden Stone Village attacks us from behind, I'm afraid our ninja troops will completely collapse." Darui said with a solemn expression.
Hearing Darui's words, everyone nodded. Since ancient times, when two armies fought, leaving one's back to the enemy was a great taboo. Once an army fought and retreated, collapse was an inevitable problem, even for ninjas. If it was a small number of individual ninjas, it might be fine, but a large ninja force would definitely suffer heavy losses.
"Indeed, that old geezer Tsuchikage will definitely not let go of this opportunity!!!" Samui also nodded solemnly, her eyes incomparably cold.
After a moment of silence, the Raikage raised his head and said to the crowd: "My decision is made. Now the village is the most important. Although Bee is also in the village, the Grass ninjas have the existence of Sharingan and Uchiha Itachi. That guy has the ability to manipulate Tailed Beasts, and with Bee's personality, I'm worried something unexpected might happen."
"Only this way. All ninjas above Jonin will follow me to cover the rear. The rest of the ninja troops will return to the Cloud Village at full speed. As for the squad leaders, I'll leave it to you two, C and Darui. Omoi and Samui, you too." The Raikage said with a solemn expression.
"Raikage-sama!!!!!" Everyone looked at the Raikage with shocked faces. They knew that doing this carried too great a risk. Once surrounded by the Hidden Stone ninjas' main force, even the Raikage would be in comparable danger.
The Third Raikage in the past died of exhaustion after being surrounded by the Hidden Stone army for three days and three nights while covering the retreat of his Cloud ninja comrades.
"No need to say more. This is currently the best way!!! Only this way can we minimize the losses to our village. And you don't need to worry too much. This time is different from last time. Oonoki simply cannot keep me with just those people!!!" The Raikage said coldly, his voice somewhat confident.
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