Several years ago, the Hidden Sand Village of the Land of Wind launched a war under the pretense of the Third Kazekage's disappearance, intending to divert internal tensions outward.
The first to bear the brunt was the Leaf Village of the Land of Fire—a land blessed with fertile soil and abundant resources.
What began as small-scale skirmishes along the border gradually escalated into full-scale warfare.
During this time, the Hidden Stone Village of the Land of Earth and the Hidden Cloud Village of the Land of Lightning also began stirring, each waiting for the right moment before launching their own offensives against Konoha.
At that time, Konoha was under unprecedented pressure. While fighting off three major nations on the outside, it also had to balance the power of the major clans within the village. Almost all available forces were mobilized.
Fortunately, the notoriously unpredictable Hidden Cloud Village proved to be unexpectedly helpful. They first launched a surprise attack on the Hidden Sand Village, then backstabbed the Hidden Stone Village. These actions bought Konoha some much-needed breathing room.
Taking advantage of the Sand's weakness and the conflict between the Stone and Cloud, and with Namikaze Minato's brilliant exploits, Konoha swiftly crushed the Hidden Sand and forced them to sign a ceasefire.
Simultaneously, Konoha destroyed the Hidden Stone's supply lines, collapsing their front-line forces and leaving them unable to wage large-scale war again in the near future.
At this point, the tide of war had turned.
Just as Konoha was starting to celebrate the end of the war, thinking the nightmare was finally over, the Hidden Cloud struck again—this time, directly at Konoha.
The Hidden Cloud had previously suffered setbacks from both the Sand and the Stone. Their sneak attack on the Sand was foiled and repelled.
Later, when attempting to strike the Stone from behind, they walked right into an ambush, resulting in the death of the Third Raikage himself.
With those failures behind them, the Hidden Cloud decided to vent their wrath on Konoha.
It was a move so baffling that even Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, likely racked his brain trying to understand what went on in the heads of these reckless brutes from the Hidden Cloud.
To make matters worse, the Hidden Mist Village of the Land of Water—long silent among the Five Great Nations—chose this moment to declare war on Konoha as well.
Once more, Konoha found itself pushed to the brink.
Though the Hidden Stone couldn't launch another full-scale invasion, they were far from crippled. With plenty of shinobi still at their disposal, they could reignite the war at any moment. Konoha had no choice but to station heavy forces along their shared border.
And while the Hidden Sand had signed a ceasefire, it was little more than a meaningless piece of paper. If an opportunity arose, they could tear up the agreement and rejoin the fight at any time.
That meant Konoha also had to keep troops along the Sand's borders.
Now with war against the Hidden Cloud in full swing, Konoha found itself too depleted to fend off the Hidden Mist's attack.
With no other choice, the Konoha leadership turned to the two major clans they had always been wary of: the Uchiha and the Hyuga.
Both were powerful, prestigious clans.
Their immense strength and rigid clan systems had long made the higher-ups of Konoha uneasy.
The Uchihas in particular, known for their pride and defiance, had always been a thorn in the side of Konoha's leadership—especially those influenced by the Second Hokage's philosophy.
Konoha's leaders had multiple reasons for keeping the Uchiha away from the battlefield.
First, isolating them prevented them from gaining enough military merit to influence Konoha's central power structure.
Second, the Uchiha's Sharingan was a dangerous kekkei genkai that evolved through emotional trauma. The battlefield, with its constant death and separation, was a perfect storm of such triggers.
While most shinobi grew weaker the longer they fought, the Uchiha often became stronger.
After all, only the strongest survive a war.
While their numbers might dwindle, their overall quality would surge. In fact, during this war alone, two members of the Uchiha had awakened the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan.
Each one was worth an army.
Under such circumstances, it was only natural for Konoha's leadership to avoid sending the Uchiha into combat.
But with the Hidden Mist joining the fray, Konoha had reached its limit. With no other options, they had to deploy the Uchiha to the front lines against the Mist.
Throughout the entirety of the Third Great Ninja War, the other four great nations fought in bursts and lulls—but Konoha never stopped, facing a different enemy with every turn.
Nearly eight years of continuous war had left the entire village exhausted, body and soul.
And now, finally, the war was about to end.
"Jin, what should we do now? Are we bringing them back to the village?" Minato quickly collected himself and turned to ask Jin.
The war wasn't truly over yet—there was no room for carelessness.
Jin fell silent for a moment before responding with a question of his own. "What do you think?"
Minato hesitated, then said, "The Third Raikage is dead, and the Fourth hasn't officially taken the position. The Hidden Cloud is currently without leadership."
"If we want to end this war, we at least need to send their Fourth Raikage candidate back to stabilize their situation."
"I can tell that this A has a deep bond with the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. With him around to mediate, it'll be easier to secure a peace treaty."
Minato was proposing that they release A and send him back to the Hidden Cloud.
After all, any village—especially one leaderless—is bound to have conflicting voices. Some would surely try to seize power.
Given A's deep connection with Killer B, keeping B hostage would be far more effective if A was in a position of influence.
But that would only be true in theory.
Jin chuckled. "Minato, you're making one mistake. If it were any other village, your plan would be sound. But don't forget—the Hidden Cloud is a different beast altogether."
"Do you really believe that if you let A go, that brute won't turn around the next day with an army and threaten us with an all-out war to force our hand?"
Minato froze at those words. But after a moment's thought, recalling the Hidden Cloud's notorious behavior, he couldn't refute it.
After all, everyone knew the Hidden Cloud was full of war-hungry maniacs.
Jin continued, "A and Killer B—one is the Fourth Raikage candidate, the other is the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. These are people the Hidden Cloud will never give up on."
"Only by keeping both of them under our control can we force the Hidden Cloud to sit at the negotiation table."
Minato frowned and asked, "Are you sure their leadership will reach a consensus on this?"
Jin understood the deeper meaning behind the question. He sighed and said, "The Hidden Cloud's leadership isn't like ours. They're far more unified."
"And their Raikage's advisor, Dodai, is a smart man. He won't let anyone stir up trouble."
"So we bring A and Killer B back to the village for now."
After a brief pause, Jin added, as if remembering something important, "Oh, and when you report back, don't mention me. Just say it was your squad's achievement."
Minato's pupils contracted. Shocked, he asked, "Jin… are you saying this mission wasn't ordered by the Third Hokage?"