There wasn't actual territorial contact between the Five Great Nations.
When people spoke of territorial disputes between the Land of Water and the Land of Earth, the other four nations generally felt that the Land of Water was causing trouble, insisting on claiming an island tens of thousands of miles from their homeland as their territory.
In fact, the Land of Water even believed the entire ocean was their domain.
If you looked at the map, there were several countries separating the Land of Water and the Land of Earth; there was no issue of shared borders.
Perhaps it was due to too much mutual harm in past wars, leading to deep-seated resentment and old grudges.
As for the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning, these two large nations were also separated by two smaller countries. The Land of the Moon was closer to the Land of Lightning, while the Land of Hot Water was closer to the Land of Fire.
If the Kumogakure's shinobi wanted to invade Konohagakure, they would have to cross two smaller countries to reach the Land of Fire's border.
Currently, the Kumogakure had declared war without warning, sending shinobi towards the Land of Fire. However, Konohagakure, which had already been prepared, received the intelligence in advance and was ready.
Within the Land of Hot Water, in a mountain forest near a vital path leading to the Land of Fire, there was a small, untouched hot spring.
What was the Land of Hot Water most famous for? Certainly not for simmering emotional chicken soup! They were most famous for hot springs.
The entire Land of Hot Water was located on a volcanic belt, hence it had countless hot springs of various sizes. You could even walk through the country's forests, grasslands, or along major roads and occasionally encounter natural hot springs. Travelers who were tired from their journey would casually enter for a soak, resting before continuing on their way.
At this moment, near a small hot spring in this dense forest, the Anbu member Hitenn Hyuga was continuously observing the situation on the nearby vital path with his Byakugan Kekkei Genkai.
At the same time, several other shinobi, similarly dressed in Anbu attire, were quietly lurking near the vital path.
Just in this quiet yet tense moment, some bubbling sounds came from the hot spring, 'gurgle, gurgle.' Then, Hibari emerged from the water with his bare torso, taking a deep breath and saying with a smile, "Hey, Hitenn, you know what? This hot spring soak has dispelled all the fatigue I accumulated from two days of travel. It would be even better if I had a big bed right now. Did you bring one in your scroll?"
Hitenn, who had been wearing a stern and vigilant expression, looked somewhat helpless upon hearing Hibari's voice. Then, the veins at the corners of his eyes receded, indicating he had deactivated his Byakugan.
He turned to look at Hibari and said, "Deputy Commander, we are currently on an interception mission. We need to annihilate all the advance scout teams sent by the Kumogakure. So, could you please be more serious? What kind of shinobi on a mission would see a hot spring and go soak in it?"
Since Hibari was the only one in the hot spring, he didn't concern himself with etiquette. He simply swam around in the pool and said, "Don't be so serious. You're always like this. Think about it, Kagami's team is ahead of us. If a fight breaks out, they'll be the ones to make the first move. We're responsible for rounding up any stragglers. The mission isn't difficult, is it?"
"Deputy Commander, that's no reason for us to relax. If the advance unit sent by the Kumogakure consists of highly elite members, then Kagami's team, with their current numbers, could very well be overwhelmed. At that point, we'll need to provide support," Hitenn still said with a very serious expression.
"Relax, Kagami is very strong. Even if the Raikage himself came, he wouldn't be able to defeat him quickly. Speaking of which, these bastards really pick their timing, starting a war in the middle of winter. What, does their village not have enough food for winter? Thankfully, the Land of Hot Water is steaming hot all year round, otherwise, just thinking about lying in a snowdrift to ambush those damned guys makes me feel uncomfortable..." Hibari said as he stood up from the hot spring, casually grabbing a pre-prepared bath towel to wrap around his waist. He then casually sat on a rock by the pool, enjoying the mountain breeze, perfectly content.
Hibari had an excellent physique. Solid muscles adorned his body; his eight-pack abs and two pectoral muscles were very pleasing to the eye. At the same time, as a shinobi, extremely high coordination of the body was required, so his muscles were not the explosive, bulky kind, but rather 'slender' muscles with very defined lines.
"Starting a war in winter does seem a bit unbelievable, but perhaps that's the head start the Kumogakure wants. However, they don't know that we've been keeping a close eye on their every move for years..." Hitenn said softly.
"It's because these bastards always want to stir up trouble for no reason, causing me not to even get a glimpse of my little brother. It's truly upsetting," Hibari said, stroking his chin, somewhat annoyed.
That day, he had just met Harano Yamanaka, the head of the Intelligence Division, at the Senju clan's main residence. Right after changing out of his disheveled and dirty clothes, he was taken to the Hokage Residence by his grandfather.
At that time, his soon-to-be-born brother, Nawaki, was still stubbornly refusing to move out of his 'old home.' Eventually, Hibari and the others received urgent orders and quickly rushed to the front lines, so much so that to this day, Hibari hadn't even seen his brother.
"When we were gathering at the village gate after packing up, didn't Tōka-senpai tell you that Nawaki had already been born? And that both mother and child were safe?" Hitenn said softly.
"Sigh, never mind these irritating things. Oh, by the way, I heard you're getting married soon too. What? Are you really going to marry your cousin?" Hibari said, looking at the serious Hitenn with interest.
At this, Hitenn uncharacteristically blushed slightly, revealing a somewhat shy expression. Then he said, "This is a marriage arranged by my father, and it's been passed down in our Hyuga clan for thousands of years. Besides, it's not just our Hyuga clan that has this custom, is it? Don't your Senju clan and the Uchiha clan occasionally do this too?"
To ensure the purity of their bloodline and prevent their Byakugan Kekkei Genkai from leaking out, the Hyuga clan absolutely did not intermarry outside their clan. They always had the main branch marry into the branch family.
Fortunately, the Hyuga clan was a large and prosperous family with many members, so they didn't have to worry about not finding someone to marry for any reason.
This situation seemed to continue until Naruto appeared later and "abducted" the Hyuga clan's little princess, Hinata Hyuga.
As for what Hitenn said about other great clans also having such practices, that was indeed true.
The Uchiha clan was pretty much the same. To prevent the Sharingan Kekkei Genkai from spreading, they rarely intermarried with outside clans. This was especially true for the women of their clan; men could marry outsiders, but the women with the Uchiha bloodline had to keep their bloodline within the Uchiha clan!
As for the Senju clan, while such things did happen often, there was no particularly obvious Kekkei Genkai or similar things that needed to be kept from outsiders. Therefore, intermarriage with other clans was quite common.
For example, didn't Hashirama marry Mito Uzumaki? And many Senju women also married into Uzushiogakure. Although the Uzumaki clan and Senju clan were distant relatives, they were still outsiders. This shows that the Senju clan's rules were not very strict.
Furthermore, if Tsunade's lover, Dan Kato, hadn't passed away in the original story, Tsunade, the little princess of the Senju clan, might have married out, which is quite normal.
"It's still not as strict as your Hyuga clan's rules. But I heard you have a good relationship with your cousin, so that's good news. When's the wedding?" Hibari asked with a chuckle.
Hitenn smiled and then said, "After this war is over, I'll return to the village to get married..."
Hibari was stunned for a moment upon hearing this. He had a feeling this guy might have said something he shouldn't have. Thinking this, Hibari shivered, quickly grabbed his clothes, and put them on while saying, "Really? Then I'll definitely give you a big, fat congratulatory envelope..."
He thought to himself that Hitenn wouldn't be 'jinxed' and killed in this war just because he casually said "return home to get married." After all, he was a very important character. Without him, there would be no Hiashi Hyuga and Hizashi Hyuga brothers in the future, and then Neji and Hinata would both 'bid farewell to the world.' Wouldn't that be too great an impact?
Besides, this guy had lived for so many years with the imposing name 'Hitenn,' so his fate should be quite strong!
Just as Hibari finished putting on his Anbu clothes and hung his mask askew on his head, he saw Hitenn activate his Byakugan again. Then, he said in a deep voice, "They're here. A team of ten Kumogakure shinobi are moving along that road towards us. In about five hundred meters, they'll make contact with Kagami's ambush team."
Hearing this, Hibari stopped goofing around. He straightened his bird mask on his face, concealing his features, then asked in a deep voice, "Can you see who's leading this squad?"
"They've concealed their faces, but one of them has an evil chakra presence..." Hitenn quickly replied.
"A Jinchūriki?" Hibari murmured, his masked face furrowing slightly.
If it was truly the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki or the Two-Tails Jinchūriki, that would be troublesome. A squad with such Jinchūriki would undoubtedly be an elite team. Their Anbu might not be able to defeat them without casualties, and there was even a high possibility of being 'counter-killed.'
"No... that feeling should be very similar to Mito-sama's..." Hitenn said in a deep voice.
"Kinkaku or Ginkaku?" Hibari quickly said upon hearing this.
Then, without waiting for Hitenn to respond, Hibari frowned and said, "This squad should be a diversion. The Gold and Silver Brothers are always inseparable and fight together. If there's only one here, it means they're also 'fishing.' There should be another person with another team nearby, ready to provide support..."
"Then what do we do? Kagami's team looks like they're about to make a move..." Hitenn asked.
A wicked smile appeared on Hibari's masked face, and he said, "Send them a signal. Tell them not to engage. Let these people pass..."
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