Land of Waterfalls.
A small nation ranking among the top in military strength beneath the Five Great Nations, known for housing the Tailed Beast, the Seven-Tails Chōmei.
Besides the Tailed Beast, the Land of Waterfalls also possessed two legendary treasures: the immortal jutsu Earth Grudge Fear and the Hero Water.
But Earth Grudge Fear had already been snatched away by Kakuzu.
According to rumors—
Back then, the village head of the Land of Waterfalls felt shortchanged by Hashirama Senju's distribution of spoils and believed he was being looked down on.
So, he sent his elite jōnin, Kakuzu, to assassinate Hashirama.
Kakuzu then hurled a shuriken at Hashirama from 800 miles away.
Yeah, pretty cowardly.
The news spread quickly. People in Takigakure mocked Kakuzu relentlessly, saying he was a wimp.
"If it were me," someone said, "I'd throw a shuriken from 700 miles away!"
Another chimed in, "600 miles, easy."
While everyone argued, the village head stepped in, claiming he could throw ten shuriken from ten miles away.
They were all stunned.
In the end, Kakuzu, humiliated and furious, killed the village head and took Earth Grudge Fear for himself.
Lesson learned: never make fun of quiet people.
The current war between the Land of Rain and the Land of Waterfalls started over Takigakure's other treasure—Seven-Tails Chōmei.
Hanzō of the Salamander declared that Takigakure was just a bunch of bullies picking on honest folks, and said, "Let me play with that Tailed Beast!"
Then, mimicking the Raikage's style, Hanzō invaded the Land of Waterfalls without hesitation.
The two nations clashed. Though Takigakure was strong, it paled in comparison to Hanzō's large-scale AOE tactics.
Caught between two powerhouses, the Land of Grass became collateral damage.
The ninjas of the Land of Grass, known for imitating others, were completely helpless against Hanzō and his unreasonable summon, the salamander Ibuse.
All they could do was lie down and take it as the two bullies ran wild.
...
Walking through the Land of Waterfalls, Reiji soon arrived at his destination: Futago Town, near the border of the Land of Fire.
A modest-sized town with about 180 households.
Its location—close to the Land of Fire and situated on the trade route between the Lands of Fire and Earth—helped it gradually grow into a small but stable settlement.
Upon reaching the town, Reiji used the passphrase to locate the Kumogakure team patrolling there.
Looking closer, he realized they were familiar faces—Captain Ryūto, along with teammates Kohaku, Yui, and a shy boy.
After exchanging a cheerful greeting, they entered the small hideout where the squad was based.
After a quick catch-up, Reiji took out his appointment letter to confirm his identity.
Ryūto handed over a scroll of intel.
Reiji, well-versed in the procedure, placed the scroll on the table, formed hand seals, and activated the Heavenly Transfer Technique.
The scroll vanished instantly.
Ryūto and the others let out a collective sigh of relief.
Reiji stood, gave Ryūto a pat on the shoulder, left behind a Flying Thunder God marker, and exited the room.
...
With the mission done, Reiji didn't slow down.
He dug a hole beneath the town, left some shadow clones behind, and moved on.
Following the trade route, he first arrived at the Land of Grass battlefield, where he placed a special positioning scroll.
Then, without pause, he headed toward Iwagakure in the Land of Earth.
His target: either Son Gokū, the Four-Tails, or Kokuō, the Five-Tails.
Of course, Reiji wasn't planning to marry into Kokuō's family or anything — he wasn't crushing on the Five-Tails. He just wanted to drop one of those beasts onto the Land of Grass battlefield.
If there's one thing Earthlings are good at—it's stirring up trouble.
He casually joined a caravan entering the village, marked it with a Flying Thunder God seal, and smoothly infiltrated the fortress-like settlement.
Iwagakure, perched on a steep plateau, was one of the most defensible villages around.
The architecture was mostly built from stone and yellow earth, with an uneven, layered look that resembled Turkish style.
The difference was, this place had no coastline and didn't favor the color white.
Strolling through the lively main street, Reiji couldn't help but sigh to himself.
"Infiltration is a thousand times easier than undercover work. I can do whatever I want. It's almost too easy!"
Guided by intel in his mind, he quickly located the home of the Four-Tails Jinchūriki.
It was situated in central Iwagakure, not far from the Tsuchikage's building.
In later years, the Four-Tails, Son Gokū, would live outside the village.
Finding a quiet corner, Reiji pulled out a brick and casually smashed the Jinchūriki's window.
And instead of fleeing, he crouched excitedly by the wall, ears perked up to catch any reaction.
Within a minute, a gruff "I love you!" rang out.
What followed was a string of profanities so censored, Reiji couldn't make sense of it.
Didn't matter though—as long as the guy was home, it was time to give him a one-way ticket out.
"Flying Thunder God Technique!"
With a single hand seal, Reiji vanished from beneath the wall.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared right in front of the enraged Jinchūriki.
"Who goes there?!"
Caught off guard by the sudden appearance, the Four-Tails Jinchūriki's eyes narrowed as he instinctively shouted.
But instead of an answer, he was met with two wide open hands.
Reiji thrust out his right hand, blue flames igniting on all five fingers.
"Five Elements Seal!"
With a low shout, he slammed both hands into the Jinchūriki's abdomen.
"Zzzzt—"
A burst of white smoke exploded into the air.
The Jinchūriki, just about to summon Son Gokū for help, suddenly gasped, eyes bulging in disbelief.
"He... he's gone!"
Reiji grinned and shook his head calmly.
"Not quite."
He could still feel Son Gokū's immense chakra.
A second later, he grabbed the Jinchūriki's collar with his left hand. Five flames burst to life again on the fingers of his right.
"Ten Elements Seal!"
"You've got to be kidding me—more?!"
"Fifteen Elements Seal!"
The Jinchūriki rolled his eyes back and collapsed, completely unconscious.
Only then did Reiji finally let out a long breath and wipe the imaginary sweat from his brow.
He lifted the unconscious Jinchūriki's shirt, eyeing the layers of seals etched across his stomach, and nodded in satisfaction.
Setting him down, Reiji formed another hand seal.
"Heavenly Transfer Technique!"
The moment the words left his mouth, a blue light wrapped around the Jinchūriki's entire body.
A second later, he vanished.
At the same time, Reiji made another seal and disappeared as well.
It wasn't until three minutes later that Iwagakure's ANBU arrived, rushing to report the Jinchūriki's disappearance to the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, in a panic.
...
Far away on the battlefield of the Land of Grass, a monstrous ape was wreaking havoc.
With his left hand, he flattened an Ame ninja. With his right, he sent a Taki ninja flying. One swing of his four tails unleashed a massive shockwave.
Perched calmly in a nearby treetop, Reiji watched it all unfold.
The Jinchūriki's body hadn't survived the strain of the Heavenly Transfer Technique—it was already dead.
What remained now was Son Gokū himself.
The next step was to discreetly leak the news of Son Gokū's appearance in the Land of Grass to Amegakure.
With that in mind, Reiji stood and grabbed a massive spiked club that had somehow appeared next to him.
Moments later, both armies on the battlefield froze.
A hooded man, wielding a two-meter-long club, stood directly in front of the Four-Tails.
Just as everyone thought this fool was about to get stomped, the unexpected happened.
With a fierce swing, the man brought the massive club down—flattening the Four-Tails' big toe with a sickening crack.
"ROAR!"
A deafening roar tore through the sky.
The Four-Tails immediately clutched its smashed foot and began furiously blowing on it.
Grinning wickedly, Reiji looked up and laughed.
In the next instant, he burst forward with overwhelming strength and appeared in front of the beast's other foot.
"Here we go!"
With a thunderous crash, the sound of metal smashing echoed through the battlefield.
The other big toe was crushed flat.
"Boom!" A loud explosion followed, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.
Son Gokū crashed to the ground, howling in pain and rolling uncontrollably.