Two years after the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Shikamaru Nara lies on the roof of the Hokage Residence in Konohagakure, wondering how his life went so awry. Once, he wanted to spend his days watching the clouds, having an unremarkable life that would end with an unremarkable death. Starting with his promotion to chūnin, however, he was increasingly heaped with responsibilities, culminating with his most recent job of advising the five Kage and coordinating missions for the Shinobi Union, the successor to the Allied Shinobi Forces. Shikamaru decides that he wont get up until somebody else forces him to.While watching the sunset, Shikamaru sees one of Sais ink birds approaching the office of Kakashi Hatake, the Hokage. Eager to finally have news about Sais mission, Shikamaru rushes to the Hokage to hear his report. During the War and every month since then, a large number of shinobi (almost exclusively young, single men) have been deserting their hidden villages and then disappearing. The number of missions has also seen an unusually sharp decline. From investigating both matters, Kakashi believed the Land of Silence - a samurai-run country on a distant continent - was involved. He sent Sai and a team of ten Anbu to investigate...