Iwagakure, one of the five great shinobi villages, has fallen silent. All activities surrounding the village has ceased. The shinobi that patrolled their village border were missing, and their village gates that allowed visitors and merchants to enter the village, were now closed. Communication between Iwagakure and the other shinobi villages were slowly dwindling, until it ceased altogether.
The last message the other shinobi villages received, was a warning to stay away. The message had the Tsuchikage's seal. This of course brought great suspicion among the villages; believing that Iwagakure was preparing for war. Patrols were greatly increased in the other villages and their shinobi were in high alert for suspicion activity.
Representatives of the shinobi villages were sent to the Land of Earth, to discuss Iwagakure suspicious behavior with the country's Daimyo. Demanding why Iwagakure recalled all of their shinobi, even the ones abroad, to return back to the village. The Daimyo nervously responded, saying that he doesn't know the reasons why the shinobi were recalled back to the village, or why the village's gates were closed. The messenger hawks he sent to the village never returned.
He told the representatives of the other villages to not be worry, that he will send his personal guards to investigate Iwagakure silence. And once he discovers the reason for their silence, he will send messenger hawks to their Daimyos. With the Daimyo reassurance that he will have news about Iwagakure silence in a week time, the representatives returned back to their respective shinobi villages and reported to their Kages.
...
A week has passed and his personal guards haven't returned yet. He couldn't risk sending anymore to find out about their disappearance, not with the rioting going on. The country was currently experiencing a famine and he couldn't believe how bad it got. It started a couple of months ago, before Iwagakure recalled all of their shinobi and close their village gates. Farmers reported that their crops were mysteriously dying and their live stocks were missing. To ensure that his people weren't going to starve, he declared a state of emergency and ordered the rationing of their remaining food supply. He also assembled a task force of their country's brightest minds to discover the reason for the crops failure.
Weeks had passed and the task force still had no clue what was causing the crops to die. While the task force continue their research, the country's remaining food supply was slowly dwindling. His adviser reported that they had a month before they officially ran out of food. To delay this from happening, he ordered the adviser to have more food imported from the surrounding countries.
This work for a while, until the treasury started to run dry. And in order to pay for the next shipment of the much needed food, he increased taxes. This of course led to some protest around the country, but it was necessary to ensure that his people didn't starve.
...
A couple of months had passed, and the task force had finally figure out what was causing the crops to die. They reported that they will arrive soon and personally tell him their discovery. Hours passed, and still no signs of task force. To make matters worse, his adviser told him that Iwagakure had recalled all of their shinobi and closed the village gates. He sent a messenger hawk to the village, demanding to know what they were doing. No response.
Without Iwagakure's contributions, he couldn't pay the next shipment and with the disappearance of the task force; things were looking bleak for the country. Their measly food supply was almost gone, he had no choice but to imposed stricter rationing laws. Prisoners were no longer to be fed, and citizens were only allowed two meals per day. This was the beginning stage of the country decline and when things couldn't look more dire, the rioting began.
...
Left with no choice, the Daimyo asked the other countries for help. He needed food shipments to feed his starving citizens. So he agreed to their terms, that he will allow a task force of their shinobi to enter the country and investigate Iwagakure silence. He also agreed that if Iwagakure was discovered preparing for war, then he will allow the other shinobi villages to use his palace as a staging ground to invade Iwagakure. And in return for agreeing to these terms his country will receive food shipments.
Once the terms were agreed upon by the Land of Earth's Daimyo, the others ordered their respective shinobi villages to assemble a task force. Which led to the first ever Kage Summit with only four of the five great shinobi villages attending. The four Kages arrived within a week time with their personally selected guards. They discussed the size of the task force and who will be in charge of it. After many hours of heated debate they agreed to an eight man task force and they will allow the task force to choose their own leader.
Each village will send two shinobi, to establish contact with Iwagakure. The team will consist of two ANBU from Konohagakure, two Jounin from Kumogakure, one Jounin and one Chunin from Kirigakure, and finally two ANBU from Sunagakure. Their mission is to establish contact with the village and discover the reason for their silence. Once that is complete, they will send messenger hawks to their respected villages, reporting their findings. At least that was the plan until they lost communication with them, the last message they receive was that they arrived at the village gate.
...
"Shizune, what the status report on our joint operation with the other villages?" asked a blonde hair woman as she looked at her black hair friend/ attendant. The blonde hair woman was Tsunade, the fifth Hokage of the hidden leaf. She was sitting down, surrounded by piles of paperwork. And her friend / attendant was putting down more paperwork on her desk. Tsunade looked at the growing pile with hatred.
"I am sorry to report Lady Tsunade, that there is no new update."
Sighing, Tsunade open the right drawer and pull out a blank parchment; where she quickly wrote a quick message. Putting down the quill, she grabbed the stamp sitting right next to the parchment and stamped the official Hokage seal on the paper. "Here, I want this sent to the Daimyo. We need him to contact the other villages Daimyos" the blonde Hokage said as she handed the parchment to Shizune.
"Right away Lady Tsunade" said Shizune as she rolled the parchment up. She gave her friend/leader a quick bow and headed for the door. Before exiting the room, she turned around and said," Don't forget to get the paperwork done, and I better not catch you drinking instead of working Lady Tsunade" and with that she quickly exited the room heading for the messaging center.
Tsunade stared at the closed wooden door for a minute, waiting to see if her friend truly left. Once she deemed it was safe, she reached for the bottle of Sake that she kept hidden underneath her desk.