Sai, who had been sent to investigate the cases of the missing-nin, had sent them notice of finding a lead about a month ago. Kakashi, who believed the increased missing-nin and the decrease of mission dispatches were related, had told Sai to continue the investigation with the anbu as back up.
The lead Sai had found was the Country of Silence.
The Country of Silence could be found in the far west of a continent that rivalled the Five Great Shinobi Countries as well as the countries surrounding them.
It was a country that had never made contact with any of the Shinobi Villages – or any other foreign country, for that matter. It was thus called ‘the Country of Silence’ by outsiders. The only details known about it was that it was a country with samurai who kept its citizens in line, and a Daimyou who ruled over the samurai. However, anything further than that was a complete mystery.
According to what Sai had relayed, it seemed that somehow Konoha’s missing-nin had run towards this country.