Five Kage Summit.
The Land of Iron Admiral, Mifune, stared intently at the flags representing the Five Kage, surprised that just a few years had passed and yet another Five Kage Summit was to be held in the Land of Iron.
What was once a high-profile Five Kage Summit now seemed to have lost some of its prestige.
Although he thought this, he dared not show it.
The flags of the five great ninja villages, representing Water, Wind, Fire, Earth, and Lightning, fluttered on the tall castle amidst the snowstorm, a stark contrast to the stormy weather outside.
Each flag corresponded to one of the ninja villages, with a Kage hat placed under each flag to represent their respective village's leader.
"Now begins the Five Kage Summit!"
With a commanding voice echoing, the summit was again presided over by the Land of Iron's Admiral, Mifune, who looked solemnly at the arriving Kage with furrowed brows.
"I am the overseer Mifune, and now the Five Kage Summit begins." The Land of Iron was once again honored to host the summit, with Mifune seated at the head of the table, looking gravely at the Kage as he declared the meeting open.
At the U-shaped table sat the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki, Fourth Raikage A, Fifth Kazekage Pakura, Fifth Mizukage Terumī Mei, and Fifth Hokage Tsunade.
In just a few short years, compared to the last summit, three of the Kage had been replaced.
The guards of the five Kage stood behind their respective village flags, watching the much-anticipated summit with seriousness.
This was the third summit since the establishment of the ninja village system.
The Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki, looking at the Kazekage, Mizukage, and Hokage, felt a deep envy, as all other villages had moved on to their fifth Kage, while he was still in place.
He internally cursed Deidara for his incompetence.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the Akatsuki organization's heinous act of capturing the Tailed Beasts is something no one would want to see triumph, a terrorist organization above the five great nations, right?"
The first to lose patience was the Fourth Raikage A, who spoke angrily, stating a fact.
The Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki nodded in agreement, adding solemnly, "Correct, the Akatsuki organization now threatens our dominion over the five great ninja villages and has disrupted the peace of the ninja world."
"The Tailed Beasts are key to maintaining peace in the ninja world, and the consequences are unimaginable should they fall into the hands of Akatsuki."
As the Raikage and Tsuchikage spoke, Mizukage Terumī Mei mocked with a laugh, "There wasn't a war in the ninja world when the Tailed Beasts were with the five great ninja villages, was there?"
"And, if I remember correctly, the Tailed Beasts are known as the ultimate weapons of war," she said, her alluring gaze turning to Kazekage Pakura and Hokage Tsunade.
Upon hearing this, Pakura calmly nodded, "If the Tailed Beasts are lost, it only means you all are incompetent."
As Terumī Mei and Pakura spoke, the atmosphere grew tense, and the guards brought by the Tsuchikage and Raikage looked on with darkening expressions.
Although you three villages have now joined forces and grown stronger, such words are too excessive, too insulting.
Hearing this, the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki gave a forced smile, eventually turning his gaze to Tsunade.
"The strength of the Tailed Beasts was demonstrated by the Fourth Hokage of Konoha through his personal experience a decade ago. The recent loss of the Tailed Beasts from Stone and Cloud Village further proves the strength of the Akatsuki organization."
"According to my intelligence, every member of the Akatsuki is an S-rank rogue ninja, each with the capability to be a Kage, and even the leader of Akatsuki possesses the legendary Rinnegan of the Sage of the Six Paths."
The saying 'the older the ginger, the spicier it is' fits well here. The mention of the Fourth Hokage's death due to the Tailed Beast incident highlights the power of the Tailed Beasts and, by extension, the terror of the Akatsuki organization.
"The old fox!" Tsunade cursed under her breath, but her face bore a calm smile, "The loss of the Tailed Beasts is the concern of the Rock and Cloud villages, not ours. Of course, if you wish to protect our One-Tail and Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Konoha welcomes it."
"Shameless!" Tsunade's words were direct. Irony, implying it's their own fault for not being able to protect themselves. Despite losing the Fourth Hokage, Konoha still held the Nine-Tails securely.
The Five Kage Summit began with disagreements, as it was clear that the Konoha, Sand, and Mist villages were not interested in intervening, or it wasn't easy for them to get involved.
Facing the threat of Akatsuki, this was not the time for the five great ninja villages to act independently, as they used to fear the Akatsuki. Now Konoha, Sand, and Mist villages had united, securely protecting their Tailed Beasts and showing no fear of the Akatsuki.
"Hokage!" The Fourth Raikage, A, slammed the table angrily, saying, "The mysterious person in the Akatsuki possesses Wood Style and the Mangekyo Sharingan, and also includes the Third Hokage's son, Asuma, who went to my Cloud Village."
"Lady Hokage! These two are from your Konoha. Do you intend to brush it off with just a few words?"
Faced with the Raikage's loud accusation, Tsunade narrowed her eyes, showing a hint of danger as she calmly said, "Hey, are you questioning Konoha?"
Her voice wasn't loud, but the chilly tone made the atmosphere tense, clearly challenging the Fourth Raikage.
In an instant, the bodyguards of the Five Kage appeared, ready for a confrontation.
Sasuke, Gaara, Kimimaro, Neji, Temari, and Suigetsu were among them. Interestingly, Sasuke and Neji were from Konoha, Kimimaro and Suigetsu from the Mist, and Gaara and Temari from the Sand.
Sasuke, leading them, looked at the Raikage with a cold gaze, the three tomoe in his eyes focusing on the Raikage as he said coldly, "The Cloud Village once came to the Konoha under the pretense of peace talks to steal the Byakugan. Today, does your Cloud Village owe us an explanation?"
Neji, with his Byakugan activated, coldly watched the Cloud Village's guard, "Is your Raikage questioning our Hokage?"
The situation quickly became tense, and the Fourth Raikage glared angrily. He wasn't afraid, but the Hokage's attitude infuriated him even more.
The Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, remained calm and aloof, as if the equal status of the Five Kage did not apply to her.
"Hey, we three villages came here on behalf of the Five Great Ninja Villages, but this summit called by you, the Raikage, is supposedly for the peace of the ninja world! Now, if you want to question the Akatsuki's rogue ninjas coming from Konoha, this ridiculous and illogical topic."
"Then there's no need for this Kage Summit," Tsunade said calmly, while Terumi Mei covered her mouth with a coquettish smile, "If you can't see the bigger picture, why even hold a Kage Summit?"
The mocking tone made the Fourth Raikage's face darken even more, but as a Kage, he controlled his temper.
"Darui, C, stand down!"
With the Raikage's stern command, Darui and C reluctantly stepped back.
This retreat represented the Cloud Village's submission to Konoha, as Konoha's power had grown significantly after the unification of the three villages. Even with the Rock Village added, they were still at a disadvantage.
As the Raikage conceded, the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, said with a hypocritical smile, "Kurotsuchi, Akatsuchi, don't be nervous."
Onoki's face showed a deceptive smile, and while the simple-minded Akatsuchi didn't notice anything, the more astute Kurotsuchi sensed that the situation among the Five Great Ninja Villages was more dire than expected.
As the last five Kage guards retreated, the atmosphere of the Five Kage Summit became somewhat stiff, with uncertainty about how to proceed.
"Hehe, the terrorist organization Akatsuki is disrupting the peace of the ninja world, which is intolerable for any ninja village. I wonder what the Hokage, Kazekage, and Mizukage think?"
The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, with his shrewd and vain smile, directly passed the buck to the three great ninja villages of Konoha.
Upon hearing this, the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, showed a relaxed smile, her beautiful fingers crossed under her chin.
"Konoha naturally yearns for peace. If Akatsuki dares to come to Konoha, then we, along with the ninja from the Mist and Sand, will show them what the Five Great Ninja Villages are capable of.'"
Her fingers, painted with red nail polish, crisply snapped, causing Ōnoki's face to stiffen.
Tsunade, with a playful look, stared at the old man. Passing the buck, as if others didn't know how.
After a lot of nonsense, the current state of the Five Great Ninja Villages has already changed. The Raikage still deludes himself with the idea of equality among the Kage, which naturally makes it impossible to continue the discussion.
The status of the Five Great Ninja Villages has changed, and the Raikage's desire to maintain equal status will naturally be met with rejection.
Konoha, the Sand, and the Mist won't agree. Otherwise, why would we three join forces, being so strong now, yet still maintain a friendly smile at the same table with you, saying our status is the same?
Villages do not talk about civilization, they talk with fists!
When evenly matched, naturally, one talks about civilization. But if there's a gap, and you still naively talk about civilization, that's just hooliganism. I will raise my fist and keep a watchful eye.
Ōnoki chuckled dryly, but inside he was cursing. It was too bullying, a group of young people picking on an old guy like him, utterly immoral.
If only his Stone Village could produce one or two geniuses, he wouldn't need to be so frustrated now.
"Hehe, the strength of the Night God in the ninja world is well-known, so there's no need to worry about the so-called Akatsuki. I doubt they have the guts to go to Konoha," Ōnoki said with a laugh, not at all angry about what had just happened, instead bringing up Uchiha Yoru.
Upon hearing this, Tsunade scoffed, cursing the old fox in her mind.
"Hokage, Kazekage, Mizukage!"
At this moment, Ōnoki's hypocritical smile gradually turned serious. "This Five Kage Summit, called by the Raikage, is actually to know your thoughts. After all, Akatsuki has severely threatened the peace of our Stone and Cloud Villages."
Since bluffs were of no use, Ōnoki directly addressed the key issue of this summit.
At this moment, after hearing this, the corners of Tsunade's mouth slowly curled up. After exchanging glances with Terumi Mei and Pakura, the three Kage showed a sly smile.
This smile gave Ōnoki a bad premonition.
"Given that the Stone and Cloud Villages can't protect their own tailed beasts, it proves that the so-called Five Great Ninja Villages are a thing of the past."
With these cold words from Pakura, the people in the meeting room were taken aback, showing surprise on their faces.
Terumi Mei also smiled indifferently, "Since the Tsuchikage and Raikage wish to ask for our opinion, does it mean that both of you, as Kages, are representing your villages in making a request to us?"
Boom! At this moment, there was a significant shift in attitude and status. The Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, even revealed a domineering smile.
"The era when the major ninja villages acted recklessly has been proven wrong. Just like how we moved from the Warring States period to the era of ninja villages, wars still existed. For the sake of peace in the ninja world, I, as the Hokage, hope that the Third Tsuchikage and Fourth Raikage will join us!"
"The days when the Daimyo towered over the ninja villages are over. The unification of the ninja world is a major trend. As long as we join hands to unify the ninja world, what's the Akatsuki organization in comparison! What about the Rinnegan? Even if the Sage of the Six Paths himself were to come, so what!"
Under Tsunade's assertive declaration, the Kazekage Pakura and Mizukage Terumi Mei also revealed threatening smiles.
"Boom!"
With a loud noise, the table in front of the Fourth Raikage, A, was smashed to pieces, and he glared with furious eyes.
"The Cloud Village will not retreat a step! What nonsense about peace in the ninja world, it's clearly Uchiha Yoru's ambition."
"Ambition?" Tsunade sneered, "The Cloud Village has been notorious in the ninja world for plundering various ninja techniques, secret techniques, and even bloodline limits. And now you have the audacity to talk about ambition? Ridiculous."
The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, saw the situation developing and laughed calmly.
"Hehe, I don't understand this change in the ninja world. We came here to discuss the Akatsuki organization, how did we end up talking about this? Isn't this deviating from the original purpose of our Five Kage Summit?"
As he said this, the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, even gave a meaningful look to the Fourth Raikage, A, as if to say, let's stick to discussing the Akatsuki for today and leave other matters aside.
However, at this moment, both the Tsuchikage Ōnoki and Raikage A felt a chill in their hearts. The unification of the three major ninja villages by Konoha and their ambition to dominate the ninja world seemed to be sweeping across the ninja world soon.
With the three major ninja villages united, even though they were two of the major ninja villages, countless smaller ninja villages and Daimyo joined forces. Putting aside high-end combat power, just based on the military strength of the Genin ninjas, it was a 50-50 split.
"Yo, it seems I've come at an inopportune time."
Just then, with a ripple of a space-time vortex, the masked Obito appeared in the middle of the Five Kage Summit, sarcastically looking at everyone.
Instantly! The Five Kage Summit took an unexpected turn, and the guards of each Kage were on high alert.
"Akatsuki!" Upon seeing the masked Obito, the Fourth Raikage A roared furiously. The Cloud Village's Two-Tails and Eight-Tails had been captured by this very same guy.
~~~
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