The main hall doors creaked open slowly.
Cold wind howled through the entrance, swirling snow across the lobby as three figures appeared in the doorway, their silhouettes outlined against the snowy sky.
Shshshsh.
In an instant, over a hundred pairs of eyes snapped toward them, as if they had been waiting specifically for this trio.
Tap tap tap.
All eyes upon them, Heiyan and his two companions made their way toward the central conference table inside the hall. There, representatives from the other four great ninja villages had already arrived, gathered together.
Heiyan kept his face calm as he scanned the room.
Seated on the far left was the Third Kazekage, flanked by his two bodyguards—the puppeteer Chiyo and Bunpuku, the One-Tail jinchuriki.
The Kazekage gave Heiyan's group a polite nod; beside him, Chiyo and Bunpuku also smiled warmly, showing friendliness.
Relations between Suna and Konoha had always been fairly good, with personal friendships existing among their higher-ups too.
In the center sat Onoki of Iwagakure along with Four-Tails jinchuriki Roshi and Five-Tails jinchuriki Han.
Onoki sat in his chair with arms crossed, looking stern. His two guards simply stared silently at Heiyan's group.
To the right of Rock's delegation came Cloud's A–B Combo—the legendary pair of ninja partners—Third Raikage and Eight-Tails jinchuriki Killer B, alongside another unfamiliar female kunoichi.
"Hmph."
As soon as Heiyan entered the hall, the Third Raikage snorted loudly through his nose like an angry bull, glaring intensely at Heiyan without bothering to hide his hatred.
If they weren't indoors, he probably would've lunged at Heiyan right then.
On the far right sat Fourth Mizukage Yagura Karatachi of Kirigakure. Although Heiyan had also defeated him on the battlefield before, unlike the Raikage, he remained emotionless—or perhaps more accurately—expressionless.
His only guards were merely two ordinary jonin, making this trio seem the least impressive compared to others present.
However, Heiyan ignored most people—including Onoki and the Third Raikage—without lingering his gaze on any of them for more than a second.
Instead, it was the seemingly insignificant Kirigakure trio that captured Heiyan's primary attention.
It was obvious to him that Yagura likely had been manipulated by Madara's Rinnegan, reduced now to nothing more than a puppet.
Still, Heiyan couldn't sense Madara's chakra anywhere nearby.
Ever since entering the Land of Iron, he'd been using his extraordinary sensory abilities to track Madara down.
So far, either Madara hadn't come at all, or he'd somehow managed to mask himself completely from detection. The latter seemed far more likely to Heiyan.
Therefore, he stayed alert constantly.
At this moment, Musashi, the general of the Land of Iron, entered along with Mifune and other warriors.
Musashi's expression had now returned to normal. Clearing his throat, he announced loudly,
"The Five Kage Summit will now begin. Please have the Five Kage take their seats, and all bodyguards wait outside."
So it was finally about to start.
Upon hearing this, everyone remained silent, taking their seats one after another.
"One, two, three, four—four jinchuriki with tailed beasts in total. The Four Great Ninja Villages are clearly making a strong move."
Tsunade's gaze swept across the gathered jinchuriki before she quietly said to Heiyan beside her, "If things break out later, leave all these jinchuriki to me."
"No problem."
Heiyan nodded, fully confident in Tsunade's strength. He volunteered, "Then I'll take on the Kage of the Four Great Ninja Villages."
This conversation sounded extremely arrogant—as if they didn't take the Four Great Ninja Villages seriously at all. Yet both of them remained calm and composed, as though discussing something perfectly ordinary.
After all, they truly could accomplish that.
Around the semicircular conference table, the Five Kage had already taken their seats, placing their respective hats before them. Behind each stood five banners arranged from left to right: Fire, Wind, Earth, Water, and Lightning.
Meanwhile, Musashi stepped into the host's position directly facing the Five Kage.
"This Five Kage Summit was initiated by the Tsuchikage. Today, we have gathered here to discuss the future of the shinobi world and promote reforms for peace..."
After delivering his brief opening remarks, Musashi gestured for everyone to proceed.
"(Clearing his throat) Allow me to speak first."
Onoki glanced at the other four, paused thoughtfully for a moment, then spoke first:
"Though I initiated this meeting, the Third Hokage should be the true focus here. It was precisely under his wise leadership that Konoha experienced significant changes through a series of bold reforms... changes that had a tremendous impact throughout the entire ninja world."
Onoki began by praising Hiruzen Sarutobi highly. After a brief pause, he suddenly changed tone—"However..."
Here it comes.
Everyone knew those earlier compliments were just polite fluff—the real point would follow the "However."
"However, Konoha's reforms have been too fast and overly radical. As a result, the other villages have fallen into serious difficulties."
At this point, Onoki raised his voice significantly, openly confronting Konoha.
"What do you mean by that?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned, responding with doubt. In his view, Konoha reforming internally had nothing to do with other villages; Onoki sounded like he was looking for trouble.
But much to Hiruzen's surprise, Onoki actually presented some seemingly convincing arguments.
"Back then, after establishing Konoha, the First Hokage cooperated with the Daimyo's Mansion of the Land of Fire, creating the 'One Country, One Village' system (where the Daimyo's Mansion provides funding while the ninja village contributes manpower and effort). The other great villages followed this model. The key part of this system has always been that the Daimyo's Mansion provides funding while the ninja village contributes manpower and effort, forming a relationship built on mutual trust."
Looking straight at Hiruzen, Onoki first recited some historical background regarding the Five Great Ninja Villages (Konoha, Suna, Kumo, Iwa, and Kiri) before solemnly continuing,
"But now, Konoha, as the leading ninja village among the Five Great, has actively broken free from the constraints of the 'One Country, One Village' system through reform, no longer cooperating with the Fire Daimyo's Mansion—and even entering serious opposition against them."
The immediate impact was that the daimyō mansions of the other four great nations felt threatened, fearing the remaining ninja villages might follow Konoha's example and endanger their authority.
Take Iwagakure's situation as an example. Despite us doing absolutely nothing, the Earth Daimyō's mansion began various suppressions against the village—cutting funding and obstructing reforms. Life for Iwa ninja has been extremely difficult lately.
And all of this originated because Konoha shook the one-village-per-nation system, breaking down the trust between each country's daimyō mansion and its ninja village!
Onoki ranted on like a waterfall, delivering these words with eloquence before directly pointing his finger at Hiruzen Sarutobi, shifting blame onto Konoha.
Our Mist Village's situation is similar to Iwagakure's.
As soon as Onoki finished speaking, Mizukage Yagura Karatachi nodded in agreement, his voice icy cold and emotionless, like a machine.
Sunagakure is no different either.
The Third Kazekage then spoke, sighing as he continued, Not long ago, we spent heavily to invite Heiyan and Tsunade to assist with Suna's "Oasis Plan." But once news reached the Wind Daimyō's mansion, the ruler flew into a rage and immediately stopped all funding to our village.
His tone subtly implied blame toward Heiyan and Tsunade—the implication being that if not for those two, Sunagakure wouldn't have drawn the Wind Country Daimyo's wrath.
The Third Raikage remained silent throughout but kept glaring at Hiruzen Sarutobi with a deep scowl, intensifying the pressure through his gaze alone.
After this round of comments, Konoha had practically become the focus of blame from all sides.
For a moment, all eyes turned expectantly toward Hiruzen Sarutobi, waiting for his response.
Unfortunately, this Third Hokage simply wasn't susceptible to their tactics.
I fully empathize with the current plight facing the Four Great Ninja Villages, because six months ago, Konoha stood exactly where you are now. Our Leaf Village struggled through numerous hardships, with every ninja devoting countless efforts and heart before finally coming through the storm and reaching where we are today.
Hiruzen looked steadily at the Four Kage as he spoke slowly:
Surely you all understand how difficult reform always is. Since I've come to attend this meeting as the Hokage, I'll definitely support each of your villages within my capabilities. Let me just remind you that while outside help is important, self-reliance matters most. As leaders of your respective villages, what you must do first is lead your people toward self-improvement rather than wait for Konoha to intervene. After all, even Konoha's capacity has limits.
These words carried subtle sarcasm, striking back effectively at Onoki and the others.
Upon hearing this, the Four Kage's expressions darkened instantly, and the tension around the conference table thickened abruptly.
Just as Onoki was about to strike back and resume his argument with Hiruzen, the Third Raikage sitting beside him had already run out of patience.
Shua—
He suddenly rose violently from his seat, towering over Hiruzen Sarutobi as he coldly declared,
Let's put reform aside for now. Several months ago, a group of merchants from the Land of Lightning, led by Yamato, collectively defected to Konoha.
"I am now acting in my capacity as Raikage, demanding that Konoha hand these people over to my subordinates for investigation in Cloud, since they have committed serious crimes within the Land of Lightning!"
Hmm?
Faced with the Third Raikage's sudden confrontation, Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned but remained calm, responding unhurriedly:
"I believe Yamato and the others have already emigrated to Konoha and are now its villagers. If the Raikage accuses them of crimes, may I ask if there is any evidence?"
As the old saying goes, "If you want to hang a man, you'll always find a rope." Naturally, Hiruzen could plainly see that the other side was merely fabricating an excuse to provoke Konoha.
No matter what evidence the Raikage presented, he definitely would not admit guilt.
"So, you're choosing to protect them?"
The Third Raikage raised his voice and slammed the table with a loud "Bang!" immediately splitting it in half.
Oh, so you can slam the table?
"Bang!"
Hiruzen refused to show weakness. He slammed the table too, unleashing a surge of powerful chakra that clashed violently with the Third Raikage's aura.
Next second—
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
In a flash, the five Kages' personal guards burst into the room at once, instantly creating a tense standoff situation.
"This..."
Seeing the scene unfold, Mifune frowned. So far, this meeting was going very poorly.
He instinctively turned to his superior officer—the general of the Land of Iron, Musashi—hoping the latter would step forward and take control of the situation. But for some reason, Musashi, as the host of this grand conference, showed absolutely no intention of intervening despite witnessing the situation spiral out of control.
Musashi's eyes flickered as he stared at Hiruzen's back, revealing a trace of barely noticeable murderous intent.
Just then—
Tat tat tat.
A series of footsteps echoed from behind Musashi. Accompanying it was an unimaginably immense pressure, like a suffocating tsunami surging into the cramped space.
Musashi turned his head with difficulty and saw Heiyan approaching step by step. The aura radiating from him was several times stronger than when he had stood outside earlier.
So strong that everyone present felt their hearts tremble.
Especially those who had once fought against Heiyan—including the Third Raikage, Burubi, and Yagura Karatachi—had their pupils contract sharply, sensing that Heiyan's power had become even more unfathomable compared to during the battle in Uzugakure.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Heiyan walked straight to Musashi's position. With the latter staring in shock, Heiyan sat directly on the chair, taking over the hosting authority of this meeting.
"Everyone's time is valuable. In my opinion, let's skip the games and get straight to the point—just say what it is you want."
Heiyan looked at the four Kage, unwilling to continue engaging in circular verbal fencing with them. After all—
From the moment he entered the venue, he had never considered any of these people his primary enemy on this trip.
Among this group, only Onoki, the Fourth Kazekage, and the Third Raikage were somewhat worthy of Heiyan's attention; the rest were merely insignificant riffraff.
"Heiyan is absolutely right. If everyone spoke openly instead of beating around the bush, this negotiation wouldn't feel so exhausting."
Hiruzen Sarutobi also made his position known.
"Since that's the case, we will now present our demands."
The Four Kages exchanged glances before standing up one by one to voice their requests.
"Our Iwagakure requests Konoha to share all Medical Ninjutsu and send half of its Medical Ninja to Iwagakure to help complete the construction of our medical system."
It was Onoki who spoke first.
"I've heard that in recent years, several Wood Release users have appeared in Konoha due to the transplantation of cells from the First Hokage. Our Sunagakure hopes to receive five strains of transplantable Hashirama cells for training our own Wood Release ninja. For Sunagakure's geographical environment, Wood Release is extremely important."
The Third Kazekage spoke as the second. Somehow, he had learned about top-secret intelligence concerning Wood Release.
"In recent years, Kirigakure's population has sharply declined. To rebuild the village, we've had no choice but to accept many refugees from outside sources, which unfortunately brought issues regarding housing and food supplies. We hope Konoha's Heiyan can construct additional housing for us—five hundred buildings should suffice. In addition, we require seeds from Konoha Number One along with the associated mechanized planting equipment."
Mizukage Yagura Karatachi made an enormous request.
However, compared to them, the Third Raikage had the largest appetite.
[Sage Art!]
The Third Raikage bellowed furiously at Heiyan, "Konoha must open Mount Myoboku and Shikkotsu Forest, providing numerous opportunities for Cloud ninja to form summoning contracts with beasts from the three sacred locations while also learning Sage Art!"
He had always believed that Heiyan's strength came solely from that cursed Sage Mode. Without Sage Art, Heiyan would be powerless.
Thus, the four great ninja villages all presented their demands toward Konoha.
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