Obito clenched his fist tightly. Pain had actually failed. After causing such a huge disturbance, Akatsuki would only face more and more pressure from now on. If they just sat there waiting, the Six Great Ninja Villages would eventually come for them. Rather than waiting to be hunted down, it was better to strike first.
Thinking of this, Obito said, "I'll go take the Rinnegan. You go prepare for the Fourth War…"
"Yes!"
Zetsu, one half of his face black and the other white, grinned excitedly. "Finally… we're beginning."
Konoha had been attacked and suffered heavy losses.
The Five Great Ninja Villages also received the news one after another: Konoha had taken a devastating blow, and each of the great villages had lost their strongest tailed beasts. If they continued to sit and wait, the only thing awaiting them would be annihilation.
Pain had spared Konoha. Though the financial and material losses were enormous, casualties among personnel had been reduced to the minimum. If this had happened to any of the other villages, how would it have ended? Would they have been as "lucky" as Konoha?
Obviously, that was impossible.
They had no room left to retreat. All they could do was unite and find a way to fight back.
…
The Six Kage Summit officially began. The leaders of the six major ninja villages traveled to the northern region of the Iron Country to meet.
The Fifth Hokage Tsunade of Konoha, the Fourth Raikage A of the Hidden Cloud, the Tsuchikage Ohnoki of the Hidden Stone, the Mizukage Mei of the Hidden Mist, the Kazekage Gaara of the Hidden Sand, and Shigeo of the Ink Village…
The six Kage gathered. Around the table, voices rose and fell, each shouting over the other. Despite the noise, Shigeo remained silent the entire time. Seeing this, Ohnoki's anger burned even hotter.
"Shigeo, I've heard plenty about you," Ohnoki snapped. "You've taken in quite a few members of Akatsuki. What's that supposed to mean? Are you the mastermind behind Akatsuki? Are you the one who ordered the tailed beasts captured? If you don't give me an explanation today, don't even think about walking out of here!"
He slapped the table repeatedly, making a sharp cracking sound.
Shigeo shot him a lazy glance and said, "I can't be bothered to talk to an idiot."
"What did you say?!"
Ohnoki shot to his feet, brows knitting together, voice ringing loud in the room. Behind him, Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi tensed, fingers curling, ready to jump into battle at any moment.
"Third Tsuchikage," Gaara said, stepping in, "if he really were behind all this, do you think he would have saved me? And not just once—he saved me three times. And with what happened in Konoha, why would he lift a hand to help them if he were the one pulling the strings?"
"Exactly. If he were the one doing all this, our Naruto would've been dead long ago," Tsunade added.
"Who knows what he's really plotting? Maybe he's covering his tracks, trying to fool us," Ohnoki insisted.
"Is that even necessary?" Shigeo replied coolly. "If I wanted to make a move, which one of you could stop me? Take right now, for example—you just claimed I wouldn't be walking out of here. Want to test that?"
"But you did take in Akatsuki's people!"
"So what? They were mine to begin with—my spies, my agents inside Akatsuki. If I don't take my own people back, am I supposed to just leave them there to be killed by Akatsuki?" Shigeo's gaze swept over them. "Let me make this clear: as long as I'm still around, none of you are laying a finger on them."
Hearing that, Ohnoki's mustache practically bristled with rage. Deidara had once been his student. Now Deidara had gone over to Shigeo. Even if he couldn't beat Shigeo openly, he would never forgive him in secret.
"And yes, I did keep them," Shigeo continued calmly. "If you want to fight over it, I'm always ready."
As he spoke, he raised his hand slightly and moved his fingers just a bit.
Everyone present knew he could form seals with only one hand, almost impossible to guard against. Now he was openly lifting his hand. Was he seriously about to start a fight?
With Akatsuki already more than enough of a headache, none of them had any desire to add Shigeo to their list of enemies.
"All right, enough."
Tsunade's voice cut across the tension. "The reason we six Kage are meeting here today is for one goal only: Akatsuki. There's no point arguing over anything else."
"That's right, that's right. The Fifth Hokage is correct," the Raikage said, immediately seizing the moment. "So in order to stand against Akatsuki, we should choose a single leader. Let's begin voting now. First of all, I vote for myself. Among the villages, our Cloud's strength is the greatest, so this position of supreme leader is clearly mine."
"Pfft…"
Shigeo couldn't help it; he burst out laughing. "I've seen shameless people, but never anyone this shameless."
The words had barely left his mouth when the Fourth Raikage slammed his fist into the table, smashing a huge crater into it.
"What did you say?! Shigeo, you're looking for death!"
He lunged forward, but Shigeo's finger twitched. His fingertip lifted slightly, and a thin beam of pale light fell onto the Raikage's forehead, shimmering with a faint blue glow.
Standing behind the Raikage, Darui muttered, "That's Ranton (Storm Release), sir. Be careful."
The pale-blue laser wasn't yet strong enough to do real harm, but if Shigeo increased the chakra output, the beam would punch a hole right through the Raikage's skull.
The Raikage knew he could dodge. But he also knew how fast Shigeo was—and that Shigeo only needed to move a single finger to track his movements.
"Shigeo, what do you think you're doing?!"
At that moment Ohnoki leaped into the air, hands moving into position.
"Jinton: Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu (Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique)!"
A transparent, four-sided prism formed, trapping Shigeo and the two people who had come with him inside.
But the very next second, the interior of the prism was empty—no sign of any of the three. At the same time, Ohnoki felt a chill at the back of his neck. He turned and found a pair of Sharingan staring at him from up close…
It was Itachi.
The two who had accompanied Shigeo to the Six Kage Summit today were Itachi and Kakuzu.
Because the story's course had changed, Akatsuki had spent the last half-year focused entirely on hunting tailed beasts. By sheer coincidence, they had missed the confrontation with the Guardian Twelve Ninja. As a result, the immortal duo, Kakuzu and Hidan, never fought Asuma. Likewise, Shikamaru—whose IQ wasn't below 200—never killed Kakuzu or Hidan. So Kakuzu was still alive and, after that battle over Fu, had joined Shigeo's side.
The overall plot had moved ahead of schedule—but in exchange, many regrets had been quietly erased.
Right now, Itachi's genjutsu was in full effect. Ohnoki felt his vision blur. In the next moment, Akatsuchi used Doton: Dororyūdan (Earth Release: Earth Flow Bullets), firing earthen projectiles at Itachi while infusing them with chakra. When they collided against Ohnoki's body, they jolted him hard enough to snap him out of the illusion.
Across the open space, Shigeo reappeared, and with a smooth turn, Itachi returned to his side.
"Everyone, calm down," Tsunade shouted. "We're not here to fight each other—we're here to discuss how to solve this. If all we want to do is argue and brawl, then why bother holding a Six Kage Summit at all?"
The room fell silent. Ohnoki dropped back down from the air and returned to his seat.
(End of Chapter)
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