One slightly miraculous thing about Hagoromo was that one moment, he could be playing "blow up the village" in someone else's hometown, and the next, he could be frying chicken in his own. And there was not the slightest sense of dissonance when he switched between the two modes… This was probably an ability he had developed from constantly courting death.
Although Lady Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, had all kinds of little flaws—so many they were practically countless, such as acting young, acting young, and also acting young—her medical skill was truly no joke. Based on that point alone, even if she had not been the First Hokage's granddaughter or the Third Hokage's disciple, calling her "Princess" would not be a problem at all.
After returning from the battlefield, Mirai woke up the next day following her treatment. She was merely still somewhat listless.
The mental burden caused by overusing ninjutsu actually required more rest than treatment, so she was soon discharged from the hospital and returned home.
But that did not mean Hagoromo would get any peace and quiet. After stirring up trouble outside, he also wanted to temporarily become a lazy homebody. But at this point, there was no longer that kind of leisurely time available.
With Jiraiya currently absent from the village, Tsunade had grown used to discussing many matters with someone, and as one of "their own," Hagoromo was undoubtedly the most suitable candidate.
So in a certain sense, he was the true "advisor."
In fact, he was perfectly capable of filling that role. Or rather, he was quite suited to it. After all, letting his mouth spout nonsense was far better than letting his body stir up trouble. Hagoromo's Talk no Jutsu was not that powerful, but correspondingly, his other jutsu were better left undisplayed unless absolutely necessary. When things could be solved by talking, one must never let him use his hands. This saying was most appropriate when applied to Hagoromo.
A week after Hagoromo returned from Amegakure, news that Amegakure and Kirigakure had both been invaded had already spread everywhere. The difference between the two incidents was that Amegakure had been invaded by Konoha's White Yaksha, which could be confirmed, while the identity of Kirigakure's invader remained unknown even now.
Kirigakure and Amegakure. From a feng shui perspective, it seemed that those with "water" in their names were not having a smooth year…
The reason Hagoromo invaded Amegakure was unclear. After all, Konoha and Amegakure had an alliance agreement. Not long ago, everyone had still been amicably participating in the joint Chūnin Exams together. Yet in the blink of an eye, Konoha had made a move against Amegakure.
As for the unidentified enemy on Kirigakure's side, their goal was much easier to understand… This time, Kirigakure seemed to have lost two tailed beasts. That was the enemy's objective.
For now, there were no obvious traces linking the two events together. But contrary to earlier expectations, after these two major pieces of news spread, the shinobi world did not enter an uproar. Instead, every village sank into an eerie calm. Yet it was precisely this calm that felt even more oppressive and terrifying.
At present, all sides were conducting intelligence gathering and more detailed investigations into the two incidents. The level of detail and accuracy in the information obtained by each village varied.
For example, according to the most widespread understanding of the current intelligence, after Hagoromo invaded Amegakure, he successfully dealt with Amegakure's leader and withdrew safely. And that leader's identity was "the Demigod," Hanzō.
But in reality, even Hanzō's bones had probably gone soft by now… Without anyone knowing, he had already been dead for who knew how long.
It was only because the Land of Rain had adopted a closed-country policy, and because Amegakure was controlled by Nagato, that this matter had been concealed all this time.
Amid this state where true and false information could not be distinguished, there was one piece of news that was as true as true could be, circulating among the upper ranks of the Five Great Shinobi Villages: under the slogan of "we want peace, not nuclear peace," Konoha was calling on everyone to sit down and talk things over first. The key topic of discussion would be the tailed beasts.
At the same time, the five great rogues would also sit down to discuss their various past conflicts, mend the current rifts and misunderstandings between nations, decide the major and minor affairs of the future shinobi world, and respond to a potential worldwide crisis.
Just as each village was considering what exactly was going on, what kind of worldwide "play" the Fifth Hokage was preparing after taking office, and whether they should participate in this five-party summit, something unexpected happened.
Kirigakure had actually already agreed to participate in the meeting. Moreover, the Mizukage's attitude was extremely firm: regardless of how the other villages reacted, the Mizukage had already decided to meet with the Hokage.
If Sunagakure had done this, everyone could still understand. After all, they were the little brother. But why would Kirigakure react this way? They were actually much faster than Sunagakure.
"Although the Mizukage agreeing to this can be considered a stroke of accidental good fortune, to be honest, this reaction is a little beyond my expectations. No matter how I think about it, it's somewhat strange." Tsunade sat in the seat in the Hokage's Office that belonged to her alone as she spoke. However, at this moment, she was not facing her desk, but the window behind it.
Looking out from this angle, one could see Konoha's iconic Hokage Rock, as well as the new, iconic giant wooden sculpture.
Every time she saw that thing, Tsunade wanted to tell a story about her grandfather's past. But now was not the time to talk about that. More importantly, the person standing behind her probably did not like listening to such stories either.
"It's probably related to Akatsuki's invasion. If the Mizukage is reacting like this, then it can basically be confirmed that their tailed beasts have been taken," Hagoromo said after thinking for a moment.
A woman who could become the Kage of a village was definitely not some cute girl. Terumī Mei was also a woman with the same "leftover woman" attribute as Tsunade…
If not for the previous "accident," the Mizukage probably would not have been so easy to talk to.
"In any case, now that Kirigakure has given its approval, the following matters will be much easier to handle…" Tsunade said.
The logic was simple. If everyone responded to this summit, that was one thing. But if two Kage gathered together in some dark corner and started whispering and rustling about, could the remaining village chiefs really sit still?
It could not be said that all these people had persecution complexes, but in reality, the difference was not that large. So rather than worrying about Konoha and Kirigakure pairing up to hatch some evil scheme, it was better for everyone to listen to what exactly the Fifth Hokage wanted to do.
In fact, Hagoromo also felt that Kirigakure's reaction was somewhat strange. It was not only because of the tailed beasts. He always had a feeling that Kirigakure seemed to know something about Akatsuki.
"After Kirigakure, plus Sunagakure and Konoha, only two of the Five Great Shinobi Villages will remain. In that case, there really shouldn't be much of a problem." Hagoromo affirmed Tsunade's idea, then asked, "But how exactly will this summit be held? Where will the location be?"
Even if there was a preliminary willingness, the matters that followed would be even more troublesome.
The most important point was that the meeting location could not possibly be Konoha, right? If it were, probably no one would come.
Because this involved not only the safety of each village leader, but more importantly, the fairness of the summit. Since it was a five-party summit, if it were held in Konoha, no matter how one looked at it, the home-field advantage would be far too obvious.
In fact, it was not only the venue. If all five Great Shinobi Villages could participate, then even the summit's specific agenda would probably have to be discussed and decided by all five sides.
But Hagoromo had overthought this matter. This kind of meeting had been held as early as the First Hokage's era, and a relatively mature communication system still existed between the villages.
The framework for high-level conferences was already in place.
"Generally speaking, the meeting location will be in the Land of Iron. Once it is confirmed that the Five Kage Summit can be held, everything from security before, during, and after the meeting, to the agenda arrangement and moderation, will be handled by them."
Right. The shinobi world also had a permanently neutral country of samurai. Could it be that this country had been preserved precisely for this reason?
With the location placed in a neutral country and the entire process hosted by a non-shinobi force, relative fairness should be guaranteed. At the very least, this arrangement would be easier for every side to accept…
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