After a full year, the delegations from the various nations finally drafted a joint treaty that satisfied the interests of the majority.
The treaty officially announced the establishment of the Allied Nations Arbitration Committee.
For convenience, the organization's office was established in the capital of the Land of Fire.
Member nations who joined the organization could send their own representatives to be stationed at the office to handle disputes between countries.
The treaty stipulated that member nations were not allowed to arbitrarily start wars with one another.
Two countries with a conflict could resolve their issues through a wager, sending five to one hundred shinobi to compete against each other.
The country that initiated the wager would decide on the stakes of equal value, while the other country would have the right to set the rules for the competition.
The winner would take the stakes, and the loser, besides paying the stakes, would not have to pay any additional price.
To prevent large nations from bullying the weak and deliberately provoking disputes, the Arbitration Committee would decide whether a wager was necessary.
Furthermore, to solve the problem of shinobi having too much excess energy, the Land of Rain proposed holding a tournament called the "World's Strongest Shinobi Tournament" every two years, in which anyone could participate.
The final champion would receive the title of "World's Strongest" and a prize purse that was practically priceless.
The prize money would be a combination of a certain amount of tax revenue drawn from the Five Great Nations.
The first World's Strongest Shinobi Tournament would be held in six months, in the Village Hidden in the Leaves in the Land of Fire.
Konoha, Training Grounds.
"The World's Strongest Shinobi Tournament, huh? This is great."
Nawaki held a promotional flyer, a look of determination on his face. "If I can show my stuff at this tournament, the villagers of Konoha will definitely see my merits. Then, there will be no obstacles to me becoming the Fourth Hokage!"
"Fugaku, are you going to participate?"
He waved the flyer at Fugaku Uchiha, who was diligently practicing his shuriken throwing.
The two had met at the Memorial Stone and had inexplicably felt that the other was easy to get along with.
Fugaku, wanting to strengthen the bond between the Uchiha clan and the village, was also happy to build a good relationship with Nawaki, a strong contender for the Fourth Hokage title.
Nawaki didn't think too much about it.
And so, the two became good friends, often meeting up to chat and spar.
Faced with Nawaki's question, Fugaku stopped and shook his head. "There are so many strong people in the shinobi world. I don't stand a chance."
"They might not all participate. And to make it fairer, the tournament is divided into three groups by age."
Nawaki read from the flyer, word for word. "Let's see, under fourteen is the junior group, between fourteen and twenty-four is the youth group, and after twenty-four is the veteran group."
"Mmm, we're in the youth group. There don't seem to be that many powerful people under twenty-four, right?"
"Who says?" Fugaku glanced at him. "Just in our village alone, there are quite a few, including your rival—Minato."
"Ah, Minato is definitely strong. His Flying Thunder God is hard to deal with," Nawaki said, rubbing his chin.
"There are even more outside of Konoha. Besides A from the Cloud Village, it seems the Mizukage from the Mist and the Amekage from the Rain are both under twenty-four."
"Hiss~" Nawaki sucked in a breath of cold air. "I almost forgot that Master Kaito is also very young."
"But so what?!"
He stood up and pumped his fist in the air. "As long as I fight well, it'll be fine, right? It's not like I have to win. This is a rare opportunity. Aren't you tempted at all, Fugaku?"
"A shinobi is an assassin who has trained in the art of killing. Displaying all of one's abilities in front of a large crowd is not a good thing," Fugaku said calmly.
"What does it matter? Just because they know, does that mean they can beat me? Not necessarily!" Nawaki said, full of confidence. "If we're talking about revealing abilities, I've already shown everything on the battlefield."
"Heh, that's right. I forgot you're the feared 'Red Beast'."
"So, come on."
Nawaki extended his right hand to Fugaku. "I still want to have an all-out fight with you."
Looking at the sincere Nawaki, Fugaku sighed and nodded. "Alright."
"Yeah! Let's do our best together and become number one in the shinobi world!"
"Idiot. There can only be one true number one."
Similar scenes were taking place in every corner of the shinobi world.
Land of Grass, Village Hidden in the Grass.
The Chakra Clone asked with a smile, "Kakuzu, how about you give it a go? You'll definitely scare a lot of people."
"Boring. I'm not going," Kakuzu refused.
"But the prize money for the tournament is very generous. Just making it to the top eight is equivalent to completing several of your bounties."
"..." Kakuzu glanced back at the Chakra Clone, but still shook his head. "I'm not going to be a monkey for others to watch. So, for the sake of the Grass Village, you should go yourself, Leader."
"Mmm, I'll pass. It would attract too much attention." If he, with his Nine-Tails chakra, showed up in front of Nawaki, he'd probably be discovered instantly.
"Besides, someone probably plans to sweep all the prizes. No, they wouldn't be that insane, would they?"
"?"
While the entire shinobi world was preparing for the World's Strongest Shinobi Tournament, Jiraiya, who had been investigating for over a year, finally found the mysterious organization behind the scenes.
According to the intel, they should be here.
Jiraiya, having used the Transformation Jutsu to disguise himself, carefully peeked out from behind a rock, observing a small village not far away.
After several days of observation, he found that this village was indeed very suspicious.
The people coming in and out were all young people in strange uniforms. Their bodies were incredibly light, and they all looked highly skilled.
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes. When he finally saw a man come out alone, he no longer hesitated and followed behind him.
When they were a safe distance away, he immediately made his move, summoning a large toad that swallowed the man whole, easily capturing him.
Using his practiced interrogation techniques, he made the man spill all his information in less than half an hour. "We're from the Kara Company, a new company focused on technology. I'm just a lowly security guard, don't kill me!"
"Kara?" What a strange name.
Jiraiya asked a few more questions, but the man still claimed to know nothing.
Afterward, Jiraiya used the same method to capture another person, whose information was similar to the first.
It seems I'll have to infiltrate myself to see what's going on inside.
For safety's sake, he summoned a messenger toad and gave it a few instructions before transforming into the man he had just captured and swaggering into the village.
In the center of the village stood a tall, impressive-looking tower that was clearly out of the ordinary.
There were even guards at the entrance.
Jiraiya steeled himself and strode forward.