Konoha.
Inside the confidential communication room.
This afternoon, the Five Kage held another online meeting. The initiator was still the Hokage of Konoha.
"Everyone has stationed troops at the border. Do you intend to shatter the hard-earned peace of these years and declare war on our Land of Fire?"
The Fourth Hokage, Sakumo Hatake, scanned the four other Kage and asked in a deep voice.
He did not start off angry or impatient. His speech was calm and unhurried, giving a very steady impression.
"Hard-earned peace? For us, it was a humiliating peace. These years, your Land of Fire has taken every advantage in international disputes. I think it's time for you to suffer a little..."
The Third Tsuchikage of the Land of Earth, being the oldest, was the first to speak again.
"Is the Hokage scared before the war has even started?" The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, teased.
"War... that leads to many deaths. Peaceful coexistence is naturally best, and the Land of Fire has always loved peace." Sakumo Hatake responded to the Fourth Kazekage with a serious expression.
"If Konoha truly loved peace, they wouldn't have deliberately provoked incidents multiple times over the years, trying to push us beyond endurance to start the war first, just to drag that guy into the fray to deal with us..." The Fourth Mizukage scrutinized Sakumo Hatake with a gloomy face.
Whether it was Konoha or the Four Great Shinobi Villages, they were all more treacherous than the last. The Five Kage were naturally no pushovers either...
"I do not know what the Mizukage is talking about. Stop trying to throw dirt on us. If Konoha truly wanted to cause trouble, we could just start the war first right now. If you retaliate, wouldn't Lord Ryun still enter the fray? After all, he only forbade you from invading the Land of Fire. He never said we couldn't invade other countries..."
Sakumo Hatake very naturally played dumb.
"Hmph... Konoha is so capable. Start a war first? Do you dare? Do you really think our four nations are made of clay? Or do you truly believe Uchiha Ryun can dominate everything single-handedly?" The Fourth Raikage snorted coldly, his face full of disdain.
"Lord Ryun certainly can dominate everything. After all, he has been doing so for ten years now..." Sakumo Hatake shrugged and said.
"So then? Why hasn't Konoha invited him out to flaunt his power? Where is Uchiha Ryun?"
The Fourth Raikage stared coldly at Sakumo Hatake.
"A bunch of defeated opponents, hardly worth another glance from Lord Ryun..." Sakumo Hatake suddenly smiled and mocked them with this sentence.
The Raikage and Tsuchikage's expressions turned ugly upon hearing this, but the next moment, the Fourth Kazekage sneered.
"Do not forget, among the defeated is also a Hokage. Uchiha Ryun's dissatisfaction and disgust towards Konoha and the Hokage are no less than towards us. I've heard he doesn't even live in Konoha Village anymore, and it seems the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki has been taken away too?"
As soon as Rasa said this, the smile instantly froze on Sakumo Hatake's face.
He hadn't expected the news of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's disappearance to leak so quickly. He had specifically had people use Transformation Jutsu to imitate Kushina living at home, precisely to create the illusion that the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was still in the village, to deceive the spies planted in Konoha by the various countries.
'Damn it! Where did the flaw appear that let them see through it? Or is this guy just suspicious and trying to bluff me?'
Although furious inside, Sakumo Hatake's face remained unruffled.
"People... where they are born, their roots are there. If family members have a small conflict, they argue, get angry for a few days, but given time, everything passes... Outsiders are ultimately outsiders. Just because a beloved child from one's own family can kill their father, doesn't mean another family's child will similarly forget their ancestors and roots..."
Sakumo Hatake's final sentence directly made the Fourth Kazekage explode!
Wasn't this clearly alluding to the incident of the 'Third Kazekage being poisoned and killed by Sasori of the Red Sand'? This event had already become a laughingstock in the shinobi world, and Sunagakure itself was deeply resentful about it. They had always felt very ashamed about this matter.
He never expected this bastard Sakumo Hatake to dare slap Sunagakure in the face in front of the other three Kage.
BAM!!!
The Fourth Kazekage smashed the table in front of him with one hand.
"Sakumo Hatake, you won't be able to talk tough for much longer. We'll see you on the battlefield!"
After throwing down these words, the Fourth Kazekage actively disconnected from the network video.
"Hokage, did you call us just to say this nonsense?" The Third Tsuchikage asked expressionlessly.
"Of course, I contacted you with the intention of peace talks. After all, our Land of Fire has always loved peace... If everyone truly does not want negotiations and truly wants war, then Konoha, having no other choice, can only fight to the end!" Sakumo Hatake directly made his stance clear.
"Peace talks are possible, of course. Have Uchiha Ryun return our Tailed Beasts to us. Our three nations can all withdraw our troops." Ōnoki specifically pointed to the other two Kage.
Seeing this, the Raikage and the Mizukage nodded in understanding.
"Have you forgotten the origin of the nine great tailed beasts? They were originally distributed equally among the various nations by our Konoha's First Hokage. The nine great tailed beasts never belonged to you in the first place, right?"
"Furthermore, if you want the tailed beasts, why don't you dare to go directly to Ryun? You clearly know Konoha cannot command him, yet you repeatedly use this point to pressure us. When it comes down to it, isn't this just an excuse for you to band together and plunder our Land of Fire..."
Sakumo's words made the three Kage's expressions turn ugly, but they had no words to refute him.
Go ask Uchiha Ryun for the tailed beasts? If they still dared to do that, they probably wouldn't get the tailed beasts but would instead get a tailed beast bomb... Even if these people now know Ryun is in Otogakure, they likely still wouldn't dare to go seek revenge...
Ten years have passed. The four nations still lack sufficient confidence in their ability to defeat Uchiha Ryun. After all, he is currently at the peak age for a ninja. If anyone said Ryun had remained stagnant and made no growth over these ten years, the four nations definitely would not believe it.
Just as Sakumo said, the current siege of the Land of Fire by the four nations has little to do with Ryun anymore. In the past, other countries didn't need a righteous reason to wage war against the Land of Fire. Now, with the reason of demanding the tailed beasts, the four nations at least have a pretext for their actions.
"Raikage, is Kumogakure truly determined to tear up the peace treaty signed after the Second War and insist on war with Konoha again?" Sakumo suddenly fixed his gaze on the Fourth Raikage and questioned him.
During the Second War's Lightning-Fire conflict, Kumogakure ended in disastrous defeat.
Back then, Ryun rode a tailed beast and directly smashed through the Kumo-nin forces. The Nibi Matatabi fought until its chakra was exhausted multiple times. He accepted no surrenders from the Kumo-nin. The number of ninja who died by Ryun's hands was countless. That single battle left Kumogakure severely weakened. Even after so many years, they still haven't fully recovered from that defeat.
"Kumogakure does not desire war. We only wish to reclaim the Nibi. If Konoha does not return the Nibi, then there is no choice but to fight!" The Fourth Raikage spoke with a calm expression.
"Heh... What shameless, untrustworthy scoundrels!" Sakumo was practically laughing in disbelief.
"Enough talk. We'll meet on the battlefield!"
The Fourth Raikage, his face flushed with anger, threw down these words and immediately severed the connection.
Seeing the Kazekage and Raikage leave one after another, the Tsuchikage and Mizukage didn't give Sakumo any further chance to 'output' verbal attacks either. The two promptly stood up and ended this Five Kage Summit.
"Third Hokage-sama, who do you think will be the first to attack the Land of Fire?"
Sakumo did not get up to leave immediately. Instead, he asked this question.
"The Land of Wind, probably... After all, he was the first one you provoked. He's probably itching to charge into the Land of Fire's defensive zones immediately..." From an unseen corner of the room, Sarutobi Hiruzen gave his response.
"Heh... I think so too. Then let the front lines set up a trap formation. Let's see if those guys from Sunagakure will take the bait..."
"Good. I will arrange this matter..."
Hiruzen nodded and accepted the task.
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