"In the end, I still didn't get the Rinnegan." He'd thought facing a half-crippled Nagato and Konan would be a sure thing, but Obito crashed the party.
Musashi didn't fear Obito in terms of power. Kamui would be troublesome if you didn't know how it worked, but once you recognized it as space–time ninjutsu, Musashi didn't think he'd lose. He'd learned the Flying Thunder God too, after all.
Still, taking on three overwhelmingly strong Kage-level opponents at once wasn't smart. Even a win would be pyrrhic. With the true body not yet returned, some things required caution—not recklessness.
In one Naruto side material, Akatsuki: Genesis, Konan actually beat Sasori. Though Sasori never fought with his original body right to the end, Konan's power was indeed respectable.
Barely above Hidan, Deidara, and their ilk, but above them.
And Konan had a super-powerful trump card.
Up against six hundred billion explosive tags, even a Mangekyō Sharingan that could absorb all energy gave Musashi pause.
Who knows if Konan poured her entire dowry into stockpiling that many tags.
No wonder Nagato, who'd always had a crush on her, never confessed before he died. The lady burned through money so fast it was gone in ten minutes.
That side material is just for reference anyway—it contradicts core canon in multiple places. For instance, Hidan's entry into Akatsuki; the manga clearly notes Hidan joined later than Tobi, yet in the side material it's absurdly early. Official self-contradiction is common across many franchises.
As things stood, Hidan's join date looked about the same as in the manga.
It was a shame about that pair of Rinnegan, but if he couldn't get them, so be it. They were also key to Madara's revival and summoning Kaguya anyway.
Musashi had wanted to get them to hand over to the Chimera Ant biotech team for study. Even if they couldn't outfit every ant with a pair of Rinnegan, they could at least engineer a devolved Sharingan.
Though his own Mangekyō had mutated, Musashi still wanted to evolve them into Rinnegan. The Rinnegan's abilities were broader and stronger than the Sharingan's.
Nagato simply wasn't gifted at genjutsu; otherwise genjutsu cast with those eyes wouldn't be inferior to Mangekyō-level illusions.
Especially if Madara's Rinnegan hadn't been implanted into Nagato but instead given to a robust Senju or Uzumaki—then we'd be talking truly broken.
Nagato was physically on the weaker side among the Uzumaki.
Though Nagato had slipped Musashi's net, he'd still end up dying at Obito's hands. Obito wouldn't let the Rinnegan stay with Nagato.
But since Itachi wasn't dead yet, how would you handle it, Obito? If Itachi's body weren't already at its limit, his strength wouldn't necessarily be inferior to yours.
The Akatsuki leader Deva Path Pain attacked Konoha and leveled most of it. After Naruto and Sasuke killed him in front of everyone, the whole village went wild.
They were the heroes who saved Konoha!
Even their Fifth Hokage Tsunade had been helpless before that godlike Pain, and yet he was taken down.
The Uchiha had also mobilized en masse during the attack, rescuing countless civilians; the stories spread throughout the village.
Konoha desperately needed heroes now. Especially since, once the crisis had passed, Tsunade collapsed from massive chakra depletion.
Tsunade had gone down, but the village still needed a Kage at the helm.
The elder council had seniority and decent standing, but they lacked support from strong Kage-level fighters—in other words, they had no force to deter adversaries around them.
Which made the Uchiha's rising stars the obvious picks for acting Hokage. If Danzō were still around, he'd have been among the candidates.
Unfortunately, Root had been pulled up, roots and all.
The leading candidates for acting Hokage were: Konoha's top technician Kakashi Hatake, Konoha's brain Shikaku Nara, the Hyuga clan head Hiashi Hyuga, and the Konoha Police Force chief and Uchiha clan head Uchiha Musashi.
But Kakashi's performance in the battle with the Six Paths of Pain was underwhelming—he nearly died. Shikaku was fit to be a strategist; making him Hokage wouldn't do, and his personal strength wasn't much. Among those listed, he was the weakest.
That left Hiashi and Musashi as the strongest contenders. But the Uchiha's performance in this battle had been too eye-catching.
Public favor for the Uchiha was at its peak. Hiashi tactfully bowed out of competing with Musashi for acting Hokage.
It was just an acting position—why bother?
That same day, shinobi from Kumo arrived with a letter from the Raikage. Since Obito and Pouf had captured the Eight-Tails Killer B, the Raikage finally couldn't bear it and summoned the other four Kage for a Five Kage Summit.
"Sasuke, Naruto, get ready. The three of us will attend this summit." After giving assignments to the others and outlining Konoha's reconstruction, Uchiha Musashi spoke.
The elder council opposed Musashi's decision.
Why? Because Naruto was the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki.
But a single offhand sentence from Musashi shut them up.
"Where in all of Konoha is safer than at my side? If Akatsuki shows, I'll kill whoever comes."
It was a domineering declaration. And Akatsuki was down to a half-crippled Nagato, Konan, Itachi with a worsening condition, Kisame, Zetsu, plus Pouf and Obito.
Once he revealed his identity, Pouf would never strike him. The only real concern was Black Zetsu—unknown strength and practically unkillable unless Meruem's true body descended. A most troublesome existence.
"Mercenary ninja, really? Have their brains gone soft? They really look down on Konoha. I'm the Sixth acting Hokage, for heaven's sake. A handful of special jōnin and elite chūnin thought they could kill us? Konoha's fallen… Back when the White Fang was alive, no ninja from any country dared send assassins against Konoha. He was the strongest in the assassination game." After casually wiping out a bunch of mercenaries from who knows where, Musashi talked on.
Of course, back when Konoha's White Fang was active, the body Musashi used now hadn't even been born.
The Five Kage Summit's venue—the Land of Iron, famed for its Three Wolves, a country of samurai, not shinobi.
Its overall strength was decent, but the only high-end fighter worth noting was Mifune.
"It really is cold here." Compared with springlike, beautiful Konoha, the Land of Iron's climate was rough—perpetual snow and winter. In truth, Fire Country had the best climate in the Naruto world. The Land of Water lay overseas and was shrouded in fog; the Land of Wind's desert climate was abysmal; the Land of Lightning's summers were scorching—hence so many dark-skinned folk; the Land of Earth's climate was somewhat better, but it was full of pudgy men with bulbous noses.
Sunagakure—the Kazekage Gaara; Kumogakure—the Raikage A; Iwagakure—the Tsuchikage Onoki of Both Scales; Konohagakure—the acting Hokage Uchiha Musashi; and Kirigakure—the Mizukage… Neferpitou?!
"So they really sent Pitou as Mizukage. Interesting." Musashi exchanged a nod and a glance with the miniature Meruem on Pitou's shoulder, then fell into thought.
Pitou, Meruem's clone, and Youpi—hardly a weak lineup. His own side wasn't shabby either.
When Konoha's Hokage and Kiri's Mizukage entered, shinobi from the other three villages couldn't help but look them over.
After all, their Kage were household names in the shinobi world. Konoha and Kiri's choices were unfamiliar—even unheard of.
Even the greenest among them, Gaara, had been the One-Tails' jinchuriki.
"Welcome, Kage of the villages, to this gathering. I am Mifune. I will preside. The Five Kage Summit begins now." The old man with the Afanti-style headwrap sat center and spoke.
Gaara opened, but the Tsuchikage, dismissive of his youth, made a few snide remarks.
Before they'd exchanged many words, the hot-tempered Raikage smashed the table to splinters with one fist.
That was like lighting a powder keg, instantly enraging the other Kage's bodyguards. Luckily the Raikage's guard was strong enough to hold them off.
Except—
"Sasuke, Naruto. Stand down!" Uchiha Musashi's deep voice sounded.
One on each side, the two pinned the Fourth Raikage A against the wall. If he weren't famed for speed and strength as a taijutsu fighter, another man would have been humiliated outright.
"When did they—?"
"As expected of Konoha." "What a monster." "I heard Konoha was attacked by Akatsuki's leader and that the leader was killed."
Aside from Kirigakure's Mizukage Pitou and her entourage, the shinobi of the other three villages whispered among themselves.
Pitou, meanwhile, had barely spoken since entering. She just looked around this way and that, as curious as a kitten.
(End of Chapter)
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