"Konoha is attacking the village?" Hearing the scout's report, Yugito Nii laughed out of sheer anger.
"Are you kidding? This is Kumogakure! How did Konoha ninjas silently bypass all of our scouts and make it to the village? Explain exactly what's going on," Yugito demanded, fury etched on her face.
The reporting Kumogakure ninja's face stiffened at her tone, and he hurriedly replied, "Lord Raikage, it's true! The Konoha ninjas brought a massive group with them."
After receiving repeated confirmation from her subordinate, a trace of surprise finally flickered across Yugito's face.
'What's going on? Kumogakure has kept to itself these past two years. Why would Konoha suddenly send people here?'
'And they even managed to slip past everyone's line of sight and sneak up to the outskirts of the village. If Konoha's main forces possess this kind of capability, doesn't that mean no ninja village is safe anymore?'
"It seems Konoha caught wind of our impending alliance," Onoki guessed, analyzing the situation. "So they sent people to pressure us?"
"That must be it," Rasa nodded in agreement. "Otherwise, with the major villages maintaining peace these past few years, Konoha wouldn't have chosen this specific time to show up in Kumogakure."
Hearing the deductions of the other two Kage, Yugito nodded secretly.
"Since Konoha has already sent people, we can't show weakness. I invite you two to accompany me and see exactly what Konoha is plotting." She spoke steadily, not showing the slightest bit of cowardice.
Although they hadn't signed the treaty yet, Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure could already be considered allies. Onoki and Rasa naturally had no objections to her proposal.
By the time Yugito, Onoki, and Rasa arrived at Kumogakure's main gates with their respective escorts, a massive crowd of Kumogakure ninjas had already gathered.
Seeing their Raikage arrive, the panicking ninjas quickly parted to clear a path, allowing the Kage to walk unimpeded to the front of the Konoha delegation.
However, the moment she saw the face of the leading Konoha shinobi, Yugito's heart trembled violently.
Or rather, it was Matatabi, currently controlling Yugito's body, that recoiled in sheer terror.
The man standing before her... even after ten thousand years, Matatabi would never forget his face.
His Susanoo had split half of the Gyuki apart with a single slash, while one glance from him had completely suppressed Yugito's consciousness.
For her, he was the next God of Shinobi, the strongest existence alive.
'Why is this monster here in person?'
Seeing Jie, Matatabi's heart immediately sank to rock bottom.
For a fleeting moment, she genuinely felt that abandoning Yugito's body and roaming the ninja world as a free Tailed Beast might actually be a wonderful choice.
'Why did I have to wade into the muddy waters of Kumogakure in the first place?'
Beside her, Onoki and Rasa's eyes also narrowed slightly as they took in Jie's figure.
They had originally assumed Konoha might have sent one of the Sannin, like Jiraiya or Orochimaru. They never expected Jie Uchiha himself to come knocking.
'Can this alliance treaty still be successfully concluded?' they wondered. 'If we refuse to comply with his wishes, will he fly into a rage and cleave Kumogakure in half?'
Thinking this, both Onoki and Rasa let out quiet sighs of relief in their hearts. 'Thank goodness this isn't Iwagakure or Sunagakure. It's not our village... if he destroys it, then so be it.'
"The main character has finally appeared," Jie said, a faint smile gracing his face as he looked Yugito over, unable to resist giving her a few extra glances.
He harbored immense curiosity toward this Tailed Beast Raikage.
In the entire history of the ninja world, a Tailed Beast acting as a village's Kage was a complete first. After all, even Kirigakure's Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, was merely the Three-Tails Jinchuriki, not the pure Three-Tails itself.
"Hokage, what are you doing in Kumogakure?" Matatabi forcibly suppressed her terror, her voice heavy with deep wariness.
The moment she spoke, the eyes of all the Kumogakure ninjas shifted uniformly onto Jie, silently demanding an explanation.
Kumogakure's imposing, hostile lineup caused the three Genin behind Jie to panic slightly. They had barely left the village on missions before, let alone faced a standoff with an entire hostile military force.
Even Sasuke, who was usually the most composed, subconsciously shrank back behind Jie.
In this tense moment, only their Hokage could provide the three young Genin with an immense sense of security.
However, what seemed like an overwhelming scene to the Genin was nothing special to Jie. Every time he addressed the village from the Hokage building in Konoha, hundreds of thousands of people gathered below.
Compared to that, this crowd was insignificant.
Hearing the Fifth Raikage's cautious question, Jie merely smiled faintly.
"I heard Kumogakure is preparing to host a joint Chunin Exam. Coincidentally, I've brought a few disciples with me, so I thought I'd let them broaden their horizons and see the strength of Genin from the other villages."
Jie paused briefly before continuing in a calm tone.
"Surely the Fifth Raikage wouldn't refuse such a small request?"
Although Jie spoke casually, Matatabi absolutely did not buy his excuse. Crossing such a vast distance uninvited, just to let his disciples observe other ninjas?
'Who are you trying to fool?'
Yet, despite knowing his motives weren't so simple, Matatabi simply couldn't find a single valid reason to refuse. Or rather, she didn't dare to refuse.
If it were anyone else from Konoha, she wouldn't even give them a second glance. No matter how overbearing Konoha was, they wouldn't launch another war against Kumogakure over a simple rejection.
But Jie Uchiha was entirely different.
Setting aside his unfathomably terrifying strength, his status as the Hokage alone made Matatabi terrified to make a reckless move.
Refusing an ordinary shinobi was one thing, but refusing the Hokage was an entirely different matter. It could easily escalate into an international diplomatic incident.
And if Jie truly lost his temper, Konoha's army might very well be marching toward the borders of the Land of Lightning within days.
Just as Matatabi was agonizing over this dilemma, she suddenly noticed an odd detail.
'Wait... why are only Jie and the few kids beside him wearing Konoha headbands?'
'Everyone else is from Kirigakure!'
'Why would Kirigakure shinobi accompany Konoha ninja to Kumogakure?'
Mei Terumi and the others, who had been ignored the entire time, instantly perked up when the Raikage finally turned his attention toward them.
'Finally,' Mei thought with relief. 'They remembered Kirigakure exists.'
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