The Four Kage Summit was still drowning in schemes and political maneuvering, but over in Konoha, there was one particularly miserable bastard currently undergoing the judgment of the masses.
Well... four people still counted as "the masses," right?
Inside a heavily secured room—
"Well, well, well. Never thought I'd see the day when someone who acted like the heavens were first, the earth was second, and he himself was third would actually fail."
"Oh my, wasn't someone complaining that his mission was too easy? So how does someone fail such an easy mission?"
"Hey, don't bully him too much. I failed mine too. Seriously, I only wanted to test things out a little, but Kisame ended up following me back to Konoha. Once that happened, I couldn't kill him anymore, so the mission failed too. So annoying."
"You're the only one whose mission failed."
The mocked Hyūga Hiyasu was so embarrassed he practically wanted to dig a hole and bury himself.
"Give me another chance. Next time, I definitely won't let Sasori escape."
Hiyasu swore to himself that if he'd known failing the mission would lead to this kind of treatment, he never would've wasted even a single word during the fight.
But how could Uchiha Kamito let him off that easily?
"Oh, next time will definitely work out. And even if it doesn't, there's always another next time. And another after that. Endless next times."
"You blind bastard!"
"Mission failures don't get speaking rights."
Inuzuka Ryoha immediately joined the verbal assault.
Normally, Hiyasu was the one messing with everyone else. When had they ever seen him this miserable before?
There was no way they could miss this chance.
If they let this opportunity go, where else would they ever find another like it?
After getting tag-teamed by Kamito and Ryoha, Hiyasu silently pulled out his imaginary little blacklist in his heart.
Blind bastard, huh? Just you wait.
And you too, dog-playing asshole. Your day's coming.
Half an hour later, Hiyasu finally couldn't take it anymore.
He turned toward Aburame Shiken and put on an utterly pitiful expression.
"Shiken... they're bullying me."
A chill instantly shot from the top of Shiken's head to the soles of his feet, then back up again.
After repeating the cycle five times—the insect clone finally couldn't endure it anymore and collapsed on the spot.
Senju Hideki's eyes widened instantly.
"Holy shit! Hiyasu scared Shiken so badly his clone fell apart!"
The moment Hideki said that, Kamito and Ryoha completely lost it.
The two exchanged a glance—then clutched their stomachs and burst into laughter.
"Hahahahaha! Hiyasu, you're incredible! Is this the legendary 'whoever you glare at dies' technique?! Hahahaha!"
"Hiyasu, that's not fair! You learned such a terrifying dojutsu and never told us?! Hahahahaha!"
Hiyasu's face shifted between green and red with rage.
"You two dead bastards really think I won't snap?!"
"Hell with you!"
Shiken reformed another insect clone from a swarm nearby—then immediately kicked Hiyasu flying before he could explode.
"Don't ever use such disgusting tactics on me again. I wasn't even mocking you."
Hiyasu looked utterly wronged.
"But when Hinata does it, everyone completely loses the ability to resist."
You're both Hyūga, so why the hell is the treatment so different?!
Shiken covered his forehead speechlessly.
"Can Hinata even be compared to you?"
One was a burly grown man.
The other was an adorable girl.
Kamito and Ryoha struggled to climb back to their feet, still laughing so hard they were nearly dying.
"Cough... cough... Shiken, let's talk business first. We can laugh more another day. I'm afraid I'll literally laugh myself to death."
"Cough... same here."
The two of them completely ignored the murderous expression on Hiyasu's face.
Shiken quickly calmed himself as well.
That scene just now had been way too psychologically devastating.
"First matter: once you return, mobilize your clan forces. Remember, this is a declaration of war against the entire shinobi world. From this moment on, we enter full wartime preparation. First, adjust everyone's mindset."
"No problem."
"Easy enough."
"Same here."
"Same here."
"Second matter: we'll be commanding this war ourselves, so we need to complement each other's strengths. The previous two battles were fought way too stupidly. None of us properly utilized our clans' advantages."
"Understood. I'll start ideological work within the clan as soon as I get back."
"Relax. If anyone refuses to listen, I'll beat them until they do."
"The Senju clan has too few people now, so our situation's easy to handle."
"Shiken, I have one ultimate technique that gets stronger the more people there are around me. If you disperse everyone too much, my combat strength won't reach its maximum."
Ryoha explained his situation.
Honestly, even without using his trump card, he could still deal with most enemies in the shinobi world.
But if peak Madara appeared... then without that ultimate move, even he felt a little uneasy.
"No problem. My Phase Exchange Insects and Minato's Flying Thunder God can send people to your location at any time. Plus, Minato and I are currently researching a simplified version of the Flying Thunder God Formation. Once that succeeds, this issue won't matter at all anymore."
"Alright, then I've got no problems. The entire Inuzuka clan listens to me anyway. Arrange things however you want."
"Good. For now, focus on these two tasks first. I'll notify you all again if anything else comes up. The plan should officially begin in around two years."
After wrapping things up, Shiken disappeared.
Unifying the entire shinobi world was simply too massive a task. Even two years of preparation felt far too rushed.
Logistics, military organization, invasion routes, governance plans, justifications for war...
Even splitting one person into a hundred pieces still wouldn't be enough.
After Shiken left, the remaining four suddenly had nothing to do.
"How about a few rounds?"
"I'm in."
"Come on. Last time I was just unlucky. This time I'm winning everything back."
"Dream on. The only one winning is me."
...
Land of Iron.
Outside the Four Kage Summit meeting room—the two samurai guards couldn't stop yawning.
"Disgraceful! There are four Kage from the great shinobi villages inside, and you dare slack off like this?!"
Mifune happened to be patrolling nearby and instantly exploded with anger when he saw them yawning nonstop.
Did they think this was just some ordinary guard duty?
They represented the dignity of the Land of Iron itself!
The two samurai guards immediately snapped awake after being scolded.
"Our deepest apologies, Mifune-sama."
"We're very sorry."
"After the mission ends, report yourselves for thirty cane strikes."
"Yes, Mifune-sama."
"Understood."
After reprimanding them, Mifune turned toward the tightly shut summit chamber doors with a puzzled look.
What exactly were they discussing in there?
How had the talks lasted this long?
They'd been talking from daylight all the way into the middle of the night.