Feeling that their dignity had been trampled was not something Gaara alone experienced. At present, from the One-Tail through the Seven-Tails, all seven tailed beasts were missing, and the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki, Killer B, was nowhere to be found. The shinobi world generally believed they had already been captured by the Akatsuki.
With tailed beasts—regarded as vital strategic deterrents—being openly seized, how could the Kage of the four great ninja villages possibly pretend nothing had happened?
Thus, upon hearing that name, aside from the Raikage—whose expression revealed neither joy nor anger—the faces of the other three Kage all darkened.
Seeing this, Minato silently nodded in acknowledgment. Behind him, however, Hoshiyomi wore a thoughtful expression.
He felt that the Fourth Raikage in front of him was not quite right—he seemed too calm.
In the original story, after the Eight-Tails went missing, the Fourth Raikage had been furious. He had even lashed out at the other Kage on the spot, accusing them that the members of Akatsuki were all rogue shinobi who had defected from their villages, and he had strongly insisted on executing Sasuke.
Yet now, when Minato mentioned the disappearance of his village's tailed beast, the Fourth Raikage showed no visible emotion at all. This immediately aroused Hoshiyomi's suspicion.
Hoshiyomi frowned slightly, considering using Sage Mode's natural sensory perception to test the Raikage, but seeing that Minato had not yet finished speaking, he suppressed his doubts for the moment and decided to continue observing.
Minato continued:
"The members of Akatsuki were defeated by Konoha during their confrontation with us."
Hearing this, Gaara, Ōnoki, and Mei Terumī all widened their eyes in shock.
The Akatsuki—who had so easily captured tailed beasts from their villages—had actually been defeated by Konoha?
"After defeating the Akatsuki members, just as we were preparing to follow the trail and deal with their leader, Pain, an unexpected incident occurred. A member of Akatsuki known as Black Zetsu secretly ambushed us, stole Pain's Rinnegan, and used its power to resurrect Madara.
That is the full story of Madara's revival. Even more horrifying is that what Madara intends to do after his resurrection is dozens of times more extreme than Akatsuki's actions.
Akatsuki merely sought to suppress the shinobi world through force by collecting tailed beasts, but Madara intends to control the entire world through a massive genjutsu. He wants to claim the whole world for himself!
Madara has now officially declared war on Konoha, announcing that in one month—roughly twenty days from now—he will launch the Fourth Great Ninja War against the entire shinobi world!
That is why I said this Five Kage Summit is not for the interests of a single village. To oppose Madara, who possesses the Sage's eyes and seven tailed beasts, even Konoha alone cannot succeed.
At this point, the five great ninja villages share a common fate. If Konoha fails to withstand Madara's assault, the other four villages will inevitably be defeated one by one. Therefore, at this moment, the entire shinobi world must unite to fight Uchiha Madara!"
Hearing this, everyone present exchanged glances, feeling at a loss. Everything they had just heard sounded almost unreal.
Just as the group struggled to reach a decision, the Fourth Raikage, A, suddenly stood up and said:
"There's no problem with us joining the Allied Shinobi Forces. I have only one condition: I will be the commander of the alliance. If I am not made the commander, then Kumogakure will withdraw from this war."
Something is wrong! This situation is definitely not right!
Minato had just clearly stated that only seven tailed beasts had been captured, yet the Fourth Raikage showed no concern whatsoever. Moreover, with Minato and Hashirama standing there perfectly fine, he still dared to say something so outrageous. There had to be something fishy going on.
The Raikage in the original story might have been reckless—but that didn't mean he was an idiot.
In this situation, Hoshiyomi no longer cared about the looks of others and directly entered Sage Mode.
Sensing the change in the natural energy beside him, Hashirama subconsciously turned his head. When he saw Hoshiyomi's appearance, his eyes immediately lit up, and he couldn't help tilting his head as he said:
"Hoshi, you actually know Sage Mode too? And it even looks much better than mine."
Hoshiyomi paid no attention to this airheaded remark. Instead, he focused intently in the direction of the Fourth Raikage—and this glance immediately revealed a serious problem.
In his perception, a power completely different from the Raikage's Lightning Release chakra was entwined around A's body. Having studied the Sharingan extensively, Hoshiyomi was very familiar with this energy. It was none other than Mangekyō ocular power.
So it really was that guy Tobi pulling the strings behind the scenes!
Having confirmed this, Hoshiyomi showed no hesitation. He directly drew the Mikazuki Munechika at his waist and, without another word, stabbed it straight into A's shoulder.
Hoshiyomi's sudden action shocked everyone present, instantly throwing the conference hall into chaos.
The Five Kage and their guards all sprang into action. Omoi and Atsui behind A nearly had their eyes pop out as they shouted things like, "Release the Raikage-sama!"
Seeing this, Ao behind Mei Terumī instinctively activated his Byakugan—and with a single look, he realized that Hoshiyomi was not trying to kill the Raikage.
Under his Byakugan, he could clearly see that an unprecedented chakra erupted from Hoshiyomi's Mikazuki Munechika. When that special chakra entered the Fourth Raikage's body, A's internal state changed rapidly.
A strange internal rampage began inside his body. As this chakra went berserk, the crimson chakra that had originally surrounded the Fourth Raikage completely vanished.
What Hoshiyomi injected into the Raikage was nothing else but his own senjutsu chakra. Under Hoshiyomi's guidance, the natural energy ran wild inside A's body, directly shattering the Mangekyō genjutsu placed upon him.
Then, before the natural energy could begin damaging A's body, Hoshiyomi withdrew it. At the same time, the previously dull and vacant look in the Fourth Raikage's eyes instantly became clear.
Hoshiyomi sheathed Mikazuki Munechika and calmly walked back to stand behind Hashirama, saying to the tense Omoi and Atsui:
"All right, stop yelling already. You're supposed to be the Raikage's guards, yet you didn't even notice your own Raikage was under genjutsu."
Hearing this, everyone present froze and turned their gaze toward the Fourth Raikage A, who was sitting in his seat clutching his head.
A felt as though his mind was a muddled mess, as if he had just awakened from a long, long dream in a half-conscious state.
In that dream, he had been controlled by a man calling himself Uchiha Madara and had done many inexplicable things. The one he found most unbearable was launching a sneak attack on his own younger brother, Killer B. Thinking that he had committed such an unforgivable act against his own kin, the Fourth Raikage felt overwhelming guilt—enough to want to take his own life in atonement.
With that thought, he slammed his fist onto the table with a loud bang, smashing a large crater into the long table before him.
"Damn Uchiha Madara! I will never let you get away with this!"
...
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