There was no need to say much.
At first, both Chiyo and Ebizō had resisted the idea of submitting to Konoha and clinging to the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren.
In their eyes, Sunagakure was still one of the Five Great Ninja Villages. It should have had its own pride and dignity.
But…
Uchiha Ren's personal appearance had completely shattered their mental defenses.
And after seeing the bottles of side-effect-free Hero Water placed on the table, that so-called pride and dignity suddenly became worthless.
In the end—
surrendering and taking Konoha's side really was the better option.
"Forget it. The tide can't be reversed. Let's announce it to the entire shinobi world."
After a long while, Chiyo finally spoke with a complicated sigh.
"Konoha is strong. The Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren, is unmatched in the world."
"So my choice is not wrong."
"Mm."
Ebizō nodded firmly.
"Submitting to Konoha is the best choice."
"Good. Then it's decided."
Chiyo took another sip of hot tea, a cold gleam flashing through her eyes as she added,
"This time, I'll make sure the entire shinobi world feels the shock too."
That very afternoon—
The shinobi world, which had already been in turmoil, was thrown into even greater upheaval by a single announcement.
The message spread like a tidal wave, impossible to suppress.
And the content was simple:
Sunagakure, one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, had declared in an exceptionally decisive manner that it would submit to Konoha. From this day forward, it would follow Konoha's lead.
Buzz!!
The moment the news broke, it was as if a magnitude-thirteen earthquake had struck the entire shinobi world.
Countless people were left utterly stunned.
Many shinobi wore expressions of complete disbelief.
There was no helping it.
No one had expected that after Kirigakure submitted to Konoha—
Sunagakure, another of the Five Great Ninja Villages, would do the same.
In other words—
among the Five Great Ninja Villages, aside from Kumogakure and Iwagakure, Konoha had already absorbed both Kirigakure and Sunagakure.
And when that was added to the Moon, the Rain Village, and Takigakure—
the implications became terrifying.
Without anyone fully realizing it, Konoha had already unified more than half of the shinobi world.
Shock.
Absolute shock.
Under these circumstances, after the initial disbelief and panic faded, many of the leaders of small hidden villages started having new thoughts.
One after another, they began proactively reaching out to Konoha.
After all—
ever since the Rain Village had been conquered by Konoha, many small-village leaders had already started "hoping" Konoha would come for them next.
And now that Kirigakure and Sunagakure—both among the Five Great Ninja Villages—had taken the lead, those smaller villages no longer felt any shame in surrendering to Konoha and taking refuge under Uchiha Ren.
If anything—
it seemed like the smartest path possible.
Because of that, the atmosphere across the shinobi world began to shift.
Many small villages and minor powers started openly signaling goodwill toward Konoha.
And Konoha, for its part, welcomed them all without refusal, displaying the broad-minded posture of a power that claimed to care for the entire shinobi world.
At the same time—
Inside a hidden barrier at the border between the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning—
"You two, from this day on, we're all on the same ship. I hope we can work together and defeat Konoha… and kill the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren."
Looking at the silent Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, and the equally grim Fourth Raikage, A, the masked Uchiha Obito's gaze shifted slightly. Then he let out an icy smile and spoke coldly.
That was right.
The moment they learned that Sunagakure had also submitted to Konoha, Obito and Madara both sensed something was going very wrong.
So they had no choice but to gather Ōnoki and A together and stabilize their emotions first.
Thinking of this, even Obito felt a little frustrated.
After Kirigakure had submitted to Konoha, he had personally gone to calm down both A and Ōnoki. It had taken real effort to keep them in line.
And now, before that had even settled, Sunagakure had submitted too.
"What exactly are we supposed to do now?"
As soon as Obito finished speaking, Ōnoki clenched his fists and said coldly,
"Now that Konoha has absorbed both Kirigakure and Sunagakure, its strength has increased tremendously."
"That means Iwagakure and Kumogakure will become Konoha's next targets."
"Isn't Uchiha Madara supposed to be strong?"
A's expression was ugly as he said,
"Then why doesn't he go and secretly force the Fifth Mizukage, Terumi Mei, and Chiyo to submit to him instead?"
"Damn it…"
Fear flashed through Ōnoki's eyes.
"Why hasn't Konoha reacted yet? Could it be they've already noticed something is wrong with Iwagakure?"
"That's impossible!"
The moment those words were spoken, A seemed to react as well.
He turned to look at Ōnoki, and the two of them clearly saw the same shock in each other's eyes.
"What a pair of idiots."
Watching them, Obito cursed inwardly.
The truth was obvious—
after submitting to Madara, both Iwagakure and Kumogakure had started acting more boldly and more aggressively than before.
If Konoha failed to notice something was off, that would have been the strange part.
Of course, that was only what Obito thought.
He had no intention of saying it out loud.
After all, Kumogakure and Iwagakure still had value. Their combined strength was still useful.
"Relax."
A moment later, Obito said decisively,
"Even if Konoha has already figured something out, you don't need to panic."
"Everything is still within Madara-sama's calculations."
"As long as we revive Kumogakure's former Raikage and Iwagakure's former Tsuchikage, we'll be able to strike Konoha without restraint."
"…Mm."
"…We'll trust you for now."
After hesitating for a moment, Ōnoki and A both looked deeply at Obito and finally nodded one after the other.
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