Around the massive round table, the Kage of the Five Great Nations were gathered. It felt less like a diplomatic summit and more like a high-stakes interrogation.
Behind each leader stood their respective guards and their village's ultimate weapons—the Jinchuriki.
Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage of the Hidden Sand, had naturally brought his Jinchuriki along, but since the boy's condition was unstable, he was stationed in a nearby waiting room.
Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage of the Hidden Mist, sat with a look of indifference on his boyish face. Behind him stood Utakata, the Six-Tails Jinchuriki.
Yagura's fingers tapped rhythmically on the armrest. No one knew if Obito was peering through that controlled shell at this very moment, or if the boy was simply spaced out.
But the most conspicuous of all was the Hidden Cloud's camp.
"BOOM!"
A deafening crash echoed as the sturdy round table, crafted from expensive mahogany, met its untimely end yet again.
Wood splinters flew as a massive crack spread rapidly from under the Raikage's palm, splitting the table clean in two.
"Minato Namikaze! You hypocrite!!"
A, the Fourth Raikage, bolted upright. Lightning Style chakra surged violently around him, and his blond hair stood on end like the mane of an enraged lion.
His other arm had not recovered yet, so he could only point his single limb at Minato, who sat in the head seat. Spittle nearly flew into Minato's face.
"Stop playing dumb with me! Hand over Bee!!"
A's eyes were bloodshot, filled with extreme rage and grief. "The Cloud has been destroyed! That bastard Pain took Bee! Yet here you are, sitting pretty, talking about some damn meeting?!"
"This is clearly a Konoha conspiracy! The Akatsuki are nothing but your lapdogs!!"
Faced with the Raikage's roar, Minato's expression remained gentle. He didn't even shift his posture.
He merely tilted his head slightly to avoid the flying wood chips, his blue eyes as calm as a still lake.
"Lord Raikage, please calm down."
Minato's voice wasn't loud, yet it cut clearly through the Raikage's shouting. "As I said, I deeply sympathize with what happened to the Hidden Cloud. But the Akatsuki is not an affiliate of Konoha. On the contrary, they are our common enemy."
"Bullshit!!"
A kicked his chair aside. "Sympathy? How much is your sympathy worth?! Look at the shinobi world! The Hidden Stone lost its Tailed Beasts, the Hidden Cloud is in ruins, and only Konoha remains! Only you are unscathed!!"
"Do we even need evidence? This itself is the smoking gun!!"
Onoki, the Third Tsuchikage who had remained silent, finally spoke up in a cold, snide tone.
"The Raikage may be a brute, but his words aren't wrong."
Floating in mid-air with his hands behind his back, Onoki's aged eyes glittered with shrewdness and suspicion. "Hokage, I don't want to doubt you either. But the facts are before us. This Pain possesses the Rinnegan. How could such a legendary power emerge from a tiny place like the Hidden Rain?"
"Furthermore..."
Onoki's gaze swept over Minato and the purple toad perched on his shoulder. "I hear the Akatsuki's goal is to collect the Tailed Beasts. They've taken the Eight-Tails, the Four-Tails, and the Five-Tails... yet they conveniently skipped Konoha and the strongest of them all, the Nine-Tails."
"Doesn't that suggest a certain understanding between you?"
Onoki's words were like a needle, accurately piercing the hearts of everyone present.
Even Rasa and Yagura, who had maintained a neutral stance, now looked at Minato with a hint of scrutiny.
It was indeed too coincidental.
Suspiciously so.
"An understanding?"
Gamakon, perched on Minato's shoulder, finally couldn't hold back.
He reached out a claw to pick his ear, looking at the agitated leaders of the shinobi world with sheer disdain.
"I say, did all of you get your brains caught in a door?"
Gamakon's slightly mocking, raspy voice rang out in the meeting room. "If we were really in league with the Akatsuki, would we be inviting you here for tea? It would be much easier to just finish you off while you're down and take everything for ourselves."
"What did you say?!"
A whipped his head around, glaring at Gamakon. "A toad dares to talk big at a Five Kage Summit?! Do you think I won't crush you into paste?"
"You can try."
Gamakon grinned, revealing a row of stark white teeth. "But I bet your one arm can't even reach your own back."
"You bastard!!"
Pushed over the edge, A completely lost his reason.
Summits and diplomatic protocols were forgotten.
He only wanted to vent his rage—to tear this virtuous-looking Hokage and that foul-mouthed toad to pieces!
"Lightning Oppression: Horizontal Chop!!"
Boom!
Blue lightning exploded instantly.
A vanished from his spot, turning into a bolt of lightning too fast for the naked eye to track. His hand-blade, capable of cleaving mountains, struck directly for Minato's throat.
Fast!
Even with one arm, the Raikage's speed was still unmatched in the shinobi world.
Before the other Kage could even react, the lethal blow was inches from Minato's neck.
However.
"Clang."
A crisp metallic ring echoed.
A's hand-blade, which could shatter stone, stopped just an inch from Minato's throat.
Blocking him was a uniquely shaped kunai.
A custom Flying Thunder God Kunai.
Minato had stood up at some point, strange markings appearing around his eyes.
He had simply raised one hand, gripping the kunai in a reverse hold to effortlessly parry the Raikage's full-force strike.
"What?!"
A's pupils constricted.
He felt as if his strike had hit a mountain; it didn't budge an inch.
Even more terrifying was that Minato's hand wasn't covered by any chakra armor. He had blocked the Lightning Chakra Mode using nothing but raw physical strength and a momentary burst of chakra.
"Lord Raikage."
Minato looked at the man inches away, his gaze finally turning cold. "If you cannot calm yourself, I don't mind cooling you down physically."
"You..."
A gnashed his teeth, trying to pull back for another attack.
But in the next second, a golden flash erupted.
Shhh!
Minato vanished into thin air.
Then, a palm was placed gently against A's back.
A cold chill shot up from A's tailbone straight to his skull.
A froze.
He knew that if that had been a Rasengan, his spine would be shattered.
"Too slow."
Minato's voice came from behind him, despairingly calm. "If it were Bee, he might have been able to keep up with my rhythm. But you... blinded by rage, you're full of openings."
Dead silence filled the room.
Onoki's body stiffened slightly in the air, and Rasa's grip on his gold dust tightened unconsciously.
Is this the power of the Yellow Flash?
Even against an enraged Raikage, he was so composed it was as if he were playing with him.
The gap in power sent a chill down everyone's spine.
If Konoha truly wanted to unify the shinobi world, they really wouldn't need the Akatsuki's help.
"Everyone, please sit."
Minato withdrew his hand and flashed back to the head seat.
He straightened his slightly wrinkled Hokage cloak and surveyed the room. "I do not wish to use force to prove anything. But if you insist on pushing me, I will not hesitate to respond."
A was breathing heavily, his face pale with frustration.
He glared at Minato but ultimately huffed and sat back down in the chair he had kicked over.
Despite his resentment, he understood: he simply couldn't beat him.
"Fine, very well."
Onoki broke the silence as he slowly descended into his seat. His tone held less aggression and more wariness. "Since the Hokage has such strength, I am all ears. What explanation do you have for us?"
"The explanation is simple."
Minato interlaced his fingers under his chin, his expression turning solemn. "The reason the Akatsuki does not attack Konoha is not because they don't want to, but because—they don't dare."