After making his firm decision, the Raikage directly assigned tasks to several people: their mission was to personally deliver alliance treaties for mutual development to the major Ninja Villages.
Within the Land of Lightning, the massive redistribution of benefits through recent reforms was already nearly complete.
What they needed now was no longer just dividing up the existing cake, but making the damn cake bigger!
Naturally, these heavy-duty tasks were assigned to Killer B's team and Yugito.
With four people available, each would head to one of the other major Ninja Villages.
There was also the crucial, albeit smaller, village of Amegakure.
The Raikage didn't assign anyone directly to it; instead, he let the four of them decide among themselves, figuring that whoever went to the Hidden Stone Village or the Hidden Sand Village could just make a quick detour there.
Killer B, of course, was strictly ordered to remain in the village.
This wasn't because the Raikage distrusted Killer B's strength—it was because he sure as hell didn't trust Killer B's mouth and personality to complete a delicate diplomatic mission normally.
As for sending a Jinchuriki out on missions?
Wasn't that standard practice for basically every village?
The only one truly hoarded and guarded like a precious "treasure" was Killer B, who had been heavily confined in the Cloud Thunder Gorge.
But that was purely because of Killer B's status as the Raikage's brother, not simply because he was a Jinchuriki.
As for suddenly being hyper-cautious just because someone might try to capture the Tailed Beasts?
Please.
As if nobody wanted to kidnap Tailed Beasts or Jinchuriki before now.
Their own Hidden Cloud Village was historically the thirstiest one when it came to snatching other villages' Jinchuriki, okay?
And yet, did Konoha ever lock their Nine-Tails Jinchuriki inside the village boundaries like some kind of Earthbound Spirit?
Hell no, that kid still went out on various missions everywhere.
Moreover, Yugito was a Jinchuriki who could freely control her Tailed Beast Transformation, boasting mastery second only to a perfect Jinchuriki.
If anyone actually dared to pull some sneaky schemes during diplomacy, the combined rampage of the Two-Tails and Yugito would be more than enough to make those other Ninja Villages suffer immensely.
In the end, the four of them divided up the diplomatic assignments.
The furthest destination, the Land of Water's Hidden Mist Village, was assigned to Omoi, along with some smaller countries along the way, such as the Land of Waves.
If intel indicated they had already joined the alliance, he simply needed to formalize the paperwork.
The remaining assignments were split up: Karui to the Land of Fire, Yugito to the Land of Earth, and Samui to the Land of Wind.
Yugito voluntarily asking to go to the Land of Earth was highly intentional on her part.
As mentioned earlier, if anyone had ulterior motives during these diplomatic missions, having a Tailed Beast completely rampage within their village would be an absolute disaster.
The Tailed Beast could attack recklessly and blow shit up, but could the Kage responsible for protecting the village do the same?
Yugito's visit to the Hidden Stone Village in the Land of Earth was strictly intended to test the waters—to see whether the village that currently had the absolute worst relations with the Hidden Cloud could successfully form an alliance.
If even the stubborn Hidden Stone Village could set aside their differences, it would further validate the credibility of these recent global developments.
And hey, if the Hidden Stone did have any ill intentions toward her, it would be the absolute perfect opportunity for her to violently vent all the frustration she had accumulated during her miserable time at Hozuki Castle.
As for Amegakure—or rather, Makoto, who played a decisive role in the intelligence gathering and was heavily leading the alliance efforts—Yugito and Samui decided they would visit together after completing their respective missions, since the Land of Rain was situated right between the Stone and the Sand.
...
Meanwhile, Makoto and his companions finally crossed the sea and returned to the mainland.
The route back to Amegakure was exactly the same as the one Ryuzetsu would take to return to the Hidden Grass Village, so Makoto's group traveled together with Ryuzetsu and Mui, whose chakra had been completely sealed.
When they passed by the Hidden Grass Village, Tsunade, acting in her official capacity as the Hokage, handed Mui over to the Grass ninja for imprisonment and briefly recounted the chaotic events at Hozuki Castle.
The people of the Hidden Grass were completely unconcerned, as they had specifically sent Ryuzetsu to stop Mui anyway.
They were fully aware of what Mui's crazy intentions had been.
"As for Ryuzetsu…" When it came to Ryuzetsu, Tsunade genuinely hesitated.
"Lord Hokage, there's absolutely no need to explain. We understand, we completely understand." The Hidden Grass Village representatives nodded knowingly.
After exchanging a few more casual diplomatic words, Tsunade bid farewell to the Grass representatives and returned to the group.
Ryuzetsu was standing right there among them.
That's right—she had absolutely no intention of ever returning to the Hidden Grass Village.
After being bluntly questioned by Uchiha Hikari about Karin, Ryuzetsu had come to a harsh realization.
She had stopped Mui for the sake of the entire ninja world, not for the Hidden Grass Village.
The greedy, completely unrestrained ninja of the Grass Village had already drained Karin's mother to death, and they certainly wouldn't hesitate to do the exact same thing to others.
If the Hidden Grass Village learned about her Dragon Life Reincarnation technique, she would instantly become nothing more than a tool—a literal, walking medical supply.
Moreover, her Dragon Life Reincarnation wasn't even a Bloodline Limit.
If some ambitious bastard forced her to teach the technique to others, and then compelled those poor victims to transfer their life force and chakra to them… the results would be horrific.
So, during the journey, Ryuzetsu had already told Makoto flat-out that she wanted to ditch the Hidden Grass Village and join Amegakure instead.
Coincidentally, when the Grass Village representatives noticed Tsunade's hesitation earlier, they immediately assumed that Ryuzetsu had just died while completing her mission.
After all, based strictly on her combat abilities, Ryuzetsu wasn't particularly powerful.
Sending her to deal with the Box of Paradise and Mui—who literally controlled the entirety of Hozuki Castle—was basically akin to the neighboring Hidden Waterfall Village sending Kakuzu to assassinate the First Hokage.
A total suicide mission.
"Thank you all so much. Leaving this place behind feels so much more freeing."
After officially crossing the border out of the Land of Grass, Ryuzetsu stretched her arms and deeply expressed her gratitude to Makoto.
Initially, during the journey, Ryūzetsu had actually tried to speak to Uchiha Hikari first, but Hikari completely ignored her existence.
It was a stark, almost funny contrast to her incredibly "compassionate" rescue of Yugito earlier.
Left with absolutely no other choice, Ryūzetsu turned her attention to Makoto.
As for Tsunade? Small Ninja Villages rarely held favorable opinions of the large ones, even though Tsunade's displayed abilities and personality actually aligned incredibly well with Ryūzetsu's expectations.
Similarly, the recent rumors circulating about Amegakure among the smaller ninja villages were overwhelmingly positive.
Located right in the center of the map, if the village was weak, it would constantly become a bloody battleground for all sides, leaving its residents to suffer endless warfare with zero peace in sight.
Conversely, if it was strong, it would become the ultimate crossroads where all roads meet—the prosperous heartland, the central hub.
Upon returning to Amegakure, Makoto's absolute first priority was to confirm whether the two batches of chakra he had been collecting had finally reached full capacity.
After receiving an affirmative answer, Makoto knew the real plan could finally be set into motion.
Thanks to Tsunade's massive infusion of life force, Kurama Yakumo's physical conditioning had progressed to the point where, with some light careful training, she could actually move around normally.
To completely maximize the enhancement of Kurama Yakumo's 'Turning Illusion into Reality' ability, both Uchiha Hikari and Makoto needed to simultaneously use their Amplification Abilities on her.
However, the most pressing task right now was to actually gather everyone involved to ensure nothing would go horribly wrong.
The term "everyone" here excluded the folks away on missions, the ones managing the village's booming economy, and those providing security over in the Land of Waves.
The most crucial person they needed was still...
"Wait, where the hell did Orochimaru go?"
"Konoha?"
Learning from Yakushi Kabuto that Orochimaru had packed up and gone to Konoha, Makoto actually wondered for a second if Orochimaru's old, nasty habits had resurfaced—was that snake bastard trying to destroy Konoha again while Tsunade was away?
Otherwise, why the hell would he just go back to the Leaf for no reason?
To rob more graves?
"Lord Orochimaru developed a brand-new Cursed Seal and simply wanted to find someone to test it on..." Yakushi Kabuto's expression was rather peculiar as he answered Makoto's question.
"A new Cursed Seal? Well, that's a good thing." Makoto was actually surprised.
He hadn't expected Orochimaru to develop another Cursed Seal beyond the classic Cursed Seal of Heaven and Earth Cursed Seal.
It seemed the original storyline had indeed severely limited Orochimaru's scientific development.