There was also Furina's existence. During the time since her return, Tsunade had discovered that her disciple seemed to have already surpassed her. This truly left her both happy and unhappy.
She was happy because her disciple had surpassed the master, which was quite gratifying. She was unhappy because, toward Furina, she seemed to have only taught her own ninjutsu and hadn't really guided the other party much beyond that.
The other party's achievements today could be said to be entirely due to herself, with practically no involvement from her as a master.
To put it simply, no matter who replaced her as master, the impact would hardly be any different. Aside from a few ninjutsu techniques, even tying a dog to Furina's master position wouldn't matter much.
After realizing this, Tsunade felt a myriad of emotions in her heart. At the same time, without any direct conversation, she achieved a complete sense of shared understanding with Kakashi.
Enough of the digression. Furina's current strength was precisely why Tsunade dared to make Konoha the gathering place for the jinchūriki. Even if an attack really occurred, with her presence, losses could be minimized.
Moreover, her agreement to let Konoha take the lead wasn't without cost. Since Konoha was making this sacrifice here, then when it came time to jointly hunt down the Akatsuki later, the ninja from the other villages would be responsible for providing the main force, while Konoha would only follow behind offering support.
While Furina noticed her acquaintance Chiyo, the other party naturally also noticed her standing beside Tsunade. She immediately stepped forward while waving at Furina.
"Back when I saw you and your friend wandering around, I really didn't expect you to be the Hokage's disciple. What a huge surprise. But why did you hide it from me back then? Aren't we good friends?"
"Ahem, well, you didn't ask me either at the time."
Recalling her own explanation back then about wandering the world like a homeless wanderer, Furina couldn't help feeling a bit embarrassed. She had just wanted to brush it off with a random excuse at the time—she never expected the boomerang to come back and hit her today.
"Speaking of which, you're here this time accompanying the general of the Land of Iron. Is it because...?" Looking at the obvious training marks on the other's hands, Furina voiced the doubt in her heart.
"That's right. After that day, Lord Mifune took me in and accepted me as his disciple. And according to him, I seem to have quite a talent in the way of the samurai."
Without minding Furina's attempt to change the subject, Chiyo spoke while showing Furina her arm. However, her slender arm really didn't carry much persuasiveness.
"Then congratulations. Maybe in the future, the position of general of the Land of Iron will be yours to inherit."
This wasn't just Furina saying nice things. In her perception, the other party was roughly at the level of a chūnin. Although there was still a considerable gap compared to most of the people present,
compared to when they first met, her progress now could absolutely be described as rapid. Saying she was exceptionally gifted was no exaggeration.
After the two chatted for a while, everyone entered the room and took their seats, officially beginning discussions on how to deal with the Akatsuki. However, the harmonious discussion didn't last long before an argument erupted.
"Enough, Tsuchikage. Are you joking? From the intelligence we have on the surface, the Akatsuki has at least a dozen members. Your Iwagakure is only taking responsibility for one person—then what about the rest?"
The first to start arguing were Ōnoki and A. Kumogakure and Iwagakure had long been generational enemies, and it had only grown worse since the Third Raikage was besieged and killed by Iwagakure.
Therefore, A being willing to sit here and negotiate with Ōnoki was already an act of endurance, but after the other party pulled this stunt, he could no longer hold back.
"Hmph. Why not? Iwagakure itself is already weak in strength. Dealing with just Deidara requires me to personally take action. And it seems you didn't understand what I meant.
Iwagakure isn't going to wash our hands of things after dealing with Deidara. Our other ninja will also assist you in handling the other Akatsuki members. It's just that we can't guarantee we'll definitely take them down."
Facing A's questioning, although Ōnoki's expression remained unchanged, his tone clearly carried some displeasure.
To be honest, he hadn't wanted to join this joint effort against the Akatsuki in the first place. After all, Iwagakure's Four-Tails and Five-Tails had already been captured. Though it sounded bad, it really did mean they were free of trouble.
Therefore, compared to the time- and effort-consuming task of jointly fighting the Akatsuki, he actually preferred to sit on the sidelines and watch the tigers fight, waiting until the other ninja villages and the Akatsuki battered each other, then swoop in as the fisherman.
His idea was good, but reality didn't allow him to do that. Villages like Konoha, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure that still had tailed beasts joining the alliance was one thing.
What Ōnoki hadn't expected was that Kirigakure, which had also lost its tailed beast, had joined as well. On top of that, even the neutral Land of Iron was getting involved in the excitement.
This put him in a difficult position. If he didn't join, all the other major ninja villages would be in the alliance while Iwagakure stood isolated.
Whether the Akatsuki won or the ninja village alliance won, neither outcome would be good for Iwagakure.
If the alliance won, for the sake of future benefits and judging others by himself, Ōnoki felt the alliance would very likely take the opportunity to move against Iwagakure.
After all, by that point, reasons would be easy to find—things like "Iwagakure didn't join the alliance because they were secretly colluding with the Akatsuki." If they wanted excuses, there were far too many.
Facing an attack from the other ninja villages, Iwagakure would have little ability to resist. It wasn't impossible for Iwagakure to be destroyed under his watch.
And if the Akatsuki ultimately won, that went without saying. Collect all the tailed beasts and then stop there? How could that be? No one with a normal mind would think so.
At that point, even surviving in a corner would probably be impossible. It would be either submission or death.
None of these outcomes were acceptable to Ōnoki. Therefore, after considering everything from all angles, he still chose to participate in the alliance.
This way he could naturally avoid all the problems mentioned above. Moreover, he could use the opportunity to bring his disciple back. His relationship with Deidara had never been bad—it was only because the other frequently caused explosions in the village that he had been living outside.
Originally, he had planned to wait until the other matured a bit more, then bring him back, guide him properly, and step down to let Deidara become the Fourth Tsuchikage.
But who could have expected that damned Akatsuki would take advantage of his inattention and abduct Deidara? Now the kid was causing explosions all over the world and had even killed Kirigakure's Fourth Mizukage. Hmph, that brat's actually pretty capable.