Chapter 89: Five Kage Summit Looms, Naraku Summoned to Jōnin Meeting, and Hidden Schemes
Naraku pondered the possibility of Uchiha Madara noticing him. He realized that with all the commotion he had caused—especially Nawaki's dragon transformation incident—there was at least a fifty percent chance Madara had already taken notice.
After thinking it over, Naraku concluded that even if Uchiha Madara had noticed him, there was no need to worry too much. Even if Madara paid attention, he might not come looking right away. The current Uchiha Madara should still be searching for a suitable executor for his plan.
Next, Naraku considered whether he had any way to deal with Uchiha Madara. He concluded that with his current strength, defeating Madara wasn't realistic. But he wasn't particularly afraid of Madara either—his arsenal of methods should be enough to escape with his life.
As long as he waited for Uchiha Madara to die of old age, the entire ninja world would still be his to rule.
Moreover, once the Guardian Divine Throne was completed, he might even be able to clash with Madara. He wasn't the kind of fool who would abandon getting stronger just because a powerful enemy was watching.
The excellent subjective initiative brought by Naraku's red education gave him terrifying drive—as long as something offered high cost-performance benefits, he would absolutely do it!
This could already be seen from his past habit of persistently visiting certain "study websites"!
No one could stop his progress!
The next morning, Konoha convened a long-overdue jōnin meeting.
In the original story, Konoha seemed to have only about ten jōnin, but in reality there were quite a few—enough to fill the meeting room completely.
This made sense: Konoha had so many bloodline and secret-technique clans with systematic training methods, plus generations of civilian ninjas being nurtured. You could say elite jōnin might be few, but there were plenty at jōnin strength. Naturally, there couldn't be as few as in the original story.
However, because various bloodline clans liked to hide their strength, some clans never received official jōnin status. This kept the number from being overwhelming.
At this moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō sat in the center of the leadership platform, with Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura seated to their left and right respectively.
As Sarutobi Hiruzen announced the main topic of the meeting, the entire room erupted into clamor—the situation was quite urgent. If Konoha were attacked by the other four villages simultaneously, even Konoha couldn't withstand it. Forget about victory—even if they won, it would come at enormous sacrifice. More than half the jōnin present might die.
As Shimura Danzō dramatically slammed the table, eager to speak—
Sarutobi Hiruzen quickly laid out the plan they had discussed in the small meeting yesterday, then opened the floor for free discussion.
Although Sarutobi Hiruzen felt the suggestions from his three advisors were poor—especially Danzō's idea of stubbornly fighting the entire ninja world—how long could they hold out?
Konoha appeared united on the surface, but if too many sacrifices were demanded from the clans' interests, even he might be forced out. Once he was gone, who Konoha would listen to was anyone's guess. And ninja weren't politicians from Blue Star—removing a leader here wasn't just impeachment or something. Assassination was the norm. Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't want to end up nailed to a pillar of shame, with later generations evaluating him as someone who acted against the flow, ultimately provoking mass discontent, felt deep guilt, and committed suicide by having a dozen explosive tags detonated behind him.
Actually, that would still be a relatively good evaluation. If later newcomers didn't play fair and blackened him thoroughly just to justify seizing power, then not only he—even the entire Sarutobi clan—would be nailed to the pillar. So Sarutobi Hiruzen decided to hold this meeting—at least everyone could share the blame together. That way, whatever was done would be something they all chose.
After waiting a while, Sarutobi Hiruzen asked: "Does anyone have better suggestions?"
A silver-haired man stood up—Katō Dan said: "Shouldn't we invite the person directly involved, Uchiha Naraku, to ask for his own opinion?"
A hot-headed jōnin muttered under his breath: "What right does Uchiha Naraku, an academy student, have to attend this meeting? What right does he have to make this decision?"
This immediately drew angry glares from the Uchiha jōnin.
Katō Dan smiled warmly and said with great affability: "After all, Uchiha Naraku is the core of this matter. He's also Konoha's master forger. Hearing his opinion might be good—perhaps Uchiha Naraku can provide a way to break the deadlock?"
Uchiha Sengoku also spoke up: "Correct. Although Uchiha Naraku is young, he possesses wisdom far beyond ordinary children." With that, he glared at the hot-headed jōnin who had spoken earlier.
The hot-headed one immediately shrank back in fear—he was just someone who had lucked into jōnin rank. He didn't dare act arrogantly in front of the Uchiha clan head.
Shimura Danzō and Sarutobi Hiruzen, hearing Uchiha Sengoku's words, felt a little puzzled. Because in their presence, Uchiha Naraku had always acted like a child—showing his thoughts openly.
If the childish demeanor Naraku showed in front of them was all deliberate camouflage, then that was something worth paying attention to.
But it was only worth paying attention to—after all, Uchiha Naraku's strength was far too weak. Even if he had some schemes, without power he still couldn't turn the world upside down.
Uchiha Sengoku had no idea he had almost dug a pit for Uchiha Naraku. He was still thinking this might help ease relations with Naraku.
This was also Uchiha Naraku's fault for playing the "wolf extinction" role too well—making it seem like he and Konoha were in the same boat.
In truth, from the very beginning, Naraku never planned to stay in Konoha for long.
Everything he did was to become stronger—strong enough that even if an Ōtsutsuki god appeared, they could only kneel and sing "Conquer." Strong enough to become a god and ancestor.
After thinking about Naraku, Shimura Danzō looked at Katō Dan with dangerous eyes. He saw this affable man trying to win hearts during a jōnin meeting—even the Uchiha didn't jump out, yet this kid did.
Danzō remembered this kid liked to shout about wanting to become Hokage!
Perhaps because he had spent too long in the gutters, Danzō had a natural jealousy toward this type of person—and Katō Dan still harbored ambitions for the Hokage seat.
But Danzō wasn't planning to act against him yet—after all, he was a jōnin who mastered forbidden techniques. And Danzō didn't think he could really become Hokage—Katō Dan lacked too many political resources.
Later, Naraku was brought to the jōnin meeting room looking completely confused. Seeing Uchiha Sengoku and Katō Dan give him polite smiles, he politely returned them.
He still didn't know these two smart guys had almost screwed him.
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