Chapter 243: The Five Kage Summit
The sky broke bright, and quiet Kusagakure seemed steeped, all at once, in an atmosphere of grim intent.
There hadn't been a Five Kage Summit since Hashirama Senju's era. Decades of endless conflict had torn the shinobi world apart since.
Interest. Interest. Interest.
Every war ever fought had come down to that word — as far as Sakura's understanding went, aside from a certain uncle-regent in her past life who'd gone to war over a brother's death, she'd never once seen a war break free of that logic.
"Have the village representatives all arrived?"
Green eyes fixed on the man before her, Sakura asked.
"Lord Hokage, the Mizukage arrived in the small hours of the morning."
Suzaku Nara answered respectfully.
Sakura nodded at that.
She hadn't been worried the Mizukage would skip out on this. With the Kazekage, Raikage, Hokage, and Tsuchikage all present, if the Mizukage didn't want to offend nearly the entire shinobi world at once, he had no choice but to show.
"Let's go. Time to meet these washouts."
A cold smile crossed Sakura's face as she picked up the wide-brimmed hat marked with the character for "Fire" from her desk and strode out.
Sasuke, dressed in his Konoha jōnin gear, and Hikaru, in her clan's robes, followed silently behind the Hokage.
Since Hikaru had already agreed beforehand to attend the summit with Sakura, she wasn't about to embarrass her now by backing out.
The Five Kage Summit was to be held at the ruins of the old Kusagakure administrative building.
The original building had been wiped clean off the map by a single blast of Ōnoki's Dust Release.
Afterward, once Iwagakure and Konoha had garrisoned the village, a new joint Fire-Earth administrative building had gone up in its place.
Now, the building sat surrounded on all sides, packed tight with shinobi.
Suna, Kumo, Kiri, Iwa.
Four hundred Suna shinobi. Three hundred Kumo. Five hundred Kiri. Two hundred Iwa.
All of them the elite of the elite from their respective villages — if you excluded any one of the Five Great Villages from the equation, this gathered force alone could have crushed practically any other faction in the shinobi world with room to spare.
A faint ripple of unease had already begun stirring through the crowd, uneasy at facing an "enemy" force of this scale outside actual battle — but it settled, all at once, the moment one particular figure arrived.
The Fifth Hokage.
That pink-haired silhouette who had peaked the very moment she'd debuted on the world stage.
Aside from the Iwa shinobi, the Suna, Kumo, and Kiri ninja alike all turned their eyes immediately toward the Hokage as she made her way, step by step, toward the administrative building.
Their gazes carried weight — grim, fearful, curious.
But mostly, fear.
That nightmare of a silhouette from three years ago rose up in their minds all over again.
Three years wasn't a long time. But it wasn't short, either.
Clearly, it hadn't been enough time to erase that pink-haired figure from the battlefield out of their memories.
"Hmph. Quite the entrance."
Inside the building, Kurotsuchi stood behind Ōnoki, glaring down at the last of the Kage to arrive with obvious displeasure.
"Don't run your mouth in there later."
Ōnoki said nothing more to his granddaughter's complaint, only sighed.
He'd personally arranged this Five Kage Summit.
He understood full well how difficult it would be to get every village to set aside old hatreds and unite against Mōryō.
The online summit had already been tense enough. Now, with everyone gathered in the same room, there was no telling what fresh disaster might erupt.
"You're such a nag, old man."
"By the way, when are you handing the Tsuchikage seat over to me?"
Kurotsuchi crossed her arms, glaring at Ōnoki with open dissatisfaction.
Ōnoki, at a loss for words, could only sigh.
If this had come up before, fine — Iwagakure genuinely didn't have many good candidates to succeed the Tsuchikage besides Kurotsuchi.
Kitsuchi's mind wasn't suited to politics. Rōshi's temperament was too erratic. And Han had once gone berserk within the village itself, before finally achieving full control as a jinchūriki.
None of the village's three top-tier fighters were fit to take the seat.
But now...
Ōnoki's gaze drifted toward the blond man off to the side, lounging on the couch and idly molding a bit of clay.
"What're you staring at, you crusty old man."
Deidara, noticing the eyes on him, glared back at Ōnoki, thoroughly unimpressed.
"Is that how you speak to your teacher?"
Ōnoki gave Deidara a swift, brutal flick to the forehead without a shred of mercy.
"Ow, ow, OW!"
Deidara clutched his head, yelping in pain.
Damn this old man!
If I could actually beat him, I'd have bolted a long time ago!
"Big Brother Deidara, show the old man a little respect~~~"
Kurotsuchi grinned cheerfully, watching the blond man writhe on the couch.
"Hey, I didn't even do anything!"
Deidara protested, still nursing his head.
"I still haven't settled the score with you over running off from the village without permission. And joining that little club of criminals — you don't even know how to spell 'death,' do you?"
Ōnoki's expression carried genuine exasperation.
His own personal student, and the man had lowered himself to joining an organization made entirely of missing-nin.
And that organization had gone and provoked Konoha, no less — if not for Konoha's willingness to overlook it out of the Iwa alliance and their need for Iwagakure's secret techniques, Ōnoki, old as he was, would've been burying a student who should have outlived him.
"Tch..."
Deidara shot the old man a resentful look, thoroughly cowed.
"Hmph. You're coming with me now, and you're not saying another word in there!"
After Deidara and Kurotsuchi had returned to Iwagakure, Ōnoki hadn't punished him formally.
He'd simply kept him under much closer watch since.
In fact, plenty of people within Iwagakure didn't even know Deidara had ever left in the first place — Ōnoki had never issued a bounty or manhunt order for him.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know..."
With the Hokage's arrival, the Five Kage Summit formally began.
In the meeting hall at the top of the administrative building, six factions gathered as one.
Fire, Wind, Earth, Lightning, Water, Rain.
Six banners hung around the perimeter of the room, and a long, curved table sat in the center — arranged in something like a round-table configuration.
Under the light fixtures overhead, an unspoken heaviness settled over the room like a fog.
The five Kage sat before their respective banners, and behind each of the six most powerful figures in the shinobi world stood two trusted attendants.
Behind the Hokage: Sasuke Uchiha, Hikaru Uchiha.
Behind the Tsuchikage: Kurotsuchi, Deidara.
Behind the Kazekage: Temari, Kankurō.
Behind the Raikage: Darui, Tsuchidai.
Behind the Mizukage: Chōjūrō, Ao.
Behind Hanzō the Salamander...
Sakura didn't recognize them.
Every one of these attendants was someone within their respective villages qualified to succeed to the title of Kage.
Sakura's green eyes drifted, seemingly by chance, toward the man seated before the "Rain" banner.
A masked face, dressed in full shinobi gear. Hanzō the Salamander.
The real Hanzō had died years ago, back when Pain first took control of Amegakure.
So who, exactly, was sitting there now...
"Ahem. This humble one is Mifune, an unremarkable warrior of the Land of Iron."
Before anyone could speak, a figure emerged from the shadows.
A man in his forties or fifties, his face weathered with lines, a long blade strapped at his waist, walking forward with steady, measured steps.
"At the Tsuchikage's invitation, I've come to moderate this summit. If I overstep in any way, I ask all of you for your understanding."
The Land of Iron was a neutral nation within the shinobi world, situated northwest of the Land of Fire. Like the Land of Frost, it stayed buried in snow year-round, resource-poor but rich in iron ore — and as a result, home to more samurai than shinobi.
Sakura had nothing to say about his appearance.
She'd expected him to show, after all.
"No objections here."
Gaara, ever the most honest one present, spoke up first — drawing a few sideways glances from the others.
"Lord Hanzō. It's been a long while."
Mifune turned to the seated figure of Hanzō the Salamander with a slight nod.
In his youth, he'd once crossed paths with this man during his travels and lost to him in single combat.
"Mm."
A steady voice came from behind Hanzō's mask, acknowledging the samurai.
Mifune didn't dwell on it further — a gathering this formal wasn't really the venue for small talk.
"With that, I trust none of you wish to waste time on unnecessary preamble. Let's move directly into the matter at hand."
Mifune looked at the five most powerful figures in the shinobi world before him.
"This summit has exactly one purpose..."
"Mōryō."
Mifune's voice was steady, weighted, as he began describing the demon from a thousand years past.
"A thousand years ago, Mōryō ran rampant across the world, until the Sage of the Six Paths sealed him with his own hands, tearing his soul from his body."
"The body was sealed into the Shrine Maiden lineage of the Land of Demons. The soul was sealed beneath the earth in the Land of Bears."
"Should body and soul ever be reunited, the demon that once ravaged this world a millennium ago will walk it once more."
"Mōryō persists to this day, but the Sage of the Six Paths is long gone."
"Great as our forebears were, those who came after are not without their own merit."
"Now, with Mōryō's revival imminent, all of you should set aside your private grievances and stand united against this common threat."
As Mifune's words settled, Utakata, the Fifth Mizukage, leaned back in his chair with a faint, mocking smile.
"So when it all comes down to it, the crux of the matter is just the Shrine Maiden of the Land of Demons, isn't it?"
"Protect her properly, and this whole 'Mōryō's revival' business becomes a joke."
"All you'd need to do is hide the girl somewhere safe. Was all this really necessary?"
Utakata's smile carried an edge of irritation — plainly annoyed that something this simple had required him to travel all this way through the night.
"That's true enough, but there's a certain link between Mōryō and his body — no matter how far apart they lie, his soul always knows exactly where his flesh resides."
"As for the terracotta army's direction of march — to be precise, they aren't heading toward the Land of Demons itself. They're heading toward wherever the Shrine Maiden currently is."
"If the Shrine Maiden were in the Land of Water, the terracotta army would be marching toward the Land of Water instead."
Tsuchidai, standing behind Killer Bee, spoke up.
"And who are you, to dare interrupt the Mizukage's words?"
Ao, standing behind Utakata, cut in.
Ao, of course, knew exactly who Tsuchidai was — but with the Mizukage's words interrupted, he had no choice but to speak up on his behalf.
King to king, general to general.
Only another of the five Kage had the standing to interrupt the Mizukage directly — and clearly, this Raikage's court minister had overstepped his bounds.
Having the Mizukage himself object would be beneath his own dignity — so it fell to Ao, as the Mizukage's personal guard, to speak instead.
"Tsuchidai's words are my words."
"Is that a problem, Lord Mizukage?"
Killer Bee didn't even look at Ao — his gaze fixed instead on Utakata, a fellow jinchūriki and the Mizukage of Kirigakure.
"No problem at all, of course."
"But just as you said — Ao's words are my words, too."
Utakata met Killer Bee's stare without a flicker of fear.
They were both Kage. Both jinchūriki.
He had nothing to be afraid of here.
Tsuchidai — Black Zetsu — kept his expression perfectly calm.
All he'd needed to do was inform the room of the link between Mōryō and his soul. As for this pointless little squabble that had erupted?
None of his concern.
Even if he hadn't spoken up, some excuse or another would've set this conflict off eventually anyway.
Better to let it land on his own shoulders now, while he had the chance to shape it.
"Is the Mizukage deliberately picking a fight here?"
Killer Bee's eyes narrowed as he looked at Utakata.
Behind his sunglasses, no one could actually see the narrowing — but everyone in the room could feel his chakra beginning to stir, restless.
"So, if I might interject."
At that moment, Sakura, who had stayed silent this whole time, finally spoke.
The tension between the Raikage and Mizukage froze in place at the sound of her voice.
"Just now..."
"You looked at me. Didn't you?"
Her green eyes fixed on Ao, standing behind Utakata.
More precisely, on the eye hidden behind the sealing device covering half of Ao's face.
The Byakugan. Ao's Byakugan.
Behind that sealing apparatus sat a Byakugan belonging to the Hyūga main house.
In the original story, Ao had activated his Byakugan during the Five Kage Summit to secretly scan the other Kage.
And now, apparently just as unafraid of death, he'd done exactly the same thing here — activating his Byakugan for a full sweep of the room.
Which, naturally, would not have skipped over Sakura, the sitting Hokage.
Even with the sealing device masking it, Sakura's sharp instincts had caught it regardless.
"You're the Hokage, and remarkably young at that. Naturally Ao took a closer look. Surely the Hokage isn't the type to be bothered by a stray glance?"
Utakata, seeing this, set aside his standoff with Killer Bee and replied, unbothered.
"Heh. If it were that simple, I wouldn't be bothered at all."
The corner of Sakura's mouth curled upward.
Mei Terumi gave up the Konoha-Kiri friendship for this, did she?
Well, all the better. She'd simply take back what belonged to Konoha.
That way, Mei Terumi would have nothing left to say about it either.
"Unless I'm mistaken — behind that device sits a rather special eye, doesn't it?"
The moment those words left her mouth, every face in the room shifted, however slightly.
Exactly what kind of eye lay behind Ao's sealing device — everyone here knew perfectly well.
After all, Ao of the Byakugan had built himself a reputation across the shinobi world.
But right now, in the middle of trying to forge unity against a common threat, was absolutely not the moment to turn the room's attention onto Ao.
"Lord Hokage, I'd ask that this matter be discussed at a later time. It isn't the topic at hand right now."
The silent figure of Hanzō the Salamander spoke up.
As a legendary figure of the shinobi world, his words carried real weight.
Assuming, of course, that he actually was Hanzō the Salamander.
"And what exactly are you?"
"You think you have the standing to talk to me like that?"
!
Every face in the room shifted at once — this was open, naked provocation!
Has the Hokage lost her mind?
Saying something like that, right now — was she not afraid every power in the shinobi world would turn on her afterward?
Had Sakura known what they were all thinking, she would have laughed outright.
Which of the previous Great Ninja Wars hadn't seen every faction in the world gang up on Konoha at some point or another?
"Hokage."
"Are you provoking me?"
Hanzō the Salamander held the young Hokage's gaze without a shred of fear.
"Please, both of you, calm yourselves."
"This is not the moment—"
Mifune tried to smooth over the tension flaring between the two.
"When I'm speaking, what right do you have to interrupt me?"
"I'd love to see exactly what you've got to stop me from taking back what's mine."
The Hokage remained seated, her voice perfectly calm — but her next words made every face in the room go white.
"Sasuke. Take back the Byakugan."
(End of chapter)
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