Black Zetsu said.
"Can't you let me rest a bit longer? I'm really fed up."
Kisame complained, but still stood up from the rock, dragging the body of the Rock Ninja, Han, and followed Itachi to the secret base in the nearby area.
"By the way."
Black Zetsu suddenly spoke, turning to glance at Itachi.
"What's wrong?"
Itachi asked expressionlessly.
Black Zetsu paused and said, "The war in the Land of Wind has ended."
After hearing this, Itachi's face remained stoic, but his heart tightened.
According to the reconnaissance of White Zetsu within Akatsuki, the Hidden Sand Squad in the Land of Wind was secretly hiding a Konoha Squad, led by one of the Sannin, Jiraiya.
Staring at Black Zetsu's face, one couldn't discern anything from his dark face.
"Hidden Sand defeated, Kazekage Rasa was left with a psychological shadow, while the elite team from Konoha supporting Hidden Sand was mostly wiped out, including the eldest son and daughter-in-law of the Third Hokage, and one of the Sannin, Jiraiya, was captured. Furthermore, the ninja from the Land of Demons reportedly suffered fewer than two hundred casualties, while Hidden Sand lost three thousand seven hundred ninjas. Quite a tragic outcome indeed."
Black Zetsu said.
"This is truly an unexpected surprise, didn't think it would end like this, wouldn't you agree, Itachi?"
Kisame showed surprise on his face and tilted his head, smiling at Itachi.
"Boring."
Itachi closed his eyes and said in a cold tone.
The Minister and Deputy Minister of the Anbu were killed, one of the Sannin was captured, Itachi couldn't imagine how weakened Konoha's internals would be at this moment.
This is indeed news that's as bad as it can get.
White Zetsu chattered cheerfully: "Little Black and I went to observe on-site; Chiba Hakushi and Uchiha Ruri are truly monstrous fellows. Over three thousand Sand Ninjas died at their hands. If not for a ninja using the Eight Inner Gates showing up midway, it's estimated Chiba Hakushi wouldn't have needed to act at all, with just Uchiha Ruri's Susanoo, they could suppress the three thousand Sand Ninjas including the Kazekage."
Black Zetsu answered again: "More or less. However, Chiba Hakushi possesses the ability to replenish Chakra, which wasn't used this time, so even if they annihilated over three thousand Sand Ninjas, that's not the limit of their strength. When encountered next time, one should be careful, though being cautious makes no difference anyway."
Black Zetsu doesn't believe the team members, having gotten the intelligence, can deal with such monsters.
Some ninjas, even knowing the weaknesses, are unbeatable.
It's just to increase these people's chance of escaping.
After all, finding so many capable ninjas is indeed difficult, which will delay the progress of sealing the Tailed Beast.
◎
In the office.
"Five Kage Summit... It seems Hidden Sand wants to leverage the influence of the Five Great Nations to exert diplomatic pressure on us."
The arrangements for the Five Kage Summit are already being organized, and the location for the summit is set in the Neutral Country, the Land of Iron.
Located at the northern end of the Ninja Realm's main road, it's a country with a culture distinct from the spiritual practices of the Land of Demons, where they revere Samurai, with harsh climate conditions, similar to the Land of Snow, a country blanketed in winter snow year-round.
An independent country, independent authority, independent culture, that's the Land of Iron.
Its Samurai powers, beneath the Five Great Nations, are still a fairly strong force.
And this time hosting the Five Kage Summit there could be out of recognition for the Land of Iron's strength.
Hakushi thought to himself.
"It appears the hardship you gave them wasn't enough; if you ask me, you should have directly thrown the Fire Spirit above the Hidden Sand Village, more effective than anything else."
Sitting on the sofa, casually sipping tea, Ayane laughed as she spoke.
"That would not only kill ninjas but the deceased would mostly be civilians."
Hakushi shook his head.
The Ninja Villages of the Five Great Nations are established with a mixed military and civilian occupancy system.
This means if one plans to attack a Ninja Village, countless civilians would inevitably be drawn in.
Moreover, even without those civilians, he hasn't reached the extreme of intending to uproot Hidden Sand Village entirely at this time.
Because doing so would only trigger a Fourth Great Ninja War, which, unprepared, would undoubtedly be a path to self-destruction.
"Then what's to be done now? After all, we still hold the status of Renegade Ninja, if Konoha doesn't rescind the wanted notice for Renegade Ninja, we can't overpower them in terms of moral high ground."
Starting with a poor stance, reaching this point means Renegade Ninja's risky mindset can no longer be used as a tactic.
No matter what, the appearance still needs to look good.
"The Five Kage Summit is happening in five days in the Land of Iron, although time is tight, secretly working with Konoha should not pose too great a problem."
Hakushi said.
"How to work it out? I don't think they will compromise so easily with us."
Ayane raised her eyebrows.
"Heh, the current internal power structure of Konoha is fragmented, Root has become uncontrollable, gradually consuming the internal power of Konoha, even the Hyuga Clan has secretly made contact with Root. That Hokage is more troubled with Root than one might imagine. Coupling this incident, do you think he has any room for choice?"
Hakushi smiled and said.
The Third Hokage is already over sixty, his body worse year by year, already at the point of needing to consider matters of succession and arrangements, otherwise, there might come a day when he leaves suddenly, causing Konoha to consume internally for the Hokage position. It's something the Third Hokage must prioritize.