Remember This! Akatsuki Will Absolutely Not Throw the First Kunai!
The news of Akatsuki Village's Special Military Negotiation Group—together with a document titled "Akatsuki Village's Final Ultimatum"—quickly spread across the shinobi world.
At the same time—
In the Land of Lightning, inside Kumogakure, the First Raikage leaned back in his office and burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha!!"
"They've run out of tricks!"
"A Special Military Negotiation Group? Akatsuki really knows how to put on a show."
"It looks like Konoha and Akatsuki finally realized that intimidation and extortion won't scare us. They were acting all aggressive before, but now public opinion in their own village is biting them back."
"So they've finally sent a delegation to seek reconciliation!"
The First Raikage still did not believe Akatsuki would take any truly extreme action.
This was nothing more than the same old bluff-and-squeeze routine.
Now that Kumogakure refused to play along, Akatsuki had no choice but to send envoys to quickly resolve the matter—just to calm their own internal unrest.
That "special military operation" was nothing more than a negotiation team in disguise.
After reaching an agreement, they would surely return home boasting about a "great victory."
"Raikage-sama," one of his advisors asked,
"Should we proceed with reconciliation talks once Akatsuki's delegation arrives? This has dragged on for a long time, and it's already common knowledge across the shinobi world."
"After all, this involves two major villages from the Land of Fire."
"Hmph. Absolutely not!"
"Do they really think Kumogakure is made of clay?"
"Let them stew for a while. I've got a lot of anger to vent."
"When Akatsuki's envoys arrive, don't give them any courtesy. Make Konoha send people personally if they want to talk!"
The First Raikage spoke arrogantly.
Akatsuki had been shouting from the rooftops for far too long, acting like the sky itself bowed to them.
There was no way he would allow them to wrap this up neatly.
A mere Akatsuki Village—who did they think they were?
If negotiations were to happen, Konoha had to be at the table.
"But what if Akatsuki really intends to…"
Another advisor hesitated. "What if they're serious?"
Lately, his eyelid had been twitching nonstop. A bad omen.
"What if they truly intend to use force?"
"Hahaha! Impossible!"
"For such a trivial matter, you think they'd really go to war with Kumogakure?"
The First Raikage laughed even louder.
At the Front Line
At this very moment, Uchiha Makoto was already leading more than 3,600 Akatsuki shinobi, secretly passing through several small countries and heading straight for the border of the Land of Lightning.
Several hundred kilometers from the border—
Inside a temporary command tent.
"Remember," Makoto said calmly, sitting on a small stool,
"we are not here for war."
"We are here to demand justice for Akatsuki's fallen shinobi."
"We just happened to bring a tiny bit more people with us."
Despite having already marched an army of thousands to the enemy's doorstep, Makoto remained obsessively careful about one thing:
Akatsuki could not be blamed for starting the war.
Peace!
Akatsuki valued peace more than anyone!
This operation was for the sake of Akatsuki's chūnin—nothing more.
How could it possibly be about starting a war?
"Uh… Makoto," Uzumaki Shinji said cautiously,
"isn't it a little… ridiculous to insist on that now?"
Slurp.
He took a lick of the ice cream cone in his hand.
The weather was getting hotter, and after a long march, being able to eat ice cream was genuinely refreshing.
Akatsuki's extravagance was absurd.
Sure, they had Ice Release users who could make ice on demand—but they'd even brought the ingredients for ice cream cones?
That was…
Insane.
Just from this detail alone, one could see how terrifying Akatsuki's logistics truly were.
Ice cream really is delicious…
"Of course it matters!" Makoto said firmly.
"We are here to negotiate, not to start a war."
"Whichever village throws the first kunai, that village bears full responsibility for escalating the conflict."
"I'll say it again—we are here to negotiate!"
After calming down the increasingly excited Akatsuki commanders, Makoto began issuing orders.
"First, send out several squads to harass the Kumogakure border outposts."
"Use the banner of negotiations. Do whatever you want—except throw the first kunai or cast the first jutsu."
"You must provoke them into attacking first."
"We will respond only in self-defense."
"Akatsuki has already prepared specialized recording equipment."
"You've all seen movies, right?"
"Everything we do today must withstand the judgment of history."
"It was Kumogakure who attacked first."
Exactly.
Even in this technologically underdeveloped shinobi world, cinemas existed.
Movies were released annually—though only nobles and wealthy merchants could afford to watch them legally.
Most people relied on bootlegs.
Low-tier missing-nin and criminal syndicates even produced… questionable short films, usually lasting only a few minutes—but that runtime was apparently sufficient.
Absurd as it sounded, the shinobi world had genuinely unlocked a bizarre film technology tree, often assisted by ninjutsu—some kind of chakra-based black tech.
Considering that:
Orochimaru would one day hand-build intelligent machines
Sunagakure already had living puppet techniques
Tobirama was probably right now plotting something horrifying like Edo Tensei
Movies didn't seem strange at all.
When Makoto first learned this, he'd even considered producing films with handsome men and beautiful women to promote Akatsuki.
After all—
What better way to export culture and ideology?
But that was a discussion for later.
"So what happens once Kumogakure attacks first?" someone asked.
"Isn't that obvious?"
"Dump every explosive tag you have on them."
"Then immediately fire the signal flare."
"The main force moves in right after."
After saying this, Makoto accepted an ice cream cone himself and began eating happily.
The surrounding commanders all smiled.
Lord Hikage truly is brilliant… (and terrifying).
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