Chapter 92: Five Kage Summit – Tensions Explode, Konoha Draws the Line, Alliance Cracks
Afterward, Naraku carefully read through the scroll's specific abilities. He discovered that Multiple Shadow Clone Technique was very similar to Shadow Clone Technique—once Shadow Clone was mastered, the difficulty wasn't actually that high.
But for an academy student—especially one with only 1 card of chakra—it should logically take some time to learn.
Naruto learning it so quickly could only be described as pure cheating.
Naraku immediately decided to reveal a little of his peerless talent. With deliberately slow, turtle-like hand seals, he completed the sequence—then produced 5 weak, shaky clones and 5 non-humanoid ones.
After finishing the clones, Naraku pretended to look a bit drained and weak.
But Sarutobi Hiruzen was somewhat surprised. He felt he had previously underestimated Uchiha Naraku's talent in ninjutsu. Still, based on what was shown, the most Naraku could become in the future was an elite jōnin—and even that would take a long time. With his loyal, village-loving disciple Tsunade around, Naraku probably wouldn't cause any real trouble.
"Naraku, your ninjutsu talent is clearly quite good. In the future when using Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, be very careful. Only after you can perfectly create 5 shadow clones should you consider increasing the number. You should already know what it feels like when chakra is nearly depleted." Sarutobi Hiruzen reminded him one last time.
"Mm-hmm." Naraku, the model Konoha good boy, nodded in full agreement.
...
For this Five Kage Summit, Sarutobi Hiruzen ultimately decided to go early. This time he brought his old teammate Akimichi Torifu, Shimura Danzō, and some Anbu guards along.
Because each village was a little distrustful of whether others might launch a sneak attack, everyone agreed to hold the meeting in the Land of Iron.
Although the Land of Iron hadn't fully developed into a neutral nation yet, under Mifune's leadership, most of its forces had already declared they would no longer interfere in ninja battles.
So all these ninjas ended up coming to samurai territory for the meeting.
Mifune was also invited to serve as the host of this summit.
Interestingly, this era's leaders of each village were all the Third generation—and several among these Thirds had even earned the title of "strongest in their generation."
Seated in the meeting room in order: Third Raikage A, Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki, Third Kazekage, Third Mizukage.
The Third Raikage was a muscular blond man with long golden hair and a bit of beard under his chin.
The Third Kazekage was a middle-aged man with blue hair, yellow eyes, and slightly spiked hair.
The Third Mizukage was a black long-haired, narrow-eyed middle-aged man.
Standing to the side were Mifune, Shimura Danzō, Akimichi Torifu, Chiyo, and some unnamed guards who didn't appear in the original story.
"Then let the meeting begin!" Mifune announced as the summit started.
Because of the previous war, Sunagakure had suffered the most and was now the weakest. Chiyo immediately asked: "When will Konoha stop imprisoning Uchiha Naraku?"
Shimura Danzō—who was already fuming because he wasn't allowed to sit—couldn't hold back anymore when he saw Chiyo acting so arrogant. He roared: "When did Konoha ever imprison Uchiha Naraku?! If you want to talk about imprisonment, how about when Sunagakure imprisoned the Daimyō of the Land of Wind? When are you releasing the Land of Wind's Daimyō?"
Chiyo instantly raged and broke: "You want to test how sharp my puppet's poison needles are?"
Shimura Danzō instantly drew Hachifusa, glaring fiercely at Chiyo: "My sword has never been dull either!"
The atmosphere in the entire meeting room instantly became razor-sharp and tense.
Ōnoki calmly said: "Hokage and Kazekage, it seems neither of you have very good control over your subordinates. We Kage haven't even spoken yet, and your escorts are already mouthing off."
It had to be said—Ōnoki's mouth was vicious. In an instant he pulled all the hatred onto himself.
Everyone stared daggers at Ōnoki—especially Danzō. Normally in the village he considered himself on equal footing with Sarutobi Hiruzen; he never expected to suffer such humiliation outside.
He decided that if he ever attended another meeting like this, he would absolutely be the one sitting.
The Third Raikage redirected the topic back to Uchiha Naraku, once again demanding Konoha hand him over.
Sarutobi Hiruzen finally spoke up: "Konoha will never casually hand over one of its own ninjas. The only concession Konoha can make is this: for the next three years, Uchiha Naraku will not forge any Teigu!"
To make sure no one misunderstood what Teigu meant, Sarutobi Hiruzen specially explained.
This had already been discussed before the meeting. Since Naraku would need to focus entirely on forging the new weapon in the future, he most likely wouldn't create new Teigu anyway. It was the perfect concession for the summit.
Ōnoki said calmly: "How can we confirm Uchiha Naraku won't forge any weapons? Better hand Uchiha Naraku over—then his future forged weapons can be evenly divided among us!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen firmly refused.
The Third Kazekage threatened: "Aren't you afraid of being besieged by our four villages?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen finally showed the bear-like spirit of a ninja and roared at the Third Kazekage: "Even if we divide, Sunagakure gets nothing! If several villages besiege Konoha, we'll target Sunagakure first—beat you until your village is destroyed! Konoha has that capability! Afterward, we'll gladly share your territory with the other ninja villages!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen's words stunned the Third Kazekage into silence. After thinking it over, he realized Konoha really could do it.
The Third Kazekage had always carefully cultivated his reputation in his village, earning the title of strongest Kazekage—yet coming to this meeting had left him utterly humiliated.
Ōnoki also sensed the fragile alliance was about to break. He hurriedly said: "If Konoha dares to fully attack Sunagakure, we will definitely support Sunagakure! We will launch a full assault on the Land of Fire!"
Shimura Danzō sneered: "Really? You don't want the perfectly good free territory Konoha takes? I think you just want to be Kazekage! Besides, mere Sunagakure—Konoha can wipe you out with just half our forces! After wiping out Sunagakure, Konoha will directly concentrate all troops and attack Iwagakure! Then the ninja world can be handed over to Kumogakure and Kirigakure to rule. What do you think, Ōnoki?"
Danzō's hawkish stance directly silenced Ōnoki.
Ōnoki scanned the room and noticed the Mizukage hadn't spoken at all. He immediately said: "Third Mizukage, say something!"
Third Mizukage: "We in Kirigakure live on islands and don't really want to get involved in the ninja world's wars!"
Ōnoki nearly went mad hearing this. A perfectly good alliance just fell apart like this? These brats aren't worth scheming with!
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