"Akatsuki launched a direct assault on Iwagakure—the Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, has fallen in battle!"
When Tsunade and Hiruzen looked at the intelligence report sent from Iwagakure, whether it was Tsunade, Hiruzen, or even Homura on the side, the expressions they exchanged were filled with shock and disbelief.
The report in their hands was extrely detailed—so detailed that it even docunted that the leader of Akatsuki could use both attractive and repulsive forces. It also clearly recorded that Ōnoki had used Earth Release to forcibly shift the entire location of Iwagakure six kiloters east!
Even so, the number of deaths in Iwagakure still reached over a thousand!
"According to the scouts' intelligence, it seems Iwagakure isn't planning to conceal this information?"
"Not only that—the Fourth Tsuchikage, Kitsuchi, is even preparing to send invitations to all the Kage of the Five Great Nations, inviting us to attend Ōnoki's funeral. At the sa ti, he intends to convene a eting regarding Akatsuki…"
Hiruzen stared blankly at the report in his hands. He had thought that Keizumi was already fierce enough—yet he never expected that there would be soone even more terrifying in the ninja world.
And the mont that person made a move, it was aid directly at annihilating an entire village!
Most crucially—if Ōnoki hadn't fought to the death to defend Iwagakure, would that person have actually succeeded?
"What is happening to this ninja world?"
"Why are these beyond-standard powerhouses appearing one after another?"
Homura began to reflect on what exactly had gone wrong with the ninja world. In the past, ninjas weren't like this.
Even jōnin, despite possessing destructive ninjutsu, were still limited by chakra. Even the Third Raikage's battle against ten thousand shinobi from the Land of Earth had been enough to be talked about for years.
So why, ever since Uchiha Keizumi appeared, had it beco normal for one person to take on an entire village?
"If this keeps going, the ninja world will be ruined!"
"Akatsuki…"
"Akatsuki!"
Tsunade murmured the na repeatedly. She felt that the person described in Iwagakure's report seed sowhat familiar—but she had t far too many people in her life.
After all… she had far too many debt collectors.
"Are we going to attend?"
"No matter where this Akatsuki ca from, directly declaring war on a village like this has already crossed the core interests of the Five Great Nations!"
Hiruzen looked at Tsunade. She was now the Hokage—the one who held the true decision-making authority.
Among the Five Great Nations, there had always been a tacit understanding.
Resources in the ninja world were limited, and the Five Great Nations would never allow another nation to rise and beco a sixth power. The Second Great Ninja War had broken out precisely because Hanzō of the Salamander attempted to elevate the Land of Rain into a sixth great nation.
Now, Akatsuki's actions had clearly violated that unspoken agreent.
"We attend!"
"No matter what Akatsuki's goal is, Konoha must obtain more intelligence about them."
"If Akatsuki were to strike Konoha while Keizumi isn't in the village, we might not do any better than Ōnoki did!"
Tsunade wasn't concerned about the tacit agreent between the Five Great Nations—what she cared about was what would happen if Akatsuki targeted Konoha.
"Well…"
"There was actually so intelligence earlier, but due to the Hokage transition, it was temporarily held back on my end."
Homura, who had little presence, spoke up, explaining that certain intelligence reports had been delivered to him during the Hokage transition.
"According to the group of Konoha shinobi sent to the Land of Water, Keizumi has already clashed with Akatsuki."
"They even encountered shinobi from the Land of Earth at the battlefield ruins. Based on their information, it seems the Land of Earth had hired Akatsuki to assassinate Keizumi—but the attempt failed."
"So, the situation between the Land of Earth and Akatsuki may have hidden complexities?"
Homura handed his report to Tsunade. After she and Hiruzen finished reading it, the two exchanged puzzled looks.
According to the shinobi supporting reconstruction efforts in the Land of Water, the Land of Earth and Akatsuki had been extrely close—almost inseparable.
So if they were that close, how did things suddenly escalate into war?
No one could have imagined that the devastating conflict suffered by the Land of Earth was actually caused by soone embezzling 250 million.
After Kitsuchi took over, he directly brought Deidara along and made the shinobi of Iwagakure understand very clearly—what money could be taken, and what money absolutely could not!
Whether it was Deidara or Kitsuchi, both felt that Ōnoki's death was utterly frustrating!
Before this, Ōnoki's bounty on the black market had already been raised to over 700 million—equivalent to more than twenty Sarutobi Asuma.
If you say Akatsuki is greedy, then why did they leave Ōnoki's corpse behind in Iwagakure?
But if you say they aren't greedy—then Ōnoki's death was truly unjust!
In fact, Kakuzu had already been clutching his chest in agony back at the Akatsuki base.
He had never considered assassinating the Kage of the Five Great Nations before, so he had never paid much attention to Ōnoki's bounty.
The day after returning to the base, while casually picking up bounty missions, he glanced at Ōnoki's reward—and imdiately abandoned his current task, rushing back to beg Pain to make another trip to Iwagakure.
That was seven hundred million!
A full seven hundred million!
When others say they missed out on a fortune, they're exaggerating—but Kakuzu had truly missed out on seven hundred million!
It had been so close—so close that he could have reached out and taken it—so why hadn't he?!
"In truth, this ti we were still too high-profile. That doesn't align with Akatsuki's usual style."
Konan sighed. She could already imagine that the entire ninja world was likely in an uproar because of Akatsuki.
"No—even if we had kept a low profile, once information about Akatsuki's battle with Uchiha Keizumi spread, we would still have drawn the attention of the entire ninja world."
"This only exposed so of our strength earlier than expected."
"But for Akatsuki, that's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, if we want to recruit new mbers, having a powerful reputation is quite useful."
Pain shook his head. Konan made sense—but he didn't want to hear it.
Not for any particular reason—only because after the battle at Iwagakure, Nagato felt that the frustration in his heart had finally eased sowhat.
As for what that frustration was…
Naturally, it was the humiliation of Akatsuki mobilizing all its mbers, only to be utterly defeated by Uchiha Keizumi.
"Speaking of which, where are that Uchiha who calls himself Madara, along with Black Zetsu and White Zetsu?"
"News from the Land of Earth has already spread across the entire ninja world. No matter how remote their route, they should have heard sothing by now, right?"
Pain looked toward Kakuzu and Sasori, hoping to get so information about Uchiha Obito and the others.
But Kakuzu and Sasori exchanged glances—
—and both shook their heads.
Reviews
All reviews (0)