"Hmph!" After this little incident, Lei Ying Ai snorted and sat down again.
"Let's continue the discussion!" Seeing that everyone had calmed down, Mifune said calmly from the head seat.
"Konoha, Iwa, Suna, and Kirigakure—Akatsuki was formed by rogue ninja from your villages. Not only that, but we've also discovered that some of you, including the former village chief, have used Akatsuki!"
"You used him?" Gaara was also surprised when he heard the Raikage's words.
"I don't trust you, and I don't want to negotiate with you, but the reason I summoned the Five Kage here is to hold you accountable!" Raikage Ai said loudly.
"How come you used Akatsuki before?" Gaara asked again, voicing his doubts.
"You, as the Kazekage, weren't you informed? Go ask the old folks in your own villages. You used Akatsuki during the war!" A said, pointing at everyone present.
Hiring people to fight is no secret; anyone of a certain age knows it. Even Konoha Village has done it. Danzo was a veteran at it. Before Root grew strong, Danzo hired people to do many shady things. Other villages did the same thing. The darkness of a great nation goes far beyond this.
The one who hired the most people was naturally the Tsuchikage, Onoki. After being repeatedly defeated by Tenchi, the strength of the Land of Rock had been weakened to the extreme. In order to restore the country's strength and maintain its status as a major power, Onoki had hired a lot of mercenaries from the ninja world in recent years, and Akatsuki, as a powerful mercenary organization, was naturally within Onoki's scope of hiring.
“Now that the major powers have settled down, they have shifted from military expansion to military reduction. Because the tension between countries has eased, there is no longer any threat of war. As a result, the ninja villages that control military power have become a heavy financial burden for the countries. However, there are certain risks in arbitrarily reducing the size of the ninja villages. If a war breaks out, relying solely on inexperienced ninjas will also cause problems, and defeat will result!” Onoki explained calmly.
"So one way to avoid the risks is to hire a combat mercenary group like Akatsuki, right?" Gaara understood the root of the problem through Onoki's words.
“Training excellent ninjas in your own village requires effort and money. Akatsuki, who make a living from war, is a group of top-notch experts. We can get them to take on wars at a low price and they can bring the most satisfactory results!”
"Stop talking nice things about the Tsuchikage. The Sand Village used Akatsuki to destroy Konoha, and that was Orochimaru. At that time, it wasn't certain whether he had left Akatsuki, but because of him, your father, the Fourth Kazekage Rasa, and the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, both lost their lives. This was very likely orchestrated by someone behind the scenes!" As he said this, A looked at Danzo. Seeing that Danzo closed his eyes and remained silent, he cursed him under his breath as an old fox.
"Furthermore, the most suspicious place is Kirigakure. You Kirigakure don't engage in diplomacy, and it's rumored that you are the birthplace of Akatsuki!"
Seeing Raikage A pointing directly at Kirigakure, Mei Terumi hesitated for a moment before revealing her own family's secrets.
"Since that's the case, then I'll be frank. We suspect that the previous Mizukage, the Fourth Mizukage Yagura, was being manipulated, most likely by Akatsuki, so we don't want to cause any big trouble..."
"Hmph, they're all cut from the same cloth!" Ai said with disdain as she looked at Terumi Mei.
"Watch your mouth, Raikage. In this era of military reduction, it's all your fault for seeking power and collecting ninjutsu at all costs. We had no choice but to hire Akatsuki in order to counter them!" Onoki retorted as he saw the Raikage criticizing others.
The meaning is very clear: if Kumogakure doesn't increase its power and collect ninjutsu, we won't hire Akatsuki. All of this is caused by your power increase.
"What!" Seeing that Onoki was blaming him, the Raikage slammed his hands on the table and stood up again, ready to give the old man a piece of his mind.
"Boring!" Tianqi muttered "Boring!" as he watched these guys start biting each other, then turned his head away, not wanting to hear them bickering.
"Before we argue from our respective perspectives, I'd like to convey something to everyone..." Seeing that the Raikage and Tsuchikage were about to start fighting, Danzo thought of someone and casually chimed in.
"What's up?"
"The leader of Akatsuki is probably Uchiha Madara..."
As soon as Danzo finished speaking, Raikage A and Tsuchikage Onoki immediately looked at Uchiha Tenki, who was listening in from the side. Uchiha Madara was Uchiha Tenki's father. If these two joined forces, what would be the point of any game?
"Look, look, what are you looking at? I'm just here to listen in, why are you looking at me!" Seeing that Onoki and Ai's eyes were wide open like bull's balls, Tianqi shouted a couple of times and then turned his head away, cursing Danzo for being a traitor in his heart.
Are you sure?
"Is he still alive? Didn't he die decades ago?"
"That's right, that guy should have been dead long ago?"
The three Kage—Water, Wind, and Earth—all raised questions, unwilling to believe that Madara Uchiha was still alive.
"I'm not entirely sure either, but this information is very reliable!"
"Are you trying to tell us he's immortal?" Ai shouted.
"Maybe..."
"Could it really be a monster..." Onoki said, his eyes unconsciously glancing at Uchiha Tenki.
Compared to Uchiha Tenchi, he feared Uchiha Madara more. At least Tenchi had principles in his actions, and as long as you didn't provoke him, he wouldn't bother with you. But Uchiha Madara was different; he was a demon. If he didn't like you, he would kill you at the drop of a hat. The trauma he suffered from his youth was even harder to erase than the trauma inflicted by Uchiha Tenchi.
The explosive news that Madara Uchiha was alive instantly silenced the Five Kage.
Only Tianqi's lips twitched incessantly. He had a strong urge to strangle Danzo. "The information is reliable? Reliable my ass! The old man has been dead for so long, and you're still using him. It's really infuriating." However, Danzo probably only believed half of Obito and Madara's identities, otherwise he would have come to ask him long ago.
Danzo, that old bastard, probably wanted to use Madara Uchiha's identity to stir up trouble. What a wicked fellow.
"Ahem... As a neutral nation, let me say a few words. The leader of Akatsuki grasped the trends of the times and expanded his power by taking advantage of the suspicions hidden beneath the surface of stability in various countries..."
"What exactly are you trying to say?" Ai asked, puzzled. He didn't understand what Mifune meant.
"Don't rush. Every cloud has a silver lining. It's extremely rare for the five Kage to gather together. How should we handle this situation? Should we form an unprecedented coalition of the five great ninja villages?"
"A coalition?" Ai was somewhat taken aback by Mifune's suggestion.
"Very good, these are critical times when we need to work together!" Danzo nodded in agreement with Mifune's proposal. Seeing that everything was moving in the direction he wanted, he was overjoyed. This momentum was excellent, let's keep it up!
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