Ch.147 Reopened Five Kage Summit!

The Five Kage Summit was convened once again, but this time there was noticeably less tension in the air.

The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, slowly scanned the room, locking eyes with the other four Kage, before saying, "I'm sure by now everyone understands the threat posed by the Akatsuki."

The Hidden Leaf had already gathered information from Kakashi about the other four villages' attempts to abduct Sasuke. However, it was clear that now wasn't the time to hold these villages accountable.

According to repeated evaluations from the intelligence division, Akatsuki's elite forces were now comparable to any of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

Furthermore, considering Akatsuki's secretive nature and its members' ability to act quickly and covertly, any individual village that faced them would likely not fare well.

Thus, it was imperative to unite the strength of all five villages to deal with the looming threat of Akatsuki.

Noticing the implied message in Hiruzen's words, the Fourth Raikage snorted heavily, clearly irritated.

The Fourth Mizukage commented, "This Akatsuki is unlike any ordinary bounty hunter organization. They're constantly recruiting rogue shinobi from each village to strengthen their ranks. There's definitely a larger conspiracy behind it."

The Third Tsuchikage and the Fourth Kazekage both nodded in agreement.

They were all seasoned leaders. Previously, they had undermined each other because they had not considered Akatsuki a serious threat, thinking it was merely a slightly more powerful bounty hunting organization.

But now, with a clearer understanding of Akatsuki—especially after confirming that the organization had the potential to challenge the Five Great Shinobi Villages' dominance—they naturally began to take the threat seriously.

Once they recognized the seriousness of Akatsuki, they could see from many of its actions that the group had grand ambitions.

The Fourth Raikage frowned and asked bluntly, "What exactly are they after?"

A sudden silence fell over the room.

Everyone looked at one another, hesitant to speak.

The intelligence networks of the Five Great Shinobi Villages spanned nearly every corner of the world. Ordinarily, once they focused their efforts, no organization in the shinobi world could escape their surveillance.

Yet, Akatsuki was the exception.

Each village had activated its intelligence network and conducted thorough investigations into Akatsuki, but no valuable information had been uncovered.

The location of Akatsuki's base remained a mystery.

Their ultimate goal was unclear.

Even the identity of Akatsuki's leader was shrouded in secrecy.

It was only after prioritizing their investigations into Akatsuki that the villages realized how elusive and enigmatic the organization truly was.

Breaking the awkward silence, the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, muttered, "Our top priority now is to gather intelligence on Akatsuki."

The Fourth Kazekage added, "Capturing one or two of their members should reveal the location of their base."

Boom!

The Fourth Raikage slammed his fist through the table in front of him, shattering it as he stood up. "Good, let's do that!"

The Third Hokage sighed, "Raikage-sama, please calm down. The members of Akatsuki are extremely powerful, and according to our current intelligence, they rarely act alone. They typically move in pairs or groups of three. Capturing them won't be easy."

The Fourth Raikage grumbled in his deep voice, "Hmph, many of their members are defectors from your villages. You all have a responsibility to share any intel on those rogue shinobi."

The Fourth Kazekage nodded slightly. "Very well, the Hidden Sand will provide a report on Sasori of the Red Sand."

Ōnoki sighed, "Fine, we will share whatever we have on Deidara from the Hidden Stone."

The Fourth Mizukage, with a calm expression, added, "The Hidden Mist will compile information on Zabuza Momochi."

At this point, the representative from the Hidden Waterfall Village stood up and bowed. "We will also prepare a report on Kakuzu. We apologize once again for Kakuzu joining Akatsuki."

After the Hidden Waterfall Village representative finished speaking, all eyes in the room turned to the Third Hokage.

The Third Hokage said, "We will share what we know about Uchiha Itachi."

Ōnoki snorted, "It's not just Uchiha Itachi, is it?"

Hiruzen frowned. "Tsuchikage-sama, the Hidden Leaf truly knows nothing about any other Uchiha in Akatsuki."

Ōnoki pressed, "Sarutobi Hiruzen, then tell me, where did these Uchiha come from? Did they just appear out of thin air?"

The Fourth Kazekage added, "We have intelligence that suggests your student, Orochimaru, is also suspected of having joined Akatsuki."

The Fourth Mizukage nodded slightly, "Indeed, we've received similar reports."

Clearly, once the Five Great Shinobi Villages focused their attention, they uncovered many previously overlooked pieces of information. For example, both the Sand and Mist Villages had learned about Orochimaru's past involvement with Akatsuki.

Sitting on the outer ring of the summit, Orochimaru, disguised as a representative of the Hidden Sound Village, smirked slightly.

He looked toward his former teacher, curious to see how the Hokage, once hailed as a legendary shinobi, would handle the aggressive questioning from the other villages.

The Third Hokage's expression darkened. "We will also share information on Orochimaru."

Orochimaru shook his head slightly, thinking to himself, "He's grown old after all."

For a moment, a thought crossed his mind—rather than watch his teacher slowly lose his edge due to age, wouldn't it be better to see him fall in a glorious battle? At least that way, Hiruzen wouldn't be disrespected by the other villages for growing weak.

With the Third Hokage's concession, the other four Kage settled down a bit.

Everyone knew that, ultimately, the Hidden Leaf's cooperation would be crucial in dealing with Akatsuki. So, while arguments were inevitable, the negotiations had to continue.

The Fourth Raikage suddenly proposed, "All of your villages have rogue shinobi who joined Akatsuki, but we in the Hidden Cloud do not. Therefore, I believe the operation against Akatsuki should be led by us."

Ōnoki immediately objected, "Why should you lead? Just because you've lost more men?"

The Fourth Raikage roared in anger, "What did you say?!"

Ōnoki, unfazed, crossed his arms. "I may be old, but I'm not deaf. You don't need to shout."

The Third Hokage quickly intervened, "Raikage-sama, this is a Five Kage Summit. Please watch your words and actions."

The Fourth Mizukage, also displeased by the Raikage's outburst, added, "Command of such a mission can't be decided by volume alone. I propose that whoever manages to gather crucial intelligence on Akatsuki should lead the operation."

The other Kage pondered this suggestion.

Everyone understood that an operation of this scale would require unified command, but no one would agree to let someone take control just based on talk.

Constant arguing would only lead to more division.

The Fourth Mizukage's proposal was practical: whoever could gather key intelligence on Akatsuki would prove their capability and thus earn the right to lead the mission.

"If we can contact Itachi, we'll be able to gather intelligence on Akatsuki and secure command of the mission," thought the Third Hokage.

Having made up his mind, Hiruzen was the first to agree. "I support Mizukage-sama's proposal."

"Hmph, once we in the Hidden Cloud capture a couple of Akatsuki members and extract the location of their base, command of the mission will be ours!" the Fourth Raikage thought to himself, before saying aloud, "Fine, we'll do it that way. Whoever gathers the intel will lead the operation!"

Ōnoki, weighing his options, finally nodded. "The Hidden Stone has no objections."

Deidara had joined Akatsuki, but had not yet committed any major crimes. Ōnoki was already considering ways to extract Deidara from Akatsuki and gather information from him.

The Fourth Kazekage exchanged a glance with Elder Chiyo, sitting on the outer ring of the summit, and then said, "The Hidden Sand has no objections either. But what exactly constitutes key intelligence?"

The Third Hokage responded seriously, "Information about Akatsuki's leader, the location of their base, and details about their members. Any village that can obtain these will have the right to lead the mission."

"Agreed!"

"Fine!"

"That works!"

"Understood!"

The four Kage all nodded in agreement.

On the outer ring of the summit, the representative from the Hidden Waterfall Village let out a sigh of relief.

Because of Kakuzu, their village had been under a lot of pressure. Being a small shinobi village, they lacked the power to stand against the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

Moreover, they still had a Tailed Beast in their village.

If the Five Great Shinobi Villages used this incident as a pretext to make demands of them, especially for the Tailed Beast, the Hidden Waterfall would have no means of resisting.

Fortunately, with the five Kage now focused on who would command the mission against Akatsuki, the Hidden Waterfall had temporarily escaped disaster.

Meanwhile, several representatives from the Hidden Grass Village looked on with grim expressions. The Five Kage had settled on a plan to deal with Akatsuki without even consulting them.

One elder from the Hidden Grass, who had arrived late, thought to himself, "These arrogant fools don't even consider us. It seems the 'Tailed Beast Plan' must be reopened. Otherwise, the Hidden Grass will never have its day in the sun."

The two representatives from the Hidden Rain Village exchanged glances before lowering their eyes, adopting an obedient posture.

On the surface, they were attending the summit on behalf of Hanzō of the Salamander, the leader of the Hidden Rain. But in truth, they were here on Konan's orders to gather intelligence from the Leaf.

So, in front of the Five Kage, they didn't dare show any signs of abnormality.

They knew very well that the Akatsuki's secret base was hidden within the Hidden Rain Village, and that the leader of Akatsuki was none other than Pain, the current leader of their village.

Representing the Hidden Sound, Orochimaru glanced at the two Rain Village representatives, grinning slightly.

The Five Great Shinobi Villages may not take the smaller villages seriously, but ironically, these small villages had the information they so desperately sought. It was an amusing twist of fate.

However, Orochimaru had no intention of revealing what he knew about Akatsuki just yet.

To him, Akatsuki was a significant threat, but so were the Five Great Shinobi Villages. He planned to let them fight it out while he pursued his own ambitions.

In his assessment, while Pain, the leader of Akatsuki, possessed the legendary Rinnegan, his overall forces were still far inferior to the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Revealing Akatsuki's secrets too early would only benefit the larger villages.

What Orochimaru wanted was for Akatsuki and the Five Great Shinobi Villages to tear each other apart.

This way, no one would stand in his way when the time came to seize Uchiha Sasuke's body.

On the outer ring of the summit, the young priestess from the Land of Demons, Shion, yawned, bored out of her mind.

For a child of seven or eight, such a meeting was unbearably dull. She had spent the entire time zoning out, only vaguely aware that the Five Kage had reached an agreement about who would command the mission. As for the details, she hadn't paid any attention.

At the Hidden Leaf Hospital...

Kusadō Kaoru, the medical-nin, shook her head as she addressed Uchiha Shinji. "His spirit has been severely traumatized, and he's shut off all connection with the outside world. With our current methods, we have no way of waking him."

Kusadō Kaoru was, of course, referring to Sasuke, who had been rescued and brought back to the hospital by Shinji and his team.

At the moment, Sasuke lay in a special care bed, unconscious.

Through the window, Shinji glanced at Sasuke lying in the hospital bed and asked, "Is there really nothing you can do?"

Kusadō Kaoru replied, "Unless we can find that person, there's no one who can save him."

Shinji knew that Kusarasu was referring to the missing Tsunade, so he responded, "I see."

Once Shinji left the hospital, he was immediately surrounded by his peers.

"How's Sasuke?"

"Has he woken up?"

"Is he out of danger?"

Everyone bombarded him with questions.

Shinji signaled for everyone to quiet down, then said slowly, "Don't worry, Sasuke's life isn't in danger. His mind was attacked by a powerful genjutsu, which has left him in a temporary coma."

The group collectively breathed a sigh of relief.

Shinji then said, "Alright, everyone, you should head home."

With that, the crowd dispersed, bidding each other goodbye.

Shinji then approached Neji, Kimimaro, Kiba, and Shino, asking, "How are your injuries?"

The group shook their heads.

Kiba, however, sighed dejectedly. "I never thought a wandering doctor would be so strong."

Neji's expression darkened.

This mission to retrieve Sasuke had shaken him deeply, making him realize his own limitations.

What troubled him even more was that the wandering doctor, who had nearly killed him, was powerless before that mysterious Akatsuki member. This made him hesitate.

He had been about to report to the village that the Akatsuki member had infiltrated the Hidden Leaf and encouraged him to steal the secrets of the Main Branch and the Moon.

But now, after everything that had happened, he was having second thoughts.

He no longer wanted to remain weak and aimless. He truly desired the "Tenseigan" that the Akatsuki member had mentioned.

He vowed to himself, "I refuse to be a bird trapped in a cage!"

Meanwhile, Kimimaro also mused to himself, "The Eight Gates... So, this is the technique that wiped out the Seven Ninja Swordsmen from the shinobi world?"

Shinno's "Eight Gates Release" had left a lasting impression on him.

He had never imagined that pure taijutsu could reach such heights!