Chapter 407: The Five Kage Summit
After the funeral, the envoys of various nations had personally confirmed Haneda's "corpse."
With the last traces of doubt eliminated, the ninja world began to roil with unseen undercurrents.
Upon returning to Sunagakure, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, immediately convened a meeting with the senior advisors Chiyo and Ebizō.
Despite Rasa repeatedly emphasizing Konoha's overwhelming strength, Chiyo and Ebizō ultimately rejected any proposals for restraint.
It wasn't that Chiyo didn't believe Rasa when he claimed that even Konoha's children could defeat him; rather, war had become unavoidable.
Half a year ago, Haneda had orchestrated events to push the four great ninja villages toward conflict. He had manipulated their hatred for Konoha while repeatedly emphasizing his own impending death, forcing the nations to accelerate their stockpiling of war supplies and the expansion of their armies.
Additionally, the daimyos, eager to preserve their wealth and power, actively supported Haneda's plans for the Fourth Great Ninja War.
This sequence of actions left no room for diplomacy—no single decision from the higher-ups could stop the war now.
Sunagakure's preparations for war had already caused severe economic strain, and the ninjas there harbored multi-generational grievances against Konoha.
Chiyo had no choice but to gamble on the anti-Konoha alliance achieving victory. Winning the war could ease Sunagakure's internal pressures and provide a justification to the daimyo.
Besides, even if Sunagakure chose not to fight, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, Kirigakure, and other smaller nations and villages would force their hand.
If not even Chiyo and Ebizō could prevent this war, how could the relatively unrespected Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, hope to stop it?
Reluctantly, Rasa accepted the situation and prepared Sunagakure to ally with the other nations in a war against Konoha.
Meanwhile, Kumogakure and Iwagakure were also making active preparations. They attempted to reach out to Kirigakure, situated far from the mainland, in hopes of strengthening the anti-Konoha alliance and improving their odds of victory.
Kumogakure and Iwagakure were well aware of Konoha's formidable power.
Even with Uchiha Haneda—the God of Shinobi—dead, Konoha still had nearly 20,000 ninja, the elderly but experienced Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, the legendary Sannin Tsunade and Jiraiya, the younger generation's Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi, and the missing Hatake Kakashi.
Moreover, Konoha had allies: the enigmatic Akatsuki, the war-hardened Amegakure, and the small but resourceful Hoshigakure.
Together, their combined forces exceeded 30,000 soldiers, with numerous elite fighters. This left Kumogakure and Iwagakure wary.
Thus, both villages extended repeated invitations to Kirigakure to join the alliance.
The Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumī, wasn't particularly eager to participate in the war.
Kirigakure, after years of the Bloody Mist policy, was in disarray and had only recently stabilized following a successful coup.
Mei's focus was on restoring Kirigakure's economy step by step.
However, the Land of Water's daimyo and most of Kirigakure's upper echelons disagreed.
Years of the Bloody Mist policy had fostered a faction of aggressive warmongers within Kirigakure's leadership.
These leaders saw this as the perfect opportunity to "feast on Konoha's flesh" and wanted to join the anti-Konoha alliance to claim a share of the spoils.
Gradually rebuilding Kirigakure's economy? That would take too long. Plundering resources in war was far faster.
For these leaders, the accumulation of wealth was inherently bloody. As one of the great ninja villages, Kirigakure had no reason to fear Konoha.
Though Mei wasn't a pacifist, she compromised with the leadership to maintain stability.
Thus, behind the scenes, Kumogakure and Iwagakure successfully secured Kirigakure's full commitment to the anti-Konoha alliance.
By mid-April, the ninja world's most war-hungry village, Kumogakure, initiated a Five Kage Summit according to a plan agreed upon with Iwagakure and Sunagakure.
Excluding Konoha, the five great villages responded and planned to meet in the Land of Iron.
For a time, all attention in the ninja world turned to the Land of Iron.
Most factions understood that, even if Konoha knew the other villages' intentions, they would have no choice but to attend.
This move had been precisely calculated by Haneda, Obito, and the other conspirators.
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April 11, Konoha Year 59: The Five Kage Summit, hosted in the Land of Iron.
The summit was chaired by Mifune, the leader of the samurai from the Land of Iron.
The Five Kage Summit had existed since the establishment of the five great ninja villages.
The first summit was organized by the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, to discuss peace and the distribution of tailed beasts.
Its outcome was ultimately a failure.
While Hashirama did foster temporary peace in the ninja world, it was short-lived.
In truth, peace had been maintained during that era solely by the overwhelming strength of Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.
At the time, the major ninja villages were still in their infancy, and their leaders were preoccupied with consolidating power and stabilizing their territories.
Hashirama's idealistic proposal to distribute tailed beasts as "nuclear deterrents" to promote peace was nothing more than wishful thinking.
In reality, the First Great Ninja War erupted not long after Hashirama's death.
Now, the situation resembled that of the First Great Ninja War. But this summit wasn't aimed at fostering peace—it was to declare war.
The anti-Konoha alliance sought to use the summit to claim moral high ground, framing their blatant and widely anticipated war as an act of justice.
This mirrored Haneda's own strategy for orchestrating the invasion.
One side aimed to justify their invasion, while the other sought to portray their resistance as righteous defense.
Which side was truly just? That was for the victors to decide.
After all, in this world, the winner of the war defined justice.
At the center of the world's focus—the location of the Five Kage Summit—the leaders of the five great villages were already seated.
Hokage: Uchiha Shisui, with Uchiha Itachi and Nara Shikaku as his escorts.
Raikage: A, with Darui and C as his escorts.
Tsuchikage: Kurotsuchi, with Black Earth and Akatsuchi as her escorts.
Mizukage: Mei Terumī, with Chōjūrō and Ao as her escorts.
Kazekage: Rasa, with Chiyo and Baki as his escorts.
Compared to the original timeline, the participants of this second summit had changed significantly.
Only the personnel from Kumogakure and Kirigakure remained unchanged.
From the choice of escorts, it was clear that most villages had brought one true bodyguard and one advisor.
Mifune glanced around the room and noticed that the representatives from Kumogakure, Iwagakure, Kirigakure, and Sunagakure were subtly exchanging signals, seemingly isolating Konoha.
Choosing not to intervene, Mifune reminded himself that as the neutral leader of the Land of Iron, the samurai had little stake in the ninja world's conflicts.
But this time was different—he had received orders from the daimyo to cooperate with the anti-Konoha alliance.
Thus, he silently allowed the four villages to converse in secret codes without interference.
When the appointed time arrived, Mifune spoke:
"At the invitation of Lord Raikage, the Five Kage are gathered here today to discuss the state of the ninja world."
"I will serve as the host for this meeting. My name is Mifune."
"Let's begin with Lord Raikage explaining the purpose of this gathering."
Seeing that the Fourth Raikage was eager to speak, Mifune wasted no time and passed the floor to him.