The first day of the meeting came to an end, and the Five Kage representatives returned to their respective accommodations to prepare for the next day's discussions.
Eventually, only Tsunade, Naruto, and Yamato remained in Tsunade's office in attendance, while Gaara stayed behind with Kankuro and Temari for a private conversation.
"Besides you and me, Naruto…" Gaara started speaking first. "There are now only Yugito and the Raikage's brother left as Jinchuriki. We also have Kisame Hoshigaki's corpse, but we haven't managed to obtain any useful information from him yet. I don't think we'll uncover anything about Akatsuki's secrets from him, so we plan to hand his remains over to the Mizukage for appropriate handling. It will serve as a gesture of goodwill among our alliance."
Tsunade nodded and said,
"The same goes for Hidan's severed head—the interrogation yielded no useful intelligence at all. I know how difficult it is to extract information from such powerful ninjas… We keep waiting for them to act, but Orochimaru is already ahead of Akatsuki in that regard."
Sometimes, Naruto really wished things could be simpler—like pressing a button and achieving victory instantly—but this wasn't the real world, and war had no shortcuts.
He really wished he could find Akatsuki's base and wipe them out in one strike.
He didn't have the strength to do that yet, but he still wanted to find that place.
In his opinion, Amegakure was the only active stronghold Akatsuki had, but even launching an attack on Rain Village would be an extremely difficult task.
Constantly staying on the defensive would just keep us at a disadvantage—we needed to act before those dangerous enemies made their move, yet they had no other choice.
Previously, Jiraiya and Naruto had taken initiative, but Jiraiya lost his left arm, and Naruto suffered one of the most painful defeats of his life. That both of them survived that battle was already a miracle.
"So," Gaara asked, "you really don't know where Akatsuki's base is?" "Doesn't mean you couldn't get any info out of Hidan either?"
Naruto knew this because he was the one who brought back Hidan's severed head to Konoha.
"Nothing but abandoned hideouts," he replied. All Hidan knew were operational orders: who to kill or which Jinchuriki to capture. He never knew Akatsuki's full plans—which was probably fortunate. Among all their members, he might have been the easiest to take alive.
"Expecting intelligence from Hidan is completely pointless."
"That's such a letdown," Kankuro shrugged, rolling his shoulders. "So basically, our four villages are like people who've met inside a pitch-black cave... only to realize ahead lies a dead end. We're all just stumbling around in the dark, each trying to find our own escape—how 'interesting.'"
Temari lightly smacked her younger brother, signaling him to choose his words more carefully.
"Still, at least now we're allies—that's better than facing danger alone," Yamato said. "Although Kirigakure isn't obligated to help us—they don't have any tailed beasts of their own, so they don't have much at stake in this conflict."
"That's enough for today's discussion. Let's continue tomorrow. Naruto, would you mind if Kazekage and his siblings stayed at your place for a few days? It's better than them staying at an inn."
"They still haven't paid me for the last time they stayed at my house," Naruto said, rolling his eyes and smiling.
---
## Amegakure - Pain's Tower ##
"I've finished," Pain said through the Summoning Jutsu to Konan. "Sunagakure has been reduced to rubble. I want the other ninja villages to learn their lesson."
Konan's eyes widened immediately. It hadn't even been three hours, and he'd already destroyed Sunagakure.
Wait, this isn't possible. There's no way he could have accomplished this in such a short time.
"Nagato told me you didn't use that jutsu."
"I must make an example of them," Pain replied firmly. "God's will must be carried out, Konan. I can tell you right now that I wasn't injured at all, and I'll return soon. I'm looking forward to seeing how our allies will react. This incident will spread throughout the ninja world. By sunset, they'll all know my strength. If they still refuse to understand, I won't hold back—this will be on them."
"You've started a war, Nagato…" Konan finally spoke her mind. "You've brought the flames of war to Amegakure. Haven't we always been trying to avoid war?"
"Yahiko once said…" Pain continued with closed eyes. "If people don't understand the cruelty of war, let them experience it firsthand. In his words: 'To achieve understanding, they must first feel our pain.'"
His tone was firm and full of confidence.
"This is the only way—the right way. Amegakure will be fine. The nations that rely on us will protect us—they won't let enemies come near. If they too can understand the cruelty of war, perhaps the world will change because of it."
"What about… the jinchuriki?" Konan asked, dreading his response. Anything he said now would only make her more uneasy.
"The plan remains unchanged," Pain replied. "In fact, now that war has begun, our plan might become easier to achieve. Once we capture all nine tailed beasts, we'll harness their power to end this war—and let the world witness true fear and despair. We will use the most powerful ninjutsu in history."
Instead of feeling comforted, Konan felt only greater unease.
Was large-scale killing truly his ultimate solution?
Maybe this was the moment she finally gave up.
But this wasn't what Yahiko envisioned. Peace born from death isn't peace at all.
## Land of Rivers - Tachibana Village ##
Night fell over the village hidden among the winding rivers of the Land of Rivers, nestled between the alliance of two great ninja villages.
This meant even missions originating from their own nation rarely reached these smaller ninja villages.
With a scarcity of missions, the Ninja of Tachibana Village gradually specialized in covert operations—such as laying booby traps and executing ambushes...
They were masters of disguise, ensuring their victims appeared to have been slain by seasoned bandits—not trained Ninja. This deliberate tactic was meant to avoid drawing attention—and ultimately, annihilation.
Though they resented their lowly status in the Ninja world, they fully understood their predicament.
They sent a recon team to Sunagakure to investigate what they believed were exaggerated rumors—until the team returned with shocking news.
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