Escape From Konoha

"This is the information from Kisame... The leader of Akatsuki, if nothing else, will probably set the next target as our Kirigakure Three-Tails and Six-Tails."

Holding the information that Kisame risked his life to pass back, Terumi Mei looked at the content on the scroll and frowned slightly.

Obviously, the content on the intelligence scroll made him feel extremely embarrassed.

From this information, we learned that Akatsuki attaches great importance to Kirigakure's two tailed beasts.

Along with the rest of the village, Kirigakure's predecessor, the Mizukage, was the Three-Tailed Jinchuuriki.

Because of this relationship, the relationship between ninjas and jinchūriki in Kirigakure Village is not as tense as in other villages. On the contrary, the protection of jinchūriki and tailed beasts is also more sufficient.

To put it simply, if Akatsuki sent the troops to capture the first tail and also used them on the three and six tails, Kirigakure would be confident that he would annihilate the enemy before they broke into Kirigakure's gate.

But it's obvious that Akatsuki's arrangement doesn't stop there.

"In other words, did their leader do it himself?"

Yagura was sitting on the sofa opposite Terumi Mei, with his hands folded in front of him, his back leaning on the sofa, and a smile on his lips.

Due to his immature appearance, Yagura's appearance has not changed significantly even after so many years.

There were only him and Mei Terumi in the lounge, and no third person was present.

However, Ao, who has Byakugan, and several Kirigakure Anbu who are proficient in sensory ninjutsu, are spread outside the lounge to prevent anyone from overhearing the conversation between the two, and are on tight defense.

"Nine times out of ten. The Demon Kingdom's message not long ago seems to be worried about this. If the leader of Akatsuki does it himself, Kirigakure will probably lose the Three-Tails and Six-Tails."

Although there is some dissatisfaction with the concerns of the Demon Country, in fact, it is not a lie to say that the comprehensive strength of Kirigakure Village is not as good as the Demon Country.

It can be said that there is very little information about Nagato, the leader of Akatsuki, about his strength.

He has made only a handful of frontal attacks, and his only apparent achievement is that he easily razed the Daiming's mansion in the Land of Rain to the ground with one blow, but did not damage the buildings around the Daiming's mansion... As you can imagine, the opponent's The destructive power of Ninjutsu is extremely powerful, and the control of Chakra has reached its peak.

Although Kisame had personally tested the leader's strength in the past under the guise of having an itchy hand...but he was quickly defeated at the hands of the opponent. The opponent only used one move from beginning to end and could not test the opponent's strength at all. To what extent.

This was also Terumi Mei's headache. Kisame was already one of Kirigakure's most powerful ninjas. Even a ninja like him was easily defeated. One can imagine how dangerous the leader was.

This is definitely not a terrifying existence that ordinary ninjas can deal with.

What's more, the opponent still has four tailed beasts in his hands.

"It's really what that guy said, but it's also true that he is stronger than me."

Yagura nodded, pointing to Shiraishi.

Once the leader of Akatsuki takes action, the straightforward statement that Kirigakure cannot defend the Three-Tails and Vulpix must have come from Shiraishi's mouth.

Yagura was not angry about this either.

In the past, he had a brief competition with Shiraishi out of curiosity about his true strength, but the final result was not ideal for the Mizukage.

If the leader of Akatsuki is still above Shiraishi, then such a ninja cannot be taken too seriously no matter how serious he is.

"So, what should we do specifically? Although we can use the human sea tactic to contain the opponent, the village will definitely be hit hard, and the opponent may not be able to stay."

This is exactly what Terumi Mei is worried about.

In the battle of top ninjas, it cannot be said that ordinary ninjas have no effect on the battlefield, but the effect is definitely minimal.

"I will personally make arrangements regarding this matter. If a battle breaks out, it will definitely not be carried out in the village. In any case, the bottom line we agreed with the Demon Country is that the tailed beast captured by the Akatsuki organization cannot exceed Six heads.”

Yagura sighed.

If Akatsuki first targets Kumogakure's Eight-Tails and then attacks Kirigakure, then the plans of Kirigakure and the Kingdom of Demons will go forward smoothly without any obstacles.

However, Akatsuki's deployment is not based on the will of Kirigakure and the Demon Country.

Although Kisame is an important thorn, Akatsuki's actions and arrangements are basically in the hands of the leader Nagato. At most, Kisame can only sneak in some key information from the side, but cannot change the content of the decision.

In every meeting, the leader, Nagato, gave orders directly and did not act in a consultative tone.

Therefore, the other party has extremely strong mobility and purpose, and has absolute control over Xiao.

"It's good to have a plan. By the way, how will Konoha respond? It seems that they have joined forces with Sunagakure and want to hold a Five Kage Talks and launch operations against Akatsuki."

It was probably the arrest of Ichibi that gave Konoha and Sunagakure a sense of crisis.

Although Konoha's Nine-Tails has not been lost, it is an indisputable fact that Akatsuki is targeting it. In addition, the tailed beasts of Iwagakure and Kumogakure also had accidents. Konoha and Sunagakure hope to take this opportunity to recover the lost tailed beasts and restore the stability of the great country.

"You can make the decision yourself on this kind of thing. Akatsuki's next target is us. I need to make some arrangements recently, and I can't take care of Kirigakure's side for the time being."

Yagura didn't take it seriously about the Five Kage Conference.

Although the frequent thefts of tailed beasts have caused anxiety in villages like Konoha.

But these villages may not be wary of each other.

Before their combined thoughts and wills are unified, no matter how many times the Five Shadows Talk is held, it will not have much meaning.

This was the case in the Fourth Ninja War. It only took a small crisis of trust to dissolve the alliance between the ninja villages. When it comes to sensitive beings like tailed beasts, it is even more difficult to unite.

Seeing Yagura standing up from the sofa carelessly, Terumi Mei smiled slightly and looked out the window.

"Then let's reject their proposal for the time being. Now is not the best time to hold the Five Shadows Talks."

◎

"Five Kage Conference? Huh, are Sunagakure and Konoha doing these boring little tricks again?"

In Kumogakure's Raikage Building, the Fourth Raikage naturally saw the joint letter between Konoha and Sunagakure, saying that they would convene a Five Kage Talks to discuss the capture of tailed beasts by an organization, and form an alliance with the villages that own tailed beasts. , and recaptured the tailed beast.

In response to such a statement, the Fourth Raikage snorted through his nose and put on a dismissive expression on his face.

He threw the letter on the ground casually, only read half of it, and stopped reading.

Apparently, Konoha and Sunagakure did not pay much attention to the joint letter.

Secretary Mabuyi sighed, walked aside, and picked up the letter that the Fourth Raikage had thrown away.

"Raikage-sama, no matter how irritated you are, don't get angry over other people's letters. This will damage Raikage's face and leave a rude impression on others."

Although Kumogakure is not keen on this, as a secretary, Mabuyi still needs to remind him.

"Don't talk nonsense. It's been so long and there's still no news from Erwei? What do ANBU do for food?"

The Fourth Raikage smashed the table in front of him with his fist. The table seemed to be unable to support itself. It made a buzzing and trembling sound and might shatter to pieces at any time.

Mabuyi glanced at the table worriedly. She didn't want to come to another table today.

"Raikage-sama, Orochimaru, one of the three ninjas, is not that easy to find. He has left strongholds in various countries in the ninja world. Although the ANBU who went out have destroyed a lot of them, there may be more strongholds that have not been destroyed."

Mabuyi said this while holding the document in her arms.

Kumogakure hopes to use Orochimaru and follow the clues to find the handle of the organization that captured the two tails, and then use all his strength to destroy them and regain the lost two tails.

"It's just a rebellious nin who actually wasted several years without making any achievements."

The Fourth Raikage raised his eyebrows.

"Don't worry, Raikage-sama, Konoha has not succeeded in capturing Orochimaru for more than ten years, and the third Hokage Hiruzen was assassinated by the opponent... From this point of view, Kumogakure does not need to worry yet."

The Fourth Raikage's mouth twitched, he didn't need the comfort from this kind of comparison.

And comparing it with the declining Konoha, doesn't this pull Kumogakure's evaluation down as well?

For Kumogakure today, surpassing Konoha is no longer the goal. Catching up with the military of the Demon Country is the top problem facing Kumogakure.

Surpassing a ruined village was not something the Fourth Raikage should feel happy about.

No matter how powerful Konoha is, it is still stuck in its past glory.

"Moreover, if Lord Raikage really wants to find the Two-Tails quickly... it would be better to agree to this Five Kage Talks. It is better to gather the power of multiple villages than to fight alone."

Although compared to the other ninja villages, Kumogakure, which did not experience the Fourth Ninja War, has the best preserved strength, its power coverage is actually only in the surrounding small countries. Once this distance is exceeded, its influence will decline rapidly. .

And if we unite with the other villages, we can search the entire ninja world and share information, which will be very helpful in finding the two tails.

However, after hearing Mabuyi's words, the Fourth Raikage rarely became quiet. He put his hands on the desk and clasped them tightly, as if thinking about something.

"Lord Raikage, what's wrong?"

The Fourth Raikage shook his head and replied:

"No, we can't cooperate with other villages yet. The origin of this organization is a bit strange. It contains dangerous rebel ninjas from the four villages of Konoha, Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Kirigakure... It can be said that this organization is completely These four villages are composed of rebellious ninjas. Especially in Konoha, there are the most rebellious ninjas."

"Lord Raikage, what do you mean..."

Mabuyi had a thought.

"To be honest, I don't trust the shadows of these four villages. Maybe they are colluding with this organization behind their backs. What if the Five Shadows meeting is a trap for us, Kumogakure, in order to take away the Eight-Tails in Bi's body? … In short, we must proceed with caution.”

Not only this organization with unknown origins, but also the village with the tailed beast is within the alert range of the Fourth Raikage.

Although this possibility is very small, the fourth generation Raikage did not dare to bet on his younger brother Kirabi.

What's more, the four villages that gave birth to many dangerous S-class rebellious ninjas all have fatal problems in management more or less.

Placing hope on these people made the Fourth Raikage feel uneasy.

"It's just that in this way, the progress of our search will be as slow as before."

Mabuyi explained the current difficulty.

In order to find the whereabouts of the second tail, Kumogakure has sent out hundreds of elite ninjas at least at the chunin level, including a detachment of elite ANBU. Such a configuration is more than enough to wipe out a small country.

However, spreading these forces across the Ninja world to search and find the second tail is no less difficult than finding a needle in a haystack.

Even if there is a clue like Orochimaru, Orochimaru must be found before the next step can be taken.

"In that case, try to trade with them."

The Fourth Raikage said this.

"trade?"

"They joined forces with the Kingdom of Ghosts this time and successfully eliminated some members of this organization. They should have obtained a lot of useful information. We can start from this aspect."

Tips from the Fourth Raikage.

"I see." Mabuyi nodded and said with approval: "This is a good idea. Does the Ghost Country need to send someone?"

"Negotiating with them is too troublesome. Moreover, there are no tailed beasts in the Oni Kingdom. Although I don't know why they joined forces with Konoha and Sunagakure this time, it is more difficult to pry open their mouths than Konoha and Sunagakure. ."

Furthermore, the military power of the Demon Country is superior to Kumogakure. Compared to the weak Konoha and Sunagakure, Kumogakure's success rate in past transactions was too low.

Instinctively, the Fourth Raikage directly excluded the matter of information transactions with the Kingdom of Demons.

"I understand, then I will reply to the envoys from Konoha and Sunagakure, and send jonin to visit the Hokage and Kazekage to trade information from them."

Mabuyi bowed to the Fourth Raikage and walked out of the office.

◎

Three days later.

The Konoha envoys who visited Kumogakure returned. At the same time, following the Konoha envoys to Konoha, there was also the female Jonin envoy from Kumogakure, Samui.

The other party was paying a visit to Konoha on the order of the Fourth Raikage of Kumogakure.

Due to the special nature of this matter, Tsunade, as Hokage, still took some free time from her busy schedule to receive the jounin messenger from Kumogakure.

Different from the dark skin of most people from the Kingdom of Thunder, Jounin Samyi has fair skin and short blond shoulder-length hair. Judging from his skin color, he does not look like a person from the Kingdom of Thunder at all.

With exquisite facial features and an indifferent expression, just standing there gives people a sense of indifference that prevents strangers from entering.

"Hokage-dono, I am Samui, a jounin from Kumogakure. I am here at the command of Lord Raikage."

"I have heard of your name. As a Jonin who is a close confidant of the Raikage, you are visiting Konoha in person. You must have something important to discuss. So, please explain your intention directly."

Tsunade did not use roundabout ways to use words, but directly asked Samui, who was visiting Konoha on behalf of the Fourth Raikage, what was the purpose of visiting Konoha at this time.

Although he felt a little unhappy that Kumogakure rejected Konoha's and Sunagakure's joint invitation to the Five Kage Talks, he also knew that he could not negotiate this matter openly with him.

After all, because of the tailed beast being designed, the senior officials of each village would inevitably be wary and would not easily trust the ninjas from other villages.

Especially since not all of Kumogakure's tailed beasts were lost, they hoped to use their own power to protect the remaining tailed beast in the village.

Samui didn't expect the Hokage to be so quick to speak, which saved her a lot of things.

"That's it, Lord Hokage, our Raikage-sama of Kumogakure, hopes to have some cooperation with Konoha in dealing with this organization that targets tailed beasts."

When Samyi said this, his expression remained indifferent.

"Cooperation? I remember that the Raikage-sama has clearly rejected the invitation for the Five Shadows to talk."

Tsunade frowned.

"I don't know much about this matter." Samyi would not dwell on this matter: "But I think that the Five Shadows Conference is of great importance, and it is reasonable for the Raikage-sama to be concerned about it."

Tsunade stared at Samui's face without saying a word.

"So, how do you want to trade?"

Tsunade asked after a long silence.

"We heard that Konoha and Sunagakure participated in the operation to eliminate members of this organization not long ago. Lord Raikage hopes that Konoha can open up this information to us Kumogakure and exchange information."

Samyi replied.

"In the previous operation, Konoha did learn an important piece of information. If everything goes well, we might be able to find the opponent's lair directly."

Tsunade thought of the information revealed by Scorpion before he died. If it could be used effectively, it would be a huge breakthrough.

Samyi's eyes were filled with joy, and then he calmed down and asked, "Excuse me, what do you want, Hokage-sama? We, Kumogakure, bought this information."

She learned from Tsunade's revelation that Konoha didn't seem to intend to hide anything.

However, it is unrealistic to get information from Konoha for nothing.

Therefore, Samui, who was granted certain decision-making power by the Raikage, made the decision immediately to buy this information.

"It's hard to say about this matter, because this information was obtained through the cooperation between Konoha and Sunagakure. Even if Konoha wants to sell this information, it needs Sunagakure's consent. In addition, your level is too low, so the Raikage That kid, let a higher-level jounin come over to discuss it."

Tsunade shook her head and said frankly that Samui was not capable of making the decision in this matter.

The other party was just a member of the Jonin clan who were close friends of the Fourth Raikage. Such close friends were unknown to Kumogakure, and in Tsunade's opinion, they were not enough to participate in the subsequent information transaction.

Sam Yi was slightly startled, with a rather embarrassed expression on his face.

"That's it for this matter. If Kumogakure really has a request in this regard, then it would be best for the Jonin who can represent the Raikage's will to come over in person, Samyi Jonin."

After Tsunade finished speaking, she ignored Samyi and began to deal with the documents on her desk, ignoring the other party's existence.

"I understand, Hokage-dono, this is really disturbing."

Samyi sighed, knowing that if he continued to pester, there would still be no results.

The other party's intention is very simple. At least jounin of the level of Raikage's right and left hand must come in person before the two sides have the need to continue negotiations.

◎

Kumogakure Jonin messenger Samui acted very quickly. After getting an accurate reply from Tsunade, he immediately sent a letter to the headquarters of Kumogakure Village far away in the Land of Thunder, informing them of the request made by Konoha. Jonin with sufficient qualifications came to negotiate with Konoha.

Here, Konoha also sent an invitation to Sunagakure Village based on Kumogakure's request, allowing people who can take charge to come and participate in the three-village talks.

About five days later, in mid-February, Sunagakure and Kumogakure, who could represent the will of the Kazekage and Raikage, came to Konoha Village at the invitation of Tsunade.

The envoy sent by Sunagakure is the Sword Release ninja Yekura, who has the blood inheritance limit. He is one of the few elite ninjas among Sunagakure, except for the fourth Kazekage Rasa, and is currently holding an important position in Sunagakure's senior management. . As the other party, it is enough to participate in such talks.

The envoy sent by Kumogakure is Mabui, the secretary of the Fourth Raikage. He is the brains of Kumogakure. He is calm and capable, and he has mastered Kumogakure's advanced time and space technique - the art of heavenly sending, which can send any message to anyone. Items can be transported to any location at the speed of light, which is a forbidden technique with powerful strategic significance.

"Mabuyi-sama."

Samui came to the gate of Konoha Village and personally greeted Mabuyi, who had come all the way from Kumogakure.

Although the two of them were both Jonin in terms of ninja rank, compared to the status of a close confidant, the identity of the Raikage's secretary, who came to Konoha to visit in person, was obviously more important.

With silver-white hair, dark skin, and a tall yet lithe body, Mabuyi has the style of an adult woman from the Kingdom of Thunder in every aspect.

"Thank you for your hard work, Samyi. Let me negotiate the next thing."

Mabuyi pursed her lips, feeling confident about the upcoming talks with Konoha and Sunagakure.

Facing the Demon Country's military, they may be at a disadvantage in negotiations, but facing Konoha and Sunagakure, who are already in a weak position, Mabuyi believes that the two villages will not offend them too much in this matter. .

"yes."

Samui nodded, and then followed Mabuyi towards the Hokage Building.

Half an hour later, following Tsunade's order, Shikaku went to the small conference room to meet the envoys of Sunagakure and Kumogakure. He walked along the built-in corridor of the Hokage Building, with a street view of buildings near the village outside, all the way towards the conference room.

"It's really troublesome. Why do I have to come over to receive the envoy from another village? Can't you handle it by yourself?"

Shikamaru followed Shikaku, put his hands behind his head, and let out a soft sigh.

"I see that you have been bored recently, and I want to cheer you up. Moreover, participating more in such things will help you with your future job arrangements. Don't bother yourself, this year is not a good time to be lazy."

Shikaku said without turning around.

He led Shikamaru to the door of the conference room. On both sides of the door stood a Konoha ANBU guarding him.

Shikaku took a deep breath, turned the doorknob, and led Shikamaru into the house.

"disturb……"

Shikaku stopped mid-sentence.

Shikamaru followed in and couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

As the representatives of Sunagakure and Kumogakure, they are the high-ranking Jonin Hayakura and the Raikage's secretary Mabuyi. They are sitting leisurely on the seats, sipping tea.

Behind the two of them, they each had one person with them.

Standing behind Hagura is Temari, the daughter of the Sunagakure Kazekage, and behind Mabuyi is Samui, who came to Konoha to visit not long ago.

This meant that in the following meeting, except for the two fathers and sons, all the others were women.

"Hey, I haven't seen the troublesome guy for a while. I really have to thank you Konoha for what happened to Gaara last time."

Temari, who was behind Hagura, stretched out her hand and greeted Shikamaru with a smile, her eyes expressing honest kindness.

Women are really troublesome. Looking at the four women in the conference room, the father and son of the Nara family suddenly had this thought.