Chapter 217 : Five Kage Summit!!

Today, the entire ninja world's social circle was flooded with news of the destruction of the Cloud Village.

When this news first spread, almost no one believed it. In the ranking of the five great ninja villages, Cloud Village, which was in the top three, striving for second and even first, was said to have been destroyed.

They thought this must be a rumor, one of those obviously fake kinds of rumors.

Whoever believes this is an idiot.

However, as more and more people stepped forward to confirm the truth, that Cloud Village had indeed been destroyed, even the skeptics had to believe it.

"Bro, I'll go drive away those people spying here. You just stay and help out."

"Alright, big brother, no problem! Hurry up and come back soon, big brother!"

"…Your rap is so bad, I can't listen to a word of it."

Ai grumbled and left.

After two days of rest, his injuries had not fully healed, but scaring off some of the ninjas who came to gather intelligence and fighting a low-intensity battle was still not a problem.

"What a hassle."

If he had dealt with this the old way, none of the ninjas who came to scout would have been spared.

He would either kill them all or capture them and send them to the mines to dig for Cloud Village, while waiting for their villages to pay a ransom for them.

But now things are different.

With Cloud Village destroyed, the casualties were heavy.

And with ninjas slowly returning from outside the village, the total number of ninjas in Cloud Village, including the Genin, Chunin, and Jonins, didn't even reach five thousand.

And within these fewer than five thousand, 60% were Genin, 39% were Chunin, and there were only a pitiful 0.1% of Jonin, fewer than fifty in total.

If you remove A and Killer Bee, then Cloud Village would really just become a small ninja village.

In such a critical situation, A also had to be more cautious when facing these reconnaissance ninjas.

"Forget it, if it's ninjas from one of the other four great ninja villages, just knock them out."

As for the small ninja villages, A didn't take them seriously.

No matter how down and out Cloud Village was, as long as he, the Fourth Raikage, was there, he wouldn't let these small ninja villages provoke them.

Coincidentally, A hadn't gone far when he saw a team of Grass Village ninjas.

They were standing on a hillside, sneaking around and watching something.

"Really asking for death."

No more talking, just go for it!

"What do you think about the destruction of Cloud Village?"

In the Hokage's office, Jiraiya, the Fifth Hokage, spoke after everyone had finished reading the information in their hands.

"Onoki himself came forward to confirm the authenticity of the news, it seems it's true."

The Third Hokage took a puff of his cigarette and continued, "Do we know who did it?"

"At present, in the ninja world, the only ones with the power to destroy Cloud Village are probably only the members of the Akatsuki, especially Nagato."

"Orochimaru wasn't wrong. According to our intelligence reports, a huge crater appeared in the center of Cloud Village, and all the buildings in the village seemed to have been pushed outward by some force. On the outer edge of the village, there's a circular ring of rubble, made from the destroyed buildings. This situation is very similar to what we saw in the video of the Konoha massacre when we reviewed Danzo's footage."

Thinking of the Konoha scene in that video, Jiraiya shuddered.

Luckily, what happened in that video didn't occur in Konoha but in Cloud Village.

If the situation allowed it, Jiraiya would've really liked to find A and pat him on the shoulder, saying: Thanks, my friend, for taking this disaster for us Konoha.

Ai: ???

"I'm curious, the Three-Tails is currently in the process of revival. Even though they sealed the One-Tail and Two-Tail, what about the Three-Tails? Are they going to skip it and go straight for the Four-Tails? Or will they just wait until the Three-Tails is fully revived?"

"I think it's more reliable to just capture the Four-Tails directly."

Looking at Minato and Jiraiya, Orochimaru added, "The Akatsuki's goal in sealing the Tailed Beasts is simply to obtain their chakra. Even though the Three-Tails is still reviving, maybe the Akatsuki has something that contains the Three-Tails' chakra?"

"Even if the amount is small, as long as it's enough, I think that's why the Akatsuki didn't wait for the Three-Tails to fully revive before starting to capture the Tailed Beasts, because they have a substitute."

Orochimaru wasn't talking nonsense. 

He had something containing the Eight-Tails' chakra.

Back in the day, he set up a trap in the Hidden Cloud Village, forcing the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki to go berserk and transform.

When the Fourth Raikage stopped the Eight-Tails and cut off one of its horns, Orochimaru seized the opportunity and took some fragments of the Eight-Tails' horn.

By now, he had cultivated those fragments to a size of several meters high.

The chakra contained in it was not small at all.

"Whether the Akatsuki has a substitute for the Three-Tails or not, we in Konoha should not stick our heads out."

"Hmm, I agree with Jiraiya. Anyway, there are still the Eight-Tails, Seven-Tails, Six-Tails, Five-Tails, and Four-Tails to capture before the Nine-Tails. The Four-Tails and Five-Tails Jinchuriki belong to the Hidden Stone Village. Now it's time for Onoki, that old man, to start getting nervous."

"With the Fourth Raikage's temperament, I don't think the Hidden Cloud Village will give up so easily."

"So, for now, it's best if we don't do anything and just wait for things to develop."

"Hmm, I agree!"

While Konoha was waiting and watching the situation unfold, a piece of news suddenly came from the Hidden Cloud Village.

The Fourth Raikage, Ai, wanted to hold a Five Kage Summit in one month.

It was clear that Ai wanted the other four great ninja villages to join together and deal with the Akatsuki.

As for this, Nagato and the others in Akatsuki didn't pay much attention.

When they started implementing the plan to capture the Tailed Beasts, they had already thought of this.

Among the five great ninja villages, only Konoha could put pressure on the Akatsuki organization.

The other four villages, whether it was the destroyed Cloud Village, the declining Sand Village, or the Mist Village, which was still recovering from the effects of the Bloody Mist, or the Rock Village, which had decent strength, all seemed insignificant to Nagato.

His biggest concern was still Konoha.

"Pain, I've brought you the replacement for the Three-Tails."

After sealing the Two-Tails, it had only been two days, and Zetsu had eagerly found Pain, wanting to quickly seal the chakra of the Three-Tails into the Gedo statue.

Looking at the round stone placed on the ground, Nagato felt a little speechless.

"Zetsu, you're too impatient."

"We can't afford to be slow. The Fourth Raikage wants to hold a Five Kage Summit. It clearly looks like it's aimed at us. If we don't hurry, things could get complicated later."

Nagato wasn't too concerned, but he had to think about Konan's situation.

The three days and nights without sleep while sealing the Two-Tails were not something that could be recovered from in just two days of rest.

"I understand what you're saying, but as the leader of the organization, I need to be responsible for the members. We just sealed the Two-Tails and now we're sealing the Three-Tails chakra. I'm afraid Itachi might drop dead."

Zetsu: ????

"Pain, I think I just heard something wrong. Could you repeat what you just said?"

Zetsu was completely confused.

Being responsible for the members of the organization?

Afraid that Itachi might suddenly die?

Hearing these reasons, there was more than just a little doubt. Was the person in front of him really Pain, who always claims to be a god, or was he just some neighborhood committee aunt?

"Anyway, I won't gather the members in the next few days to continue sealing the Three-Tails' chakra."

Pain gave Zetsu a godly look of disdain, rejecting Zetsu's request to make him say it again.

"This orb is just a substitute for the Three-Tails. Sealing the chakra inside doesn't take three full days and nights, just one day and one night is enough."

"That's still not acceptable."

Seeing that Pain was unmoving, Zetsu helplessly asked, "So, when do you want to wait until?"

"Don't worry, you won't have to wait too long. Three days. After three days, we'll come back to seal the Three-Tails' chakra."

"Alright, I'll wait three days then."

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