Chapter 182: Chaotic Meeting

The grievances between Cloud Village and Stone Village run deep, and their relationship has always been antagonistic. Raikage Ay has his own reasons to despise Stone Village.

During the Third Ninja World War, his father, the Third Raikage, single-handedly fought against ten thousand Stone Village ninjas to ensure his comrades' retreat. After three days and nights of fierce combat, he succumbed to exhaustion and perished.

Now, due to Stone Village's negligence, his trusted partner and brother had been captured by the Akatsuki organization, and his fate remained unknown. Both old and new grudges made it impossible for Ay to let Tsuchikage Onoki off easily.

Facing Ay's furious questioning, Tsuchikage Onoki calmly replied, "Although Deidara was once a ninja of Stone Village, he became a rogue ninja. His actions have had nothing to do with us since then.

"Raikage, it's completely unreasonable for you to hold Stone Village accountable for this."

Ay, however, was unconvinced. His voice thundered across the hall as he retorted, "If you hadn't turned a blind eye, Deidara wouldn't have been able to cause chaos outside!"

Ay knew that Deidara had been Onoki's apprentice. It was precisely for this reason that Onoki had chosen to ignore his defection. Otherwise, with Deidara's flamboyant personality, Stone Village would have easily found his trail.

"And don't think I don't know," Ay continued, "Stone Village has a long history of collaborating with the Akatsuki organization!"

Raikage's words caught Gaara's attention. He frowned and asked, "Collaboration? What do you mean?"

"Since the war ended, the ninja world has enjoyed a prolonged peace. In such circumstances, the major powers naturally cut funding and reduced the military budgets of their villages," Onoki explained matter-of-factly. "This weakened our combat capabilities, and Stone Village began relying on outside forces."

"So to maintain the village's strength, you turned to hiring the Akatsuki organization?" Gaara asked coldly, already knowing the answer.

Onoki nodded. "That's right. Training excellent ninjas requires time and money. Entrusting war-related missions to a professional group like Akatsuki was far more efficient. As long as they were paid well, they completed their assignments perfectly."

Though Onoki's reasoning made sense, Gaara, who understood the Akatsuki's true nature, couldn't accept it. Before he could rebuke Onoki, the old Tsuchikage added, "Didn't Sand Village also hire Akatsuki's members? You conspired with Orochimaru during the Konoha Collapse Plan, which led to the deaths of both the Fourth Kazekage and the Third Hokage."

Onoki glanced toward Tsunade and Mizukage Terumi, who had remained silent, and said pointedly, "Konoha and Mist Village are no strangers to Akatsuki either. Your villages share a connection with them as well."

Boom!

Hearing Onoki implicate Konoha, Tsunade slammed the table. "Nonsense! When has Konoha ever been involved with the Akatsuki organization?"

"Maybe it wasn't you," Onoki replied cryptically, "but certain individuals within Konoha are connected to Akatsuki."

Tsunade's expression darkened as Danzo's image surfaced in her mind. She couldn't help but wonder if the imprisoned Danzo still had ties to Akatsuki.

Onoki's strategy was clear—by implicating all the villages, he aimed to share the blame. If the spotlight remained solely on Stone Village, Raikage's fury would be unrelenting. But if the other villages were dragged into it, Ay would lose his leverage.

"Don't try to shift the blame, Tsuchikage!" Ay growled. He turned his sharp gaze toward the others. "But Onoki's right. Akatsuki is made up of rogue ninjas from your villages. You all bear responsibility for this!"

Raikage's gaze fell on Mizukage Terumi. "Especially you, Mizukage. Mist Village's isolationist policies allowed rumors to spread that Akatsuki originated in your village!"

Terumi sighed and responded calmly, "If you want the truth, I'll tell you. We suspect that our former Mizukage, Yagura, was being controlled by the Akatsuki organization. To avoid unnecessary turmoil, we adopted an isolationist strategy."

Tsunade suddenly spoke up. "We already discovered the Akatsuki organization's base of operations."

"Where?!" Ay demanded, standing abruptly.

"It was in Rain Village," Tsunade revealed. "That's where Akatsuki's headquarters were located. Jiraiya and my disciple infiltrated it and severely injured their leader, Pain."

"Then what happened?" Ay asked eagerly.

"Unfortunately, Pain escaped, and the Akatsuki organization abandoned Rain Village, disappearing into the shadows once again."

Ay's face darkened with anger. "Why didn't you finish the job if you knew their location? You could've ended this!"

Tsunade shot back fiercely, "They were scouting for intelligence! The fight was unavoidable, but with what they achieved, I doubt anyone else in the ninja world could've done better."

"Indeed," Kakashi muttered quietly from the stands, nodding in agreement. Those who had fought Pain firsthand knew the despair of facing him without any prior intel.

The tension in the room escalated again as Raikage and Tsunade exchanged heated words, and the guards in the stands instinctively tensed.

"Ahem!"

Mifune's voice cut through the tension like a blade. "Please, calm down. This is a place for discussion, not conflict. As a neutral party, allow me to say this:

"The real problem lies in Akatsuki's imminent success in collecting all the Tailed Beasts. We should focus on addressing this threat, not assigning blame. Wasting time bickering achieves nothing. If we work together, not only can we prepare to confront Akatsuki, but we might also aid Cloud Village in rescuing Eight-Tails' Jinchuriki."

(End of this chapter)

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