The Greatest Obstacle to the Five Great Shinobi Villages Joining Forces

Upon hearing the name 'Orochimaru', the other four Kage simultaneously turned to look at Tsunade, their expressions not very pleasant.

In recent years, Orochimaru has been making a lot of noise and has offended almost all of the Five Great Shinobi Villages in the Shinobi World, except for Iwagakure.

This is the most popular man in the entire Shinobi World.

Orochimaru?

The Fifth Raikage, Darui, scratched his head and asked, "Hokage, the Jinchuriki summoned through the Impure World Reincarnation shouldn't possess the true power of Tailed Beasts, right?"

Due to the Five Kage Summit, Darui was appointed to succeed the Fifth Raikage in a time of crisis and officially changed his name to 'Ai'.

"Is that so!"

Tsunade nodded, glanced around, and after a moment of silence, said, "Everyone! The situation in the Genin world has reached its most critical juncture."

"Raikage said, the Jinchuriki summoned through the Impure World Reincarnation do not possess the true power of the Tailed Beasts!"

"But..."

"Fifteen years ago, the Nine-Tails attacked Konoha and was sealed by the Fourth Hokage. Since then..."

After a pause, Tsunade took a deep breath and continued, "According to Konoha's confidential records, the Nine-Tails' power seems to have been weakened considerably since then."

Everyone frowned slightly upon hearing this.

Given the meticulousness of ninjas, it would be impossible for words like 'seems' to appear in intelligence records.

Tsunade recalled the classified documents she had seen since becoming Hokage.

After the Fourth Hokage and his wife died in battle, the Third would naturally examine the seal inside Naruto's body.

The seal is stable, but the Nine-Tails' power seems to have been weakened considerably.

The Third initially thought that Minato Namikaze had deliberately weakened the Nine-Tails' power to prevent Naruto from suffering a backlash from Nine-Tails, and he didn't pay much attention to it at the time, simply recording the information.

But now it seems there's more to the story.

Considering the theft of the Uzumaki Clan's mask, and combining this with the information about the Reaper Death Seal, many things can actually be connected.

Why did Orochimaru suddenly return to Akatsuki many years?

This may be the real reason why the two parties reached a cooperation agreement.

And this intelligence...

It was sent by Itachi Uchiha.

Itachi Uchiha obviously wouldn't report useless information to Konoha, and this information...

It was clear that Itachi Uchiha sensed the danger, but due to a lack of information, he did not know where the danger came from.

This information is likely from Itachi Uchiha wanting to confirm some things with the village.

"We can't wait any longer!"

Taking a deep breath, Tsunade explained some of her speculations to everyone.

Looking around at everyone, Tsunade said loudly, "Everyone, we must unite immediately and gather our forces to attack Amegakure!"

"Otherwise, once the Akatsuki's plan succeeds, the Shinobi World will likely never have a day of peace again!"

"..."

A moment of silence fell over the meeting room.

Tsunade's expression was very serious, but she was difficult to convince people.

Indeed, the power of the Tailed Beasts is immense, but they are not invincible to 'Kage' level ninjas.

Ōnoki was confident that he could defeat the Tailed Beasts all by himself.

If it weren't for his advanced age and frail health, coupled with the fact that Dust Release is too slow to execute, Ōnoki wouldn't have even taken Hinata and the Akatsuki leader seriously.

The Kumogakure suffered heavy losses in the previous battle and was simply not capable of waging another war.

The Sunagakure is divided into two factions. Before the younger faction takes power, Gaara has no control over the village.

Although Mei Terumi was determined to deal with the Akatsuki, she didn't have much confidence after seeing the fate of the Kumogakure.

Moreover, all the villages had previously hoped that Konoha and Akatsuki would fight to the death, ideally with Hinata and Rinnegan Pain together.

If the Five Great Shinobi Villages were to join forces and Akatsuki, the biggest losses would definitely be suffered by the core ninja force.

The army of Impure World Reincarnation is no joke.

An ordinary Chunin may not be able to influence the outcome of a war, but they are the economic backbone and intelligence spies of the village.

Without these ninjas to carry out missions, where would we get the extra money to develop the village?

If Hinata survives a major battle but other ninja villages suffer heavy losses, how can they resist Konoha's expansion?

In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through the minds of the group of shadows.

Tsunade's face was grim; she never imagined that getting the Five Great Shinobi Villages to join forces would be so difficult.

No matter how she analyzed the situation, presented the facts, and explained the threat posed by the Akatsuki, she was still unable to convince everyone.

Because Konoha also posed a threat to major Shinobi Village.

Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki, was able to single-handedly reduce the Kumogakure to ruins, kill the Fourth Raikage, and capture the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki.

Hinata fought Pain to a draw twice, also possessed similar strength.

If these two don't die together, what's the point of the other ninja villages playing?

"You..."

Tsunade glared at everyone, her chest heaving, barely able to contain her anger.

In fact, Tsunade had considered using the power of Konoha to fight against Akatsuki.

However, after discussing it with Shikaku Nara, they realized that this approach simply wouldn't work.

It's not that we lack strength.

Regardless of victory or defeat in this battle, Konoha will become the target of everyone's criticism.

We've won; the public enemy of the Shinobi World.

Defeat means the village is in danger of being wiped out.

Even worse, other ninja villages might seize the opportunity to attack Konoha's forces.

"Hokage!"

Gaara spoke first, saying, "Personally, I'm willing to stand with Konoha through thick and thin, but..."

Gaara changed his tone and continued, "The most urgent thing I think we should do is send a reconnaissance team to infiltrate the Land of Rain and gather intelligence."

"It's not too late to decide on the next plan after we've found out more!"

Gaara's thinking was simple: as long as he was certain that the Akatsuki was plotting to overthrow the Shinobi World, he would have enough reason to persuade the old fogies in the village.

Over the years, Gaara has matured considerably. At least he understands what politics is and how to survive in a ninja village.

To be honest, if the Akatsuki truly had the power to unify the Shinobi World, they could also provide Sunagakure with a place to live after unification, and the plans of those elders wouldn't be unreasonable.

At most... he would simply give up the position of Kazekage and participate in the war as an individual.

Naruto was one of the few friends Gaara acknowledged, but as the Kazekage, Gaara would not drag the village into danger for the sake of his friend.

Individuals can choose their stance based on personal feelings, but villages must choose their stance based on self-interest.

Tsunade's expression softened slightly, and Gaara.

"I agree!"

Mei Terumi said, "Rather than launching an operation without knowing anything, figuring out the Akatsuki's conspiracy is the top priority."

After thinking for a moment, Ōnoki agreed, "Since the Hokage, Kazekage, Mizukage all say so, then this old man has no objections."

Let's do it this way!

Without consulting the Raikage, Ōnoki made the decision directly.

It seems that this is how things should be.

The village lost nearly half of its fighting force. If it weren't for the threats from Akatsuki and Konoha, Ōnoki would have already launched an attack on Kumogakure.

That's reality!

But it is precisely this reality that is the biggest obstacle to the alliance of the Five Great Shinobi Villages!