The meeting room was completely silent.
When Shikaku revealed the truth, Samui and Darui had already abandoned their previous ideas.
Even if Konoha were completely insane, they wouldn't do something like this.
That was the Fourth Hokage! A figure who overwhelmed all the Shinobi World of that era.
Qing also looked solemn, after all, at that time, Kirigakure was already showing signs of closing itself off from the world.
He only found out about this today.
"I... I'm sorry about this."
Ao solemnly apologized to Shikaku and Hagoromo.
Shikaku waved his hand and rested his chin on his hands.
"This matter ends here. The fact that Konoha is willing to share this information with Kumogakure and Kirigakure shows that we are all facing a threat from this organization."
"There are now several core issues..."
"First, the ultimate goal of the Akatsuki."
"Second, the true identities and abilities of its leader and the other two; third, the Akatsuki's strongholds; fourth, how to effectively prevent them from capturing other Jinchūriki."
Darui sat up straight and looked at everyone present, saying, "We in Kumogakure support establishing a joint intelligence network and a rapid response mechanism with Konoha."
"This is what our Lord Raikage us to do before we set off."
Yu Hagoromo sideways. Was this Raikage A's suggestion?
But thinking about it, it makes sense; both of the Kumogakure Village's Jinchūriki were Perfect Jinchuriki.
This kind of combat power is invaluable to all ninja villages.
Shikaku nodded without speaking, while Ao nodded and said, "We, Kirigakure, agree to this idea."
Even though Kirigakure no longer has any Jinchūriki.
"Alright, we at Konoha also hope to cooperate with everyone for mutual benefit."
Shikaku nodded after Ao finished speaking, saying, "Our Konoha has already established an encrypted and cross-border intelligence transmission channel for this."
"Invite the Kumogakure and the Kirigakure to join us and share real-time reports of Akatsuki members' sightings, ability analyses, and suspicious locations."
"As for the Jinchūriki, their respective villages will defend themselves for now, but can coordinate defenses if necessary."
Samui naturally had no objection to this, since they simply wanted to eliminate the organization.
As for contacting Konoha and Kirigakure for help, neither side currently has that kind of trust.
"Finally, there's the reaction team."
"Form several small teams composed of elites from their respective villages."
"Once the location of the Akatsuki is confirmed with high credibility, the nearest squad will be dispatched to intercept and capture them."
Shikaku speaking, he slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, "To avoid being defeated one by one due to insufficient strength in any single aspect, the team members need to complement each other's abilities."
"Forming a mixed squad?"
Darui looked nonchalant, which also reflected the attitude of the Kumogakure Village.
"Although coordinating this will be troublesome, our Lord Raikage has already given instructions."
"Samui take over the team members for now. As for protecting the Jinchūriki, we in Kumogakure can handle that ourselves."
This is the bottom line; after all, no one can entrust the Jinchūriki to another village.
"Kirigakure agrees to this plan."
Qing readily agreed, as Kirigakure didn't have many personnel left to assign.
Mixed teams can minimize unnecessary personnel waste.
"We will give a response regarding personnel after we return to Kirigakure."
"Kumogakure can provide the necessary communication technology and cryptographic support to ensure secure communication."
"Yes, this matter itself needs to be discussed."
"Furthermore, Konoha needs everyone to return and consult ancient texts and secret files as much as possible to find any records about what might happen after the Tailed Beasts gather."
"Okay." Samui nodded in agreement.
"No problem." Qingwei nodded slightly. Kirigakure was already at a disadvantage in this three-way cooperation and needed to make up for it in other ways.
"Therefore, this initial consensus is hereby reached."
"The details will be finalized after discussions among the Kage. Hopefully, this is the first step for our Three Great Shinobi Villages to work together to deal with the threat."
Hagoromo remained silent; today's cooperation was based solely on mutual hatred and threats.
What the future holds is something we cannot see now.
--
"Call--"
Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly exhaled a smoke ring, looking at the people in front of him.
Jiraiya, Shikaku, Hagoromo, Kakashi, Guy, and Shizune.
"You are the key members of this joint team."
"Although it won't happen immediately, let's all prepare and improve our individual abilities."
"Yes!"
Everyone responded in unison, indicating that the candidates Konoha had chosen were now the optimal combination.
With Shikaku and Kakashi handling intelligence, and Shizune providing medical assistance, Tsunade had no interest in this mission.
More importantly, Tsunade will be stationed in Konoha to prevent any mishaps.
Hagoromo's role is to provide support at any time, while Guy and Jiraiya are the ones who will truly participate in the main force of the team.
"We will have thorough discussions with Kumogakure and Kirigakure over the next few days, and once the time is right, we will begin our operation."
"Let's all go our separate ways now."
Hiruzen Sarutobi waved his hand and said with a serious expression.
The others left one after another, leaving only Jiraiya and Hagoromo behind.
"Old man, now can you tell me why you've been so reluctant to let me leave the village?"
Jiraiya casually walked over and sat down on the sofa.
He had already seen the intelligence, Amegakure--
This is a place I've always wanted to visit alone.
The fact that Akatsuki members were actually present made Jiraiya realize something.
"Senior brother, you can take a closer look at the intelligence."
Hagoromo received a look from Hiruzen Sarutobi and presented a scroll to Jiraiya.
Konoha will not reveal all the information for the time being. For now, the cooperation among the three ninja villages is only due to certain reasons.
It falls far short of Konoha's complete trust.
Jiraiya frowned, picked up the scroll, and began to read it.
"Possibly the Sage's Eye Six Paths..."
Jiraiya had just opened the scroll, murmured in disbelief.
"That's right, they are the three disciples you took in during Second Shinobi World War in the Land of Rain, and Akatsuki was founded by them."
Hagoromo nodded slowly. This information was all given by Itachi, while some of it was found by him in the Konoha mission report archives.
After all, Jiraiya had stayed in the Land of Rain for three years.
Such a prolonged absence will naturally be recorded.
If it weren't for Hiruzen Sarutobi's protection at the time, Danzo and the other two Council of Elders would have used this incident to make things difficult for Jiraiya.
After all, a ninja who has been away from the village for three years without any missions.
Being labeled missing-nin is enough.
"How could this be..." Jiraiya was filled with disbelief; the disciple he had trained had turned out like this.