Bang! The Fourth Raikage slammed his hand down on the table, producing a dull thud.
He shot to his feet, looked at Tsunade beside him, and demanded, "What exactly is going on with your Konoha? Out of Akatsuki's eight members, three are connected to you."
Tsunade looked up at the ceiling helplessly, unsure how to explain something like this.
Orochimaru had already defected, and his actions were completely beyond anyone's control.
She had only learned of his joining Akatsuki half a year ago. At the time, Akatsuki had still been a peace organization in the Rain Country. Though it had missing-nin among its ranks, it had a fairly good reputation there.
As for Uchiha Obito, Asuka had revealed it to Kushina before leaving the village, and Kushina had privately told Tsunade.
Before that, who could have imagined that a "dead man" would join Akatsuki?
And as for Pakura, before Akatsuki launched the Fourth Shinobi World War, there was no rule saying that ninjas from the Five Great Ninja Villages could not date Akatsuki members.
Tsunade rubbed the bridge of her nose and said with a headache, "There's nothing to explain about Pakura. The Ninja World has no written rule forbidding people from dating missing-nin. Besides, before Akatsuki started the Fourth Shinobi World War, it was merely an idealistic mercenary organization in the Rain Country."
After a brief pause, she continued, "Although Uchiha Asuka has ties to Akatsuki members, his stance is extremely firm. I stake my reputation on that."
"Besides, before the Fourth Shinobi World War, if someone suddenly said Akatsuki would steal the tailed beasts from every village and abruptly start a war, would any of you have believed it?"
Meeting Tsunade's challenging gaze, Raikage Ai opened his mouth, then dropped heavily back into his chair, his face dark