Five Kage Summit (3)

At this Five Kage Summit, the Land of Iron acted as host and arbiter. Its representative was the leader of the Samurai, a man named Mifune.

Mifune was also a new face. He had only recently succeeded the previous leader and was organizing such a large gathering for the first time.

Now, with Chen's arrival, every side had assembled. Before the meeting was officially declared open, the eldest among them, the Third Tsuchikage, was the first to chuckle.

"I never expected that in just a few short years, everyone here would be such young faces. Every village has more or less entered the era of the Fourth Kage. Time truly spares no one."

Though Ōnoki's words carried a hint of flaunting his seniority, they were more than anything a sigh over the passage of time.

At the last Five Kage Summit, aside from the pathetic Hidden Mist Village, the Third Kage of every other village had still been alive.

The Third Hokage had even fathered a young son in middle age. The old man was still full of youthful vigor!

Yet in these few short years, among the Kage who had attended the last Five Kage Summit, one had died on the battlefield, two had vanished, and only the Third Hokage had had it easy—retiring peacefully and handing his village over to the next generation.

In the end, Ōnoki was the only one left.

Times had changed. How could he not feel wistful?

But then again, was it really that Ōnoki did not want to retire early and hand the burden over to the young?

It was simply because there was no one to succeed him!

His son Kitsuchi looked decent enough, but merely decent. He was not truly fit to shoulder such a great responsibility.

There were no other