Meeting Before the Five Kage Summit, Arriving at Konoha

Half-Moon Island.

With only three days left until the first Five Kage Summit, Byakuren finally arrived here with Hozuki Gengetsu and several Kirigakure Jonin.

By then, Takenaka had already said his goodbyes to Yuko Kaguya and had been waiting by the shore for quite some time.

As the ship docked, Takenaka spotted Byakuren and immediately leaped into the air. He then activated Geppo, one of the Six Powers, and arrived on deck in the blink of an eye.

"Lord Byakuren, Lord Hozuki Gengetsu." Takenaka cupped his hands in greeting.

"Hahaha, it's only been half a month, Takenaka, and you've already developed a taijutsu technique that lets you walk through the air. Impressive!" Byakuren laughed as he praised him.

Beside him, surprise flashed through Hozuki Gengetsu's eyes, but there was even more wariness.

If Takenaka had not left Kirigakure of his own accord, he truly might not have been able to resist finding a way to kill him.

After all, throughout the history of the Land of Water, there had never been anyone whose talent could rival that of the boy before him.

The more Hozuki Gengetsu learned about Takenaka, the more wary he became of him.

"Mm."

Coming back to his senses, Hozuki Gengetsu nodded at Takenaka.

Takenaka then cupped his hands modestly. "Lord Byakuren overpraises me. They're merely some insignificant tricks."

"You're still as modest as ever.

Enough of that. I'll be relying on you for this trip to Konoha. I hope everything goes smoothly," Byakuren said with a smile.

Truthfully, if Hozuki Gengetsu had not been his personally trained disciple, Byakuren sincerely believed that Takenaka was the most suitable candidate for Kirigakure's Second Mizukage.

Unfortunately, this world was governed by interests. Byakuren had a clan behind him; he was not alone, and he could not be completely fair and impartial.

After taking a deep look at Takenaka and Hozuki Gengetsu, Byakuren signaled for the ship to continue onward, then led them both into the cabin.

A moment later, inside the cabin.

Byakuren motioned for the two to sit, then looked at Hozuki Gengetsu and Takenaka. "This trip to Konoha is not only the first gathering and discussion among the leaders and Kage of the major hidden villages. More importantly, Hashirama Senju, Konoha's First Hokage, has proposed something called the Tailed Beast Distribution Plan.

According to the invitation Hashirama Senju sent out, he has captured all nine Tailed Beasts, from One-Tail to Nine-Tails, and intends to distribute them during the summit.

I have pondered this for many days without reaching a conclusion. Since both of you are here today, tell me—what are your thoughts on this Tailed Beast Distribution Plan?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a look of surprise appeared on Hozuki Gengetsu's face. As one of Kirigakure's senior leaders, he had naturally witnessed the formidable combat strength of Tailed Beasts. He himself had once encountered a wild Three-Tails.

At the time, he had been carrying out a mission with a squad of Elite Jonin when one subordinate accidentally disturbed the sleeping Three-Tails.

The Three-Tails went berserk and killed an Elite Jonin with a single powerful attack.

A battle immediately erupted. In the end, of Hozuki Gengetsu's Elite Jonin squad, only he escaped; the other three all died.

The more tails a Tailed Beast had, the stronger it generally was. Hearing of Hashirama Senju's incredible feat of capturing all nine Tailed Beasts, Hozuki Gengetsu could not help exclaiming, "He truly deserves to be called the God of Shinobi, to have captured every Tailed Beast from One-Tail to Nine-Tails.

Teacher, if possible, we should bring the strongest Tailed Beast, the Nine-Tails, back to the village."

Beside him, Takenaka thought to himself, *Just as expected. It seems that as long as the course of history has not changed, Hashirama Senju will still carry out the Tailed Beast Distribution Plan.

Unfortunately, distributing the Tailed Beasts will not bring peace to the Shinobi World. It will only make future wars even more brutal when they break out.*

With that in mind, he cupped his hands toward Byakuren and said, "Lord Byakuren, Hashirama Senju, Konoha's First Hokage, invited the leaders of the hidden villages of every nation to Konoha to distribute the Tailed Beasts. His purpose should be to keep the nations' strength roughly equal. If everyone possesses weapons of war like Tailed Beasts, they will be wary of one another, allowing this hard-won peace to endure.

However, in my view, war has never ceased since the Sengoku era. Ninja from different nations hate and despise one another.

First, every nation agreed to sign the peace treaty only because the war had dragged on for too long, and both the great and small nations were nearly unable to endure it any longer.

Second, the Land of Fire has produced two legendary Shinobi World ninja, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. With them present, no nation has the confidence to defeat the Land of Fire.

Lastly, I do not believe that war will cease in the future simply because every nation receives a Tailed Beast.

On the contrary, I believe Hashirama Senju's act of distributing the Tailed Beasts is extremely foolish.

Not only will it fail to stop war, but the nations and hidden villages that receive Tailed Beasts will treat them as weapons of war, using them to contain neighboring smaller nations without Tailed Beasts and threaten the security of nearby great nations."

Of course, Takenaka could discuss the matter from an almost omniscient perspective because he had watched Naruto.

In Takenaka's heart, the best solution currently available for truly bringing peace to the Shinobi World would be for Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha to join hands and conquer the entire world, allowing the Land of Fire to completely unify the Shinobi World. Then the later world wars would never occur.

Yet after coming to the Naruto World, Takenaka had come to understand the true circumstances of the current Shinobi World.

During the Sengoku era, ninja clans were merely hired by others. They had no fixed organizations or nations, and ninja of that time could not even reveal their surnames casually if they wished to survive.

The average lifespan of ninja and civilians alike was only around thirty years. The reason it had dropped so drastically was simple: even children had to go to the battlefield and fight for their lives!

In such a cruel environment of war, unifying the entire Shinobi World would be unimaginably difficult.

If they truly attempted it, the population of the entire world would likely fall by at least another half.

By then, let alone whether the Land of Fire could unify the Shinobi World, even maintaining its national strength without decline would be a fantasy.

However, Takenaka's words gave Byakuren and Hozuki Gengetsu a new train of thought.

Or rather, Byakuren's true thoughts had been similar to Hozuki Gengetsu's all along: he wanted to bring the strongest Tailed Beast back to Kirigakure.

But after hearing Takenaka's words, both men could not help furrowing their brows.

Byakuren then asked, "Takenaka, are you saying that you do not support Hashirama Senju's Tailed Beast Distribution Plan?"

"If I were a ninja of the Land of Fire, I would not support the Tailed Beast Distribution Plan, because distributing Tailed Beasts would be like cutting off one's own arm and weakening one's own strength.

But I was born in the Land of Water. Therefore, I not only support it, but would strongly endorse it.

If we can emerge victorious from this Tailed Beast distribution and obtain a powerful Tailed Beast, it will certainly benefit the village and the future of the Land of Water," Takenaka said, shaking his head.

After saying that, Takenaka fell silent for a moment before continuing, "Lord Byakuren, while distributing the Tailed Beasts is not entirely advantageous for us, their combat power and destructive force are astonishing. If we obtain a powerful Tailed Beast, we can deter other nations, which will benefit the growth of both the village's and the Land of Water's strength.

However, based on my understanding of Tailed Beasts, they are violent by nature and extremely difficult to control. In the current Shinobi World, apart from legendary figures such as Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, others who wish to control a Tailed Beast have only one viable method for now: Sealing Jutsu.

Sealing Jutsu is the closely guarded secret of the Land of Whirlpools. Aside from the First Hokage Hashirama Senju's wife bringing some Sealing Jutsu to Konoha, the other nations possess no means of controlling Tailed Beasts.

Therefore, if Lord Mizukage wishes to obtain a Tailed Beast, you must also acquire the Sealing Jutsu needed to control it."

Hearing this, Byakuren nodded in surprise. He had originally thought Takenaka would remain silent because of the unpleasantness that had occurred in the village.

He had not expected Takenaka not only to set aside past grievances, but to thoroughly explain all the pros and cons of the Tailed Beast Distribution Plan.

For a moment, Byakuren laughed heartily. "Hahaha, good, Takenaka. You truly have not disappointed me.

In that case, I shall act according to the approach you just proposed on this trip to Konoha.

If we have the opportunity, it would be best to bring back the strongest Tailed Beast, the Nine-Tails."

"The Nine-Tails? It would be best not to."

However, the moment Byakuren suggested fighting for the Nine-Tails, Takenaka immediately shook his head in rejection.

"Tell me your reasons." Though Byakuren did not understand, he believed Takenaka would not speak without cause.

"First, as the strongest among the Tailed Beasts, Konoha will never distribute the Nine-Tails. That is certain.

Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi, may not care about the Nine-Tails, but Tobirama Senju and many others in Konoha are no fools.

Therefore, no matter what, they will not distribute the Nine-Tails to another village.

Second, since the Nine-Tails is the strongest Tailed Beast, it is also the most difficult to control. We have neither Sealing Jutsu nor a suitable person capable of containing the Nine-Tails.

Thus, rather than demand an uncontrollable Nine-Tails, it would be better to settle for another Tailed Beast.

Third, even if Konoha agrees to distribute the Nine-Tails to us, the other hidden villages—especially Kumogakure and Iwagakure—will never allow us to obtain it so easily.

If they interfere, we may face joint pressure from three major hidden villages. That would be extremely disadvantageous for us, so I ask Lord Byakuren to consider this carefully," Takenaka replied with cupped hands.

In truth, the best possible outcome would be for Kirigakure to obtain both the Eight-Tails that Kumogakure received in the original story and any other Tailed Beast.

But after coming to this world, Takenaka understood that some things could not be achieved simply because one wanted them.

At least for now, aside from Konoha, Kumogakure's overall strength was considerably greater than Kirigakure's.

As for Iwagakure, after its founding, its strength would not be inferior to Kirigakure's either.

Without Takenaka, Kirigakure might not even be Iwagakure's match in a one-on-one confrontation.

After listening to Takenaka, Byakuren and Hozuki Gengetsu both fell silent in thought.

They were not fools and could understand what Takenaka had just said.

Konoha would have the final say in distributing the Tailed Beasts. If Konoha refused, they would not receive even one Tailed Beast.

In that case, demanding the strongest Tailed Beast, the Nine-Tails, would certainly anger Konoha outright.

A moment later, Hozuki Gengetsu cupped his hands toward Byakuren and said, "Teacher, I believe Takenaka is right. We should forget about the Nine-Tails, but we can ask for the Eight-Tails."

"Mm. If we cannot obtain the Nine-Tails, getting the Eight-Tails would also be good. But even the Eight-Tails may be beyond our reach.

There is likely still a certain gap in strength between the Land of Water and the Land of Lightning, and the First Raikage, A, is a strong-willed man.

Furthermore, we forged a blood feud with Kumogakure during the Sengoku era. If nothing unexpected happens, Kumogakure will certainly obstruct us.

Let's leave it for now. We still do not know Konoha's attitude, so we can discuss it after arriving.

For these next two days, the two of you should rest well," Byakuren said, nodding with a worried expression.

Afterward, the three chatted idly for a while. Takenaka then left and returned to the room prepared for him to rest.

"Gengetsu, after that discussion, you should understand where the gap lies between you and Takenaka, shouldn't you?" After Takenaka left, Byakuren looked at Hozuki Gengetsu with an amused smile.

Hearing this, Hozuki Gengetsu gave a bitter smile, then nodded. "Teacher, I have indeed seen the gap between myself and Takenaka Kaguya.

Unfortunately, understanding it is one thing. Even if not for my own sake, I must still fight with all my strength for the position of Second Mizukage.

Perhaps one day I will change my mind, but until that day comes, I will not allow him to threaten my position."

When he finished, Byakuren sighed helplessly. His disciple was also a stubborn man, and Byakuren had never intended to let Takenaka succeed him as Second Mizukage.

He only hoped Hozuki Gengetsu could recognize the gap between himself and Takenaka from the bottom of his heart, then befriend him.

That way, when Gengetsu succeeded to the position of Second Mizukage in the future, it would be a certainty.

"Forget it. I know I cannot persuade you, but you can consider the suggestion I gave you before we departed."

Meanwhile, as the Kage of the major hidden villages drew near the Land of Fire, they too began analyzing the upcoming Five Kage Summit and the outcomes they intended to achieve. Everyone had their own plans.

And so, with only one day left before the Five Kage Summit, the Kage and leaders of every large and small hidden village arrived in Konoha.

Among them, the earliest arrivals were the people from Takigakure and Uzushiogakure.

Outside Konoha's gates.

Byakuren's group stopped and looked at the gates of Konohagakure. Byakuren could not help sighing in admiration. "As expected of Konohagakure of the Land of Fire. If we wish to catch up to them, I fear we still have a long way to go."

Just as his words of emotion fell, a terrifying aura suddenly appeared at Konoha's gates. Then Madara Uchiha's figure emerged, his overwhelming Haki making Byakuren, Hozuki Gengetsu, and the other Kirigakure ninja tremble inwardly.

However, Madara Uchiha did not pay them any attention. Instead, the moment he saw Takenaka, delight immediately appeared on his face. He smiled and said, "Long time no see, little one of the Kaguya Clan!"