Setting Off

After hearing Kubi Ichiro's words, everyone present showed looks of understanding.

Amamiya Ruri might be strong, but he was only stronger than us. He could only throw his weight around in a tiny place like the Land of Waterfalls. If he had the guts, he should go to the Five Kage Summit. If he could beat us, could he beat Senju Hashirama?

That was what everyone present thought. Even now, they believed Ruri was only somewhat stronger than them, nowhere near a match for the Kage of other villages, let alone Senju Hashirama, the God of Shinobi. If Ruri went to the Five Kage Summit, he would most likely humiliate himself. If he was lucky, he would flee back to the village with his life, and after recognizing the gap between them, he would voluntarily give up the title of Takikage.

As for Ruri gaining any standing at the Five Kage Summit, or earning the Five Kage's recognition, that had never crossed their minds. It was simply absurd. If Ruri had that kind of ability, why would he have confined himself to developing the Land of Waterfalls? His name would have become famous back in the Warring States era, and so many people would not dare make things difficult for him. Of course, if he truly succeeded in securing a place at the Five Kage Summit, they would not be unable to accept him as Takikage. Someone capable of standing on equal footing with the Five Kage would leave them with no objections.

Kakuzu snorted disdainfully. Only one or two of these people were worth looking at. In terms of fame, all of them combined could barely compare to him, so how could they possibly be mentioned in the same breath as Ruri, whom he regarded as his big brother? Ruri was very low-key, and even Kakuzu did not know his true strength. Those endlessly emerging, novel ninjutsu alone had already made him take notice. In Kakuzu's eyes, Ruri's strength was fully on par with the Five Kage. Otherwise, he would not have sent him to investigate news of the Five Kage Summit.

Kakuzu was even a little excited. At this rate, Ruri would definitely attend the Five Kage Summit. If the Five Kage refused, would they end up fighting? For some reason, he had a strong urge to fight Senju Hashirama.

"The Five Kage Summit? Interesting. I'll make it the Six Kage Summit." Ruri spoke calmly, yet everyone could see the powerful confidence in his eyes, as though he had always been meant to attend this summit.

Hearing that, Kubi Ichiro's heart skipped a beat. Something about this development seemed wrong. No matter what, Ruri should not have agreed to attend so decisively. The normal course of events should have been for him to refuse several times before being forced to participate! Could he really possess strength comparable to the Five Kage?

Impossible! Impossible! Kubi Ichiro repeated to himself, constantly reassuring himself that if Ruri truly had such strength, he would have revealed it long ago. He had surely only agreed to save face and was merely putting on a confident, composed act. Before long, he would definitely find some excuse to avoid it!

Ruri rubbed his nose, as though he had seen through Kubi Ichiro's thoughts. Avoiding it was impossible. Even before the system had activated, he would never have avoided it. But before the system's activation, he had merely sought the Five Kage's support. Now, he wanted to stand as their equal.

Truth-Seeking Orbs... genuine Truth-Seeking Orbs. Even if their usable time was limited, they were still Truth-Seeking Orbs imbued with Six Paths power. Hashirama probably could not withstand even one hit, right?

"Kakuzu, get ready. We're setting off now." Ruri stood up, preparing to leave. There was no point in staying here any longer unless a Kage-level expert suddenly appeared and insisted on fighting him to the death, but that was clearly impossible.

"Huh? Yes, Lord Takikage." Kakuzu froze for a moment before breaking into delighted joy. After this mission, he had gained a deep understanding of the Five Kage Summit. The guards accompanying a Kage were generally the preselected Second Takikage. Takigakure might be a small village, but Takikage was still the title of a Kage!

Shinobi pursued strength, as well as the status that came with it. There were only six people in the entire Shinobi World who bore the title of Kage. Others might possess Kage-level strength, but they could not obtain the title of Kage. To shinobi, Kage was the greatest honor, representing the highest recognition they could receive.

What? This was completely off script? Under the bewildered gazes of Kubi Ichiro and the others, Ruri and Kakuzu left the meeting room one after the other. The Land of Waterfalls was not far from the Land of Iron, but this trip had been arranged on short notice, so they still needed to make more preparations.

After Ruri left, Kubi Ichiro finally came back to his senses. A vicious expression appeared on his face as he muttered to himself, "Takikage? There's no such thing. The entire Takigakure will be under my control..."

The people in the meeting room left in twos and threes. With Ruri, the newly appointed Takikage, gone, there was no reason for them to remain. Hagane Maomori seemed to have noticed something. He glanced thoughtfully at Kubi Ichiro, feeling that he might have made the wrong choice. The Takikage was not as easy to provoke as Kubi Ichiro had claimed. Perhaps he should wait and see for a while longer. For the family's safety, it did not matter if they earned a little less profit.

"Kakuzu, your timing was pretty good!" Back home, Ruri smiled as he patted Kakuzu on the shoulder. With the Truth-Seeking Orbs provided by the system, his previous preparations were no longer needed, saving him quite a bit of trouble.

"It's all because you taught me well, Big Brother..." Kakuzu scratched his head and picked up the blanket from the floor, rolling it into a bundle.

"By the way, Big Brother Ruri, are you really confident about facing the Five Kage?" Kakuzu suddenly asked with a grave expression as he packed. If he were only facing one Kage, he had absolute confidence in Ruri. But what if all five attacked together?

Especially Senju Hashirama, the Hokage of Konoha, that man who had practically become a legend. Even someone as confident as Kakuzu only had the desire to challenge him; he could not even entertain the thought of fighting him as an equal.

"You investigated for so long. Was it all for nothing? My only real opponent is Senju Hashirama. He alone keeps the other four Kage in line. I only need to show him that I have the strength to speak with him as an equal. Combined with the righteousness of the Land of Waterfalls, he will not make things difficult for me. Besides, the Five Kage are not a solid bloc..." Ruri appeared very relaxed. With the Truth-Seeking Orbs in hand, he could protect himself without using the things he had prepared earlier. He understood Hashirama's personality better than anyone. The rise of the Land of Waterfalls and Takigakure was a good thing. It would let every small nation and small shinobi village know that even a tiny patch of land could earn respect. To Hashirama, this was a necessary part of peace in the Shinobi World.

Perhaps Hashirama had given the Seven-Tails to Takigakure in the original story for this very reason.

"That's true." Kakuzu thought it over and agreed. He smiled. "Then on this journey, as Big Brother's guard, I'll definitely protect you!"

"It'll be good enough if you don't casually pick up bounty missions along the way..." Ruri shook his head with a laugh. Kakuzu had always had this bad habit—halfway through a mission, he would head to the Black Market Exchange to take bounty jobs and earn extra money...