At Daggers Drawn

There was a hexagonal table in the hall, just enough for the six Kage. Hashirama and the others took their seats in turn, while the guards could only stand behind them and watch.

This Takikage thinks a lot like I do, huh? I wonder whether he can accept my ideas too. Hashirama tapped on the table. The house had indeed been made with Wood Style, and every part of its construction matched what he had envisioned before. He could not help feeling a sense of kinship with Ruri.

In truth, Ruri had simply been lazy and built it according to the layout of the first Five Kage Summit from his memories...

Once the six had settled down and placed their hats on the table, Hashirama spoke. After all, setting aside the overwhelmingly powerful Land of Fire, he was the God of Shinobi—the strongest ninja recognized by all ninja in the Shinobi World—and possessed absolute authority.

"To have the five great nations... ah, no, the six First Kage gathered here for a Six Kage Summit, I truly..." As Hashirama spoke, he gave Ruri an apologetic look. While he could acknowledge Ruri and the Takikage, recognizing the Land of Waterfalls was not something he could decide alone. Its status as a great nation required the Daimyo's approval.

Ruri shook his head, signaling that it was fine. Though the Land of Waterfalls was developing rapidly and its economy was approaching that of the five great nations, its territory was far smaller, and its room for growth was limited. That was simply the truth.

Then Hashirama did something no one had expected. He slammed his forehead onto the table and shouted, "Thank you very much!"

No one had expected the highest-ranking Hokage, Senju Hashirama, the God of Shinobi, to act like this. Tobirama, standing behind him, had already been displeased by Ruri's participation in the Five Kage Summit. He found Hashirama's behavior even harder to tolerate and hurriedly leaned close to his ear, saying angrily, "Brother, as Hokage, you represent Konoha of the Land of Fire. How can you bow your head so easily to the other Kage?"

Hashirama seemed completely unconcerned with his own status. He raised his head slightly, his eyes full of sincerity. "But I... am just so happy!"

"Hokage, please raise your head. That is not the behavior expected of a leader," A said sternly, arms folded.

"I came here because I approved of the Hokage's proposal, but that does not mean I will sign it for nothing just because I came." Ishikawa stroked his beard and shook his head slightly. Hashirama was still too young, and his thinking was too naive. Just because they could sit together peacefully now did not mean peace in the Shinobi World could be guaranteed in the future.

"If you are too humble, it will only make you seem like you have ulterior motives!" Byakuren's voice rang out. He did not trust Hashirama—or rather, he trusted no one. Especially after Ruri had revealed Wood Style, his suspicions had only deepened.

"It seems the Hokage thinks too highly of the other Kage." Ruri casually added a harmless remark. Because of the Land of Waterfalls' strength, he did not have much influence, but he himself had the right to speak. If he attended the Six Kage Summit only to act like an invisible bystander, that would be far too stifling.

Retto glanced at Ruri and said, "It seems the Takikage also understands the agreement, so there is no need to explain it again. The condition for signing it is that the Hokage distributes the Tailed Beasts he has captured among the villages. This is a transaction and should not be swayed by emotion."

"That is right. The distribution of the Tailed Beasts will take the balance of each village's strength into account, but all of you must pay to purchase them..." Tobirama immediately began speaking in Hashirama's place. Who knew what idiotic nonsense his brother might suddenly say?

However, it was useless. Hashirama interrupted Tobirama and said with complete sincerity, "As for the Tailed Beasts, I can give them away for free..."

"Shut up..." Tobirama was utterly helpless before his foolish brother and nearly punched him. The peace he envisioned for the Shinobi World was admirable, but securing benefits was also necessary. With the money from selling the Tailed Beasts, Konoha could develop better. Even if the other four great nations signed the agreement and later failed to honor it, the Land of Fire could still maintain the strongest military power. With strength, everything was negotiable. That was the bottom line.

"There is no problem with paying to purchase them. There are nine Tailed Beasts—how many has the Hokage captured?" Ruri asked. The Tailed Beasts should still be distributed as they were in the original story, meaning the only one not assigned to the five great shinobi villages would be the Seven-Tails. He desperately wanted to know whether Hashirama had captured it.

"Other than Sunagakure's One-Tail, all eight of the others have been captured." Hashirama was straightforward. He had not kept any for himself and directly took out eight scrolls.

The scrolls were spread open, displaying the numbers two through nine.

Retto looked at the scrolls. He did not have a deep understanding of the Tailed Beasts' power, so he assumed that if Hashirama could capture them all alone, they were probably only at quasi-Kage level. He did not care much and said, "As for Tailed Beasts, that is correct. Our Morinji in Sunagakure has already sealed one, so we do not need another. If you want us to sign the agreement, then unlike the other villages, we require appropriate compensation. There is no problem with that, is there?"

"What do you want?" A spoke up. Kumogakure had coveted the Tailed Beasts for a long time. Though the Nine-Tails' scroll had been brought out, Konoha would surely keep it in the end. There was no need for him to offend Konoha over that, so the Eight-Tails was his target. One fewer village competing for the Eight-Tails would benefit him.

"Our country is covered in yellow sand, so we want fertile land from our neighboring Konoha rather than a Tailed Beast. In addition, thirty percent of the funds used by the other countries to purchase Tailed Beasts must be given to us." Retto stated his conditions. It did not matter if Sunagakure was a little weaker. The Land of Wind was easy to defend and hard to attack, and what it needed most now was development funds.

"Are you joking, Kazekage?"

"What? Kazekage, that is too much!"

A and Byakuren immediately slammed their hands on the table and rose to their feet. The funds for purchasing Tailed Beasts would not be a small sum. Thirty percent was not much, but thirty percent from several villages combined would be considerable. They could not sit back and watch Sunagakure grow stronger like this.

"If you do not agree to these conditions, I will not sign the agreement. My country is a land of deserts and cannot engage in production. If we wish to contend with the four great nations, we naturally must make the fullest use of our village's Tailed Beast." Retto did not yield in the slightest when it came to his village's interests.

"I think..." Ruri had just begun to speak, intending to offer Retto a little support, when Byakuren interrupted him. This old Mizukage was always so annoying.

"If the Kazekage insists on this, then our five nations can also join forces and attack the Land of Wind. I trust the Takikage thinks the same way, does he not?" Byakuren issued his threat and shifted the topic onto Ruri. It seemed he had learned through some channel of the past transaction between the Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Wind and had noticed something suspicious.

A and Ishikawa said nothing, merely looking toward Ruri. Without realizing it, they had tacitly accepted Byakuren's idea.

"I am afraid you will both be disappointed. The Land of Waterfalls will not do something like besieging a friend." Ruri spoke calmly. Even facing the pressure of three Kage, he did not retreat in the slightest. Still, he remembered the story—the final outcome would not end in such discord. Hashirama would certainly step in to smooth things over.

"If the Land of Waterfalls lacks the funds to purchase a Tailed Beast, certain items may be used for trade. Our Land of Wind will provide financial assistance, but I will not yield on my conditions." Retto gave Ruri a grateful look. He was somewhat nervous in this situation as well. If things went badly, he might truly provoke a joint attack from three nations.

Ruri neither agreed nor disagreed with Retto's proposed trade. Those certain items naturally referred to Hero Water, but Ruri did not want to hand over something so precious so easily. The Land of Waterfalls indeed did not have much spare money to buy a Tailed Beast, but Ruri was different. As the founder of the Black Market Exchange, although he had somewhat lost control of that colossal entity, the funds in his hands still numbered in the tens of millions. Calling him rich enough to rival a nation would not be an exaggeration.

The atmosphere turned tense, and even the air seemed to grow heavy. Then, at that moment, a loud bang rang out.