The Notebook's Thunder: Thinking of Jumping Ship, Ironclad?

As the Fourth Raikage recounted the events of that year, Kotori's lips twitched slightly, and a shadow crossed his eyes.

Five years ago, in Kumogakure, Hyuga...

For me back then, it wasn't exactly a pleasant memory...

He scratched his head, suppressing all the unpleasant emotions in his heart, and then gave the Fourth Raikage a standard smile:

"Let bygones be bygones; there's no point in bringing it up again, is there?"

He spread his hands, and his tone became relaxed and casual:

Instead of dwelling on those old, trivial matters, how about we talk about the present?

Ai listened to Kou's deliberately evasive words, and a hint of surprise flashed in her scrutinizing gaze.

He gave Kou a meaningful look, then nodded decisively.

Seeing the Fourth Raikage's quick agreement, a sense of doubt arose in his heart.

But on the surface, he remained calm and composed, speaking in a "sincere" tone:

"To be honest, the main reason we have come to your country is to hunt down a traitor who recently defected from the organization— Orochimaru."

Disturbing the Kumogakure and the Land of Lightning was truly not our intention.

He looked at the Fourth Raikage with a smile, his tone perfectly polite:

"We hope that you'll forgive us this time, since we didn't cause any injuries or fatalities."

Regarding the specific compensation issues concerning the damage to the surrounding forests, we will send someone to discuss them with you in detail later.

While chuckling and talking, he subtly brought his right hand close to the hilt of the knife at his waist, ready to draw his sword at any moment.

The Fourth Raikage's rugged brows furrowed instantly upon hearing Koto's diplomatic rhetoric, which clearly aimed to downplay the incident.

You Akatsuki members have caused such a commotion on our Land of Land of Lightning, and you think you can just brush it off with a few words? Do you really think you Kumogakure disregard Kumogakure?!

You dare to run wild on the Land of Land of Lightning? I'd like to see just how tough your Akatsuki really is! Call out your leader and let's see if he dares to challenge me!

(Chao Ge: I want to eat Great Shinra Tensei.)

Fourth Raikage instinctively wanted to refuse and unleash a torrent of angry curses.

But just as the word "no" was about to roll onto his tongue, he suddenly seemed to remember something, and a glint of wisdom flashed in his fierce eyes.

After a moment of silence, he looked at Kou and said in a deep voice:

"Can."

Upon hearing the Fourth Raikage's response, Itachi's usually calm eyes revealed an undisguised look of surprise.

Compared to Itachi, Kouchi, who possesses an exceptionally high level of acting skills, maintained a calm smile, except that the hand that was resting on the hilt of his sword paused very subtly.

Wait, it went so smoothly? When did this unreasonable Brother Ni become so easy to talk to?

Feeling the suspicious gazes from Koromu and Itachi, the Fourth Raikage snorted coldly, crossed his arms, and said disdainfully:

"Stop making a fuss here. We, the Kumogakure, are not like your Konoha. There's no need for all this nonsense."

The Cloud Thunder Mountain Range were not under the jurisdiction of Kumogakure. If it weren't for Orochimaru's summoning beast causing such a commotion, I wouldn't have had to make this trip in person.

"As long as you can provide concrete evidence and adequate compensation, and provided there are no major casualties, Kumogakure can naturally sit down and negotiate with Akatsuki."

Listening to the Fourth Raikage's seemingly candid statement, the doubt in his eyes not only did not lessen, but intensified.

Keep pretending!

Come on! This high-sounding rhetoric might fool those kids born in peacetime who haven't even seen your Kumogakure yet, but to think it can impress your brother? Dream on!

Everyone knows that the Kumogakure has been using underhanded tactics to seize Kekkei Genkai and resources throughout the Ninja World. They openly rob the weak and brutally attack the strong. Their reputation is even worse than that of the Mist Village back in the day.

You're all ancient turtles, what are Obito for? Even Obito could see you had ulterior motives!!

Ai felt the disdainful look in Kou's eyes, but his bronze face remained completely unmoved.

Clearly, as the head of the Kumogakure, the largest gang in the Ninja World, his thick skin had long been cultivated to a level comparable to the defense of Tailed Beast.

Koko looked at the Fourth Raikage with suspicion, and after confirming several times that he truly had no intention of taking advantage of the situation, he simply turned around and casually waved his hand.

"Now that the matter is resolved, let's prepare to go back and report."

"Goodbye, Fourth Raikage."

"Etc!!"

The Fourth Raikage's words had barely been spoken when Koto's foot froze in mid-air.

With his back to the Fourth Raikage, his gaze instantly darkened.

"As expected, I knew things couldn't be that simple!"

"Finally, you've given yourself away, haven't you, Doujin Rai!!"

Kou turned around again, his face now bearing that flawless, relaxed smile once more.

"Do you have any other questions, Fourth Raikage?"

As he spoke, his hand, which had been hanging at his side, silently rested on the hilt of the sword at his waist, his fingertips gently stroking the tip of the Inazuma.

Behind him, Itachi silently withdrew his step.

He coldly observed every subtle movement of the Fourth Raikage, a faint killing intent surging deep within his eyes.

The Fourth Raikage didn't glance at Itachi once throughout the entire story.

He simply stared at Kou, a scrutinizing glint in his rugged eyes:

"I have something I'd like to talk to you about alone."

Kou narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he understood something, and glanced at Itachi behind him out of the corner of his eye, giving him a short but clear signal.

Itachi stood still, his Sharingan, now back to its Mitsudomoe form, sweeping back and forth between Toki and the Fourth Raikage.

His brow furrowed slightly, clearly indicating that he was not comfortable with the arrangement.

After hesitating for a moment, Itachi reluctantly turned around and ran quickly in the direction Orochimaru had fled, a direction he had learned from Manda.

On the cliff, only Kotobuki and the Fourth Raikage remained.

Looking at the Fourth Raikage before him, he slowly withdrew the habitual smile from his lips:

"Now that there's no one else around, you can say whatever you want to say."

The Fourth Raikage looked at the handsome, black-haired youth before him.

For the first time ever, an undisguised appreciation appeared in those eyes that should have been filled with rage and intimidation at the "enemy" before them.

Ai nodded and solemnly began to speak:

"Uchiha Kuro, would you consider leaving Akatsuki and joining our Kumogakure?"

"... ha?"