Prelude

Ōnoki had already received all the replies. Not a single Kage had voiced any objection; all of them unconditionally supported the Five Kage Summit.

Although the Land of Falls had also lost its Tailed Beast, the Tsuchikage did not care about them at all. He had warned them from the very beginning, yet they had still lost the Tailed Beast. What a disgrace.

Everything had now been decided. All that remained was to gather.

A surge of ambition rose in Ōnoki's heart. Who but me could lead the Ninja World?

"Has Kurotsuchi been found?"

"She has already returned."

"Inform Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi to depart with me for the Land of Iron this afternoon. Then summon Kurotsuchi. I need to explain things to him while I'm away."

The Kurotsuchi mentioned here was Ōnoki's son.

After the Anbu left, Ōnoki grew somewhat troubled. He always felt that the younger generation of the Land of Earth was inferior to Konoha's, even to Kumogakure's. Where exactly had things gone wrong?

At the same time, the other ninja villages were also making their final arrangements.

Konoha.

"Teacher Sarutobi, I'll be leaving Konoha in your care for the time being."

But Hiruzen Sarutobi repeatedly waved his hands. "I'm old now. I no longer have the ability to manage a village properly. Many of my ideas have already fallen behind the times. I truly can't do this."

Seeing that Hiruzen Sarutobi did not seem to be merely modest, Minato could only change his approach. "Then, Teacher Sarutobi, who do you think can take on the responsibility of acting Hokage?"

"Isn't Tsunade in the village? I heard Jiraiya will be back soon as well. Leave it to her for now. With Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura watching from behind, nothing will go wrong at such a critical time."