The Views They Held

The impact of this news.

For Konoha.

Was clearly enormous.

He had fought the Mizukage of Kirigakure and subdued the Three-Tails!

Then he had vanished without a trace.

When Tsunade herself first learned of this information two days ago, her initial reaction had been disbelief. It was simply too absurd. But as more intelligence came in and piece after piece was verified, she had no choice but to believe it was true!

And as for the source of the intelligence,

Tsunade could more or less guess.

If Naruto really had encountered Kirigakure's ninja—and if the person he met really was the Mizukage—Tsunade could predict what Kirigakure, or rather, the Mizukage herself, would decide to do next!

This wasn't a conspiracy.

It was an open move.

Mei Terumi was using this method to test Konoha.

And thereby verify her own judgment.

After obtaining this part of the intelligence, Tsunade could also infer Kirigakure's intentions in turn. But as she had said before, this was an open move. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki—Namikaze Naruto—was simply too important to Konoha now!

This wasn't just a matter of pride.

It also involved the village's core interests.

Sixty years ago,

when the First Hokage put an end to the era of chaos and founded Konohagakure,

the Nine-Tails had belonged to Konohagakure ever since.

Especially after the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, passed away.

To Konoha,

the Nine-Tails was one of its greatest weapons for deterring other nations!

It might seem that Konoha hadn't used the Nine-Tails even once in the first three Shinobi World Wars.

But not using it

didn't mean the other nations weren't on guard.

In every war,

whenever Cloud Ninja or Rock Ninja faced Konoha, they had to prepare for the possibility that the Nine-Tails might appear at any moment!

This inevitably diverted some of