For now, they would swallow it.
The inevitable outcome was that the Five Great Shinobi Villages would join forces and pressure them into handing it over.
They might even face another round of suppression.
Konoha was already the foremost village, with a vast territory and considerable resources.
If Cloud Ninja or Rock Ninja seized an opportunity like this, there was no reason they wouldn't strike at Konoha.
In that case,
Konoha might end up losing more than it gained.
Unless Konoha was confident it could, just as in the previous Shinobi Wars,
withstand the continuous pressure of several great villages—or even their combined pressure.
So the odds of that were extremely low.
Setting that aside, then,
what exactly was Konoha's—or rather, this Fifth Hokage's—intention?
The Kage weren't being paranoid without reason.
That was simply how things worked in the Shinobi World.
That was how nations dealt with one another.
Ninja were especially adept at deceiving their enemies.
The Kage hadn't risen to their positions by being simple-minded.
If they didn't think things through, they'd have been dead long ago.
Even so, countless powerful shinobi from the great villages had met untimely deaths.
This joint operation was the first since the great villages were founded, so they had to be cautious. Especially the shrewdest among them, Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki and Fourth Raikage A, who naturally had to consider things more thoroughly at a time like this.
Tsunade could sense the Kage's peculiar attention, and deep down, she couldn't help giving a couple of rueful laughs.
This was exactly the sort of reaction she'd expected.
If she were in their shoes,
she'd be suspicious of whoever made such a request, too.
Nagato's strength was plain for all to see.
They had defeated the Six Paths of Pain he controlled only by having