"Orochimaru-sensei, you have fulfilled your end of the agreement. You may take some young people from the Fūma Clan and leave."
Compared to the wealth of Dragon Cave, the Fūma Clan had become dispensable. Noticing Orochimaru's half-smiling expression, Muzan frowned slightly and asked,
"Is there something else, Orochimaru-sensei?"
Orochimaru withdrew his smile, stuck out his tongue, and pulled a sealed scroll from his stomach.
"The agreement has been fulfilled, but there is one more thing I'll tell you for free."
Muzan pinched a corner of the envelope, looking somewhat disgusted. Yet anything Orochimaru had hidden in his stomach had to be extremely valuable.
"This is..."
It recorded a major event concerning the Shinobi World: the Five Kage Summit!
The villages led by Konoha planned to hold a conference in the Land of Iron. The news did not surprise Muzan, though one detail differed from what he had expected.
"They refused?"
According to the original course of the Five Kage Summit, the Five Great Shinobi Villages would unite to resist Akatsuki's invasion. But this time, a major disagreement had arisen.
Hidden Sand Village and Hidden Stone Village had refused. The former was simply too poor; if Akatsuki invaded, they could seek Konoha's help. Besides, they only had the One-Tail, and it was practically a ticking time bomb.
With the One-Tail's help, Gaara could instantly reach the level of a top-tier powerhouse. But the risk of losing control was too great. Because of Gaara, Hidden Sand Village's already impoverished circumstances had only worsened.
As for Hidden Stone Village, it had preserved considerable strength during the Third Ninja War, and with an old fossil like Onoki around, it did not care about Akatsuki at all.
Then there was Hidden Mist Village, whose stance was especially subtle.
They were deeply hostile toward Konoha. If