"It seems Naruto Uzumaki is the wisest among you. The future of the world will belong to him and me."
Colonel Ka pushed his sunglasses up his nose and swept a pitying, condescending gaze over the grim-faced Raikage and Tsuchikage. Then he sat back down, crossed one leg over the other, and began humming a rock tune from the Land of Birds.
For a moment, the air in the hall seemed to freeze.
The Raikage's fists crackled as he clenched them, the veins at his temples ready to burst. Ōnoki's beard trembled as he struggled to swallow the insult.
Yet strangely, no one argued. No one attacked.
"Business?"
At last, Ōnoki broke the silence. He gave a cold laugh and floated slightly higher, looking down at Naruto. "Naruto Uzumaki, is this what you call business? You put guns on our doorstep, then force us to buy your bullets? Iwagakure's food routes have been cut off. Is that business? That's slaughter!"
"Those are sanctions."
Naruto leaned back in his chair, tapping a steady rhythm on the table. "Ōnoki, don't pretend you're a victim. When you decided to throw in your lot with Akatsuki, you should have known this day would come. I haven't dropped incendiary bombs on Iwagakure. Consider that a concession to peace in the Shinobi World."
"Peace?" The Raikage slammed a hand on the table. His Lightning Release chakra blasted the solid-wood armrest to powder. "Your idea of peace is making Kumogakure's ninja build roads? Letting civilians who only know how to pull a trigger point guns at ninja? That's an insult to the shinobi way!"
"Can the shinobi way put food on the table?"
It was not Naruto who spoke, but Gaara, seated in the corner. The young Kazekage's face was expressionless. The stopper had come free of