The "Five Kage" Summit had lasted several days, yet still produced no results.
For Konoha and Sunagakure, the Akatsuki posed an imminent threat that could not be ignored under any circumstances, but the other Three Great Shinobi Villages faced no such threat.
They had merely sent their second-in-command to the so-called Five Kage Summit, attaching little importance to it.
After a morning of meetings, the Konoha High Command gathered in the Hokage Office.
The atmosphere in the office was somewhat heavy. The Third Hokage blew out a smoke ring and looked at his three old friends before him: Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, and Danzo, the leader of Root.
As the hosts of the Five Kage Summit, they were deeply dissatisfied with its progress.
So far, only Konoha and Sunagakure had explicitly agreed to search for traces of the Akatsuki within their borders. The other Three Great Shinobi Villages remained noncommittal.
"Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure have been uncooperative. They have no intention of wiping out the Akatsuki... What do you think?"
Looking at his three old friends, the Third Hokage slowly spoke, asking for their opinions.
After a moment of thought, Mitokado Homura said, "Perhaps they don't understand the threat the Akatsuki poses. Without experiencing it ourselves, we could never have imagined a bounty hunter organization bringing together so many S-Rank Rogue Ninjas."
"Yes. From what we've seen, the Akatsuki may even possess enough strength to rival the Five Great Nations. But Iwagakure and Kumogakure don't believe that claim. They even suspect it's a scheme of ours, and their Kage refuse to come in person."
Utatane Koharu sighed softly and offered her view.
After they finished, the Third Hokage nodded in agreement. The lack of trust between shinobi villages was the greatest obstacle to cooperating against the Akatsuki.
After all, compared