Gekkō Raito raised a hand and cut him off.
"No need to explain. This arrangement is quite nice. I like it."
Under everyone's astonished gazes, Raito walked calmly over to the isolated seat and sat down with his legs spread, then casually crossed them, leaned against the backrest, and looked at the four people opposite him as though looking down upon all living things.
"Don't just stand there either, Lord Mifune. Hurry up and take your seat."
An inscrutable smile hung on Raito's face, but his tone was icy:
"Let's hurry up and finish this utterly boring tea party."
At the word "boring," Tsunade smiled bitterly to herself.
Sure enough, this brat had already bristled before the talks even began.
The seating arrangement was a small matter, but an enormous insult. This was hardly a meeting; they were practically putting Raito on trial as a criminal, with the other four Kage acting as judges.
The Raikage's face was livid.
This brat had upset the whole table right from the start. Did he really intend to take on the four great shinobi villages alone?
Once Mifune had taken his seat, trembling with fear, Raito ignored the usual conventions and seized control of the proceedings:
"All right, stop staring at each other. Who's going to tell me what this meeting is actually supposed to be about?"
Raito wore an expression that said, "I'm here to hear a joke."
Mifune kept wiping away sweat.
According to procedure, everyone should have exchanged a few pleasantries first, given each other some room to maneuver, and then slowly moved on to the main topic.
But this Lord Mizukage had dispensed with all pretense right away, forcing everyone to lay their cards on the table.
Whoever spoke first would make himself a target and was certain