Want to back out now? Not a chance!
If Kirigakure had not lent a hand back then, Sunagakure would have been in an even worse position now.
According to the original course of history, Sunagakure had ultimately become a vassal of Konoha, and its days had not been much better.
Just as Gekkō Raito was about to speak and shatter Gaara's hopes completely.
Tsunade, who had been torn all this time, suddenly stood up too.
"Gekkō Raito! What exactly do you want with so many tailed beasts? As long as you're willing to return them, name whatever conditions you want!"
"As long as we can still sit down and talk, things haven't reached the point of no return."
The four great shinobi villages had now made their positions completely clear.
Gekkō Raito gave Tsunade a look filled with mixed feelings. It seemed this Fifth Hokage had ultimately chosen to side with the so-called greater good.
Konoha was not Kirigakure, after all. Tsunade did not have the final say there.
Those tangled clan interests and the opinions of the other senior officials bound her like shackles.
Gekkō Raito chuckled.
He slowly rose from his chair.
Just as he was about to speak, Mifune, the moderator who had been playing peacemaker all along, hurriedly stood up. "Lord Gekkō Raito!"
Even his form of address had changed. Instead of calling him Mizukage, he was using his name. Was he trying to act familiar?
Gekkō Raito turned his head and looked at him with a faint, ambiguous smile.
Mifune's forehead was covered in beads of cold sweat. He had chaired so many meetings, but none had ever left him feeling as suffocated as this one.
One slight misstep would become the spark that ignited the Fourth Shinobi World War.
And the scale and brutality