As time went on, more and more people entered the village to participate in the ceremony. As darkness fell, the Konoha was brightly lit, and the atmosphere became even more intense.
However, the atmosphere was quite different in the council hall used to entertain the village leaders.
In the Hokage's council hall, the leaders of various ninja villages gathered, among whom the Kage of each village held the most power to make decisions.
The idea of summoning all the ninja villages under the pretext of the Hokage inauguration ceremony was suggested by Kyōai to Tsunade. The real purpose was to get a general idea of which villages were aligned with which.
On the Hokage's side, only Tsunade sat with the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, perhaps due to the fact that one party held a dominant position. Most of the surrounding countries and ninja villages remained neutral, except for the leader of the Grass Ninja Village.
However, the Sunagakure side appears to be the most powerful. Gaara sitting at the same table with the Daimyo of the Land of Wind, while behind him are the Daimyo of the Land of Bears and the Fifth Hoshikage, Natsuhiboshi, the Daimyo of the Land of Rivers, Daiyama Ichirō, and the Blade Kage, Kyōai, as well as the leader of the Takumi Village.
Meanwhile, Ōnoki of Both Scales (the Rock Ninja ), sat at the same table as the leader of Takigakure in Tsuchikage) and the Daimyo of the Land of Birds.
A, the Raikage A of Kumogakure, sat at the same table as the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning, with the Daimyo of the Land of Hot Water and the leader of Yugakure, as well as the Daimyo of the Land of the Moon and the leader of Moon Ninja Village, behind them.
Mei Terumi, the Mizukage of the Land of Water, and the Kirigakure were seated at the same table as the Daimyo of the Land of Tea.
It can be said that the Hokage Council Chamber now gathers the most powerful fighting force in the entire Shinobi World.
Of course, this excludes the Nuclear Ninja Village.
Surrounding them stood their trusted confidants, and outside the council chamber stood hundreds of guards, making the security extremely tight.
None of the people present realized that all the daimyo present were actually ninjas using Transformation Technique. It was neither necessary nor possible for the daimyo of each country to gather together, so they were just pretending to attend as a formality.
Kakashi, as a confidant of the host Tsunade, spoke first, "Except for the Daimyo of the Land of Spring and the First Nuclear Shadow who are far overseas, the closed-off Land of Rain, and the Land of Demons and the Land of Ghosts who are currently embroiled in internal strife, everyone else is here."
Ōnoki, hands in his pockets, exuded arrogance. "Hmph, these days anyone can become a Kage. Nuclear Shadow? Someone who grows walnuts? Ridiculous. And what about the Blade Kage? Aren't you from the Nuclear Ninja Village too? Back in my day, you'd be the first to die in war!"
A, with his muscular build and dark skin, clearly had a volatile temper. He glared at Gaara and said, "Truly, each generation is worse than the last. The Fifth Kazekage of Sunagakure is just a greenhorn."
Upon seeing Ōnoki, Hōryūsai, recalling his ordeal in the Land of Bears, asked, " Lord Tsuchikage, have you been to the Land of Bears recently?"
Ōnoki slammed his fist on the table. "You brat who uses Transformation Technique, who do you think you are? Do you even have the right to speak!"
Kyōai gestured for Jing Chang to remain silent, then said with a forced smile, " Lord Tsuchikage certainly has a good eye. Hōryūsai has been maintaining his Transformation Technique for some reason."
Whether intentionally or not, Ōnoki's words were sharp and pointed directly at Kyōai: "You dare call yourself a Kage? And those little brats from Hoshigakure, you have no right to bear the title of Kage!"
Kurotsuchi slapped Ōnoki on the head from behind. "Hey! Old man, shut up! You've ruined the fun of this banquet."
To be fair, although Ōnoki was stubborn, he wasn't the kind of person who would get stuck on a rut. Kurotsuchi gave him a way out, and he took it.
However, the atmosphere became extremely gloomy due to Ōnoki's outburst.
Gaara, on the other hand, wasn't angry and continued eating.
"Bang!"
The oppressive atmosphere was broken by the sound of someone slamming their hand on the table.
Seeing the wine and food on the table, Tsunade on the table. "Hey! Don't be silent! It's a rare gathering, come and drink!"
Kakashi, acting as a trusted confidant, covered his forehead and exclaimed, "This is so embarrassing!"
Ōnoki picked up a skewer of dumplings and ate them, saying, " Tsunade, the Third Hiruzen Sarutobi, is someone I know. He truly deserves the title of Hokage. Oh! These dumplings are really good!"
Upon hearing this, Kurotsuchi picked up a dumpling and started eating it. "Mmm! The taste of happiness! I've heard that Konohamaru are incredibly delicious, but this is even better than I imagined! I've eaten so many!"
Ōnoki punched Kurotsuchi on the forehead. "You bastard! Why did you steal my dumplings! Don't you have any manners?!"
Kurotsuchi pinched Ōnoki's face. "Grandpa, you're so old, why are you still eating such sweet things!"
Kakashi smiled and said to Tsunade, "Ah~ those two seem to get along quite well."
Tsunade picked up the sake bottle and waved it in front of Kakashi: "Why don't you try stealing my sake bottle too?"
Kakashi quickly took two steps back. " Lady Tsunade, what are you saying? I don't drink!"
At this point, the atmosphere began to liven up.
The Lord God: "You're starting with sweets? Aren't you worried you won't be able to eat your main meal?"
"Garara garara!"
Ai picked up a piece of roasted meat and threw it into her mouth, chewing the meat and bone together. "Don't you guys eat bones? You should eat meat with the bones! It's good for calcium!"
Darui quickly whispered in A's ear, " Lord Raikage, I think I've heard that other ninja villages don't eat like this!"
Lord God: "So this is how you all eat!"
Tsunade, her face flushed from secretly drinking, stood up and pointed at A: "Hey! Raikage, let's have a drinking contest to see who can hold their liquor!"
Ai wasn't about to be intimidated. She immediately grabbed the bottle and chugged it down. "Of course! I'm just worried you won't have enough!"
"Haha, plenty! Come on!"
"Come!"
Looking at the crowd clinking glasses, Kyōai turned to Daiyama Ichirō and said, " Sōsuke, it seems the Tsuchikage really has nothing to do with the Land of Bears."
Daiyama Ichirō, who was actually Sōsuke in disguise, said, "It seems so. After all, a strongman of his caliber has no reason to lie. Besides, his actions would trigger a war."
Kyōai looked at Ōnoki, who was arguing with Kurotsuchi: "But according to Hōryūsai, that person from the Land of Bears did indeed use Dust Release. How do you explain that?"
I'm not sure about that right now either.
Sōsuke possessed an exceptional talent for Genjutsu magic, and his mind was naturally sharp; even he couldn't figure out what was going on when he saw him.
Kyōai had no choice but to temporarily abandon the idea. "But I still feel that this is a huge conspiracy."
Sōsuke smiled and said, "So what if it's a huge conspiracy? We still have the five elders."
"Yeah! Why worry about that? Let's drink."
Gaara remained silent the entire time, his face cold, seemingly lost in thought, only drinking water the whole time. "Glug, ha~ another pot of water."
Lord God: "Because water is expensive in Sunagakure!"
At this moment, Mei Terumi stood up, walked up to Kyōai, and said with a smile, "Kid, I've heard that your Nuclear Ninja Village has very advanced technology. After the banquet, would you be interested in discussing cooperation? We really need that kind of technology."
Kyōai quickly stood up and bowed, "Of course, since the Lady Mizukage has spoken, how could I dare to refuse?"
"Hehe, then it's settled."
The banquet lasted for an hour. Just as Tsunade and the Raikage were about to determine a winner, the doors to the council hall were pushed open, and Shikaku Nara rushed in. " Lady Tsunade! Something terrible has happened! Look outside... Kakashi! Why did you let Lady Tsunade drink again!"
Tsunade and A were so drunk they were practically falling asleep, slumped over the table.
Kakashi opened the window and was startled by the sight outside. "What! It's already daytime?"