Chapter 595: Alliance and Crisis

The meeting proceeded unusually smoothly.

All the Kage believed that the war no longer needed to continue and agreed to cease all hostilities to form an alliance.

Onoki would have the Iwa Hidden ninja forces withdraw from the Grass Country, and the Third Raikage also stated that he would immediately order the Kumo Hidden forces in the Hot Water Country to cease fighting and pull out.

The Fourth Kazekage and the Third Mizukage stated that they would stop all actions targeting other major hidden villages, strengthen friendly exchanges, and promote the common development and prosperity of the Five Great Hidden Villages.

However, there was still a fierce debate before the specific reparations were finalized.

"History will remember today. A new era of peace is about to arrive," Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a smile.

As the second Five Kage Summit and the second alliance of the Five Villages, the scene of their meeting now was enough to enter history textbooks.

"Yes, a new era is coming." Onoki glanced at Muyue and sighed softly.

Muyue's rise could no longer be suppressed; the next era would be Muyue's era and Konoha's era.

Whether that would bring peace or an unprecedented and terrifying great war, Onoki could not predict.

Because it all depended on Muyue alone.

Muyue and Konoha could not be considered separately; unless Muyue himself truly didn't want to become Hokage, the Fourth Hokage would inevitably be Muyue.

"This might be the best era," the Third Mizukage said with a grin.

He had made up his mind to latch onto Konoha's thick leg and firmly stand on Konoha's side.

Since surpassing Konoha was already impossible, he might as well take this opportunity to completely follow Konoha—at least he could get a share of the soup.

When opposing Konoha, Kirigakure had encountered nothing but trouble.

After cooperating with Konoha, Kirigakure suddenly improved—not only did they obtain war reparations, but Konoha was also willing to return the five captured ninja swords to their original owners.

The Third Mizukage had already figured out how to develop relations with Konoha.

Continue jointly hosting the Chūnin Exams with Konoha, then also exchange ninjas for study, and carry out some cooperative missions together with Konoha.

"Hmph." Rasa snorted lightly without speaking.

He was very dissatisfied with the Third Mizukage, feeling that if not for him, their encirclement and assassination plan might have already succeeded.

However, Rasa's head was still clear enough to know that his village was the defeated side, so he just snorted to express his disdain for Kirigakure.

It was just latching onto Konoha's thigh—if it were him, he definitely wouldn't do worse than Kirigakure.

"If that's truly the case, then good," the Third Raikage said in a deep voice, arms crossed.

He had similar worries to Onoki, but also felt powerless.

Muyue's momentum of rising could no longer be stopped.

"Konoha will strive hard toward the direction of the best era." With that, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood up.

The other four Kage also stood up one after another and walked out of the meeting room.

Thus, the great melee of the Five Great Hidden Villages that had lasted for several years truly ended, and the Five Great Hidden Villages formed an alliance.

After the meeting, Onoki, the Third Raikage, and the other Kages arranged for their forces to withdraw from the Grass Country and return to their respective hidden villages.

As for Onoki and the others, they didn't need to leave just yet; they had to go to Konoha to discuss a few more matters.

The news of this great battle, involving all Five Great Hidden Villages with all five Kage participating, quickly spread throughout the ninja world.

The ninja villages of the various small countries were all extremely excited.

Because this meant they no longer had to worry about their countries becoming battlefields for the great powers' games.

Of course, not all ninja villages thought this way; some ambitious small villages felt regret, thinking the war hadn't lasted long enough and hadn't given them a chance to overtake on a curve.

Rain Country, the Ninja Sect.

Yahiko was very excited after learning the news of the successful peace talks among the Five Great Hidden Villages and immediately went to find Nagato and the others to pour out his joy.

"There really is hope for peace in the ninja world. If the Five Great Hidden Villages can form a long-term alliance, then there will never be a great war in the ninja world," Yahiko said excitedly.

It is very difficult to have no wars at all—besides wars between great hidden villages, there are also conflicts between small countries and small villages, but the wars between small countries and small villages cannot affect the entire ninja world the way the Five Great Hidden Villages' wars do.

"Overall, it does look like a trend of improvement," Nagato nodded.

Having studied under Muyue for a long time, Nagato was no longer the ninja who only knew how to fight; he understood how to analyze the situation in the shinobi world.

"However, this peace won't last long. If Konoha has the will, it can easily start a great war—one that might be even more terrifying than the war that just ended." Yahiko turned thoughtful as he spoke.

He did not lose his rationality because peace was approaching; he was still pondering the flaws in the current structure of the shinobi world.

"If only our Ninshu could take root in other small countries and coordinate their strength. That way, we could further promote peace in the shinobi world while also using the combined power of small nations to threaten the great nations, deterring them from acting recklessly."

Yahiko believed that achieving peace in the shinobi world through the great ninja villages was nearly impossible. Those people's eyes saw nothing but profit. If peace were possible, the shinobi world would have been at peace long ago.

It would have to be their Ninshu becoming strong enough to supervise the Five Great Ninja Villages.

"Isn't that exactly what Sōsuke-sensei is doing? Division Head Kakuzu is now in Bird Country developing the Ninshu." Konan said after thinking for a moment.

Yahiko was slightly stunned, but upon careful thought, he realized it was true.

"Whether it's Bird Country or not is irrelevant. Who's going to explain the matter of Shimura Danzo to me?" Kakuzu heard the voices of the three and asked directly.

Bird Country had few ninja and was a remote corner of the shinobi world, so news about ninja matters was relatively blocked. Kakuzu only learned after some time that Sōsuke had done such a big thing after his departure.

So Kakuzu quickly dealt with most of the work that needed his attention and then rushed back to the Rain Country.

"Shimura Danzo? Right, he tried to assassinate Sōsuke-sensei and was killed by Sōsuke-sensei." Yahiko's expression changed.

Since Hanzō had died together with Shimura Danzo, Yahiko's mind was entirely on the deceased Hanzō and Amegakure. Moreover, Konoha was busy with the war and never came to trouble the Ninshu, so Yahiko had little impression of the matter of Shimura Danzo.

"Forget it. I'll go find Sōsuke." Seeing Yahiko's expression, Kakuzu decided to go directly to talk to Sōsuke.

Sōsuke was a rational person; there was no way he would kill Shimura Danzo without a reason.

As for "the assassin being killed," Kakuzu didn't think that was a good enough reason.

With Sōsuke's strength, sparing Shimura Danzo's life would not have been a problem. He could have used Danzo's life to make some beneficial exchanges with Konoha.

But killing Shimura Danzo brought no benefit at all, and instead caused a lot of trouble.

Yahiko also followed. If it were the old him, he would have thought that Sōsuke killing the assassinating Shimura Danzo was only natural, with Konoha being in the wrong.

But the current Yahiko understood that sometimes the world does not reason with words, only with fists—or rather, sometimes fists are the reason.