Chapter 652 Alliance and Crisis

The meeting proceeded exceptionally smoothly.

All the Kage believed that the war did not need to continue and agreed to stop all warfare and form an alliance.

Ōnoki would have the Iwagakure Ninja Force withdraw from Land of Grass, and the Third Raikage also stated that he would immediately order Kumogakure in the Land of Hot Springs to cease fighting and withdraw their troops.

The Fourth Kazekage and the Third Mizukage, on the other hand, stated that they would cease all actions against other Great Shinobi Villages, strengthen friendly exchanges, and promote the common development and prosperity of the Five Great Ninja Villages.

However, the specific compensation still required a fierce debate before being finalized.

“History will remember today; a new era of peace is coming,” Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a smile.

As the Second Five Kage Summit and the Second Five Village Alliance, the scene of their current meeting was enough to enter history textbooks.

“Yes, a new era is coming,” Ōnoki glanced at Muzuki and sighed slightly.

Muzuki’s rise was already unstoppable; the coming era would be Muzuki’s era and Konoha’s era.

Ōnoki could not predict whether that time would bring peace or an unprecedented, terrifying war.

Because it all depended on Muzuki himself.

Muzuki and Konoha could not be viewed separately; as long as Muzuki himself didn’t truly wish not to be Hokage, the Fourth Hokage would inevitably be Muzuki.

“This might be the best era,” the Third Mizukage said with a smile.

He had already made up his mind to firmly align with Konoha, standing resolutely on Konoha’s side.

Since it was no longer possible to surpass Konoha, it was better to take this opportunity to fully join forces with Konoha; at least they could get some benefits.

When Hidden Mist was against Konoha, everything went wrong.

After cooperating with Konoha, Hidden Mist suddenly improved, not only receiving war reparations but Konoha was also willing to return the five captured Ninja Swords to their original owners.

The Third Mizukage had already thought about how to develop relations with Konoha.

They would continue to jointly host the Chunin Exams with Konoha, and then they could also send Ninja to each other for study, and some joint missions could also be done with Konoha.

“Hmph,” Rasa snorted softly and remained silent.

He was very unconvinced by the Third Mizukage, feeling that if it weren’t for the Third Mizukage, their encirclement and assassination plan might have succeeded.

However, Rasa’s mind was still clear; he knew he was from a defeated village, so he merely snorted to express his disdain for Hidden Mist.

It was just clinging to Konoha’s coattails; if it were up to him, he definitely wouldn’t do worse than Hidden Mist.

“If that’s true, then that’s for the best,” the Third Raikage said in a deep voice, crossing his arms.

He also had similar worries to Ōnoki, but he was equally powerless.

Muzuki’s momentum of ascension was already unstoppable.

“Konoha will strive towards the best era,” saying this, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood up.

The other Four Kage also stood up and walked out of the meeting room.

At this point, the multi-year great free-for-all among the Five Great Ninja Villages truly ended, and the Five Great Ninja Villages formed an alliance.

After the meeting, Ōnoki, the Third Raikage, and other Kage arranged for their subordinates to withdraw from Land of Grass and return to their respective Ninja Villages.

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

The outcome of this major campaign, in which all Five Great Ninja Villages participated and all Five Kage were involved, quickly spread throughout the Ninja World.

The Ninja Villages of various small countries were all excited.

This was because it meant they no longer had to worry about their countries becoming battlegrounds for the great powers’ games.

Of course, not all Ninja Villages thought this way; some ambitious small Ninja Villages felt it was a pity, feeling that this war did not last long enough to give them an opportunity to overtake others.

Land of Rain, Shinobi Sect.

After Yahiko received the news of the Five Great Ninja Villages’ successful peace talks, he was very excited and immediately found Nagato and the others to express his joy.

“There is truly hope for peace in the Ninja World! If the Five Great Ninja Villages can maintain a long-term alliance, then the Ninja World will be free from major wars forever!” Yahiko said excitedly.

Eternal peace is very difficult; besides wars between Great Shinobi Villages, there are also conflicts between small countries and small Ninja Villages, but wars between small countries and small Ninja Villages cannot affect the entire Ninja World like those of the Five Great Ninja Villages.

“Overall, there is indeed a trend towards improvement,” Nagato nodded.

Having studied with Muzuki for a long time, Nagato was no longer just a Ninja who only knew how to fight; he understood how to analyze the Ninja World’s situation.

“However, this peace will be difficult to sustain for long. If Konoha has an idea, it could easily start another major war, perhaps even more terrifying than the one that just ended,” Yahiko then said, showing a thoughtful expression.

He did not lose his rationality because peace was about to arrive; he was still considering the flaws in the current Ninja World structure.

“If our Shinobi Sect could take root in other small countries and coordinate the strength of the small countries, that would be great. This way, we could further promote peace in the Ninja World and also gather the strength of the small countries to pose a threat to the great powers, making them dare not act rashly.”

Yahiko believed that achieving peace in the Ninja World by relying on the Great Shinobi Villages was almost impossible; those people only cared about profit, and if peace were possible, the Ninja World would have been peaceful long ago.

It still had to be their Shinobi Sect becoming powerful, powerful enough to supervise the Five Great Ninja Villages.

“Isn’t that exactly what Teacher Sōsuke is doing? Leader Kakuzu is currently developing the Shinobi Sect in Bird Country,” Konan said after thinking for a moment.

Yahiko was slightly startled; upon careful thought, it was true.

“Never mind Bird Country or anything else, who’s going to explain Danzo Shimura’s matter to me clearly?” Kakuzu heard the voices of the three and asked directly.

Bird Country had fewer Ninja and was a remote, out-of-the-way place in the Ninja World, so news regarding Ninja was quite blocked. Kakuzu only learned that Sōsuke had done such a big thing after he left, some time after Danzo Shimura died.

So Kakuzu quickly dealt with most of the urgent work he needed to complete and then rushed back to the Land of Rain.

“Danzo Shimura? Oh, right, he assassinated Teacher Sōsuke and was then killed by Teacher Sōsuke,” Yahiko’s expression changed.

Because Hanzo died with Danzo Shimura, Yahiko’s mind was completely focused on the deceased Hanzo and the Amegakure. Coupled with Konoha being busy with the war and not coming to trouble the Shinobi Sect, Yahiko had little impression of Danzo Shimura’s matter.

“Forget it, I’ll go find Sōsuke,” Kakuzu looked at Yahiko’s expression and decided to go talk to Sōsuke directly.

Sōsuke was a rational person; it was impossible for him to kill Danzo Shimura without reason.

As for being assassinated and then killing the assassin, Kakuzu didn’t think that was a very good reason.

With Sōsuke’s strength, sparing Danzo Shimura’s life was not a problem, and he could also use Danzo Shimura’s life to exchange for some benefits with Konoha.

And killing Danzo Shimura truly yielded no benefits, but instead caused a lot of trouble.

Yahiko also followed. If it were his former self, he would definitely think that Sōsuke killing Danzo Shimura, who came to assassinate him, was only natural, and Konoha was in the wrong.

But the current Yahiko understood that sometimes this world doesn’t talk about reason, only fists, or rather, sometimes fists are reason.