"The Akatsuki attacked Iwagakure and got Ōnoki killed?"
"But what does that have to do with us in Sunagakure?"
In Sunagakure of the Land of Wind, when Rasa received this report from the Land of Earth, he only glanced at it twice before tossing it aside. As Kazekage, he was busy enough already. He had no time to bother with some Five Kage Summit.
If the shinobi world were ever to rank the most miserable Kage, then the Kazekage would absolutely take first place.
Every generation of Kazekage had to work themselves to death just to scrape together funding for the village, and on top of that they still had to handle all the village's internal affairs. By the time it was Rasa's turn, he even had to worry about the growth of his own son Gaara, the One-Tail jinchūriki.
People only saw how glorious the title of Kage looked on the surface. Who ever saw Rasa still handling village business at three in the morning?
Kumogakure felt much the same.
After reading the intelligence sent from the Land of Earth, the Fourth Raikage A did not feel even the slightest sympathy. If anything, he looked happier than anyone else.
The grudge between Iwagakure and Kumogakure ran deep. In A's eyes, during the Third Great Ninja War, the Land of Earth had "only" lost some nameless shinobi. Sure, the number might have been a bit high, but Kumogakure had lost an actual Kage.
So now, hearing that that old fossil Ōnoki had died, the Fourth Raikage did not have even the faintest urge to mourn him.
"Is it really okay not to go?"
"That Akatsuki organization truly does threaten the status of the Five Great Nations. And if the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Water all go, but only we of Kumogakure stay away, they may end up carving up Lightning Country's interests among themselves."
Samui looked at A, clearly hoping her Raikage would set aside personal grudges and think from the bigger perspective.
"That is a problem…"
"And Tsunade isn't that old man Hiruzen…"
Hearing Samui's reasoning, the smile on the Fourth Raikage's face stiffened.
If he were being honest, he truly did not want to attend Ōnoki's funeral. When the leader of an enemy village died, that was the kind of good news that ought to make you celebrate. Being asked to go offer condolences on top of that was really too much.
"Then we'll go."
"And while we're at this Five Kage Summit, I might even get to see that brat Uchiha Chizumi."
"I'd like to see what kind of brat he really is, to make the daimyo that terrified."
A finally nodded. He figured Konoha would very likely bring Uchiha Chizumi along, which suited him fine. He wanted to see for himself whether Chizumi was really as frighteningly powerful as the rumors claimed.
While the Five Great Nations were beginning to move, Yakushi Kabuto had already gathered Kimimaro and Jūgo on the other side.
At the moment, Jūgo regarded Kimimaro as his most important friend—or rather, as his cage. Under those circumstances, as long as Kabuto could persuade Kimimaro to join him, Jūgo was basically a free bonus thrown in.
"Kabuto, Lord Orochimaru is really dead?"
Even though a long time had already passed since Orochimaru's death, Kimimaro still found it hard to believe. Or rather, he refused to accept it.
Everyone knew Orochimaru was the hardest person in the entire shinobi world to kill. No matter how you looked at it, someone like Orochimaru should not have died so carelessly.
"Lord Orochimaru really is dead. The White Snake Sage saw it with his own eyes."
Kabuto sighed and shook his head. To be honest, being around Orochimaru had always been dangerous, but Orochimaru had also truly given Kabuto a place to belong. For the first time, Kabuto had stopped feeling like something drifting aimlessly in the wind.
Still, when Kabuto left, the White Snake Sage had warned him that if he didn't want Orochimaru to suffer, he had better not use Impure World Reincarnation to drag Orochimaru's soul back from the Pure Land.
According to the White Snake Sage, Orochimaru had once used Impure World Reincarnation to summon Shimura Danzō of Konoha, but Danzō had done nothing except continue suffering under that bizarre fire of Uchiha Chizumi's. He hadn't even been able to maintain his own will.
"So even Impure World Reincarnation won't work?"
"I remember Lord Orochimaru saying that if he ever really died, then as long as his soul was brought back to the shinobi world through Impure World Reincarnation, he could plant a curse mark again and use it to escape death."
Kimimaro still refused to give up. He had long since prepared himself to offer his body to Orochimaru. If Kabuto could pull Orochimaru back from the Pure Land, then Kimimaro would not hesitate to give this body of his over.
But after Kabuto explained everything he knew about Uchiha Chizumi, Kimimaro could only let out a helpless sigh.
"By the way, Kabuto, where exactly are we going?"
Jūgo knew what Kimimaro was thinking too. At the moment, though, he was honestly just glad that Orochimaru had been killed by that guy called Uchiha Chizumi. And after hearing that Orochimaru couldn't even be resurrected, his mood improved even more.
"We're going to an organization Lord Orochimaru used to be part of."
"But our goal isn't to serve that organization. According to the information I received, the leader of that organization possesses a pair of legendary Sage Eyes, and those eyes can use a forbidden technique that revives the dead."
"If ordinary forbidden techniques can't revive Lord Orochimaru, then that one just might."
Kabuto naturally had no intention of telling Kimimaro the truth. It was true that he wanted the Rinnegan Nagato possessed, but what he actually wanted was to use those eyes to revive Nono Yakushi.
As for Orochimaru…
Well, snakes were cold-blooded by nature, weren't they?
Wasn't that something Orochimaru himself had taught him?
"Sage Eyes?"
Kimimaro only half understood, but he knew that if Kabuto said it, then it was probably right. After all, after entering Sage Mode, Kabuto had practically transformed into a half-human, half-snake being. At that point, nobody would fail to believe he had inherited Orochimaru's true legacy.
"But before that, we need to make a trip to the Land of Earth first."
"The organization we're joining recently got Ōnoki killed. I've had a new idea about Impure World Reincarnation, and I want to test my version by using the Third Tsuchikage."
Kabuto might have agreed to cooperate with Black Zetsu, but he had plans of his own.
According to the White Snake Sage, he was destined to become someone who could start the Fourth Great Ninja War by his own power. That creature called Black Zetsu wanted nothing more than to revive Uchiha Madara. If Kabuto really let him succeed, then Kabuto would need enough power to force Madara into reviving Nono Yakushi.
In fact, if Kabuto grew strong enough, he might even dare to dig the Rinnegan out of Nagato himself.
After all, no matter what forbidden technique it was, the safest one was always the one you cast with your own hands.
And meanwhile, in Kirigakure, a certain coughing man took one last look at the village behind him, then looked at his idiot younger brother beside him, and finally made up his mind and turned toward the Land of Rain.
Kirigakure was indeed getting better and better.
But in Hōzuki Gengetsu's eyes, was this Kirigakure still really the Land of Water's own Kirigakure anymore?