Perhaps there was no need to explain at all.
Before absolute power, all words seemed pale and powerless.
In the corner, the Fourth Raikage, A, regained consciousness for a brief moment. Then, because of his injuries and rage overwhelming his heart, he fainted once again.
For him, perhaps that was a blessing.
At least he did not have to personally endure this endless humiliation any longer.
Uchiha Kai seemed to enjoy the feeling of controlling everything.
He leisurely sat down in the seat that had originally belonged to the Hokage, his soft white fingers gently tapping the desk.
Tap.
Tap.
Each sound seemed to strike directly against Ōnoki and Rasa's hearts, tormenting them.
They had thought that this "meeting" deciding the future of the shinobi world should already be over.
All they wanted now was to leave this suffocating place as soon as possible, return to their own territory, lick their wounds, and then...
Submit completely.
However, just as they were preparing to bow and leave, Kai's lazy voice sounded again.
"Wait."
"I'm not finished yet."
Ōnoki and Rasa instantly froze.
At the same time, an ominous feeling rose in their hearts.
Kai's fingers stopped tapping.
He raised his eyes.
Those dark, profound eyes were like two bottomless ancient wells, calmly watching them.
"Now that the Divine Court has been established, in order to better integrate the power of the shinobi world, and also for my upcoming research, I need some... special materials."
"Materials?"
Rasa's heart skipped a beat.
He asked cautiously, "May I ask what you require, Divine Lord? Although Sunagakure is barren, we still have some special minerals and medicinal herbs—"
"I'm not interested in those."
Kai impatiently interrupted him.
A cold smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"What I need is the core strategic weapon of each village."
His gaze swept back and forth across the two of them.
Then he spoke, one word at a time, making both men feel as if they had fallen into an ice cavern.
"Jin."
"Chū."
"Ri."
"Ki."
BOOM!!!
The word struck Ōnoki and Rasa's minds like thunder from the heavens, leaving them dizzy and nearly unable to stand!
"Wh-What?!"
Ōnoki cried out despite himself.
His wrinkled old face flushed red from agitation and anger.
"Divine Lord! You... are you joking?!"
"Jinchūriki are the foundation of a village! They are the ultimate weapons used to deter other nations!"
"How can they... how can they be handed over so easily?!"
He truly could not accept this order.
Iwagakure's Four-Tails Jinchūriki, Rōshi, and Five-Tails Jinchūriki, Han, were their greatest trump cards against Kumogakure and Konoha.
Once they were handed over, Iwagakure would be like a tiger with its fangs pulled out.
It would completely lose the capital to compete with the other great nations!
That was even more unbearable than killing them.
Rasa's face also turned deathly pale.
His Jinchūriki was none other than his own son, Gaara!
Although he had always regarded Gaara as a failed product and a weapon of the village, Gaara was still Sunagakure's only Tailed Beast deterrent.
If he handed over Gaara, then when the surrounding nations coveted Sunagakure, the village would have no power left to resist.
"Divine Lord, this matter... this matter is of great importance. Please reconsider!"
Rasa's voice carried a tremor.
"The power of Jinchūriki is violent and extremely unstable. Once they leave the village's special barriers, I fear they may—"
"Are you questioning my decision?"
Kai's voice abruptly turned cold.
An invisible, terrifying pressure instantly enveloped the entire office.
Ōnoki and Rasa felt as though a mountain ten thousand meters tall had suddenly pressed down on their shoulders.
Even breathing became difficult.
They clearly saw the one-armed man—
Future Sasuke.
The purple Rinnegan in his eye had once again begun to glow with an icy light, as if he would crush them completely in the next second.
"I'll say it again."
"I am not discussing this with you."
Kai's tone was filled with unquestionable dominance.
"I am issuing the first decree of the Divine Court."
He stood up and walked before the two of them, looking down at them from above.
"I'll give you one week."
"Within one week, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure must deliver every Jinchūriki in your villages to the Divine Court headquarters in Konoha."
"Unharmed."
"Respectfully."
"This is your only chance to offer loyalty to me and to the Divine Court."
His words were like cold chains, shattering the last trace of hope and luck in their hearts.
Seeing their lost, despairing expressions, and yet seeing that they did not dare refute him, a cruel curve appeared at the corner of Kai's lips.
"Of course, you can choose not to hand them over."
He extended one finger and lightly pointed toward the bustling scenery of Konoha outside the window.
His tone became casual, but it carried a killing intent that made their hair stand on end.
"If, after one week, I don't see what I want, then I will personally visit your villages to collect them."
"Only, when that time comes..."
He paused.
A trace of blood-red light flashed through his dark eyes.
"What I take may not be limited to a few Jinchūriki."
"Perhaps I'll erase one or two disobedient villages while I'm there, just to establish some rules for the entire shinobi world."
"You probably don't want your hometowns to become the chickens slaughtered to frighten the monkeys, right?"
The moment his voice fell, the temperature inside the office seemed to drop to freezing.
Ōnoki and Rasa felt cold all over.
Sweat had already soaked through their robes.
They had no doubt that the young man before them meant every word.
And that he could do it.
His casual tone made it sound as if he were merely talking about crushing a few ants.
Hand over the Jinchūriki, and their villages would suffer a devastating blow and become vassals.
Refuse to hand them over, and their villages...
Would disappear from this world entirely.
This was not a choice.
It was a death warrant.
"We..."
"We obey."
In the end, Ōnoki and Rasa used all their strength to force those words out from between their teeth.
Every word represented the end of decades of glory for their villages.
It also represented the beginning of an era of absolute dictatorship forged by Uchiha Kai himself.
When Ōnoki and Rasa left Konoha like walking corpses, taking the unconscious Fourth Raikage A with them, news of the Divine Court's establishment and the submission of the three Kage spread through Konoha like a hurricane with wings.
In an extremely short time, it swept across the entire village.
The whole village instantly fell into an unprecedented, almost frenzied uproar.
"Did you hear? Something huge happened at the Hokage Building! The Kage of Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure were all suppressed by Lord Kai!"
"Suppressed? It was more than that! I saw it with my own eyes—the Raikage was dragged out like a dead dog! The Tsuchikage and Kazekage looked like they'd lost their souls!"
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