Chapter 5: The summit of the Kages begins
Naruto and his bodyguards left early in the morning for the Iron Land, the place where the meeting would take place, they arrived at their destination and the only setback had been some Anbu from the Land of Forests who thought he was Danzo, which gave him even more reason to distrust the man, but after talking to them, he managed to come to an agreement and promised to help them once he had finished his journey.
"We're arriving at the rendezvous point," Neji said.
Naruto nodded in agreement and they continued on their way until they saw samurai surrounding the fortress where the meeting would take place.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Hokage-dono, I have heard of your exploits and I am excited to finally meet you."
Those were the words of Mifune, the leader of the samurai and the equivalent of a Kage in a shinobi village.
"Thank you for inviting us, Mifune-dono," Naruto said.
With that, Naruto and his bodyguards followed Mifune into a room where the other kages of the five major ninja villages were gathered.
"Take a seat in that chair Hokage-dono, your bodyguards can wait behind the curtains like the others."
Mifune pointed to a chair and with a nod, Naruto took a seat and Neji and Yamato were placed behind the curtains as they were told.
"Since we are all here, I think it would be wise to start the meeting right away."
With a nod from the Kages, Mifune continued.
"This meeting has been called by Raikage-dono, so I see it wise for you to put your arguments on the table to begin with."
With that, A nodded to Mifune and spoke: "As you all know, Akatsuki is a criminal organisation that has S-ranked shinobi and they want to capture all the biju, at first, we disregarded this threat, but it is inevitable not to give them any attention when you already have eight of the nine biju.
All the Kages frowned at these words, but did not intervene.
"The rumours of Akatsuki have found their way here, but if what you say is true, action must be taken immediately to prevent them from achieving their goal," Mifune said.
"I understand your concern for Akatsuki, but what do you hope to achieve with this meeting?" the Tsuchikage asked.
"That seems more than obvious, Tsuchikage-dono," the Misukage said, "Raikage-dono wants to form some kind of alliance to deal with this threat, don't you?"
The Raikage nodded at the Misukage's words and added.
"If we all join together, we can put an end to the threat and get back the biju that were taken from us."
The room fell silent and everyone was deep in thought as they digested the Raikage's words.
"I understand your proposal, Raikage-dono, and it seems to be the best course of action, but an alliance between the five great villages has never been seen in history, so it will be difficult for such different shinobi to work together from one day to the next," Gaara said with a calmness all his own.
"I don't think it's necessary to make such a fuss," Onoki said, "after all, rumour has it that Hokage-dono took it upon himself to eliminate him, or am I wrong?" this last sentence of Onoki's came out sarcastically and as an attempt to provoke.
Everyone in the room turned their attention to the young Hokage who remained silent.
"It seems that your spies are well informed, Tsuchikage-dono."
This statement from Naruto earned him a scowl from Onoki, but he continued to speak.
"The entire village was destroyed by the leader of Akatsuki."
The reactions were very mixed, the Misukage showed her surprise by raising her eyebrows and opening her mouth slightly, the Tsuchikage and Mifune had a similar reaction, while Gaara and the Raikage did not react because they already knew this information.
"Luckily, we didn't suffer any casualties, after my battle with Pain, the apparent leader of Akatsuki, I was able to convince him to resurrect the people, which was possible because Pain had the legendary Rinnegan."
Naruto took a moment to look at the reactions of those present and could see that there was surprise and even a bit of disbelief on their faces.
"Rinnegan, that's just a legend, boy, you don't have to lie to make yourself look like a hero in front of us," the Tsuchikage said with an irritated voice.
"As I said, after my battle, Pain confessed to me that he was not the real leader of the organisation, there was someone pulling the strings behind the curtain, that someone is Uchiha Madara"
Outside the building where the meeting was held, Tobi and Zetsu stood on a tree, waiting for the moment to act.
"It's almost time Zetsu."
With that, both figures disappeared.
Another group of shinobi were inside the compound, soon it would be Sasuke's time to shine and his blood was already boiling with excitement to face Naruto, he wanted to test his eyes with his former teammate and show him who was the stronger of the two.
After Naruto's words and the mention of Madara, the previously angry Tsuchikage became calm, his eyes showing concern and it seemed as if his mind was travelling through the memories of his past.
"That is impossible," Onoki said after recovering from his surprise, "when I was younger, I faced him, he is the most terrifying shinobi I have ever met, but there is no way that he could be alive in this age.
Naruto was about to speak when suddenly, the ground in front of the table distorted and a humanoid flytrap plant appeared in front of everyone, causing the bodyguards to jump in front of their kage.
Immediately after that, everything went crazy, the Raikage threatening the strange figure in order to get information about Sasuke, and as soon as he found out, he and his bodyguards set off at full speed to finish off the Uchiha.
"Neji!"
Naruto's voice commanded.
The Hyuga quickly activated his Byakugan and spoke urgently,
"There are four shinobi inside the building, and one of them is Sasuke Uchiha."
Naruto stood up from his seat and continued, "Excuse me, but I must attend to matters that should have been resolved long ago, Mifune-dono, please ask your samurai to stand down. We don't want any more lives involved in this conflict."
After finishing, Naruto calmly left the room to search for his former partner and the one he considered a brother. He was determined not to hold back this time, and Sasuke's fate was in his hands and he would take him to the village, whether alive or dead.
Sasuke had already killed all the unfortunate samurai who tried to stop him, until three figures appeared from the floor above. According to Jugo, they were the Raikage and two jounin from the cloud.
"Hokage-dono seems to be quite serious for his age, and certainly handsome with those blue eyes and whiskers," said the Misukage in a seductive and mischievous voice.
The shinobi of the sand and rock villages did not react, but Gaara spoke up.
"Excuse me, I must also retire. I will offer any assistance Naruto may need."
With that, he left the room followed by his brothers in search of his friend Naruto.
The conflict between the Raikage's team and Sasuke's team was escalating. Shee had been disabled by a genjutsu from Sasuke, while Darui was engaged in combat with Suigetsu. Meanwhile, Jugo had been incapacitated by the Raikage, and finally, A and Sasuke confronted each other.
After a few seconds of staring, the two shinobi charged at each other. The Raikage shouted 'POKE!', while Sasuke yelled 'Chidori!' The attacks were on the verge of collision, but Sasuke altered the trajectory of his technique and successfully struck the Raikage's stomach while evading the Raikage's attack.
Sasuke was taken aback when his technique had no effect on the burly man, and the Raikage seized the opportunity to lift him into the air and tightly grip him before shouting 'LIGRE BOMB!'
In a swift reaction, Sasuke summoned his Susanoo's ribs to shield himself from the impact. However, the blow still caused some slight fractures. He quickly dodged another attack from the Raikage and created some distance between them.
Sasuke activated his Mangekyo and shouted, 'AMATERASU!' to launch his technique. He was surprised when the Raikage managed to evade the black flames, which unfortunately hit a samurai who was observing the fight.
In an instant, A was behind Sasuke and shouted 'Pain Side Arm!' With all his strength, he hit Sasuke's Susanoo. However, he did not expect to be coated with black flames, which stayed on the arm where he threw the blow. He then sent the Uchiha flying.
A was about to throw another punch when he was interrupted by Naruto's voice.
"Stop Raikage-dono."
"What is the reason for this interference, Hokage-dono?"
"The black flames have hurt you, it would be unwise to continue to hurt yourself like this."
As soon as Naruto finished his sentence, the Raikage removed the hand with the flames and the Shinobi began to heal him.
"Sasuke is problema of my village, so as Hokage, I will take care of him personally."
The Raikage grunted, but nodded to Naruto in understanding mode.
When Naruto turned to look at Sasuke, what he saw filled him with a deep sadness, he no longer saw anything of his best friend, he only saw hatred in those eyes.
Sasuke was smiling maniacally, he had deactivated his Susanoo and the Mangekyo, his blood was boiling more than ever and the target of his rage was in front of him.
"Finally you show up Naruto, I guess Konoha ran out of good ninjas for an idiot like you to be in this position, it's funny, maybe when I destroy the village, I'll sit on the Hokage monument and laugh about all this."
Sasuke's smile never faded, in fact, it got bigger every time he said something. Meanwhile, Naruto's brow furrowed and the sadness in his eyes was replaced by determination, he wouldn't let anyone hurt the leaf or his friends.
"It seems you have sunk very low, you leave me no choice but to eliminate you."
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Sasuke's maniacal laughter could be heard throughout the area, looking like a child laughing at a joke.
"Looks like you're even dumber than before if you think you can beat me!"
Naruto took off his hat and handed it to Yamato who was standing next to him, he flexed his wrists before speaking again.
"Let's settle this once and for all, today it ends, old friend."