Konoha Notes

Chapter 301 Joint Organization
Itachi stood at the door of the conference room, his ANBU mask already removed.

"The target has returned to the Iwagakure base and has not left again."

"Thank you for your hard work. Please keep a close eye on things during this time."

Onoki brought a bomber, and since it seemed he couldn't completely control him, Shuji had no choice but to arrange for someone to keep an eye on him.

The door closed again.

This isn't inside a village, but rather in the conference room on the top floor of the competition venue.

With all four film studios present, someone needed to watch over the venue area, so he has been stationed there for some time now.

On the table lay the agenda, venue arrangements, and security deployment diagram for the Five Shadows Conference. He ran his fingertip across the paper, confirming the connections between each time point.

The door was pushed open again.

Tsunade walked in without greeting anyone, went straight to the table, and bent down to look at the schedule. Her Hokage hat was placed aside, and her long golden hair slipped down her shoulders.

She looked around for a while, then walked around the corner of the table and sat down in the chair next to Xiu Si.

"What are you doing?" Shuji asked.

"Do you have money?"

The man put down the documents in his hand.

"Although it's certainly a few thousand taels... what kind of start is this? The Kage of another village received hospitality, and you, as the Hokage, actually want some too?"

"Enough with the nonsense, it's borrowed." Tsunade held out her hand. "Give me two thousand."

Shuji took out his wallet from his pocket and placed it on the table. Princess Senju took out the amount she wanted from it, placed one thousand in front of herself, and then placed another one thousand in front of Shuji.

Then, out of nowhere, he pulled out a dice cup.

Tsunade held the dice cup with both hands and shook it earnestly and devoutly.

"size?"

“Big.” Shuji continued looking at the documents in his hands.

Tsunade opened the lid and then stuffed the money into Shuji's wallet.

"Lost."

Then he got up and left.

"You owe me three thousand." A voice came from behind her.

Tsunade stopped and turned around.

"Borrowed two thousand, lost one thousand, so it's three thousand."

The Fifth Hokage frowned: "Wait... one thousand of them were your chips, not the ones I borrowed. And I only lost one thousand."

"No, you borrowed two thousand. You opened a gambling den without my permission and gave me chips."

"...That's still two thousand!"

“These two thousand are my money. You lost the bet, so you have to give me a thousand. In total, you owe me three thousand taels.” The man still didn’t look up.

Tsunade counted on her fingers, one thousand, two thousand...

Then she strode back to the table, counted out three thousand taels from Xiu Si's wallet, and slapped it on the table.

"Settle the accounts!"

The man finally raised his head: "Isn't this still my money?"

"Who cares about you?" Princess Thousand Hands laughed. "My luck has always been terrible. But losing the bet at least means the outcome of this Five Kage Summit won't be too bad."

"Don't say things like that before it's over."

"Show me your silver tongue, you bastard."

The man sighed, "I wish I had that kind of eloquence. But..."

His gaze returned to the documents.

"It can't be too bad, right? That's the result."
-
The day after Onoki arrived, the Kage of the Five Great Ninja Villages took their seats in the newly built hall outside the venue area.

The circular conference room contains five high-backed chairs arranged in an arc.

Behind each chair stood two accompanying ninjas.

The first meeting was not tense at all.

The five Kage merely met briefly and sat down for a casual chat. Ōnoki chuckled at Chiyo, saying that after all these years, she had actually become the Kazekage.

Chiyo mocked Onoki for being so old yet still not stepping down from his position as Tsuchikage, occasionally affecting the Raikage and sometimes dragging the Hokage into the mess.

The atmosphere was generally friendly.

Yagura was unusually quiet. He placed his hands on his knees and watched the four Kage clash, like a child watching adults argue.

Just watch.

As the waiter distributed the documents, he took the reform plan drafted by Konoha and glanced at it. The pages rustled between his fingers. After reading it, he handed the document to Mei Terumi behind him. Mei Terumi quickly scanned it and handed it to Zabuza.

The Ghost took the document and his gaze fell on the paper. He looked at it for a long time, long enough that the other four Shadows' chatter came to an end, long enough that the air in the conference room gradually became quiet.

He's still watching.

Shuji then got up and walked to the open space in the center of the arc.

"The existing schedule cannot meet the needs of each village, nor can it maximize the commercial benefits of the Ninja World Joint Martial Arts Tournament."

His voice echoed in the rotunda.

"At the same time, considering the influence of the event, it is necessary to make the joint martial arts exercise of the five major ninja villages a regular and daily occurrence."

The demon shifted his gaze from the documents he hadn't yet sorted out to Shuji in the room.

What about the increased schedule, what about the allocation of resources to each village...?

He hasn't yet figured out the pros and cons, but he doesn't think it's so trivial that it requires the Kage of the five great ninja villages to come and discuss it in person.

The most important part is what this person in the room has to say now.

"However, the scheduling, time coordination, audience movement, and revenue distribution can all be subject to unforeseen circumstances each year, necessitating changes."

"Furthermore, there will be many other trivial matters in the joint event. Sending envoys to communicate and handle these matters at that time may be too late and could even lead to serious consequences."

"For example, if someone or an organization holds a similar event during the martial arts exercise, diverting the audience, how should we respond?"

"Or, if the competition venue is infiltrated, or if there are unscrupulous individuals among the spectators, the village that is the organizer should naturally bear most of the responsibility for defense. But as beneficiaries of the profits, shouldn't other villages also bear some responsibility?"

"Or what if organizations or wandering ninja groups outside the five great ninja villages want to participate in the martial arts competition to gain fame? Should they be allowed or not?"

"Such things will definitely happen once joint military exercises become the norm, and they may happen simultaneously."

“If there is no permanent body to coordinate, respond quickly, and make unified decisions at that time…” Xiu Si shook his head slightly, “Any charter we agree on here today may collapse due to a sudden minor incident, or even become a laughing stock, and may even cause further discord among the five villages.”

"Therefore, Konoha believes it is necessary to establish a permanent institution to handle these matters."

Zabuza suddenly became alert, the permanent organization...

Before he could think it through, Raikage's voice rang out.

"Since it's a permanent organization specifically for handling these matters, it needs certain authority. It also needs to have a standing mobile team."

“Exactly.” Shuuji turned to him. “This organization should be composed of people from all five villages, possess the authority to make on-the-spot decisions, handle disputes on the field, respond to emergencies, and—”

"To gain the joint recognition of the five great ninja villages."

Chiyo spoke up: "Does that mean that even within the original ninja village's sphere of influence, this organization also has a certain degree of executive power?"

Shuji replied, "No, in the areas of the five great ninja villages, the opinions of the village in charge still prevail."

The Raikage asked, "So, this organization, outside of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, can represent our will regarding tournament matters. Is that what you mean?"

"Exactly."

Listening to these questions and answers, Zabuza continued to look at the documents in his hands—which also contained the specific benefits of this year's joint military exercises.

In other words, outside of Kirigakure, there will be a Kirigakure-controlled force that can act and represents the collective will of the five villages...

From this perspective, there seems to be nothing wrong with it.

But if you agree, in the land of Kirigakure...

Just then, Onoki spoke.

He looked at Shuuji: "This isn't just some so-called permanent organization for the event, Shuuji."

"No, this is just a permanent organization set up for the event, Lord Tsuchikage."

Onoki snorted coldly.

Ai said in a deep voice, "Since we all agree on the necessity of this meeting and have come to participate in person, it's not about trivial matters like the schedule. Tsuchikage, you know what I mean, right?"

"An organization is necessary to deal with emergencies and handle the details of the event."

"Kumakunobi agrees to Konoha's proposal."

Onoki looked around. The Raikage was looking at him, as was the Hokage.

Chiyo looked down at the table and then said calmly, "Anyway, Sunagakure doesn't have the power to host it for the time being, so it's not a bad thing for Sunagakure."

"Sunagakure agrees."

Zabuza suddenly turned to look at Mei Terumi beside him, but she didn't say anything.

But at this moment, Yagura, who had been silent for a long time, also spoke up:

"Kigakure agrees."

Onoki stared at Shuji in the middle for a long time.

“Iwagakure,” he finally said, “agreed.”

(End of this chapter)