Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

Even so, Sunagakure firmly maintains its independence.

The current calm is like withered grass in the desert; once the wind blows, it will change the direction of its swaying.

Even though Orochimaru has already borne the greatest blame for the Sand Village's invasion of Konoha three years ago, Orochimaru was able to interfere because he was relying on the Fourth Kazekage's will to fight against Konoha.

Once Sunagakure regains enough power, it will not only regain its independence, but also reclaim the autonomy that Konoha took from it after the failure of the Konoha destruction plan.

No one can guarantee that the "Konoha Destruction Plan" won't happen a second time.

There has never been a lack of voices within Sunagakure opposing Konoha. Even if the Fifth Kazekage, Temari, opposes attacking Konoha again, the Sunagakure elders and advisors will not allow their personal interests to continue to be oppressed and exploited by Konoha.

As for the Land of Fire, Konoha.

From the day Hashirama Senju forgot the essence of founding Konoha, and from the moment he uttered the words, "If anyone wants to destroy Konoha, even if that person is my own family or friends, I will never let them go," during his final battle with Madara Uchiha at the Valley of the End.

The future of Konoha was destined to go astray.

The result was that the Konoha leadership had a legitimate contempt for the people of Konoha.

Everything is done with the village's interests first, and any ninja who harms the village's interests is considered a "traitor."

Sakumo Hatake, who abandoned his mission to protect his comrades and was scorned by Konoha;

Hyuga Hizashi was abandoned by Konoha to prevent Kumogakure from taking advantage of the situation.

In the end, the interests of Konoha became entangled with the personal interests of Konoha's leadership.

To become Hokage, to deny Hiruzen Sarutobi—to use the Konoha ninja clan as his tools and incorporate them into the Root organization—to use the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki as a weapon to possess him, and to deny his personality while posing as a "righteous" figure to attack Naruto time and time again—to turn the Uchiha clan's rebellion, which he instinctively tried to stop, into an escalation of the conflict between the Uchiha and Konoha, pushing the Uchiha clan to the brink of extinction, all for the sake of one person wielding the power of the Sharingan—Shimura Danzo.

He is the embodiment of all the errors that Konoha was bound to produce after decades of gestation on the wrong path.

Without hesitation, throw everything that can be salvaged into the source of uncontrollable extremes.

Even if that collective entity is not Danzo, someone else will eventually appear.

The so-called "Ninja Village Era" initiated by Hashirama Senju was merely a nicer name for the Warring States Period.

The ninja world has never changed.

The Warring States period continued indefinitely.

"The essence of the Warring States period was division."

Chapter 94 Counterattack

“In the past, the scattered ninja clans fought each other. Now, the five great nations are oppressing smaller nations for their own interests, and they also covet everything that the other great nations possess.”

Naruto looked at the Kage who now held the power to decide the future of the ninja world and shared his thoughts:

"In the past, the division of the ninja world was led by powerful ninja clans such as the Senju and Uchiha clans. Now, the division of the ninja world is led by the five great nations. As long as the interests of the ninjas cannot be aligned, the division cannot be healed."

Only by turning ninjas into a community of shared destiny can true peace be born.

This is why, during the Fourth Shinobi World War in the original work, Sasuke suddenly made the surprising statement that he would become Hokage.

This is why, after sealing Kaguya Otsutsuki, Sasuke controlled the nine tailed beasts and planned to execute the Five Kage who could decide the future of the ninja world.

He ultimately chose the same path as his older brother, Itachi Uchiha.

He concentrated all the conflicts on himself, chose to kill the Five Kage who had vested interests in the ninja world, redistributed the interests, and used the Tailed Beasts and the Rinnegan to force the Five Great Nations to unite against him.

Throughout Sasuke's sixteen years of life, he followed Itachi as a role model in his childhood and pursued Itachi as a target of revenge in his youth. Sasuke, whose first half of life was filled with Itachi's will, could only draw on Itachi's experience to make choices about his own future.

This also emphasizes the incredible nature of Naruto being able to replace Itachi and exist in Sasuke's heart.

Now, after witnessing the contents of the Uchiha stone tablet, which Naruto has modified once again, Sasuke has chosen a similar path once more.

This time, Naruto, who could have stopped Sasuke, became Sasuke's ally.

"Sasuke, don't you have anything to say?"

Naruto's thoughts flashed by, and his gaze fell upon Sasuke, who remained silent beside him.

This performance of invading the Five Kage Summit was, after all, proposed by Sasuke, so Naruto didn't want to overshadow him.

But Sasuke had no intention of speaking freely.

"Our will is the same."

With just a few words, Sasuke fell silent again. His bright red three-tomoe Sharingan watched over everyone present, leaving the decision to Naruto.

"You self-righteous brats, do you think you're Hashirama Senju or Madara Uchiha?"

Even Ōnoki, who had been speaking aggressively during the Five Kage Summit, finally spoke up.

His gaze fell on Naruto and Sasuke.

This Tsuchikage is one of the few people in the ninja world who personally experienced the Warring States period and witnessed the power of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.

In Onoki's opinion, the only ninjas in the ninja world capable of overwhelming the five great nations on their own are Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.

Even though Naruto and Sasuke did cause a great deal of bloodshed in the ninja world, to Onoki, it was ultimately just a bunch of incompetent juniors' squabbling that couldn't be brought to the table.

“Of course it’s not just Sasuke and me. You must have also noticed the recent turmoil in Amegakure, right?” Naruto ignored the contempt in Onoki’s words and patiently replied, “I have already accepted Akatsuki’s legacy.”

Naruto watched with great interest the change in Onoki's expression upon hearing those words.

Of the five Kage, Onoki is the one most closely associated with Akatsuki. He has long been accustomed to using Akatsuki to handle various problems that are difficult to deal with openly.

Therefore, Onoki was also the one who knew best what Akatsuki's legacy was—the tailed beasts captured by Akatsuki.

However, the fact that Akatsuki possessed tailed beasts was no secret to the Five Great Nations.

The legacy that Naruto inherited from Akatsuki was not limited to these.

“Besides the tailed beasts, I also inherited an army from the Akatsuki’s legacy, with a number of approximately… 100,000.”

Even though it was such a clear fact, everyone still felt that Naruto was talking nonsense.

"Akatsuki" is just a mercenary organization in the intelligence network of the five major powers. If they really had such a large army, they could have established a new country long ago. Why would they call themselves a mercenary organization?

But this is not the full force Naruto possesses against the Five Great Nations.

Leaving aside the fact that Naruto exposed the reanimated Akatsuki to the Five Great Nations during the recent invasion of Konoha.

The Rinnegan, the complete Kamui, and even the souls of the Hokage of all time... If Naruto were to reveal these secrets, they would be nothing short of a pipe dream to the Kage who are unaware of the past.

Now, by only revealing a little bit of information that had already been exposed, Naruto was able to appreciate the rare reactions of the Kage.

The one who reacted the most to Naruto's words was naturally the hot-tempered Fourth Raikage, A.

"Enough! I've had enough of this nonsense!"

The Fourth Raikage, A, once again entered Lightning Release Chakra Mode. His body was once again covered with Lightning Release Armor, and his slicked-back hair stood up completely.

For those familiar with the Raikage's fighting style, this means that the Raikage has entered a state of full-force combat.

This time, he was even faster than before!

Before he could even blink, he reappeared in front of Naruto!

"go to hell!"

Ai waved his only right arm at Naruto.

But in the next instant, the scene before Ai's eyes changed!

A giant purple hand formed from chakra blocked the path between Naruto and A.

"That's it!!!"

The Tsuchikage, Onoki, who had previously held Sasuke in contempt, was so surprised that he was speechless.

In Onoki's eyes, Sasuke's three-tomoe Sharingan transformed into the shape of the Mangekyou Sharingan.

The Mangekyou Sharingan awakened by the Uchiha clan should only have one type of eye pattern!

However, in Sasuke's eyes, which awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan by using Susanoo, the pattern of his Mangekyou Sharingan was a combination of two patterns: a six-pointed star and a three-edged shuriken!

Onoki had only ever seen a Mangekyou Sharingan with this kind of appearance on one person—Uchiha Madara!

While Onoki was still reeling from the shock, Ai, who had initiated the attack, was now caught in a dilemma from which he could not bear the consequences.

The purple Susanoo's hand, blocking Naruto's way, was burning with Amaterasu's black flames!

What good is the speed of the Fourth Raikage compared to the Yellow Flash?

His high speed was ultimately for the purpose of attacking the enemy!

As a representative of taijutsu ninjas, as long as A's attack methods cannot deviate from the scope of taijutsu, then Amaterasu, which burns everything, does not need to chase after A's figure at all. It only needs to wait for A, as the target of Amaterasu, to take the initiative to attack and "visit" Amaterasu!

Just like when A's left arm was burned away, Amaterasu will burn away his only remaining right arm the moment he touches Susanoo!

Leaping through the air, Ai, unable to change the direction of her attack on her own, was trapped in a deadly situation where she was about to be swallowed up by Amaterasu!

However, he was not alone in facing Naruto and Sasuke. His silent shadow materialized like a tentacle in front of A, creating a point of support for A to leverage.

Ai decisively seized this opportunity to change his fate, using his shadow as a stepping stone to jump away from Naruto and Sasuke!

"Acting Director of Naruto, I owe you a favor!"

Upon landing, Ai looked at Nara Shikaku, who had used the Nara clan's Shadow Technique to save him from danger, and sincerely expressed his gratitude.

"Lord Raikage, please tone down your aggressive fighting style. Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha are not the kind of ninjas you can defeat by simply overwhelming them with brute force!"

Although it made the Raikage owe the Konoha ninja a favor, it successfully gave Konoha a voice in the subsequent Five Kage Summit.

However, Shikaku Nara also knew very well that if he wanted to continue the Five Kage Summit, he had to deal with the crisis brought about by Naruto and Sasuke first!

Nara Shikaku looked at Naruto. Up to this point, although Naruto had infiltrated the Five Kage Summit, he did not have a strong desire to attack. Both of his brief battles were initiated by the Raikage.

Nara Shikaku speculated that Naruto's purpose in appearing at the Five Kage Summit was to have some kind of conversation with the Five Kage.

But given Naruto's personality, he would never let those two deadly attacks by the Raikage go unpunished.

The Nara clan chief, whose face was ferocious but whose heart was incredibly sensitive, was searching his mind for a way to deal with the situation that had unknowingly deteriorated.

"Let's correct your five Kage's arrogant and condescending attitudes a little."

Just as Nara Shikaku had guessed, the Raikage's two attacks wore down Naruto's peaceful patience. His hands formed ninja hand seals, and this time it was Naruto's turn to attack!

"Everyone be careful!"

Nara Shikaku instinctively spoke up to remind him!

But who among them wasn't a genius on whom the village placed its hopes? Who wasn't a seasoned warrior?