Although it was a peace conference, the atmosphere was far from cordial. After all, the two sides had been killing each other just days ago. Both sides carried countless blood debts, and even if they could be sensible in the face of the situation, the hatred in their eyes was impossible to hide.
Following closely behind Tobirama, Hibari and the others also entered the meeting area.
Seeing the gloomy stares and looks from the surrounding Kumogakure shinobi, Hibari's lips curled into a slight smile under his mask. He whispered softly, "This is a truly hostile atmosphere. One wrong move, and people could die."
Hiruzen, who was walking beside Hibari, also spoke softly, "It's as if they won. How ridiculous..."
"The viciousness of a defeated dog, eh? Hahahaha," Hibari suddenly laughed.
He shifted his gaze to the group of people not far away. The first person Hibari saw wasn't the Second Raikage in the center. To be honest, he had never felt that this Raikage had much of a presence. He had the face of a background character and hadn't done anything earth-shattering.
He did start the First Great Ninja War, but he was forced to do it, which made the entire war feel somewhat anticlimactic on Kumogakure's side. Overall, in Hibari's opinion, this guy was lacking in all aspects of his abilities.
In terms of strategy, he was subpar; he couldn't resolve Kumogakure's internal conflicts with a superior hand. In terms of strength, he was also mediocre; he didn't have any particularly outstanding abilities.
His command during the war, while not a huge mistake, was too lackluster. Compared to their own Tobirama, who was capable in both strategy and combat, he had no outstanding qualities at all. The gap was simply too vast.
In terms of prestige, he couldn't even protect himself. As the Second Raikage, he couldn't even control those two guys, Kinkaku and Ginkaku. And even if you ignored that, he himself had a huge flaw: he couldn't be as 'ruthless' as Tobirama.
In Hibari's mind, if there were guys like those two bastards, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, constantly defying their Hokage, those two would have likely vanished from the face of the earth long ago.
After all, Tobirama wasn't a soft-hearted person. Hibari had reason to believe that as long as it was for the sake of the village, no matter how strong or prestigious you were, if you dared to go against the future of the village, Tobirama would be determined to eliminate you.
But this Second Raikage had always been helpless against the Kinkaku and Ginkaku brothers, allowing them to strengthen their power step by step. From this perspective, he also seemed somewhat incompetent.
Therefore, Hibari had never thought much of the Second Raikage.
The first people he saw in the crowd were the Kinkaku and Ginkaku brothers.
To be honest, while those two guys, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, were hot-headed, reckless, and had all sorts of other flaws, their presence was genuinely powerful. Just standing in the crowd, they would unconsciously attract people's attention. Could it be that they truly were the brothers known by many of Kumogakure's shinobi as 'the Two Lights of the Clouds'?
At this time, Kinkaku had lost an arm, but his injury had long since fully healed. He didn't look handicapped at all; his aura was still as aggressive as ever.
Ginkaku stood beside him, his face also wearing a gloomy expression as he looked at Tobirama. But Hibari was very perceptive and noticed a subtle change in their eyes. The way they looked at Tobirama had an impatient feeling, as if they were staring at their prey.
'Hehehehe... So confident. It seems those two bastards are really planning something,' Hibari thought to himself with a laugh.
He was a little surprised to see these two guys. He had originally thought that the Second Raikage wouldn't bring these 'pro-war' people to any peace talks, as that seemed like asking for trouble.
Putting everything else aside, if these two guys were to act too arrogantly and embarrass Tobirama, how could the peace talks proceed?
Therefore, Hibari had previously assumed that Kinkaku and Ginkaku's plot would be a surprise attack, a sudden raid on the entire meeting...
Hibari was looking at Kinkaku and Ginkaku, and Kinkaku was also staring at him. He couldn't shake the feeling that this guy looked familiar. From his build, he seemed to be the same bastard who used Lightning Release Armor to take off one of his arms back on the road.
However, although he was a little suspicious, he didn't confirm it. After all, the Lightning Release Armor technique was a secret art of Kumogakure. Neither he nor his brother were qualified to learn it, so how could a Konoha person learn it?
Therefore, even though the incident was temporarily put on hold because of the war, the two of them still held the Second Raikage accountable. They still believed it was a conspiracy orchestrated by the Raikage, which further solidified their resolve to kill the Second Raikage.
Hibari and the others escorted Tobirama all the way to the front of the group of people. Then Tobirama looked at the Second Raikage and forced a stiff smile, extending his arm and saying, "Raikage-sama, it's a pleasure to meet you here."
The Second Raikage also looked at Tobirama, took a deep breath, and extended his own arm. Their hands met in a handshake, and he said, "It is also my honor to meet you here, Hokage-sama."
When these two village leaders spoke, the atmosphere on the scene became a little more lively and less oppressive. After all, this was supposed to be a peace talk.
Tobirama and the Second Raikage both spoke a few insincere words to each other, as if they had met a long-lost friend. Hibari found it a little boring. After that, they officially sat down at the table to discuss the peace talk matters.
This was essentially just a formality. The two sides had already communicated with each other, and envoys had traveled back and forth several times. The issues that needed to be discussed already had a framework. This meeting was just to witness it, for everyone to sign the relevant documents, and that would be it.
They didn't need to stay together for too long. After all, even though they looked amicable on the surface, everyone secretly wanted to give the other two of their favorite slaps to the face.
Staying together for too long, they were afraid of dying from repressed anger. So they decided not to talk about unnecessary things. They would just sign the documents and disperse. If they were interested, they could talk about the alliance later.
Of course, although it was a formality, both sides were carefully checking the peace treaty for any tricks. Therefore, Tobirama was also looking at the document in his hand.
The Second Raikage was also very seriously reading the document in his hand. Hibari, on the other hand, was carefully observing the surroundings. Just then, Hibari suddenly noticed that Kinkaku was gone, with only Ginkaku still mingling in the vicinity.
This made Hibari secretly become vigilant. Then, he cleared his throat softly.
Tobirama, who was reading the peace treaty, also raised his eyes and looked at the Second Raikage after hearing Hibari's unnatural cough.
Hibari's cough sounded a little harsh in the quiet room. Everyone, including the Second Raikage, looked at him.
Then Hibari smiled, his mouth moving beneath his mask, and he said softly, "It's late winter and early spring; the weather is changing too quickly. I've caught a slight cold. I'm sorry to make you all witness this..."
"A bird mask... I presume this is the Deputy Commander of the Konoha Anbu, Senju Hibari-dono?" The Second Raikage looked at Hibari and asked softly.
"I am honored that my insignificant name has reached Raikage-sama's ears..." Hibari did not deny anything, but openly admitted it.
Then the Second Raikage said, "I heard that you also participated at the start of this war and ambushed the vanguard unit led by our two brothers, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, in the Land of Hot Water. Did you, Hibari-dono, happen to see an expert using the Lightning Release Armor technique?"
The incident where Hibari's squad ambushed Kinkaku and Ginkaku had already spread in the village, though the details weren't made public. So it was normal for Kumogakure to have heard about it.
The Second Raikage had been under Kinkaku's misconception that he had sent people to secretly attack him in cooperation with Konoha. So now that he met Hibari, the 'real person', he wanted to ask for clarification.
After hearing this, Hibari pretended to be a little confused and said, "Of course not. Isn't the Lightning Release Armor technique a secret art of Kumogakure? If I had encountered it, I definitely wouldn't have forgotten it!"
The Second Raikage also nodded after hearing Hibari's words, "I thought it was a misunderstanding..."
Although Kinkaku had repeatedly insisted that he was defeated by the Lightning Release Armor technique, the Second Raikage always felt that this bastard was just looking for trouble. So when Hibari said no, he also acquiesced.
On the other hand, Ginkaku, who was standing nearby, was getting angrier and angrier listening to the conversation between these two. In his opinion, the two of them were just talking back and forth, obviously conspiring together!
This was just a small interlude that didn't cause any commotion. However, the conversation between Hibari and the Second Raikage did attract everyone's attention, which just so happened to be the perfect timing.
Just as Hibari was about to say a few more words to the Second Raikage, a huge chakra energy fluctuation suddenly came from a high ground not far away. This made Hibari's expression change, and he immediately said, "There's a change! Stay alert!"
Before Hibari's words even fell, a huge Tailed Beast Ball was already shooting toward the meeting place at high speed from the high ground in the distance.
Everyone was stunned. The Second Raikage even recognized the origin of this Tailed Beast Ball at a glance. Isn't that the chakra of that bastard Kinkaku?
"Kinkaku!!!" The Second Raikage roared with rage.
At the same time, Tobirama's reaction speed was also very fast. He immediately disappeared with the Flying Raijin Technique, reappearing in front of the Tailed Beast Ball the next second. Then a seal appeared in midair.
"Flying Raijin Guiding Thunder!" Tobirama shouted in a deep voice.
An ordinary person wouldn't notice any changes, but Hibari was sharp-eyed and saw some strange things. First, his grandfather's reaction speed was a little too slow. In the past, he would never have been the one to sense the danger first. Secondly, the Flying Raijin Guiding Thunder seemed to be performed very quickly, but compared to Tobirama's speed when the Nine-Tails attacked Konoha, it was still much slower!
Thinking of this, Hibari suddenly blew a whistle. The next second, the people from Konohagakure who came with him seemed to have understood something. They all used the Body Flicker Technique to disappear from the meeting place at an extremely fast speed.
Sure enough, this was indeed a flaw that Tobirama had intentionally shown. Before he could even finish the Flying Raijin Guiding Thunder technique to deflect the Tailed Beast Ball, a figure covered in orange chakra slammed into him, landing a fierce blow to the back of Tobirama's head.
Then Tobirama also spat out a mouthful of blood, and the Flying Raijin Guiding Thunder in his hand was 'broken'. The Tailed Beast Ball once again broke through the limits of space-time and came whistling toward them. And Tobirama Senju seemed to be lacking strength, quickly using the Flying Raijin Technique to get out of the way of the Tailed Beast Ball...
'Holy crap, he's a method actor!' Hibari couldn't help but exclaim in admiration after seeing this scene.
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