"Hah... Kageyama Kogetsu, what do you understand?"
"As the Hokage of Konoha, your vision is often limited to a single village, a single country."
"Even if you look at the world, you only care about Konoha's interests. How could you possibly understand my grand dream?" Obito sneered, his tone contemptuous.
Kageyama Kogetsu didn't argue. Instead, he smiled and said, "Alright, in this world, you alone are the good person, the sage, the saint, the savior."
Being praised didn't make Obito happy at all. On the contrary, he felt very awkward and uncomfortable. He simply left.
"Hey, aren't you going to fight before you go?"
"Hah, why waste time with a bunch of shadow clones..."
With that, Obito's figure was completely absorbed by the spatial vortex.
Returning to the Land of Rain, Obito reported the bad news to Nagato and Konan. Of course, his words were carefully embellished, otherwise it would be too humiliating.
The two of them hadn't expected Kageyama Kogetsu to be so cautious and meticulous, and they couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
However, Nagato, who was extremely confident in his own strength, didn't pay it much mind and soon put it out of his thoughts.
...
Land of Wind, Sunagakure. A large, bright moon hung in the night sky, and bright stars twinkled in competition. The endless desert seemed to be plated with a layer of silver gauze.
A golden eagle with a body length of over twenty meters and a wingspan of over ten meters streaked across the night sky at high speed, flying directly into Sunagakure. It swooped low over the Kazekage Tower, and Jiraiya took the opportunity to jump down, landing steadily on the roof of the building.
Before long, a group of Suna ANBU ninja on duty and regular Suna ninja surrounded the top of the Kazekage Tower.
"I am Jiraiya of Konoha. Your Sunagakure is in big trouble. Have your high-ranking officials come here for a meeting immediately."
"Remember, you must notify Chiyo and Ebizō. Otherwise, your current high-ranking officials won't be able to make the decisions."
"For every moment you waste, your Sunagakure will have to pay a higher price," Jiraiya said with his arms crossed, his expression serious and his gaze sharp, his voice booming from above.
The crowd looked at each other. Soon, an ANBU division captain made the decision and sent someone to notify the village's high-ranking officials.
Before long, the heads of Sunagakure's various departments arrived.
After Chiyo and Ebizō retired, Sunagakure had no elders. Rasa was unwilling to have the old ones replaced by new ones who would only serve to constrain him.
Ordinary ninja might not have known about Rasa's decision, but the heads of Sunagakure's various departments were all aware of it.
Seeing Jiraiya's accusatory posture, the Suna high-ranking officials feigned ignorance and tried to fish for information with smiles on their faces.
However, Jiraiya completely ignored them, letting them babble on like clowns.
The Suna high-ranking officials were furious, but they didn't dare to act rashly and could only sulk in silence.
In the end, no one spoke. They just stood there, and the atmosphere was extremely oppressive and heavy...
After a while, the aged Chiyo and Ebizō arrived near the Kazekage Tower, standing on the roof of a building.
"Jiraiya, my brother and I have already retired. What meeting are you calling us for?"
Chiyo looked up, her expression calm and composed, her tone unhurried, exuding a sense of tranquility that came from having experienced the world.
"Irrelevant people, get lost. The high-ranking officials of Sunagakure, come up to the rooftop for a meeting," Jiraiya said with a blank expression.
This condescending attitude infuriated many of the Suna ninja, who were about to erupt, but they were suppressed by the high-ranking officials and could only leave reluctantly.
Chiyo jumped onto the rooftop of the Kazekage Tower, looked around, and said, "Can someone tell me what Sunagakure has done to make Konoha so angry?"
Since her retirement, Chiyo had paid little attention to the affairs of Sunagakure. Her retirement was quite thorough.
Jiraiya sneered, "Hmph... no need to ask them. They probably wouldn't be able to say it to my face."
"This is the account of events written by my teacher on behalf of the current Hokage and Konoha. You'll understand once you read it."
Chiyo took the scroll, and Ebizō walked over to his sister's side to read it with her.
Although they were old, as ninja, their eyesight hadn't deteriorated much. Compared to ordinary elderly people of the same age, their vision was worlds apart.
The content of the scroll was not very long. The two of them finished reading it quickly, and their faces turned extremely ugly, their hearts filled with worry.
Betraying an alliance was something that could be done, but it had to be successful. Even if it failed, it shouldn't be such a disastrous failure.
Now, Rasa himself, his two children, the Jinchūriki, and a thousand elite ninja had all been lost in an utter and miserable defeat!
Rasa was too much of a failure as a Kazekage!
It seemed that choosing Rasa as the Kazekage back then was truly a mistake!
A good-for-nothing with great ambitions but little talent!
His own death didn't matter, and the deaths of his children didn't matter either. But to lose Sunagakure's Tailed Beast and bring the village to the brink of a cliff was an unforgivable crime!
"Hah..." Chiyo let out a deep breath and got straight to the point. "What does your Konoha want?"
"If you can make the decision, you'll find out when you come to Konoha with me," Jiraiya said impassively.
Chiyo knew that Konoha would surely make exorbitant demands, but Sunagakure couldn't possibly abandon their Jinchūriki and the captured ninja.
Once they lost their Jinchūriki, the only real combat power Sunagakure had left was her. And at her age, how many more years did she have left?
Without sufficient deterrent force, not just the major villages, but even the smaller ones would probably dare to provoke them.
If they didn't get the captured ninja back, and Konoha spread the news, the impact on Sunagakure's unity would be too great.
After all, if Konoha didn't kill the prisoners, it meant they were giving them a chance to be ransomed. If they could be ransomed but weren't, the people's hearts would easily be scattered.
If Sunagakure were to fall into decline during her lifetime, or even fall from the ranks of the five great ninja villages, they would all become sinners.
"We need to hold a meeting and discuss this," Chiyo said, taking a deep breath.
"You can, but for half an hour at most."
"The sooner this is resolved, the better. Otherwise, the Lord Hokage might not be able to resist giving the order for the ninja forces gathered at the border of the Land of Wind to attack directly, to punish the betrayal of an ally," Jiraiya said with a blank expression.
Hearing this blatant threat, the expressions of Chiyo and the others changed, and their hearts began to sink into a bottomless abyss...
A young Hokage eager to establish his credentials was much more difficult to deal with than an old one.
The Suna high-ranking officials left in silence and went to a small meeting room in the Kazekage Tower to discuss their decision. They debated heatedly, one after another.
Half an hour later, under the expectant and worried gazes of the Suna high-ranking officials, Chiyo stepped onto the golden eagle and headed to Konoha with Jiraiya.
...
The next morning, the joint Chūnin Exams continued. Baki and the others were released by Kageyama Kogetsu.
However, given what Sunagakure had done, no one dared to approach them. It was as if they had the plague; wherever they went, everyone kept a wide berth.
The first battle was the unfinished match between Gaara and Sasuke.
Shukaku, intimidated by Kageyama Kogetsu, did not dare to use its power to corrode Gaara for the time being.
Relying on his own strength alone, Gaara was not strong enough and ultimately lost to Sasuke.
Having defeated the genius of the invading Sunagakure, the Konoha spectators erupted in unparalleled cheers. Not just many young girls, but many adults as well, now saw Sasuke as a young hero.
Because of this victory, the Uchiha clan's resentment towards Sasuke and Mikoto had all but vanished, and the villagers' impression of the Uchiha clan had improved considerably.
Under Kageyama Kogetsu's strict requirements over the years, the law enforcement by the Uchiha clan in the Police Force had finally become normal.
Around noon, Chiyo arrived in Konoha. Led by Jiraiya, she went to the Hokage Tower to meet Kageyama Kogetsu.
Kageyama Kogetsu did not see her. He had her eat a meal first and then come to see him with Baki and the other three.
Although the matter needed to be resolved as quickly as possible, it hadn't reached the point where he would make them skip two meals and come to talk on an empty stomach...
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