News of the Fourth Raikage's decision to reconvene the Five Kage Summit spread across the Ninja World as though it had taken on a life of its own.
This would be the first Five Kage Summit since the end of the Third Great Ninja War. Although six years had passed since the previous summit, the number was misleading. Four of those years had been consumed by war, and the Hidden Cloud Village had only reluctantly signed a peace treaty the previous year after suffering defeat at Hayashi's hands.
In reality, the Ninja World had enjoyed only two years of peace.
That was nowhere near enough time for the great villages to recover from the devastation of war, let alone rebuild and prosper.
Looking back through history, nearly thirty years had separated the first and second Five Kage Summits.
Compared to that, six years was an incredibly short interval.
Because of this, the Fourth Raikage's sudden decision shocked countless shinobi throughout the world.
The Five Kage Summit was not convened lightly. It had long been accepted that such a meeting only took place when something of enormous importance had occurred.
During the Third Great Ninja War, the summit had been called because of the disappearance of the Third Mizukage.
Now that the Hidden Cloud Village had called another summit, it could only mean they had suffered an incident of similar significance.
But what could possibly warrant such urgency?
The Fourth Raikage himself was clearly unharmed, since he was the one who had issued the invitation.
Naturally, spies from every nation began investigating.
Before long, reports spread that the Hidden Cloud Village had been attacked by an unknown force.
An attack alone was hardly remarkable.
Konoha had been attacked by Uchiha Fugaku the previous year, and the Hidden Cloud Village itself had once been infiltrated by the Fourth Hokage. Such incidents, while serious, were not enough to justify another Five Kage Summit.
Then even more startling news emerged.
The Hidden Cloud Village had not been attacked once, but twice within a very short period.
Even more unbelievable, numerous Cloud shinobi insisted that the attackers were none other than the long-disappeared Third Mizukage and Fourth Mizukage.
The revelation shook the entire Ninja World.
The disappearance of the Third Mizukage had been one of the catalysts behind the Third Great Ninja War.
Konoha's own crisis had also stemmed from the alliance between the Fourth Mizukage and Uchiha Fugaku.
Now, two figures long believed dead had suddenly resurfaced and immediately thrown the world into chaos.
The implications were impossible to ignore.
Even from countries far away, people could sense a conspiracy unfolding.
Before long, rumors spread that the Hidden Mist Village had orchestrated everything from behind the scenes.
Given the Hidden Mist Village's isolation and secrecy, the theory quickly gained traction.
They had remained uninvolved during the Second Great Ninja War, preserving much of their military strength. Yet despite that advantage, they had been steadily pushed back by Tsunade during the early stages of the Third Great Ninja War.
Was that weakness merely an act?
Conspiracy theories multiplied.
Some even connected the situation to the famous battle in the Land of Water where the Second Tsuchikage and Second Mizukage supposedly killed one another.
Could it be that the Second Mizukage had survived all along, secretly manipulating events from the shadows?
The imagination of tabloid reporters truly knew no bounds.
Armed with nothing more than scattered rumors, they wove elaborate stories convincing enough that uninformed readers might believe the writers had witnessed everything firsthand.
Still, rumors could not erase the facts.
The Hidden Cloud Village had indeed been attacked.
The Mizukage had indeed appeared during the assault.
In that regard, Nagato's scheme had been executed almost perfectly.
Had Hayashi not uncovered the truth, the Five Great Nations might very well have turned their blades against one another.
As additional information emerged from the Hidden Cloud Village, the chaos throughout the Ninja World gradually settled.
An uneasy silence replaced the frenzy.
Yet that silence was even more oppressive than the rumors before it.
Everyone was waiting for the Five Kage Summit to begin.
The first village to officially accept the invitation was the Hidden Mist Village.
Throughout the entire incident, the Hidden Cloud Village had openly accused the Hidden Mist Village. As one of the central parties involved, they naturally had to attend and defend themselves rather than silently accept the accusations.
There was another reason as well.
Hayashi wanted the newly appointed Fifth Mizukage to participate.
As for why the Hidden Mist Village was willing to follow the Fourth Hokage's suggestion, the answer was simple.
Konoha was now its largest creditor.
Unlike ordinary merchants, where the borrower often held the advantage, relations between shinobi villages were determined by strength.
In recent rumors, the Hidden Mist Village had been painted as the mastermind behind the turmoil.
Only they knew how miserable their actual situation was.
They had endured years under the Bloody Mist era, suffered heavy losses during Hayashi's campaign against them, and then watched the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, travel to Konoha only to be defeated once again.
Their village was barely holding itself together.
The Fourth Raikage's actions were ultimately aimed at demanding compensation.
Unfortunately for him, the Hidden Mist Village had no money left.
Anything they had possessed had already gone toward repaying their debts to Konoha.
As a result, they had little choice but to cooperate closely with Konoha.
With only a subtle hint from Hayashi that Konoha would support them, the newly appointed Fifth Mizukage immediately confirmed attendance.
Since Konoha intended to back them, the Hidden Mist Village also planned to confront the Hidden Cloud Village directly.
If the Hidden Cloud Village accused the Mizukage of attacking them, then the Hidden Mist Village would demand an explanation for why Hidden Cloud shinobi had attacked them and stolen the Six-Tails.
Although the true culprits had actually been Konan and Zetsu in disguise, the Hidden Mist Village had no way of knowing that.
From their perspective, the Fourth Raikage owed them an explanation as well.
Shortly after the Hidden Mist Village announced its participation, the Hidden Sand Village responded.
Rasa had originally intended to ignore the summit altogether.
He already had more than enough problems to deal with.
Pakura had once been offered to Iwagakure as part of a political arrangement, yet she had suddenly reappeared alive. The village would inevitably question the Fourth Kazekage about the matter.
To make matters worse, the One-Tail, Shukaku, had been taken away by Pakura and Sasori.
That had been the Tailed Beast Rasa intended to seal into his future son.
He was already overwhelmed.
Even so, the Hidden Sand Village was effectively aligned with Konoha.
Although Rasa hated relying on another village, reality left him with few alternatives.
Since the disappearance of the Third Kazekage, Sunagakure had depended heavily on Konoha's support.
Now that the village leading the alliance wanted him at the summit, refusal was not an option.
With both the Hidden Mist Village and Hidden Sand Village agreeing to attend, the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, reluctantly accepted the invitation as well.
Unlike the others, however, Ōnoki had every reason to panic.
After all, he had once hired the Akatsuki for a single, straightforward mission.
Attack the Hidden Cloud Village.