Under the framework of the Joint Affairs Bureau, led by Konoha, adding the smaller ninja villages into the system met almost no real resistance.
The reason was simple—it was all upside for the Five Great Ninja Villages.
At its core, the Combat exchange was just a stage for displaying strength, dividing up interests, and guiding the flow of potential talent.
Letting a few more players join only made the pie look bigger and the competition more lively.
In essence, the Five Great Nations still held a tight grip on the key rules and the flow of resources. Allowing minor villages to "share" the pie in exchange for broader recognition and a nominal sense of belonging to a common "community" was a very cost‑effective trade.
What actually caused trouble was the proposal to redistribute the aid funds given by the Daimyos of those smaller countries.
Money.
Not a concept, not some future promise, but the tangible offerings already in their hands or on the way.
After decades of shinobi wars, there were, in theory, no countries within the influence of the Five Great Nations that didn't pay tribute to one of the Five Great Ninja Villages.
It was just that all this tribute eventually turned into quotas for low‑rank missions.
These resources had long been treated by the Five Great Ninja Villages as one of the foundations of their daily operations and military strength. No one would welcome having that "cake" cut into.
Roshi had expected this.
But he also saw room for a breakthrough. For example, Sunagakure would definitely have no objections to this proposal.
After all, several years ago they had already lost their influence over every country outside the Land of Wind.
The Land of Rivers to the east had been completely taken back by Konoha after it betrayed their alliance.
The countries to the west and north, lacking strength for the time being, had no way to compete with Iwagakure.
So when it came to redistributing the funds from these small nations, Sunagakure would become the strongest advocate. They had no remaining interests to lose and stood to gain from any new arrangement.
Next were the smaller ninja villages that were already part of the Joint Conference.
Win them over first, then rely on the Bureau—an institution that now naturally represents the collective will of the Five Great Ninja Villages—to pressure the Daimyos behind them.
One step at a time.
Some things couldn't be rushed.
—
From the day Zetsu brought back the results of Orochimaru's Edo Tensei, Obito had all the patience in the world.
He would never be naive enough to trust Orochimaru.
That man was different from Nagato, and even from the real Madara. Orochimaru had no obsession with creating eternal peace.
He was utterly unreliable—fixated on his own experiments and treating everything else as nothing more than a tool.
Orochimaru needed resources—the Akatsuki's vast funds and covert networks—especially now, when the Five Great Ninja Villages were clearly moving toward unification and tightening their surveillance and suppression of any outside forces.
Trying to conduct research on that scale alone was little more than a fantasy.
So Obito's plan was to control how much they invested in Orochimaru, monitor his results, and make sure every scrap of Tailed Beast Chakra they acquired was fed directly into the Gedo Statue.
One year, two years… or even longer.
On the surface, the alliance of the Five Great Ninja Villages might grow closer. But as long as the underlying power structure, the scattered tailed beasts, the distance between people's hearts, and the soil that nurtured hatred remained unchanged, there would still be room to overturn everything.
He had time. He would wait—wait for the Gedo Statue to slowly fill and wait for that final moment to come.
If he hadn't discovered that Konoha now had an overabundance of goodwill—actively trying to integrate forces outside the Five Great Ninja Villages, even including Amegakure in its plans—
"Madara."
Obito stepped into the palace in the Land of Moon, where Pain stood waiting.
What had once been the Daimyo's palace of the Land of Moon had been remade into a space that was half warehouse, half workshop.
Even under the pressure of the Five Great Ninja Villages' joint blockade, by scraping together supplies from overseas black markets and channels beyond the Ninja World, the reconstruction of the Flying Fortress was finally inching forward, its basic shape beginning to emerge.
"The progress is faster than I expected," Obito said. "The overseas networks outside the Ninja World are also thriving."
"And they are equally full of pain and hatred," Pain replied.
"I heard Amegakure has agreed to participate in the Ninja Village Joint Conference Konoha initiated." Obito walked up to stand beside Pain.
Nagato, through the Pain, did not answer right away. He did not explain that it was merely a stopgap measure his subordinates in the Land of Rain had taken to deal with the situation.
"Those who inherited Hashirama's philosophy," Obito continued, not directly questioning or denying anything, but stating an observation from another angle, "seem to be taking a different approach than their predecessors. They're no longer just distributing Tailed Beasts to create a fragile balance."
"They're integrating resources, coordinating conflicts, and using development and shared interests to replace direct confrontation."
"What they are doing," Pain finally spoke again, "is still only a temporary reconciliation built on the current power structure. It is a conditional favor the strong grant the weak to preserve stability—one that can be taken back at any time."
"The seeds of hatred are still buried deep. As long as the cycle that breeds hatred remains unchanged, any peace will eventually fade."
"The cycle still hasn't truly been broken."
"Exactly," Obito said, picking up the thread of Nagato's words. "Everyone being busy right now might create a temporary illusion of stability, but once the power propping up this framework becomes unbalanced and irreconcilable conflicts appear, everything will collapse."
He stepped forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Pain. Together, they looked toward the massive metal structure piled on one side of the hall—its rough outline suggesting the disassembled parts of some kind of aircraft.
"But what they're pushing for—the fact that those mutually hostile ninja villages can follow a pace set by Konoha—still isn't completely meaningless."
Obito continued, "At the very least, it proves that under the deterrence of overwhelming force and the pressure of a shared threat, even the Five Great Ninja Villages can be forced to find a way to coexist."
"Force deterrence..." the Pain echoed.
Yes—deterrence.
Wasn't Sunagakure's and Kumogakure's compromise with Konoha, and Iwagakure's cooperation with Konoha during the Land of Snow incident, all because the devastating bombardment of that flying fortress had made everyone truly feel pain and forced the entire ninja world to witness destruction with their own eyes—so they would fear the same pain falling upon them?
"They don't need the Tailed Beasts." Nagato's will hardened again.
"Even if Konoha's intentions are genuine, Akatsuki's actions can still accelerate the arrival of that moment. If they really can bring about change, then the day the Ten-Tails is completed will be the day the foundation for eternal peace is laid."
"If they're only putting on a show..."
"Then once I complete the Ten-Tails, I'll take over everything they're doing now. With absolute power, I'll unleash absolute destruction—"
"To achieve absolute peace," Obito calmly finished for him.
—
Kurotsuchi only found out she was on the Konoha Ninja Academy's special training roster after she actually arrived in the village.
What surprised her even more was that, out of the entire Iwagakure delegation, only she and Deidara had been singled out.
"One from Kumogakure, four from Konoha, three from Sunagakure, and two from us."
If this list wasn't just for show or simple politics, then it more or less suggested that everyone on it was expected to have a certain level of influence in their own villages in the future.
The reason she thought so was that the ones from Kumogakure and Sunagakure had already been studying in Konoha for some time, and Deidara had even attended the Five Kage Summit.
As for herself, aside from being Ōnoki's granddaughter, she hadn't shown any noteworthy strength at all. Iwagakure shouldn't have let information leak to this degree, and her grandfather wasn't the kind of man who would deliberately do something like that.
Are they planning to gather intel on each village's future key figures this way?
But relatively speaking, Konoha's people would also be exposing their own information.
This was a competition, after all. As a kunoichi of Iwagakure, she had to gather information on promising shinobi from other villages while shielding her own side as much as possible.
"Deidara-nii's information has already been leaked, so we can use him to test the waters."
"He'll probably be happy to do it, too. After all, there's another Uchiha among them."
—
Roshi slid the final report on Takigakure's recent border trade fluctuations into the tray for processed documents, capped his pen, and set it neatly back in its rack.
"Getting ready to head out?" Tsunade's voice floated out from behind a small mountain of paperwork on the Hokage's desk.
"Yeah." Roshi rose to his feet. "The exchange student team from the Hidden Mist has arrived."
"Can't you just have Hiashi send someone? Kakashi's there too." Tsunade tilted half her face out from behind the stack of files to look at him. "Our special hospitality program isn't something just anyone should get to enjoy the moment they show up, you know."
Roshi walked toward the door, fingers closing around the handle.
"Ah~" Tsunade suddenly drew out her voice, as if something had just occurred to her. "I remember now… the one leading the team this time is that Jōnin, Mei Terumī, again, right? No wonder. You were treated pretty comfortably by her in the Land of Water last time, weren't you?"
"So," she added, "where did Lord Roshi arrange the meeting?"
"Tsukimi-tei."
"…Are you serious?" Tsunade's eyes widened. "The price of one meal there is enough for me to drink at an izakaya for a whole month! I am not approving that bill!"
"Maintaining the persona of someone 'absurdly extravagant' is part of my personal image management for the village's diplomatic occasions, Lady Tsunade," Roshi replied. "This is official business and should be reimbursable."
"Huh?!"
Tsunade slammed both palms on the desk and shot to her feet, leaning forward. Her blonde twintails swung over her shoulders with the motion.
"Then why can't my alcohol and gambl— I mean, my personal hobby expenses be reimbursed too?!"
"I'm maintaining the image of a 'Hokage who is approachable and generous!' Drinking with the villagers and playing a few rounds now and then is a very important part of being approachable!"
Roshi had already closed his hand around the door handle again.
"Your attributes don't need special maintenance; they've long been part of your image," he said, glancing back with a faint smile. "The 'Legendary Sucker' is already famous throughout the ninja world, Lady Tsunade."
"And besides…"
"I'm the headliner. Isn't it only natural I receive that kind of treatment?"
—
Tsukimi-tei really was a refined establishment.
It wasn't on the busiest main street of the venue district but tucked away at the end of a gentle slope lined with bamboo.
A standalone, three-story building of dark wood, with bronze wind chimes hanging from the eaves that chimed softly in the breeze.
By the time Roshi arrived, Mei was already there.
After he took his seat, the kunoichi from the Hidden Mist glanced around at the interior: the warm glow of dim yellow paper lanterns, the ink-wash scrolls hanging on the walls, and the vases placed quietly in the corners.
Every ornament was perfectly placed, the room balanced between richness and restraint—it was neither cluttered nor bare.
"Choosing a place like this… really makes the Hidden Mist's previous hospitality look quite stingy, Roshi-kun."
"Are you planning to settle all the tea you owed me in one go?" she asked.
"Once you start building a persona, you can't just stop halfway." Roshi took the teapot from the waiter and poured her tea himself. "You have to commit to the full act."
The amber liquid streamed into her cup, thin curls of white steam rising with a gentle, lingering fragrance.
Mei watched his hands move and, after a moment, let out a quiet sigh.
"I've actually been making proper preparations for what I promised you, Roshi-kun," she said softly. "I even wrote an invitation, planning to ask you to visit the Land of Water again."
"I mapped out the route this time too—first to the port in the Land of Tea, then a boat north along the eastern coast, stopping at a few small islands on the way. There are hot springs there that even most Hidden Mist villagers don't know about, and the fattest tuna of the season…"
Her voice gradually faded.
"I just didn't expect Konoha to suddenly make so many big moves."
"The proposal to ban illegal gladiator arenas, the joint conference for villages outside the Five Great Ninja Villages… When that news reached the Hidden Mist, I could already guess how busy you'd be, Roshi-kun." She smiled faintly. "So the invitation I prepared was never sent in the end."
"Rather than making things difficult for you, I decided to come here myself."
Mei met his gaze.
"After all, at a time like this, the Hidden Mist needs to know what direction Konoha intends to take this alliance."
Roshi set the teapot down.
"That place we talked about before," he said. "The direction you and I are both working toward."
"Do we really have to go this far for that goal?" Mei asked. "Even to the point of replanning the capital flows of the various Daimyō?"
Roshi nodded.
"We have to go this far."
"If we don't reach this step, then to survive, ninjas will keep taking large numbers of jobs that skirt the black market—missions that damage productive activity. They'll abandon their former principles simply because they have no other way to live."
"And the order we're trying to build will start collapsing from the outer edges."
Mei listened without interrupting.
"More importantly," Roshi went on, "the Ninja World needs integration. Not just a loose alliance of shared interests, but a unified whole that can stand against what lies beyond the Ninja World."
"Whether it's the various Daimyō… or other threats."
"This is the only chance we'll get."
"Only now—while 'conflicts between Ninjas' are still seen by everyone as the core problem of this world, and while so many are willing to work hard to resolve it—do we have any hope of doing this."
"If we wait until the future…"
"Once new conflicts take shape and opposing sides harden, the cost of pushing for this level of unity will be far higher than it is now."
------------------
AN: Check out my P@treon For extra chapters.
Thank You For your Support!!
[email protected]/noviceauthor777
-----------------------
To keep the chapters coming - Support with POWER STONES.
For Every 100 power stones - 1 BONUS chapter.