A cracking sound echoed.
Fourth Raikage's muscles met the pitch-black hands of the shadow, producing a teeth-grinding friction.
Lightning flickered around him. The rage on his face suddenly vanished, replaced by a look of intense resolve. Even the few shadow-forms empowered by that strange technique were being gradually pried off.
As expected of the Raikage, he does have some strength, Link mused. His small number of shadows alone couldn't bring him down instantly.
Link looked over with a calm expression and said, "I don't want to kill any of you."
Having said that, he found it rather satisfying. No wonder Hashirama always liked to say that line; it really did look impressive.
"Boom!" More shadows rushed to surround the Fourth Raikage, countless small fists thudding in rapid sequence. An instant later, the Raikage—still blazing with Lightning Release Chakra Mode just moments ago—was slammed into the wall.
Because Link's shadows inherited his short stature, they couldn't effectively strike certain high spots. Yet, ironically, maneuvers like the "Thousand Years of Death" worked all too well.
The Fourth Kazekage, who witnessed this, felt a chill somewhere down below.
"All calmed down now?" Link strode atop the table, looking down from above at the Fourth Raikage, whose body was half-embedded in the wall. The next second, all the shadows in the room returned to his feet, and he spoke calmly, "I have no intention of killing you."
"Swish!" The Raikage's guards, Darui and C, one dark-skinned and one fair, rushed over and drew their weapons, standing defensively in front of their leader but refraining from attacking.
"Tch!"
The Fourth Raikage gave a muffled grunt. Debris fell around him as he wrenched himself from the wall. Even though the lightning-charged cloak had saved him from serious injury, the sheer speed and force of these shadows were disturbing. He realized that a headlong fight was ill-advised.
He might not even survive.
A typically hot-headed man, he finally forced his brain to kick in. Seeing just how strong the boy's shadows were, he recognized how serious this was.
"So…what exactly does Konoha want?" Onoki maintained a calm look as he spoke, though the occasional glance at the pitch-black shadow beneath the table betrayed his inner unease.
"Nothing at all." Link rubbed his brow. He hadn't slept at all last night—between performing multiple Transferences (turning the dead into new life) and working with Konoha's administrative vacuum, he had to handle everything personally whenever he stepped out.
"I just don't want trouble from any of you," he said, somewhat impatiently. "In a while, we'll probably release the Tailed Beasts."
That was a proposal from 'First Hashirama' and was likely to pass under 'Second Tobirama' who doted on his brother. Plus, the Sage of Six Paths had personally requested it. They weren't planning to keep them.
He personally still had more than enough Chakra blocks for himself thanks to picking up so many after the 'Nine-Tails Incident World.' So he had no pressing need to exploit Tailed Beasts.
"So I came here precisely to avoid wasting more time with you," Link said, focusing on the Fourth Raikage.
"If you really want war, I'll more than gladly oblige."
It was a startlingly frank statement.
The new Fifth Mizukage, Terumi Mei—who had just taken over right before this meeting—wore a complicated expression. Yet Kirigakure, having suffered severe losses under the Bloody Mist era, had no intention of meddling in a potential war or backing the other Kage's demands.
Strictly speaking, her village had lost the Six-Tails Jinchūriki, Utakata, who fled and ended up traveling with the little brat, but after the internal coup and new policies, Kirigakure no longer had time or resources for a vendetta.
Even if they wanted him back, it was complicated: in that year of chaos, countless shinobi defected, so whether Utakata counted as a genuine missing-nin was questionable.
Better not to get involved.
"I understand," she said, looking reluctant, then rose from her seat. "Since none of this seems related to Kirigakure, may I withdraw from these talks?"
Staying any longer might risk being labeled an enemy by that monstrous young Hokage standing on the table.
Mifune pondered a moment, then nodded.
The Fifth Mizukage left the central seats, taking a seat further behind.
Seeing this, the Fourth Kazekage followed suit without saying a word.
If this had been before Konoha's Chūnin Exams, he might have conspired with Iwa for a war, but after those Exams concluded and he'd returned to discover Sasori's sudden disappearance—and with him the stolen Third Kazekage puppet—Sunagakure was now preoccupied.
Sasori had apparently planned his defection well in advance, fleeing with the famed puppet that served as Suna's main resource for forging contracts.
Meanwhile, the village had been making quite a profit over the past year by selling Iron Sand… So losing that puppet was the major headache, overshadowing any notion of a war against Konoha.
That left only Onoki.
"How about you?" Link glanced over at Onoki.
He found the Tsuchikage the most pleasing to the eye among the others for "certain reasons," so he was a bit softer in tone.
Onoki fell silent for a while. Then he too rose.
His village's situation: Four-Tails Jinchūriki, Rōshi, had parted on bad terms long ago, so his death or capture was not a huge blow.
Five-Tails Jinchūriki, Han, was captured; that stung, but the losses were still less severe than the blow to Kumogakure, which lost an absolutely crucial Perfect Jinchūriki.
Now, that was all. A direct war with Konoha when they'd obviously grown extremely strong… Did Onoki truly want that? Probably not.
"Alright." The elderly Tsuchikage gave a nod, turned, and left the center seat as well.
Now Link alone remained at the main table, glancing sideways at the parted curtain.
Sitting behind it was Gaara, who gave a friendly smile in return. Then Link gestured to Shizune and Yamato.
"Sigh."
Shizune rubbed her forehead with a sigh, rummaging in the scroll she carried and summoned three lavish chairs—the same ones they'd brought along—arranged them.
Link waited a moment while vast shadows slipped in through the door's cracks, returning to him.
When all the shadow-forms had merged back into his main shadow, he sat down in the chair, then, to the astonishment of onlookers, left.
"Time to go home!" he announced.
The Five Kage Summit concluded there and then.
~~~
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