The following day, the Five Kage Summit continued.
Beyond the ongoing discussions between the major nations and Konohagakure over various technical details and postwar arrangements, Chiba brought another issue,one that concerned all Five Great Nations,directly into the open.
That issue was the Akatsuki, an organization still operating in the shadows.
In truth, given the intelligence networks of the Five Great Nations, it was impossible for them to be completely unaware of Akatsuki's existence. However, most of them lacked a clear understanding of the organization's true strength, let alone its ultimate objectives.
When Akatsuki was mentioned, Ōnoki, let out a slightly awkward smile. After all, he himself had secretly employed Akatsuki to handle certain matters in the past. As an old fox, he felt no real guilt over it.
Chiba cast him a seemingly casual glance before continuing calmly, "Akatsuki will become the greatest enemy the Five Great Nations face in the future. If they are not dealt with properly, the damage will spread to the entire shinobi world."
The Yondaime Raikage snorted coldly. "That so-called Akatsuki… are they really that dangerous? Mizukage-sama, surely you're not exaggerating."
Chiba smiled faintly. "Raikage-sama, if I remember correctly, the previous Hachibi jinchūriki of Kumogakure once lost control and went on a rampage, causing unimaginable destruction and losses to your village. Is that right?"
The Yondaime Raikage's expression changed instantly.
That incident was one of Kumogakure's most devastating disasters since the rebellion of the Gold and Silver Brothers, which had resulted in the death of the Second Raikage. Of course, he remembered it all too well.
"That's true," the Raikage replied heavily. "But what does that have to do with Akatsuki?"
Chiba's tone remained calm. "Don't you want to know who was behind the Hachibi' rampage?"
The Yondaime Raikage's eyes narrowed sharply. "Who?"
Chiba smiled. "Orochimaru."
In an instant, the gazes of the Yondaime Raikage and the other Kage all shifted toward Hiruzen Sarutobi. After all, it was common knowledge that the Legendary Sannin had all been Hiruzen's disciples.
Hiruzen's face changed immediately. "Why are you all looking at me?" he said sharply. "Orochimaru was indeed my student, but he was expelled from Konoha long ago and became a rogue ninja. What he's done has nothing to do with me!"
Chiba chuckled lightly. "But at the time of that incident, Orochimaru hadn't yet been driven out of Konoha."
The Yondaime Raikage's gaze toward Hiruzen instantly filled with fury.
Chiba continued evenly, "Of course, I believe this was Orochimaru's own decision. It had nothing to do with the Hokage's orders."
On the surface, his words seemed to absolve Hiruzen, but in reality, they only pushed the Yondaime Raikage to think deeper.
"What I'm saying is this," Chiba said calmly. "The man who caused Kumogakure's previous Hachibi jinchūriki to lose control and brought devastating losses to your village,Orochimaru,is now one of Akatsuki's members."
The Yondaime Raikage erupted in anger. "If that's the case, then Akatsuki truly deserves to be wiped out!"
"Exactly," Chiba replied. "Akatsuki is an organization composed of elite rogue ninja from various nations. To the Five Great Nations, they are nothing less than a malignant tumor,and must be eradicated."
At that moment, Darui, standing behind the Yondaime Raikage, spoke up. "Mizukage-sama, may I ask how you came to know the truth behind the previous Hachibi jinchūriki's rampage? And how are you certain that Orochimaru is currently with Akatsuki?"
"I have my own intelligence channels," Chiba said flatly. "Whether you choose to believe it or not is none of my concern."
Darui frowned slightly.
Back then, when the previous Hachibi jinchūriki, Blue B, had gone berserk, the Third Raikage had ultimately suppressed him,but not before countless elite shinobi were killed or injured. Afterward, when they questioned Blue B, he remembered nothing of what had happened.
Medical examinations later revealed that he had been afflicted by a powerful hallucinogenic toxin, one that stripped him of his will and drove him into madness. In the shinobi world at the time, there were only a handful of individuals capable of producing such a complex poison.
Kumogakure's suspects had included Hanzō of the Salamander from Amegakure, Chiyo of Sunagakure, Tsunade,the legendary medical ninja of Konoha,and, finally, Orochimaru.
Hanzō and Chiyo were both masters of poison. Tsunade, as the greatest medical ninja in the world, naturally possessed profound knowledge of toxins. As for Orochimaru, the entire shinobi world knew of his obsessive devotion to research. When it came to forbidden techniques and poisons, few,if any,understood them better than he did.
More importantly, he was mad enough to do something like that.
But in the absence of concrete evidence, Kumogakure had never been able to move beyond suspicion.
Now that Chiba had spoken so plainly, Darui could not fully confirm it,but deep down, he found it difficult to dismiss.
Chiba's confidence that Orochimaru was still part of Akatsuki stemmed from his understanding that, originally, Orochimaru had only left the organization after attempting to seize Uchiha Itachi's Sharingan and being decisively defeated. In the present, although Itachi had joined Akatsuki, his eyes had already been taken by Chiba. With no Sharingan to covet, Orochimaru naturally had no reason to leave so soon.
Of course, Orochimaru's eventual departure was inevitable,it was merely a matter of time.
Rasa spoke coldly, "Even so, Orochimaru alone isn't enough to be feared, is he?"
Chiba didn't even glance at him. "One Orochimaru, no. But within Akatsuki, he's merely one among many."
"The sudden disappearance of Sunagakure's Sandaime Kazekage plunged your village into chaos and ultimately became one of the triggers of the Third Great Ninja War," Chiba continued calmly. "Rasa,do you know the truth behind the Sandaime Kazekage's disappearance?"
Rasa's eyes widened in shock. "Y-you know?!"
"Of course," Chiba replied. "But that piece of information alone is worth several hundred million."
"And you may not even be able to afford it."
Naturally, Chiba had no intention of revealing the truth to him.
Kumogakure had already suspected Orochimaru in the Hachibi incident; Chiba had merely voiced what they were thinking. But the disappearance of the Sandaime Kazekage remained one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in the shinobi world.
"Several hundred million…?" Rasa's face turned pale. Neither he nor Sunagakure had the resources to purchase intelligence at that price anymore. They were already destitute.
Left with no other option, he could only cast a helpless look toward Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Hiruzen coughed lightly. He had just paid out three billion himself,there was no way he would continue hemorrhaging funds. Besides, while the Sandaime Kazekage's disappearance was crucial to Sunagakure, for Konoha, the war it had triggered was already long over. There was little reason to care any further.
Rasa spoke in a calm, measured tone, one that carried authority rather than urgency, his posture firm as he addressed the hall.
"Since Mizukage-sama has chosen to bring up the matter of the Sandaime Kazekage," he said evenly, "then I believe everyone present would like to hear the conclusion."
He was not mistaken.
Ōnoki, narrowed his eyes slightly, the weight of long years of war and suspicion sharpening his gaze. The Yondaime Raikage crossed his arms, his powerful frame radiating impatience restrained only by discipline. Even Hiruzen Sarutobi, usually reserved to the point of opacity, leaned forward just enough to signal his interest.
This was no longer a private issue of Sunagakure.
The disappearance of the Sandaime Kazekage had been one of the pivotal events that destabilized the shinobi world, a shadow that loomed over the outbreak of the Third Great Ninja War. An unanswered question that had fueled distrust, accusations, and bloodshed across nations.
Chiba slowly swept his gaze across the hall, fully aware that every Kage present was waiting for the same answer. There was no hesitation in his eyes, no attempt to soften what was about to be said.
"The Sandaime Kazekage," he stated calmly, "was assassinated by a shinobi of Sunagakure itself."
The air froze.
"Sasori of the Red Sand."
For a brief moment, Rasa did not react at all.
No sharp intake of breath. No outburst of anger. No denial.
But something shifted deep within his gaze, a barely perceptible tremor betraying the weight of realization settling into place.
Sasori.
Chiyo's grandson.
Sunagakure's most gifted puppeteer,hailed as a prodigy, raised, trained, and honed by the village's own hands.
A cold clarity spread through Rasa's thoughts, fitting pieces together with ruthless precision.
So this was why.
Memories resurfaced unbidden: Chiyo's restrained demeanor years ago, her sudden insistence on ending negotiations with Kirigakure, the way she had subtly redirected conversations whenever the Sandaime Kazekage's disappearance was mentioned. At the time, Rasa had believed it to be caution,political instinct born from experience.
Now he understood.
She had suspected it.
Perhaps she had never possessed proof. Perhaps she had feared the consequences of being certain. But suspicion alone had been enough. And rather than expose that suspicion,rather than allow Sunagakure to face the unbearable truth that one of its own had murdered a Kazekage,Chiyo had chosen silence.
She had chosen the village's dignity over the truth.
And in doing so, Sunagakure had continued to let suspicion fester outward, allowing blame to drift toward Konoha, toward Kirigakure, toward any nation convenient enough to shoulder it. That mistrust had fed directly into the escalation of war.
Rasa's hands clenched slowly at his sides.
Chiba, watching him closely, continued without pause or mercy.
"Sasori assassinated the Sandaime Kazekage, stole his body, and converted it into a human puppet. Shortly afterward, he defected."
There was no embellishment, no accusation in his tone,only facts, laid bare.
Rasa finally exhaled, his voice low and stripped of pretense.
"…So it was us."
Not anger.
Not denial.
Acceptance.
The reaction in the hall was immediate.
The Yondaime Raikage's expression darkened, his jaw tightening. "So the rogue ninja who helped trigger the Third Great Ninja War," he said coldly, "was created by Sunagakure itself."
Ōnoki let out a humorless chuckle, eyes heavy with disdain. "How ironic."
Chiba inclined his head slightly, acknowledging the sentiment. "That is precisely my point."
"For years, Sunagakure allowed the truth to remain buried. Suspicion was permitted,encouraged,to drift toward other nations. That ambiguity became fuel, feeding directly into the flames of war."
He paused briefly before adding, his voice calm to the point of indifference, "Now the truth has surfaced. What consequences follow… are no longer my concern."
Rasa said nothing.
There was nothing left to say.
Chiyo was not present. The only person who might have suspected the truth from the beginning was gone, and the opportunity to address it internally had long since passed. And Chiba had no intention of shielding Sunagakure from the weight of its own history.
At this point, Sunagakure possessed nothing that Kirigakure required,no leverage, no strategic value, no political capital worth preserving.
The game was over.
After a long silence, Rasa spoke again, his voice hollow but steady.
"Sasori of the Red Sand (Akasuna no Sasori)… is he part of Akatsuki?"
Chiba's eyes narrowed slightly. "Yes."
That single word struck harder than any accusation.
Any remaining emotional distance Rasa might have maintained toward Akatsuki collapsed instantly. The murderer of the Sandaime Kazekage, the shinobi whose actions had helped plunge the world into chaos, a product of Sunagakure's own failures,now stood among Akatsuki's ranks.
Chiba shifted his gaze to the others.
"Kumogakure," he said calmly, "has already suffered directly at Akatsuki's hands."
Then to Hiruzen.
"Konoha requires no explanation. The man calling himself Uchiha Madara, Orochimaru, and Uchiha Itachi are all members of Akatsuki."
Hiruzen's expression remained grave. He already knew,but knowledge did not lessen the burden of truth.
Finally, Chiba turned to Ōnoki.
Ōnoki snorted softly. "Let me guess. Iwagakure isn't exempt either."
Chiba allowed himself a faint smile.
"Deidara. Your former disciple."
Ōnoki's face darkened instantly, while Kurotsuchi and the others stiffened behind him.
By now, no one in the hall questioned Chiba's intelligence network. One revelation after another, he had dismantled every illusion of distance between the Five Great Nations and Akatsuki.
"This," Chiba concluded evenly, "is why Akatsuki must be eliminated. Not through isolated action. Not through proxy conflicts."
"But together."
No one objected.
And thus, not through force, but through truth, calculation, and cold political inevitability, the foundation of the alliance was laid.
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