Naruto : Cruel Rebirth

The Raikage shouted, "What is this?!"

Danzo said, "The leader of Akatsuki is most likely Uchiha Madara."

"What!?" The four Kage were all shocked.

Oonoki hesitated, "That guy... didn't he die a long time ago?"

Danzo replied, "The details are unclear, but the information is reliable."

Oonoki said, "I can't believe it. Madara is still alive…"

At this moment, Mifune suddenly spoke up, "As the leader of a neutral country, I want to say a few words. The leader of Akatsuki is very knowledgeable about the way the world works. He uses the mistrust between nations to build his own power during this time of peace."

"But as the saying goes, misfortune and fortune go hand in hand. Today, the five Kage have gathered, and that's a good thing," he continued.

"I propose that we form a Ninja Alliance to deal with the threat of Akatsuki together."

Oonoki said, "A Ninja Alliance... This is not something that can be done just by saying it. The five great ninja villages are all equally powerful. Who will lead the alliance?"

Mifune said, "The only remaining Jinchuriki is the Nine-Tails of Konohagakure... How we guide him will be the most important thing."

The Kage fell silent.

Mifune said, "Why don't we let the Hokage lead the Ninja Alliance?"

Upon hearing this, all four Kage were shocked.

After all, outside of Konohagakure, no one knew that Naruto had defected.

"What did you say!?" The Raikage reacted most strongly.

Danzo calmly said, "If there are no objections, I'll step forward and take the position…"

Raikage shouted, "Why should it be the Hokage? How can we entrust such a person with this responsibility?"

Mifune glanced over, "Then Raikage-sama, who do you think should take the lead?"

Raikage yelled, "None of our villages have joined Akatsuki. A person who can't be trusted, who holds a heavy burden, I'm the best choice for the job!"

Mifune responded, "That might be hard for everyone to believe…"

Raikage asked, "What?"

Mifune pointed at the broken table in front of Raikage, speaking logically, "Using this kind of force and approach to lead the ninjas... do you think that's suitable? If you let emotions take over and put power above everything else, the alliance will fall apart, just like this table."

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Raikage clenched his teeth in frustration, hitting the table.

Mifune turned his gaze away and calmly said, "Of course, this is just my objective view as an outsider."

"Kazekage-sama is too young to take on such a heavy responsibility and might not be able to convince everyone. Besides, as the Kazekage, he already has enough on his plate."

"And Tsuchikage-sama, his age doesn't help. He's clearly lacking energy, and besides, he tends to use Akatsuki, which makes him hard to trust."

"As for Mizukage-sama, Akatsuki originated from Kirigakure, and there are concerns about intelligence leaks. There are also issues with spies."

"Though we don't fully understand why Akatsuki wants to collect the Tailed Beasts, we can't allow them to take the Nine-Tails."

"The Nine-Tails belongs to Konohagakure, so we believe it would be safest for the Hokage to take the lead…"

Mifune's words were reasonable, and the Raikage realized that his hopes of becoming the leader were gone. He shouted, "I'm here to show the power of Kumogakure Village! I don't care about this Ninja Alliance!"

Mizukage's bodyguard, A, had a sharp mind. He noticed that Mifune, as the leader of a neutral country, was clearly showing favoritism.

"There's something off. We need to confirm this… Chojuro, get ready for battle."

"Eh?" The young Chojuro wasn't as experienced and didn't understand what was going on. He simply tightened his grip on his sword.

Ao quickly formed a hand seal, and the outline of chakra veins around his right eye, covered by a black eye mask, became visible.

—Byakugan! The chakra from Danzo's right eye was clearly visible to Ao's Byakugan.

Ao was shocked, thinking to himself, "How can this be… The chakra color around his right eye and the veins... that's Uchiha Shisui's chakra! The color I'll never forget after facing him once!"

Whoosh! A moved to stand behind Terumi Mei and said to Danzo, "Hokage-sama, would you mind letting us take a look at the right eye you've covered?"

"What!?" All four Kage were stunned.

Danzo: "..."

Oonoki asked, "What's going on?"

Ao turned to Danzo, saying, "That right eye... it should have been transplanted from Uchiha Shisui, right? Shisui's Sharingan can enter someone's mind and control their thoughts without them even realizing it."

"Being completely unaware of being controlled makes it one of the most powerful genjutsu!"

Raikage reacted, "Hokage, you didn't use that on Mifune, did you?"

Mifune: "!?"

Ao said, "This right eye of mine, I got it from a past battle with the Hyuga. It's a rare prize, so I can't criticize others. But as for the genjutsu on Mifune-sama, it's already been broken just now... Also—"

Ao suddenly glanced toward the back of Mifune: "You two can drop the disguise now!"

"Hmm!?" Everyone in the room turned their gaze to the disguised warriors, Okisuke and Urakaku!

Disguised as the tall warrior Urakaku, Orochimaru thought, "Heh... I was found out. You wouldn't have expected it, Naruto-kun, that Mizukage's guards would have Byakugan."

"..." Disguised as the one-eyed warrior Okisuke, Naruto's expression was unreadable.

After all, it had been a long time, and the events of that meeting were only known to Naruto through others' accounts, so he couldn't possibly know every detail. 

But the goal had been achieved: Danzo's genjutsu had been used up! Boom! The transformation jutsu was lifted.

Naruto, wearing a mask, and Orochimaru revealed themselves to everyone!

Swoosh!!

Mifune didn't waste time. He drew his sword to strike—

Naruto quickly unsheathed his sword to block Mifune's powerful attack. He smiled faintly, saying, "As expected of the leader of the samurai, such swift swordsmanship."

Mifune demanded, "Where are Okisuke and Urakaku?"

"Who knows?" Naruto casually pushed his sword away with his left hand and reached into his ninja tools pouch with his right.

"Hmm!?" Mifune's eyes narrowed as he pulled his sword back.

He saw Naruto pull out a smoke bomb from his pouch and throw it on the ground.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The sounds of fists and feet clashing filled the smoke.

Then, with a loud crash, the wall shattered... Danzo, clutching his shoulder, quickly fled, with Fuu and Torune right behind him.

Naruto and Orochimaru were about to chase after them when Ao from Kirigakure blocked their path.

"Even with your mask, your chakra can't be hidden. You're the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki from Konohagakure, right!" 

"And you... you're Orochimaru, one of the three ninjas of Konohagakure, the dangerous rogue ninja who was rumored to be dead. I didn't expect you to still be alive and working with our village's Jinchuriki."

"Heh..." Orochimaru gave a seductive smile.

Naruto thought, "Ao from Kirigakure, although I haven't had much contact with him, I can tell he's a sharp ninja. Now I understand why he was recruited by the 'Shell' organization after surviving the Fourth Great Ninja War."

At that moment, Raikage shouted, "Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, you're Uzumaki Naruto, right? Answer me, do you know where Uchiha Sasuke is?"

Naruto: "I know."

Raikage: "Where is he?"

Naruto: "I won't tell you..."

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