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Tsunade slowly turned around and stared at Shizune in astonishment. Shizune had been with her for so long and had undergone so many physical examinations, yet she hadn't noticed anything unusual.

Kennen was not surprised at all. In his opinion, not even the five Kage from the five ninja villages could pass the drug's test, let alone the guards.

Although most of them possess strong willpower, robust physique, and mental fortitude, their chakra is notoriously weak, which is a drawback.

"Maki, how are you feeling?" Gaara asked Maki behind him after seeing that Shizune was in trouble.

“It’s alright.” Maki said, but he saw Gaara’s surprised look, because to Gaara, this reply was just a meaningless howl.

As the elite ninjas in the conference room began belting out high notes, Ai had no choice but to believe it.

At the same time, Ai also inexplicably felt a slight itch in her throat.

With a snap, to everyone's astonishment, Ai slammed his fist into his own throat, as if he were sending himself to heaven.

"What are you looking at! Can't I even have a sore throat?!" Ai took a breath and shouted loudly.

The only consolation was that the voice that came out was normal and full of energy.

However, Ai himself was not feeling well. There was a vague, imperceptible yet uncontrollable urge within him, which he had only managed to suppress with the pain and the oppressive feeling of death.

The other four Kage are all fine, even that old man is sitting perfectly still. Our Raikage absolutely cannot be the first to fail!

Ai had some rather peculiar beliefs in her mind.

After Ai forced himself to swallow his anger, Kennen figured the time was right. The current situation was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune; at least the Kage of these ninja villages hadn't fallen.

pat~

Kennan took out his pocket watch, pressed the timer button, and as the normally rotating hands stopped, time also stopped.

During this selective time freeze, besides Kennen and his group of human alliance members, only the Five Kage are able to move.

Onoki floated cross-legged above the chair, surveying the still world around him.

The old man's eyesight was still very good; he could clearly see the birds hovering in the sky and the butterflies flapping their wings as if about to take off.

“Now, time in this area has been stopped for a limited time.” Kennen flicked open the pocket watch cover and pointed to a scale line. “Until the hand reaches this line, time will rewind to before I came in, that is, before I released the Howling Potion.”

As Kennan spoke, the pointer was moving backward at a very slow pace.

"So everyone, there's no need to worry about the personal safety of your subordinates. Now, please listen carefully to what I have to say." Kennan looked intently at each of their faces.

Tsunade: "Please speak."

Kennan gave Shen a wink at the door, signaling him to open the door. "First, let's welcome some friends you may know."

Chapter 363 Rogue ninjas aren't scary, it's embarrassing if no one's around.

The gate slowly opened, and Nagato walked in with several members of Akatsuki.

"Uchiha Itachi!" Tsunade's eyes immediately locked onto Uchiha Itachi. It was really strange to suddenly meet one of her own undercover agents in a formal setting. Coupled with the time-stopping effect, Tsunade was momentarily flustered.

Tsunade's sudden loss of composure would normally have been a good opportunity for the other Kage to mock her, but no one was in the mood for it now.

"Sasori, Granny Chiyo missed you a lot. I didn't expect to see you here," Gaara greeted.

With a creaking sound, Sasori's puppet body moved twice, without saying a word, silently following behind Nagato, like a machine operating according to a predetermined program.

"Kisame Hoshigaki." Mei Terumi also focused her attention on her own rogue ninja, especially that greatsword. Kirigakure had been trying to reclaim all the greatswords, but so far there had been no progress.

"Ah, the Mizukage has changed." Kisame Hoshigaki glanced at Mei Terumi indifferently, then leaned against the wall with his Samehada shoulder. "It's rare to see a different woman."

"And there's something even rarer: the village has decided to drop the warrant for your arrest. After the meeting, let's find a place to sit down and chat?" Mei Terumi said, trying to win him over. Kirigakure had suffered enough from Obito's actions over the years. Although things were now back on track, their fighting strength had been greatly reduced. Bringing back a powerful ninja was a good thing from every perspective.

Kisame Hoshigaki was indeed a little surprised, and his body subconsciously moved a little closer to Itachi Uchiha. The changes in the new Mizukage were completely beyond his expectations.

Nagato glanced at Kennen, as if this negotiation wasn't entirely meaningless for peace.

"Old man, you're not dead yet?" Deidara said, tilting his head back and glancing at Onoki.

"Your so-called art has become unkempt after all this time?" Onoki retorted, after all, Deidara's hair looked like it had been chewed by a dog, and his face was covered in dirt, as if he hadn't washed his face in a long time.

Deidara was a little embarrassed. His current state was entirely due to the beating he received from Kennen and his group, along with the Sand Ninja. Although he eventually regained his freedom thanks to Kennen's arrangements and returned to Akatsuki with Kennen's words, these injuries would take a long time to heal.

"That old geezer who doesn't understand art," Deidara muttered, then fell silent.

Ai looked around, as if he had discovered a new continent. It turned out that the only thing missing from this Akatsuki was their Raikage's rogue ninja.

Wait a minute, is this something to be proud of? Everyone else has it, but we don't, making it seem like our ninjas aren't strong enough...

While Ai was struggling with his thoughts, Nagato faced Kennen and nodded slightly, "As agreed, Zetsu and the newcomer Tobi were left in Amegakure, and Kakuzu and Hidan are watching over them."

"Okay, find a seat." Kennen waved his hand, and several chairs rose from the floor and were neatly arranged behind the Akatsuki members.

"You can continue your reminiscing after the meeting. The main reason I've gathered you here is to discuss two things. Before I begin, I want to emphasize one thing: for certain reasons, from now on, the Land of Iron will become an absolutely safe zone. Outside of this place, you can settle any scores or grudges you may have, and I won't interfere. But that won't work here. Any objections?"

No one spoke up. You, old man, have a big fist, and even time can influence things. You can call the shots on this little matter.

"First thing, regarding a special virus. Shen, distribute the paper documents. Nagato, you share your personal feelings as one of the victims," ​​Kennen directed the proceedings.

Nagato walked to the front, standing. "Half a month ago, I couldn't stand up because, a long time ago, in a despicable ambush, my legs lost their ability to move."

Nagato's tone was very calm, as if he wasn't the one who was injured. "Recently, I discovered that the injuries to my legs that hadn't healed for years were starting to heal on their own. But the price was that I was very prone to falling into a state that I couldn't control myself. My mental state and judgment were severely affected. After Master Kennan's examination, it was determined that this was a negative effect of the vampire virus."

"Hmm? How was it checked? Was it also done with the Howling Potion?" Tsunade asked.

Nagato was silent for a few seconds. Kennen waved his hand, indicating that they should skip the topic. The examination at that time was slightly more intense than the Howling Potion. After all, Nagato had already become half-vampire at that time, and it would take a heavy-handed approach to reverse the situation, such as using electric current to remove the excessive amount of vampire virus in his body.

Nagato continued sharing his thoughts. In short, he was mostly normal during that period and remembered what he wanted to do. But at night, when it was time to rest, Nagato began to resemble Hidan's cult of killing people without reason, and almost attacked the villagers of his own village.

Because of this, Konan fought Nagato for the first time. Fortunately, Nagato was unable to control Pain in that state, otherwise Konan would probably be dead by now.

After Nagato finished sharing, the five Kage were all lost in thought, but one thing was certain: none of the five people present could accept this change.

"So that's how it is. No wonder the leader looked like he was going to eat me alive all that time," Deidara whispered to Sasori beside him.

Sasori ignored him, but Konan glanced at Deidara. That matter was related to the vampire virus, but it was definitely not that big. The two of them not only failed to capture the tailed beast as planned, but were also captured alive. Being captured alive was bad enough, but they were released. Being released was a good thing, but they didn't know anything when asked, and they didn't even understand how they were captured alive.

Moreover, after they returned, they kept repeating the words and strange ideas that Kennan had asked them to convey, making everyone think that these two guys had been quickly brainwashed, which was simply outrageous.

Who could remain calm and not get angry in this situation? Even a saint would be so angry that he would jump up from his seat.

"The second thing, well, it's also our first purpose for coming here. After communicating with the summoned beasts of the three holy lands, as well as a soul that wanders in the mortal world, unable to interfere with reality and unwilling to ascend to heaven, we've basically figured things out."

This time, without Kennen's prompting, Shen directly placed the assigned items in front of each Kage. Besides a thick document, there were two books that Jiraiya had written and published during this period.

The top ten unsolved mysteries of the ninja world and speculations about the origin of chakra.

Ai blinked. He wasn't a big reader, but he had heard of these two books. Could it be that the stories in these books weren't just made up to attract attention, but were true?

Chapter 364 Each More Clever Than the Last

The stories written in Jiraiya's books don't contain many obscure words, nor do they have any messy or chaotic storylines.

The reading threshold is very low, after all, the target audience is everyone in the entire ninja world, how can it be spread if it is made too highbrow?

Therefore, most people present were able to quickly grasp the key points of the story. The Five Kage, Nagato, and Konan were all quite knowledgeable and had been able to sit in their positions for so long. Even if they were not good at it before, they had now improved.

Itachi Uchiha was an undercover agent, and given his background as a member of the Uchiha clan, he was also quite knowledgeable and had strong analytical and inductive abilities.

Deidara is the same; Onoki was his former teacher, so how could he not understand reading?

Needless to say, Sasori's elite education in the Sand Village was quite good, and his own talent was unparalleled among his peers, placing him in the top tier.

The only one who might not have this ability is Kisame Hoshigaki, but he doesn't need it. He crossed his legs and looked at the things handed to him slowly, as if he were reading a storybook.

Anyway, I'm just a rogue ninja, I don't know anything except fighting and killing, so I should just follow the leader's orders.

This is Kisame Hoshigaki's idea, and it's a pretty good idea, at least better than what Ai is thinking right now.

The burly man, though rough, was actually quite shrewd and had already caught those key words. To put it bluntly, it was just a cliché story: aliens invaded, then injected special energy—chakra—and finally, due to internal strife, the alien leader was sealed on the moon.

Indeed, if this were true, it would be quite terrifying at first glance—that everything one has is built on someone else's conspiracy.

Ke Ai thought about it carefully and realized that no matter what, there were only two possibilities for the other party's plan: if it succeeded, then everyone would be gone and that would be the end of it; if it failed, then that would be fine too.

In short, after assessing the strength of himself and his village, Ai assumed that his position was similar to that of Kisame Hoshigaki, who was reading a storybook—a lowly soldier following orders. Or rather, most of the people present shared this identity.

Having confirmed this, Ai started thinking about other things. Death was nothing to worry about, it was all over, but living was a different story.

This seemingly alien human alliance is an enemy of the Otsutsuki clan in the story, and the human alliance seems to be chasing after the Otsutsuki clan, which means that they are at least stronger than the Otsutsuki clan.

If the Otsutsuki clan is stronger than all the current ninjas combined, then according to the progressive relationship, it can be clearly determined that the Human Alliance is greater than the Ninja World.

Although we don't know exactly how big the difference is, that doesn't stop Ai from using a similar scenario as a replacement. There's no need to think too much about it; just replace it with the era of Hashirama Senju and that's it.

Hmm... It's scary to think about. It's only because Hashirama Senju was kind and had a bit of inexplicable idealism that the territory of Konoha and the land of fire wouldn't be so small now. I hope this human alliance can be in line with Hashirama Senju in this respect.

A slightly raised her eyes, glancing at Shin and Zed behind Tsunade. Her mood grew even heavier. This alliance seemed to have a pretty good relationship with Konoha. Could it be that after dealing with that alien, it'll be our turn...?

"Alright, that's about enough time. Anyone who hasn't finished reading can take it home after the meeting and read it at their leisure," Kennan said in a deep voice. "Now that everyone understands the seriousness and urgency of the matter, I hope that the following agenda items will be passed directly without any objections..."

"On behalf of Kumogakure, I fully agree with all your proposals and will do my utmost to cooperate." A raised his hand sharply and declared loudly, interrupting Kennen's speech. "A great ninja village like ours has a responsibility to maintain peace among ninjas and resist common threats..."

"Ahem, on behalf of Iwagakure, I agree to all the proposals." Onoki coughed twice, interrupting A's subsequent words.

Old man, you reacted quickly!

Ai turned to look at Onoki and thought to himself that he had only just begun to speak when he could no longer continue.

When I used this trick, you weren't even the Raikage yet.

Ōnoki didn't meet Ai's gaze. After giving his opinion, he sat down shakily, looking just like an old man who couldn't even kill a chicken.

Kennan paused for a moment and looked at the other three shadows.

Mei Terumi raised her hand with a grin, occasionally casting a charming glance at Shin and Zed behind her, "On behalf of Kirigakure, I agree to all the proposals."

With more than half of the ninja villages directly expressing their stance, the pressure suddenly fell on Konoha and Sunagakure.

Their situation is completely different from the previous three. Needless to say, the Raikage and Tsuchikage have already established their authority in the village. In addition, there are no particularly large ninja clans or internal power struggles. As long as they are determined, the two of them can approve almost any proposal.

The situation is similar for the Mizukage. Although his prestige is not as great as the two above, the influence of correcting the wrongs still exists. In addition, since he is not the first ninja village to agree, there will not be too much resistance when he goes back to explain to the ninja village.

Konoha is different. Although Tsunade is from the Senju clan and is a direct descendant of the founder of Konoha, her position was directly passed down after the death of the Third Hokage. Even if her position is not legitimate, it is certainly not as secure as that of A and Onoki.

Furthermore, during the Third Hokage's tenure, the Hokage's power had already been weakened. Not to mention whether arbitrary orders would be approved, even correct orders might not be approved normally, as Danzo was watching from the shadows.

Gaara is in the same situation. His reputation as Kazekage is so bad that if there were no other suitable candidate, he would have no chance at all.

Sasori and Deidara's attack did somewhat salvage Gaara's reputation; in that raid, Gaara at least demonstrated the basic responsibility and duty of a ninja village kage.

But before things could escalate, Sasori and Deidara were dealt with by Kennen's side, bringing this reversal of reputation to an abrupt halt, preventing it from reaching its full potential.