From the moment the Five Kages gathered, an oppressive air filled the venue—Kurotsuchi, her face grim; Darui, unhappy at having his everyday work interrupted by the urgent meeting; Chojuro, face tight in consideration of the argument that was about to happen; Gaara, taking his seat as calmly as ever, having been informed in advance by Naruto of the Land of Earth’s reckless action; and in the center of them all was Naruto, looking intense, like he was about to go into the battle of a lifetime.
Naruto started them off. “Thanks for coming. I know you’re all busy.”
“So you’re going to give us your answer then?” Kurotsuchi asked immediately, her voice inflectionless but exerting a tremendous pressure.
A faint smile on his lips, the Hokage looked at the black-haired Tsuchikage. “Actually, there’s something I want to ask you today, Kurotsuchi.”
“Goodness. And what’s that?” Kurotsuchi replied, feigning innocence, while the corners of her mouth curled up.
Naruto put his hands on the table and leaned forward. “Is it true that the Land of Earth is planning to invade the Land of Flowers?”
“What?” Darui cried out, the color in his sleepy eyes changing. “Whoa, Naruto. What did you just say?”
“The Land of Earth is going to invade the Land of Flowers. That’s what I said.”
“What is the meaning of this, Kurotsuchi?!” Darui shouted.
Kurotsuchi furrowed her brow, seemingly annoyed, and shook her head from side to side with a sigh. Eyes still firmly trained on Naruto, she spoke slowly. “Konoha’s always secretly digging up information on the other villages and trying to stand on top. While they scream in shrill voices about peace and bonds, in the shadows, they’re using Sasuke and the Anbu and watching vigilantly for their chance to take control of the continent. The sooner the rest of you wake up to this, the better. None of us’ll be laughing once they’ve got us pushed past the point of no return while we were lying around with our feet up.”
“I’m telling you, Konoha would never do anything like that. Believe it.”
“You can say whatever you want.”
“Answer my question!” Darui interrupted. “Is it true the Land of Earth plans to invade the Land of Flowers?!”
“Yeah, it is.” The Tsuchikaze shrugged.
Darui’s cheeks tightened. “Kurotsuchi, what do you even know about the Land of Flowers?”
“They have a long-standing alliance with the Land of Lightning, right?” Kurotsuchi replied without looking at Darui.
“If you attack the Land of Flowers, the ninja of Kumogakure will absolutely come to their aid. And you know what that would mean, right?”
“When the Land of Earth moves, the ninja of the village of Iwagakure simply obey. Any enemies that stand in the way will be cleared away, a necessary sacrifice.”
“Are you serious right now?”
“Stupid question.” Kurotsuchi sidestepped Darui and looked to Naruto. “The disclosure of Konoha’s secrets. What’s your answer?”
“This is not the time for talking about that.” Darui pressed.
Kurotsuchi finally looked at him. “Could you be quiet a sec? I’m talking to Naruto right now.”
From where he stood behind Naruto, Shikamaru could almost hear the blood vessels in Darui’s head rupturing.
The gentle Raikage was carried away by anger and leaped to his feet. “If you wish to fight me so badly, we can just do it right here and now.”
Kurotsuchi lowered her eyes and sighed. “And what is you and I fighting here going to do? The Land of Earth’s policy isn’t going to change if I lose. Naturally, if you lose, I’m not going to start thinking differently all of a sudden. Either way, it’s pointless.”
“Just hang on a sec!” Naruto shouted. “What is this place even for then? This is supposed to be a time when the Five Kages come together and discuss things for the sake of peace, isn’t it? Please, Darui. Sit down. Kurotsuchi, you too. Let’s talk this out.”
Still glaring at Kurotsuchi, Darui sat down, his body shaking. The black-clad Tsuchikage stayed where she was, however, and continued to press Naruto.
“Those of us who went through the great war know the power you and Sasuke wield. Konoha has two ninja with enough strength to wipe out an entire country. Do you really not understand what that means, Naruto?”
“Sasuke and I would never do anything to hurt anyone,” Naruto protested. “We only use our power against groups like Akatsuki who want to tear down this peace. You gotta believe me.”
“So Konoha intends to enforce order over the entire continent?” The Tsuchikage arched an eyebrow. “How is that different from controlling it, exactly?”
“That’s not what we want!” Naruto roared, angry for once at a meeting. His face red, he said to Kurotsuchi, “We just wanna keep everyone safe. Trust me. Sasuke and I want peace more than anyone else.”
“We’ll protect the peace of our own village ourselves,” she snapped. “No one asked you to step up and keep the whole world safe.”
“Um?” Chojuro raised his hand. When Naruto nodded silently, the Mizukage pushed his glasses up. “Ninja work for their own countries. That’s only natural. And indeed, it might be ideal for the Five Kages to join hands together like this. But if we stop fighting, ninja will no longer be ninja.”
Shikamaru didn’t miss the hint of pain bleeding into Chojuro’s eyes. The Mizukage was fighting his own true self for the sake of his village.
“Perhaps it’s about time we stopped pretending to play nice?” Chojuro said.
The air in the room froze. Everyone gathered there held their breath, picturing in the backs of their minds a future in which the solidarity of the five hidden villages had broken down.
Now…
While the meeting members were held fast by Chojuro’s words, Shikamaru wove a sign and released his chakra.
“Wha—” The first to cry out was the one closest to him, Naruto.
The entire venue was enveloped in Shikamaru’s shadow. The Five Kages, as well as the people who followed them, were unable to move so much as a finger.
Shadow Possession jutsu. The first time he’d used it in a conflict in a long time.
With the sign still held in front of his chin, Shikamaru glared at the Five Kages as he began to speak. “You’ve all been yammering on without a thought, but haven’t you forgotten the key element here?”
“Stop, Shikamaru,” the Hokage said.
Ignoring his friend, Shikamaru said to his foolish brethren, “It’s true that Naruto and Sasuke have the power to destroy a country. But they’re not the only ninja in Konoha. Even without them, the difference in strength between Konoha and the other villages is overwhelming. And if the head of Konoha, the Hokage, is willing to lay his life on the line to protect this alliance, then we ninja of Konoha will follow him, even if it means giving up our own lives. We won’t allow anyone to disrupt this peace. Got it, Kurotsuchi? Chojuro? Listen good. If you say you’re going to leave, then my shadow will crush your heads.”
His jutsu was perfectly deployed. Kurotsuchi might have had a Kekkei Genkai, but it would be hard even for her to undo a shadow possession this perfect. If anyone would be able to, it would have been Naruto, who had full control over the power of a tailed beast.
“Kurotsuchi, Chojuro, do you really intend to go to war with Konoha?”
“Stop this mischief, Shikamaru,” Gaara said in an even tone.
Out of the corner of his eye, Shikamaru looked into his brother-in-law’s eyes beneath his forehead where the character for “love” was carved. “I’m serious.”
“All the more so, in that case. There’s no point in killing Kurotsuchi and Chojuro here. You know that better than anyone.”
“There is a point. If word gets out that Shikamaru of Konoha disposed of the Tsuchikage and the Mizukage, ninja all over the continent will freeze in place. Everyone will know just how serious Konoha is. And if someone comes at us with their sword drawn anyway, we’ll take them on when that time comes. Now, how about it, Kurotsuchi, Chojuro? There’s one answer here. Yes or no. Tell me now.”
“Ngh!” A groan slipped out from between Kurotsuchi’s gritted pearly teeth. An inky black snake twined itself around the Tsuchikage’s pale, slender neck. Her eyes glittered dangerously. “Do you understand what you’re doing?”
Chakra gushed from the entire body of the Tsuchikage. Things were getting dicey.
Hurry and do it, Naruto.
“Stop!” Naruto shouted, sounding angrier than he had all day.
The Hokage’s back burned a golden color. Shikamaru turned his head to look at him. The flames of battle burned in Naruto’s eyes. The shadow that covered the room turned into black glass and shattered.
“Stop it! Shikamaru!”
A fierce blow made contact with his cheek, and Shikamaru fell to the floor.
“What are you even doing?! What is crushing us going to accomplish?!” Naruto yanked him up by his collar.
Shikamaru, motionless, said nothing. He averted his eyes. Naruto tossed him aside before bowing his head so deeply toward the other Kages that he almost scraped it on the ground.
“Sorry! He’s not the kind of guy to do a thing like that! I’ll really let him have it later! Forgive him!”
Kurotsuchi stood up. “So this is how Konoha does things.”
“No!” Naruto protested. “As long as I’m around, I won’t let anything upset our peace! Nothing! So please. Talk to the daimyo of the Land of Earth one more time about the Land of Flowers, Kurotsuchi. I’ll give some serious thought to Konoha’s secrets. I want to come up with something you can be happy with. We can’t have another war ever again!”
“I believe you. But I don’t know about the next Hokage. Someday, Konoha is going to be a threat to us,” Kurotsuchi said, then left. Chojuro followed her out of the room.
“When Iwagakure moves, we will, too,” Darui told Naruto, who still had his head bowed, before he too stepped out of the room.
“It’s not as though the war has started yet,” Gaara said, his voice tinged with warmth, and then he also departed with Kankuro.
On the way back to Konoha, Naruto was silent. Shikamaru also said nothing as he hurried, indifferent, along the road home.
When they were almost at the A-un main gates, Naruto said, back still turned, “Why would you do a thing like that?”
Shikamaru gave him the answer he had prepared. “I knew you would never allow it. You would definitely break my jutsu, and so win everyone over.”
Naruto stopped and turned around. “It was your plan all along…”
“Now they’ve all accepted the threat of Konoha as a reality. We needed to make them understand.”
“You… You just…”
“The gambit wouldn’t have worked without both the might of Konoha and your passion as Hokage. It’s just like Gaara said—the war hasn’t started yet. We can’t make any mistakes in this game, and it’s far from over.”
His friend nodded, a wry smile rising up on his face, and Shikamaru smiled in return before setting out again toward the village where his family was waiting.