Gaara shot Onoki a sideways glance and replied without being either humble or arrogant, "Sunagakure experienced some major changes recently. The previous Kazekage tragically passed away, so I am currently serving as the proxy Kazekage."
"In other words, Sunagakure doesn't have a Kazekage right now?"
"Correct."
"If that's the case, what is there left to discuss at a Five Kage Summit?" Onoki leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, his tone thick with sarcasm. "A Five Kage Summit can only proceed when all five Kage are present. Since the Kazekage position is temporarily vacant, let's just postpone the meeting until another day!"
"Judging only by the title of Kage while ignoring reality—you, the Tsuchikage, are nothing more than a superficial old man."
Gaara replied coolly, "Although I am only the proxy Kazekage, I possess full authority to represent Sunagakure. If you don't want to talk, then there's no need to ever talk again. I have no desire to sit at the same table as a superficial old man either."
"You—!"
Onoki puffed his beard and glared in anger, but he found himself unable to retort.
Behind the curtains, the escorts were seeing Gaara in a whole new light.
As bodyguards for their respective Kage, their own strength was naturally impressive.
Seeing that the Kazekage was merely a thirteen-year-old child, they had instinctively looked down on him.
But Gaara's words completely shattered their preconceived notions.
Especially Sasuke.
During the Konoha Crush, he and Naruto had teamed up to defeat a fully Tailed-Beast transformed Gaara.
Back then, Gaara was bloodthirsty, frenzied, and wildly unstable. He was an entirely different person from the boy sitting at the table now.
It wasn't just the escorts; the other Kage also gained a new measure of respect for Gaara after hearing his rebuttal, no longer dismissing him because of his youth.
"Enough, Tsuchikage, Kazekage. The Shinobi World is standing on the brink of destruction. This is not the time to be squabbling amongst ourselves."
The Raikage swept his gaze over the two and said, "I presume you have all received the news by now?"
"Indeed."
Terumi Mei nodded. "A few days ago, intelligence reports came in stating that Kumogakure had been destroyed. However, because such a claim is simply too unbelievable, it's difficult to verify the accuracy of the intel in such a short amount of time."
The other three Kage nodded in agreement.
"...It's true." The Raikage grit his teeth, forcing himself to admit the humiliating truth. "Five days ago, a single man invaded Kumogakure. He first extracted the Eight-Tails' chakra from my brother, Killer B, and then extracted the Two-Tails' chakra from one of our shinobi, Yugito."
"In the process of trying to stop him, the elites of Kumogakure—myself included—suffered a crushing defeat. Even the village itself was utterly obliterated."
As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of the other four Kage turned heavy.
As the saying goes, don't wash your dirty laundry in public.
Generally speaking, if a village could resolve a crisis internally, they would never broadcast their failures to the outside world, no matter how severe the situation was.
The fact that the Raikage was speaking so openly about the entire process meant that the severity of the situation had far surpassed what Kumogakure could handle on its own.
"Who exactly is this man?"
Tsunade couldn't help but ask.
"I don't know."
The Raikage looked at the puzzled group and admitted, "It's my fault for having a short temper. He tried to introduce himself at first, but having already received intel from Killer B, I attacked him directly."
"And ended up losing!"
The corners of the Mizukage's and Tsuchikage's mouths twitched.
"That's not the main point, is it?" Gaara glared at the two of them and pressed on, "Since that man possesses such overwhelming power, why did he need to steal the Tailed Beasts' chakra? What is his true goal?"
"When Kumogakure's envoys visited, they kept talking about Kaguya, the end of the Shinobi World, the Eye of the Moon Plan... What on earth is all of that?"
Hearing this, everyone shifted their focus back to the Raikage.
"That man is collecting the Tailed Beasts' chakra to fight against the soon-to-awaken Kaguya. As for Kaguya..."
The Raikage relayed all the information he had gathered from the village's ancient texts and the accounts provided by the Tailed Beasts.
For the people present, this was the first time they were hearing such ancient secrets, and everyone was visibly shocked.
Of course, alongside the shock came profound skepticism.
Onoki raised his doubts. "While I doubt the Raikage would make a joke in such a formal setting, this talk about the mother of the Sage of Six Paths..."
"It sounds like a complete fairy tale."
The Raikage retorted, annoyed, "The Tailed Beasts know all about this. If you don't believe me, you can go back and ask the Tailed Beast sealed inside your own village's Jinchuriki."
Hearing this, the room fell silent.
Although the Raikage had a fiery temper, he wasn't stupid. He wouldn't tell a lie that could be exposed so easily, nor did he have any reason to lie.
But if what the Raikage said was true, this would be an apocalyptic disaster for the entire Shinobi World.
The Raikage proposed, "Although we don't know if Kaguya is truly about to awaken, we cannot entrust the future of the Shinobi World to some unknown figure."
"That makes perfect sense." Tsunade nodded in agreement.
"So, Lord Raikage, do you have a viable proposal?"
"I suggest we form an Allied Shinobi Force."
"What?!"
Everyone stared at the Raikage in shock.
The Tsuchikage's mouth was hanging wide open.
"That is impossible," Tsunade said sternly. "Forming a Shinobi Alliance when we haven't even confirmed the existence of the enemy? Forget the people in our villages, even the Daimyo would never agree to it."
"That is why the alliance I'm proposing is a Jinchuriki Alliance." The Raikage spoke with utmost seriousness. "Against an entity of legend, the power of ordinary shinobi is utterly meaningless. Only the power of the Tailed Beasts will have any effect. The fact that this man is gathering Tailed Beast power to fight Kaguya proves that the Tailed Beasts can pose a threat to her."
"There's logic in what you say, but..."
The Mizukage pondered for a moment, hesitating to speak.
"Does Lady Mizukage have some unspoken difficulties?"
"Kirigakure originally possessed two Jinchuriki. However, the Fourth Mizukage, who was the Three-Tails' Jinchuriki, went missing some time ago, and the whereabouts of the Three-Tails remain unknown."
The room fell into silence once again.
It took a while before Tsunade sighed, "I didn't expect Kirigakure to have suffered so many internal issues."
"In that case, we can only gather eight Jinchuriki for now. I don't even know if that level of power will be enough to defeat Kaguya," the Raikage said, deeply troubled.
"Never mind eight. Even if you had another eight, you'd only be offering Kaguya more nourishment."
Accompanied by a calm voice, a pitch-black, spiraling spatial portal tore open in the center of the conference table.
A handsome young man with black hair, black eyes, and delicate features stepped out, followed by two men wearing black cloaks adorned with red clouds.
"It's you!"
"Itachi!"
The moment they saw the trio, the Raikage's hair stood on end. Cloaked in crackling lightning, he launched himself at the three of them with the speed of a thunderbolt.
Behind the curtains, Sasuke activated his three-tomoe Sharingan, a sphere of crackling lightning forming in his hand as he dashed wildly toward Itachi.
The sudden intrusion immediately triggered a response from the other bodyguards. They burst out from behind the curtains, weapons drawn, shielding their respective Kage behind them.