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Mastermind of the Akatsuki 403
🕑 Added 2025-06-10 15:39:20 +0000 UTCChapter 403: Six Kage Summit
After a few words left Kakashi confused, Byakuya left the place. Before departing, he glanced at Naruto, then at the sky covered by dark clouds. His gaze seemed to pierce through all obstacles, locking onto the Sage of Six Paths wandering the boundary between life and death.
Just now, while sensing Naruto’s chakra, besides Naruto’s own chakra and the Nine-Tails’ chakra, Byakuya had vaguely detected another presence. This aura became increasingly clear as Naruto’s strength grew.
This chakra belonged to the Sage of Six Paths’ second son, Asura Ōtsutsuki.
As the Sage’s second son and grandson of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, Asura was different from the other Ōtsutsuki. They had not used the “Wedge” technique to store their data as chakra. Instead, chakra was passed on through reincarnation, which didn’t have much impact.
Of course, this might be because Asura and Indra hadn’t received the complete Ōtsutsuki inheritance, forcing them to rely on chakra reincarnation to continue the unfinished conflict of the past.
Although Asura and Indra had been dead for over a thousand years, the power they left behind was still considerable—enough for their reincarnations to become leading figures in the current era. Combined, their strength could even give birth to the Rinnegan.
Madara Uchiha was the best example. Before the Valley of the End battle, Madara’s limit was the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, but after acquiring Hashirama’s flesh, he gained both Asura and Indra’s power and awakened the Rinnegan.
But strangely, despite having both Senju and Uchiha powers, and even being able to use some Yin–Yang Release, why had he not yet awakened the Rinnegan himself?
Maybe it was due to differences in blood concentration, or perhaps he lacked the two crucial chakra parts.
Thinking about this problem, he might have to bring Naruto and Sasuke together to carefully examine their bodies and figure everything out.
But if he truly encountered Asura and Indra’s powers, would he face the Sage of Six Paths?
That would mean confronting a strong shinobi who had the ability to seal Kaguya even after a thousand years since her death—someone stronger than many Ōtsutsuki during the Boruto era.
Pulling his drifting thoughts back, Byakuya stopped overthinking and entered the fortress.
His immediate priority was to leverage the momentum of the Kage Summit to establish a shinobi alliance, making the Akatsuki the largest organization in the ninja world to gain more system rewards.
Matters in the shinobi world could wait. Once he gained enough power, the Ōtsutsuki clan would only be a more advanced bloodline family.
Not long after, Byakuya met Yahiko and Konan chatting with Jiraiya.
After patiently waiting a moment, Jiraiya left, and Byakuya approached Yahiko with a light smile.
“Yahiko, what were you and Jiraiya talking about earlier? Was it about Nagato?”
Yahiko nodded and said, “Jiraiya-sensei misses Nagato a bit. Unfortunately, he has no plans to visit Amegakure, or else I would have liked to host him properly.”
“Your statuses have changed, so it’s natural it’s hard to interact like before.”
Pausing briefly, Byakuya continued, “Have you talked to Jiraiya about forming a shinobi alliance and getting Konoha to join? Did he agree?”
Yahiko shook his head. “Jiraiya-sensei said Konoha has no intention of forming an alliance. Even if they do, Konoha should lead it, not Akatsuki or Amegakure.”
Byakuya stroked his chin. “Looks like Konoha hasn’t realized how weak they truly are yet. But soon, they will. The future shinobi world won’t tolerate villages fighting alone.”
Hearing this, Yahiko and Konan looked a bit helpless but nodded.
If they could, they didn’t want to clash with Jiraiya-sensei or deceive him. However, the shinobi world had been chaotic for too long—there had to be a strong state emerging.
---
As time passed, representatives from all major villages arrived at the summit venue, welcomed by Admiral Mifune, who escorted them to the guesthouse.
After a full night’s rest, Byakuya and the others entered the fortress’s conference room.
The space was large enough to hold the six village leaders and their bodyguards. The summit to decide the future of the ninja world was about to begin.
Once all village leaders took their seats, Mifune cleared his throat and said, “Thank you all for your trust in letting me preside over this meeting. I hope you can reach a consensus today and resolve the crises facing the shinobi world.”
Upon hearing this, the Fifth Kazekage, Sasori, frowned, “What do you mean by Five Kage Summit? This involves six villages, so it should be called the Six Kage Summit.”
“Six Kage Summit?”
This remark caused others to furrow their brows. The Kazekage was clearly stirring trouble.
Though many small villages had leaders called Kage unofficially, only the heads of the Five Great Shinobi Villages held the title officially, which wasn’t just a matter of honor but represented the status of their village.
From a strength perspective, Amegakure’s leader did deserve the title, but since the village hadn’t decisively beaten the Five Great Villages in battle, most shinobi wouldn’t recognize or support it.
Seeing the situation, Mifune sighed and glanced at Yahiko and Byakuya.
Meeting Mifune’s gaze, Yahiko slowly spoke, “Compared to the veterans of the Five Great Villages, I’m inexperienced and unworthy of the Kage title. Kazekage-sama, please don’t tease me. I’m here for peace in the shinobi world, not for the title.”
Yahiko’s words were modest, but others’ eyes were fixed on Byakuya.
Yahiko lacked many notable feats to judge his true power, but Byakuya was different—he was Hanzo’s successor with multiple records of fighting head-to-head with the Five Kage.
His strength and achievements rivaled the legendary Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze and were possibly even greater.
Seeing no reaction from Byakuya, Sasori continued, “A village’s importance lies not in seniority but strength. Amegakure has power comparable to the Five Great Villages. It should have already joined their ranks. Byakuya’s repeated defeats of the Masked Man also prove Amegakure’s contribution.”
“Kazekage-sama…”
Yahiko opened his mouth, then said, “Maintaining regional stability and fighting the Masked Man hunting Jinchūriki is Amegakure’s duty. There’s really no need to…”
At this moment, Zabuza stepped forward, “Maintaining regional stability is exactly what a Great Village should do. Your village has long been a Great Village. There’s no need to cling to an ordinary village’s title.”
Pausing, Mei Terumi looked toward Mifune, “General Mifune, I think Kazekage-sama’s words make sense. This meeting should indeed be called the Six Kage Summit, not the Five Kage Summit.”
Mifune glanced at Byakuya, steady as ever, then at Sasori and Mei.
By now, he had guessed that Amegakure had coordinated with Sunagakure and Kirigakure in advance to forcefully push for Amegakure to become the sixth Great Village at the summit.
After a moment of thought, Mifune passed the difficult question to the others and said slowly, “I also feel calling this the Five Kage Summit is inappropriate. Six Kage Summit is more proper. How do the Hokage, Tsuchikage, and Raikage feel about this?”
“Konoha has no objections. We agree this is the Six Kage Summit.”
Amegakure was currently Konoha’s ally, and its leader was Jiraiya’s student. Tsunade could hardly find a reason to refuse the proposal.
The strength among the Five Great Shinobi Villages has never been truly balanced.
Sunagakure and Kirigakure, in fact, stopped being comparable to Konohagakure, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure many years ago. It’s just that their power was once strong enough to surpass most other villages, so they were never officially removed from the list.
Tsunade had no objections, and Ōnoki, the troublemaker of the shinobi world, naturally didn’t either.
He personally fought against Byakuya and knew his strength. Also, as the earliest of the Five Kage to have deep contact with the Akatsuki, Ōnoki understood the current industrial power of Amegakure.
Amegakure might not match Iwagakure in population, but its overall quality far surpasses it by a large margin.
Putting aside the main topic of this meeting—dealing with the masked man—having a strong nation between Iwagakure and Kumogakure as a buffer is actually beneficial for Iwagakure.
“You always have to give the younger generation a chance, old man here doesn’t oppose calling this the Six Kage Summit.”
After Tsunade and Ōnoki agreed, the Fourth Raikage realized his refusal couldn’t change the facts. He cast a fierce glare at Byakuya and grunted, “The title of Kage isn’t something you can just get. I hope Amegakure won’t become complacent just because of this title.”
Byakuya responded without hesitation, “Rather than worrying about Amegakure, Raikage-sama should focus on the jinchūriki to prevent another attack by the masked man.”
Byakuya’s words were full of provocation, each sentence aggravating the Fourth Raikage.
He slammed the table and said to Byakuya, “Don’t think you can do whatever you want just because you got lucky in repelling the masked man. Kumogakure doesn’t need you meddling.”
Byakuya shot back with a sharp retort, “If Kumogakure could handle things on its own, why would this meeting have been called in the first place?”
The Fourth Raikage was infuriated but speechless. Byakuya was right—if Kumogakure could deal with the masked man alone, this summit wouldn’t be happening.
At that moment, Ōnoki joined in with mockery, “Raikage kid, your temper isn’t as stable as your father’s. You need to temper yourself more.”
If Byakuya’s words were simply an attack on the Fourth Raikage, then Ohnoki’s remarks were blatant ridicule.
Everyone in the shinobi world knew that the Fourth Raikage’s father, the Third Raikage, had died while surrounded by Iwagakure forces.
This old man Ohnoki didn’t just take down the Third Raikage—he even used the Third Raikage to provoke the Fourth Raikage right to his face.
“Tsuchikage, Have you forgotten how my father once killed eight thousand shinobi?”
Forcing himself to stay calm, the Fourth Raikage said to Ohnoki, “While I don’t have the strength my father had, I’m more than capable of taking five thousand shinobi with me. And when I die, my deputy will succeed me as Raikage. Iwagakure, on the other hand, seems to be falling short in training successors.”
“Raikage kid!” After being hit in a sore spot, Ōnoki’s expression darkened. He slowly flew into the air, seemingly preparing to use Dust Release to discipline the Fourth Raikage.
The Fourth Raikage didn’t back down either, faint bolts of lightning appearing around him—signs of his Lightning Release armor mode, which could block most attacks in the shinobi world.
The atmosphere in the conference room grew tenser. Yahiko stepped up, “Tsuchikage-sama, Raikage-sama, I apologize on behalf of Byakuya. Sometimes he’s not very tactful. Please forgive him.”
Yahiko then emphasized, “But have you forgotten why we are here? We are here to deal with the masked man hunting jinchūriki, for the future peace of the shinobi world. If we fight among ourselves, the only ones who will be happy are the masked man and his organization.”
At these words, the other Kage nodded, and Jiraiya proudly said to Tsunade, “Tsunade, Yahiko is worthy of being my disciple, still maintaining peace among the villages in times like this.”
Tsunade glanced at Jiraiya and replied, “If your student is so strong, why didn’t you stop the Tsuchikage and Raikage from fighting earlier? Did you forget?”
Jiraiya scratched his head and said with a grin, “With Yahiko here, it’s not my place to step in. If I did everything, what would I be teaching my students?”
Tsunade sighed but understood Jiraiya’s nature. She knew if Yahiko hadn’t been present, Jiraiya would have tried to mediate. That was just who he was.
Nearby, General Mifune noticed this scene and thought to himself that his role as mediator was being overshadowed. Still, sometimes being a spectator was a refreshing experience.
Byakuya quietly admired Yahiko’s ability. Managing internal and external affairs in recent years was not without effect—he had effectively eased the conflict Byakuya had started.
After Yahiko spoke, Ōnoki and the Fourth Raikage’s bodyguards began to admonish their lords. After great effort, both reluctantly returned to their seats.
No matter how much they argued, they couldn’t actually fight at the Kage Summit. If word got out, not only would future summits be impossible, but they’d both become jokes of the shinobi world.
Seeing this, Yahiko spoke again, “I’m glad Tsuchikage-sama and Raikage-sama have reconciled. Time is short, so let’s discuss the masked man issue and at least exchange information on the current jinchūriki.”
